Tank007 E09 is quite famous around flashlight enthusiasts because it's so cheap, good anodized and build like a tank??
I really like single AAA flashlight because it is relatively small, compact and easy to carry. Even i have much more powerful lights such as single CR123 or single 18650 ( which i don't carry often because of the size ) i could say single AAA light is always with me 24/7 because i attached it on my keychain and you can forgot that you have it with you. Let start the fun shall we ?
SPECIFICATION
Taken from Tank007 Website
PACKAGING AND CONTENT
Comes in tin box / gift box style, packaging is really easy to open ( compared with blister packaging which i really hate because it's quite messy to open ). Inside the packaging you got 1 x E09, Spare O-Ring, Split Ring. No battery and manual included.
BUILD QUALITY AND DESIGN
Because the Tank007 E09 ( E09 ) is keychain light, i will highlight the stock split because it's really important on key chain light set-up. I think stock split ring is way too fragile and thin. As you can see above left one is stock E09 split ring and on the right side US made split ring which looks more thick and strong.
Above is stock split ring on Picollo Titanium, even that thick split ring begin to broke, I would not recommend to use stock split ring if you don't have lost your E09.
Even E09 is budget light, but i'm really amazed how good the finishing and feel on my hand. Also has thick body compared with similar lights, i feel also the anodized is quite good and feel strong. It is not feel that slippery even with out knurling on the battery tube area, it has knurling on the head. Mostly with twisty light, i will only hold at the head area so this is really good design for me. Knurling i would say medium traction.
There is anti-roll design on head area, on the tail there is 2 holes for split ring.
The problem with twisty head which has UI loosened to off is the head will loosened it self time to time, in fact i had lost my Preon Revo head few years ago. Tank solve this problem by designing much more deeper thread on E09 ( as you can see on above picture from left to right: Sunway R02A - Olight i3S - Tank007 E09 ). Thread also feel really smooth and comes with pre-lubed thread :thumbsup:
E09 use Cree XPE R3 with light orange peel reflector. On my sample LED is nicely centered. There is also TANK007 clear marking on the positive pole.
Because it has flat tail, it could easily tail stand even on non-flat surface :thumbsup:
BATTERY
It's support Alkaline, Nimh and Li-Ion 10440. One of idea behind single AAA light design is easy to get battery, so AAA light which stated with 10440 is only for wow factor and for fun only ( to impress the other ). I would not recommend using 10440 because it has shorter run time, too much heat compared with Alkaline and Nimh.
SIZE
Left to Right: Eneloop AAA - Maratac AAA Q5 (1st Gen) - Picollo Titanium - Olight i3S - Tank007 E09 - Sunwayman R02A - Inova XS - Preon 1 Titanium XPG
Size is quite standard for single AAA light, it is not the shortest or longest one. Feels quite good on hand ( thanks to good matte anodized ). Thing to consider for you which has big hand, it might not feel comfortable on your hand because of it's size.
USER INTERFACE, BEAM SHOT & RUNTIME
E09 has 3 mode, the arrangement is High - Medium - Low no Strobe or SOS mode. It has last use memory mode, which means it always on at last mode do you use. For me i don't like this memory mode feature, quite annoying. I would prefer without memory mode because i will always know at which mode my light will on.
From off position, to turn on the flashlight just rotate the head clock wise till it's on. Sometimes i need to loosened - tightened the head because it's just won't on.
From on position, to change the mode loosed-tightened the head till you get your desired mode.
To turn off the flashlight, rotate the head counter clockwise.
On wall shot we could see that E09 and Inova XS has tight hot spot compared with the Sunwayman R02A and Olight i3S ( both using XP-G2 ). Beam on E09 is not perfectly round, beams has flower pattern alike. But I'm sorry i can't capture it with my camera.
*) there is mistake on Sunwayman R02 distance, should be 4 meters instead of 175 meters
Beam shot is done with fresh sanyo Eneloop 800 mAh. The beam for Inova XS on 4 meters beam shot looks brighter, more focus and less side spill compared with E09 ( even it has less lumen than E09 ). E09 producing same lumen both on Nimh and Alkaline.
Run time performance on high mode both alkaline and Nimh is quite similiar, Nimh has 1 min more runtime. On medium mode, is quite interesting. Alkaline has better runtime compared with Nimh and it's also producing higher lumen.
The idea of AAA light design is easy to get power source ( alkaline ) it's make sense that this light is optimized for alkaline and generally the most use mode is medium, Tank007 optimized the regulation on medium mode.
*) ABC Biru Putih means Blue and White ABC it's local brand of Alkaline battery
Compared with similar lights ( on Max mode and use Nimh ) E09 has the shortest runtime and Inova XS has the longest runtime on Nimh. On Alkaline ( max mode ) Tank007 also has the shortest runtime and Inova XS has the longet runtime.
It's very interesting to compare sunwayman R02 Max mode and Tank007 E09 Medium mode ( alkaline ). E09 producing 30-ish lumen and has 1 hour 30 mins runtime to 10% and Sunwayman R02A producing 70-ish lumen and has 1 hours 33 mins runtime. The lumen on R02A almost double compared with E09 but the runtime is almost the same
SUMMARY
Looking at the price point, it's quite surprising how the E09 build. Finishing and anodizing are good, even it's cheap light they don't go cheap on finishing ( compared with similar budget lights such as ultrafire etc ). But tehere is several things that they should improve on E09 such as driver efficiency, reflector design, quality of split ring and the contact on battery poles ( some times it just won't turn on ).
There are also few things that quite annoying for me such as mode arrangement High - Medium - Low ( they should make it Low - Medium - High instead ) and memory mode ( they should get rid of this memory mode ). E09 also has the shortest run time among it's competitor, but if you are tight in budget i think you can still consider this light.
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