The flashlight was sent to me by Wowtac for review.
Here's the product's link: Wowtac A5
The A5 comes in a hard cardboard box.
It's seated into foam for added protection during shipping.
Other than the flashlight, the following accessories are included in the box:
Wrist strap, 2 replacement o-rings, a replacement flap for the charging port and a microUSB charging cable.
The A5 comes with black matte anodization and is e-swtich operated.
Its body is textured, while the head has some heatsinking grooves.
The e-switch sits flush with the rest of the body and is surrounded by a metal ring.
Once turned on, the built in indicator shines in Blue ( = Battery's voltage OK ) or Red ( = Time to recharge )
Opposite to the e-switch, there's the built-in charging interface.
It's using a regular microUSB port. Once charging, the built-in indicator in the switch turns on. Red = Charging, Blue = Full.
The head of the flashlight is protected by a stonewashed metal bezel.
The Wowtac A5 comes with a Cree XHP-70.2 emitter along with an orange peel reflector.
Thanks to the centering ring, the emitter is aligned perfectly.
The tail of the flashlight is flat, which allows it to tailstand.
Fox maximum efficiency and current draw, the tail is using a double spring setup.
The driver seems to be press-fit / glued and is using a brass tab for the positive terminal.
Thick, square cut threads are found both on both sides, with the head's also being anodized.
Apart from all other accesories, the A5 also comes with a Wowtac branded 5000mAh 26650 cell.
Here's a closer look at the both sides of the battery.
User Interface
As already said, the flashlight is operated by an e-switch.
Here's all the supported actions by the flashlight's firmware:
Turn on/off: Single press.
Mode cycle: Long press ( Low > Med > High > Low > ...)
Moonlight: Long press from off
Turbo: Double press from anywhere (on or off)
Strobe: Double press while on Turbo.
Output
Here's my output measurements along with the respective current draw per output level.
As you can see, the measurements seem to verify the manufacturer's output claims.
I also measured the standby drain at 97μΑ, which is very good.
Power and Output Regulation
Here's a V/A Power Regulation graph I created.
What we can see in the graph:
- Turbo doesn't seem fully regulated. Some sings of regulation are visible between 4.0 - 4.2V, but in general I would say
that the output is proportional to the input voltage. - High is fully regulated for the whole span of the battery's life
- Medium and Low are also fully regulated.
And here's a Thermal regulation graph.
What can be seen in the graph:
- Turbo is sustained for 2min and 10secs.
- After that point, the output slowly steps down to 1000lumen.
- The stepdown from Turbo is completed at the 4 min mark.
- The stepdown brightness if fully sustainable and regulated.
- Thermal regulation seems to be working nicely. The flashlight never got extremely hot to touch.
Outdoor beamshots
For the last part, here's some outdoor beamshots (a.k.a me interrupting my neighbors :D )
As you might have guessed, the Wowtac is a handheld powerhouse :)