Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

[Up All Night]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

Stellar review, as always. Thank you. It's amazing how people migrate from an existing thread once you post a review, a testament to the cachet you have on these forums!
I've owned the LC2 XM-L for a week now and it does have impressive output, very close to my ZL sc600. Hard to discern "low" from "lower low" but after several attempts with several sets of eyes and several derogatory verbal exchanges a consensus was reached. The term "moonlight" does not apply!
Overall, hard not to like this torch and size/output ratio is right up there.

My only quibble with it (my sample) is the ensemble of crickets that perform loudly & proudly on all of the flashing modes! It's my first "noisy" torch. I can hear the circuit cycle when I'm twenty feet away! I guess the modes are for visual & auditory recognition! (at least for me)

Since I don't really use such modes it's a non-issue and Eagletac says it's not a problem for the light, unless I decide It's annoying in which case they will swap out the circuit board. I would have preferred them to say "exchange the light" but I like the tint and I don't want to play that lottery!

 

[moshow9]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

Not wanting to get to far off topic but I'm with you I'm not sure I can recall the term moonlight mode before 4sevens and IIRC didn't Thrunite come out with the Firefly mode in the Scorpion. Which ever way we want to call it I consider moonlight less than 1 lumen depending on the reflector, if it's a deep reflector then 1 lumen can seem brighter but a shallow OP reflector can have a litter more total output and get away with calling it a moonlight mode.

I believe ThruNite first used firefly with the Neutron.

 

[GordoJones88]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)



Wow! D25C XM-L U2

770 lumens, only 3", a great screw-on deep clip, $50 shipped, NW too !

Hail to the new King baby !

Thanks for another excellent review.
I really appreciate your hard work.

I use AW IMR or ICR 16340 cells depending, so Ima wondering:

You tested with AW IMR 16340 because?

Was the AW ICR 16340 discharge rate too high?

Do you have data for the D25C XM-L U2 like this :

Eagletac's website says:

"Turbo boost technology is activated every time you turn on at Turbo output setting.
It offers 20% more power to the LED for the first 90 seconds at turbo mode."

Does that even apply to the RCR123 since it is in Direct Drive operation?

 

[jhc37013]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

Another question, this time about 'positional memory'.
Seeing as this has a LOT of modes in the general mode [head loose], does the flashlight revert to the first selection of steady state output after some set time, or does it alway follow the exact same cycle procedure?
Let me expound: if the outputs go as such A->B->C->A->B->C->Strobe->Strobe->Flash->SOS->SOS->Beacon->Flash If you selected the second C setting, but used that for five minutes, would the next press be Strobe, or would it go to A?
Going to A would be more useful.

There is no "timed" step through the modes so the second time you go through the modes after "C" it will be strobe it does not matter how long you stay in C mode, the only way out of this is to turn the light off for a couple seconds then back on.

 

[Mjolnir]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

Just got an XML D25LC2 after not buying any new lights for a while. It seems very bright but has no throw; it has a nice flood type beam pattern that should be good for general use.

 

[selfbuilt]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

FYI, EagleTac has gotten back to me on my analysis and review. They agree their output ANSI lumen specs are under-estimated. They say they will calibrate their integrating sphere soon to better reflect the actual output (not sure what that means exactly). They also say that for the lo/med output, they plan to tune the mcu to better reflect the intended output in the upcoming batch. They also claim to have resolved the tail-stand issue for the upcoming production units.

You tested with AW IMR 16340 because ?

Was the AW ICR 16340 discharge rate too high?

More to the point, i expected the discharge rate would be too high for standard ICR chemistry RCR, based on the extreme output. Given the results, I don't plan to use or test ICR RCR in these lights.

Eagletac's website says:

"Turbo boost technology is activated every time you turn on at Turbo output setting.
It offers 20% more power to the LED for the first 90 seconds at turbo mode."

Does that even apply to the RCR123 since it is in Direct Drive operation?

No, that only applies to primary cells in this case. As you can see in my runtimes, there is no regulation on RCR - you are in apparent direct drive.

