Review of Sunwayled M30A

HKJ

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[size=+3]Sunwayled M30A[/size]

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Sunwayled is a new name in flashlight and for their introduction they presented a range of led lights (M20C, M30A, M40A, M40C, M10R, L10A, L10R), most with a ring to select brightness. Here I am going to look at a 3xAA light with 3 brightness settings and strobe, both settings and on/off is controlled with the ring. The light is made of aluminum with hard-anodized (Type 3) finish.

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The light is packed in a cardboard box. It is marked with the new FL1 standard that is supposed to make flashlight ratings more comparable.

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The content of the box is: The flashlight, a lanyard, 2 spare o-rings, manual, warranty card and a brochure of the Sunwayled lights.

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The light has a OP (Orange peel) reflector with a XR-E led in the center.

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On the head there are some cooling fins, these are probably more for design than for cooling purpose.

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Next is the magnetic ring that is used to select between off-low-medium-high-strobe. It has click-stop, but it is possible to select positions in between, I found no extra modes.

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The head has a very good quality of square threads with anodized, making it possible to lock out the light by loosen the battery tube.

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The battery connection in the head is not directly on the circuit board, but on a metal knob with a spring behind.

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The battery tube does not have any connections to the battery, this is handled by the battery magazine.

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The battery magazine is a solid construction that can take 3 AA batteries. Note that the battery container has mechanical polarity protection at the + connection.

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The battery container has both power connections at the same end.

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The battery tube has some groves on it to improve grip.

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The tail does not have any switch, only a logo. The light can easily tail stand, except when the lanyard is mounted.

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This is the parts I could disassemble the light into without using tools.


The light has a good mechanical quality with a good user interface (The ring), it has a good runtime. Because both on/off and brightness is selected with the ring, the light works very well in a underhand grip. I like the distribution of levels with a factor 5 between them, the only thing I do not like is the flash at power on.



[size=+2]Technical specification and measurements[/size]

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This light is designed for any type of 1.5 volt AA batteries (Alkaline, lithium, NiMH).

Measured size and weight:
Length: 129 mm
Diameter: 36 to 53 mm
Weight: 298 gram with 3xeneloop

The light uses a Cree XR-E R2 led

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In the above table I have used 2000mAh eneloop batteries for measuring and estimating the runtime. The estimated lumen are based on the specified 240 lumen and then scaled according to measured brightness, note that the medium is considerable lower than specified. The light has a small current draw when off, but it will take more than 3 years to empty a set of eneloop batteries.

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A voltage scan shows that the light has very good regulation down to around 2.7 volt.

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The runtime plot also shows the good stabilization and medium is twice the specified time (This has something to do with the lower brightness of medium).

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The light has no pwm or other noise in the light, but when turning on, after it has been off for some time, it will give a very bright flash (It can be up to same level as high brightness setting and last for 0.03 second).

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The strobe is a fast 16.3 Hz with a 50% duty cycle.



[size=+2]Comparison to other Flashlights[/size]

Sunwayled M30A, Sunwayled M40A, Sunwayled M40C
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Fenix TK40, Fenix TK45, ThruNite Catapult V2
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For the full comparison to other lights with graphs and beamshots see here.



[size=+2]Notes[/size]

Sunwayled has changed name to Sunwayman
 
Last edited:

UlrikJ

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Another very well written review! Clear and precise :)

However, the hotspot of the M30A seems to be very small. Not very useful.
 

HKJ

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However, the hotspot of the M30A seems to be very small. Not very useful.

The usefulness depends on the application, there are many other lights with this kind of beam and nobody has complained about lights like DBS and RRT-1.

My beamshot is a bit unfair for the M30A, it is the smallest light in the pack and it only has a single led, not a quad or large led. The reason I used this beamshot was because I wanted it together with M40A and M40C.
 

Zwick2

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Thank you for the top Review!
Nice Flashlight and an Alternative of the AA Flashligts from Fenix.

Regards Jens
 

tandem

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Yes they did, but apparently after these lights and packaging were produced.

On the plus side, next time they print packaging they can spell Falshlight as Flashlight when they get new packaging art done for the name change.
 

Luminater

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Thank for nice review. (wait for a long time ^_^)

If sunwayledman ^_^ uses XP-G R5 , I think it will be balance for flood and throw.
 
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selfbuilt

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Great review as always HKJ. Appreciate the excellent pics and detailed circuit testing. :thumbsup:

The usefulness depends on the application, there are many other lights with this kind of beam and nobody has complained about lights like DBS and RRT-1.
I haven't tested the M30A yet for Sunway ... have you had a chance to directly measure lux for centre-beam throw?

Although the hotspot looks tight, I wonder how far it throws compared to the DBS and RRT-1. Given the wide reflector and OP texturing, I imagine it throws a bit less?
 

HKJ

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I haven't tested the M30A yet for Sunway ... have you had a chance to directly measure lux for centre-beam throw?

Although the hotspot looks tight, I wonder how far it throws compared to the DBS and RRT-1. Given the wide reflector and OP texturing, I imagine it throws a bit less?

When I show the throw graph (In my beamshots) I always measures lux. On the M30A I got 995 at 4 meter, i.e. 15920 when calculated back to 1 meter.

And your are correct about the reflector, the M30A has a wide shallow reflector, both RRT-1 and DBS has a deep shoot reflector.

Doing a direct comparison at 4 meters, the RRT-1 wins easily, my old DBS with a warm led is also brighter.
 

selfbuilt

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When I show the throw graph (In my beamshots) I always measures lux. On the M30A I got 995 at 4 meter, i.e. 15920 when calculated back to 1 meter.
Thanks ... that puts its throw solidly in the category of my XR-E R2-equipped RRT-2 then (but with a wider spllbeam of course, due to the wider reflector).
 

HKJ

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Thanks ... that puts its throw solidly in the category of my XR-E R2-equipped RRT-2 then (but with a wider spllbeam of course, due to the wider reflector).

Directly comparing to RRT-2 the hotspot is about the same size, but RRT-2's is brighter and more sharply defined. The M30A has larger spill.

The centre of the RRT-2's hotspot is not as bright as the circumference, did you measure in the centre?
 

selfbuilt

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The centre of the RRT-2's hotspot is not as bright as the circumference, did you measure in the centre?
All my measures are from the centre-beam. And yes, I noticed to same on my RRT-2 (so in this case, the edges of the hotspot would throw a little further).

But of course, there's also a lot of variation in light meters, so this was just to get a rough idea how yours performed. Thanks for the beam descriptions!
 

T45

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would a 26650 4.2V battery work in this light? I have a M30A I keep on my desk at work; and today I took the battery pack out and compared it to a D cell from a Maglite I keep in my car. The D cell is about the same height but a slightly larger diameter than the complete battery pack, so obviously it wouldn't fit in the battery tube, but a 266650 certainly would. I would be interested to know if this is feasible.
 

tonkem

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Their website says working voltage is 2.7v to 6v, so should work... I am sure you would want to proceed with caution.
 
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