 

[loquutis79]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

Great stuff Selfbuilt!
So does this mean the next run of lights will have a much lower output level for the moonlight setting, cause that would be a good thing.
And also the tailstand feature will work better
And does this mean I can have mine exchanged for the real thing?? (Did I go to far with the last question?)

 

[JudasD]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

So now the decision on a D25C is either flood or throw. Dang, to bad a single unit cant have both. I suppose since i already have a V11R and a SC600 that a D25C in XP-G would make for a nice pocket thrower.

JD

 

[GordoJones88]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

So now the decision on a D25C is either flood or throw. Dang, to bad a single unit cant have both. I suppose since i already have a V11R and a SC600 that a D25C in XP-G would make for a nice pocket thrower.

JD

You must be our guninea pig and buy the new XTE version of the D25C.
Here is a pic from Eagletac's website showing the beamshots.

 

[selfbuilt]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

So does this mean the next run of lights will have a much lower output level for the moonlight setting, cause that would be a good thing. And also the tailstand feature will work better
And does this mean I can have mine exchanged for the real thing?? (Did I go to far with the last question?)

I am just relaying the response I received as to their intent. Whether or not they succeed in changing anything is impossible to know at this time (and on what models, etc.). Time will tell. But note that manufacturers make minor circuit adjustments all the time (without necessarily calling attention to those changes). This is especially true after reviews come out, and is basically part of their responsiveness to community feedback (i.e., models often continue to evolve over time). But I always suggest you take any proposed changes with a grain of salt until independently verified (i.e., the if, when, and how to tell aspects of any circuit tweak are impossible to know ahead of time).

 

[JudasD]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

You must be our guninea pig and buy the new XTE version of the D25C.
Here is a pic from Eagletac's website showing the beamshots.

awww man, not another choice :mecry: choosing between 2 models was difficult already. Now with a 3rd, ugh. I sure wish EagleTac's website was a bit better. I cant get the pages to completely load on either of my machines.

JD

 

[selfbuilt]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

You must be our guninea pig and buy the new XTE version of the D25C.
Here is a pic from Eagletac's website showing the beamshots.

I have no personal knowledge of the XT-E emitter version, but I gathered from other commentary here on CPF that these were pulled from dealer inventory due to beam pattern issues? So, while they still show up on Eagletac's site, all merchants appear to list them as out-of-stock.

Again, I have NO knowledge of the status of XT-E lights, and have not discussed this with Eagletac. But looking at those posted beashots, I recall similar issues with the Golden Dragon Plus versions of the early Nitecore D10/EX10 series light. Specifically, there were a lot of tint shifts over the beam that people objected to. That version of the light was eventually dropped from the D10/EX10 line (even though they had less beam rings than the XR-Es they were meant to replace).

 

[sspc]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

Excellent review!!! Thanks for breaking down the modes as it is truly confusing just going off the spec data.

Question: any idea how the d25c would run on a Tenergy 3.0 900mah rcr123? This is the batt with a fully charged voltage of 3.6v so Im curious if you maintain all modes with this batt.

I don't know if the 900 mah rating is accurate but it is reported to be higher than the 500mah you get from the lifep04.

My goal is to run the d25c on rechargables without sacrificing the run time the lifepo4 would or sacrificing the different modes a standard rcr123 would. Could the the 900 mah Tenergy (model 30202) run the D25c without losing modes and without concerns of overheating if running too long on turbo?

Thanks!

 

[shelm]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

You must be our guninea pig and buy the new XTE version of the D25C.
Here is a pic from Eagletac's website showing the beamshots.

oops, i didnt know that such a webpage existed!! There are plenty of them which cant be found that easily, so here all about the D25A i could find:

D25A Mini:
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25am/index.html (introduction)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25am/specs.html (specs overview)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25am/features/output.html (beamshots)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25am/features/efficiency.html (efficiency)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25am/features/control.html (control, video)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25am/features/details.html (attention to details)
http://www.eagletac.com/download/gallery/d25amstd.zip (pics)
http://www.eagletac.com/download/gallery/d25amhd.zip (pics HD)
http://www.eagletac.com/download/readme/d25m.pdf (download manual)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d_series/compare-d-series/index.html (D25A Mini compared to other D25 Mini's)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/compare-all-series/index.html (D25A Mini compared to other series)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d_series/d25_mini_series.html (Mini series overview)

D25A Mini Ti:
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25ti/features/index.html (overview)
http://www.eagletac.com/download/gallery/d25amti_std.zip (pics)
http://www.eagletac.com/download/gallery/d25amti_hd.zip (pics HD)

D25A Clicky:
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25arc/index.html (introduction)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25arc/specs.html (specs overview)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25arc/features/output.html (beamshots)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25arc/features/efficiency.html (efficiency)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25arc/features/control.html (control, video)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25arc/features/details.html (attention to details)
http://www.eagletac.com/download/gallery/d25arcstd.zip (pics)
http://www.eagletac.com/download/gallery/d25archd.zip (pics HD)
http://www.eagletac.com/download/readme/d25rc.pdf (download manual)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d_series/compare-d-rc-series/index.html (D25A Clicky compared to other D25 Clicky's)
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d_series/d25_clicky_series.html (Clicky series overview)

D25A Clicky Ti:
http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25tirc/features/index.html (overview)
http://www.eagletac.com/download/gallery/d25arcti_std.zip (pics)
http://www.eagletac.com/download/gallery/d25arcti_hd.zip (pics HD)

This is just amazing!! Great job from Eagtac's part of providing details on 1 specific model. Typically a manufacturer dedicates only 1 webpage (1 URL) to the description of 1 specific model.

 

[JudasD]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

WOW! EagleTac's webpage would be awesome if they could just fix the navigation issues. I've tried Firefox, IE, safari and Dolphin. All on two different PCs and a smartphone! None of those browsers correctly render the navigation options. You pretty much have to google the primary URL to find any of the links.

JD

 

[selfbuilt]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

Question: any idea how the d25c would run on a Tenergy 3.0 900mah rcr123? This is the batt with a fully charged voltage of 3.6v so Im curious if you maintain all modes with this batt.

That's a good question. It's possible you may maintain modes on a 3V Li-ion (although perhaps only once some of the charge has been drained off). I don't have any to test, so don't know. Would be interesting to find out.

And on the issue of the website, I too found it difficult to navitage on Firefox. I basically resorted to google as well to get the first detailed specs page, and then manually changed the URL to bring up each specific model. :shrug:

 

[jhc37013]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

I run Firefox 12.0 and have no problem on Eagletac's website.

 

[BWX]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

http://www.eagletac.com/html/d25lc2rc/features/output.html -- Works on PS3 browser!

 

[selfbuilt]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

I run Firefox 12.0 and have no problem on Eagletac's website.

Yes, it is working fine for me today as well (same Firefox version). But when preparing this review, I found I wasn't able to bring all the models up from the main page, and clicking the technical specs link often did nothing. The full functionality seems to be there today, though.

 

[BWX]

Re: Eagletac D25 Clicky Series Round-up Review (D25C, D25A2, D25LC2 - XM-L & XP-G)

My replacement D25LC2 just got here.. works fine except once in a while with head loose it will blink and go into tubo/strobe if head is touched or wobbles a little. Not confidence inspiring.

Edit...

Oh and I figured out what smells bad- it's the lube. I noticed the first one had a bad smell, I thought maybe something inside it fried actually. I noticed a really strong burnt- nasty odor. Eagletac said that is normal.

I got my new one and noticed same foul stench. I realised that it was the lube, and it also seemed dirty.. Like the lube was contaminated with something. Anyway I got out the alcohol, paper towels, Q-tips, ans SuperLube. After cleaning 95% of the factory lube off, then further cleaning all surfaces with alcohol, then letting it dry and lightly re-lubing with SuperLube, it works much smoother and doesn't stink any more. Actually it seems yo work better too, when it ''head loose'' mode, it stays there.

If your D25 stinks, clean thoroughly and re-lube!