A few EagletacUI questions

[CZ9mm]

I think I am close to deciding which light to purchase. However, I have a few questions. I have started looking at the Eagletac lights, particularly these:

P20C2 MKII
D25LC2

Now, I notice in one of Selfbuilt's reviews he mentions on one of the Eagletacs that you can disable the strobe by clicking 15 times in 10 seconds.

Now, let me tell you what I am looking for:

I want a light that has a clicky button with multiple modes. However, I do not want the mode to change when I click the clicky. I like the head tigten/loosen modes. So, on head tight, I want "turbo". However, I also would very much like "moonlight" or something on head loose. So I want to be able to click the clicky all day long and just flash turbo on and off. If I am inside and want moonlight, I want to be able to loosen to head loose and access moonlight. I like the "quick tight and loosen" feature that the P20C2 has. However, I am curious what exactly "general" mode is?

What is general mode?

But, I like the shape of the D25LC2 better, but I don't think it's UI is quite what I am wanting is it?

I also want my light to support 18650's and be quite durable.

Please help!

 

[romteb]

The P20C2 MKII does not accept 18650 batteries, the battery tube is too narrow, it can use 176xx batteries though.

 

[CZ9mm]

Suggest lights that have an interface close to what I am looking for?

 

[CZ9mm]

So in the P series Eagletac lights, can someone explain what exactly "general mode" is?

 

[pepekraft]

If I understand you, you the tailcap switch to only power the light on and off, and bezel twists to change modes.

First, the eagletac D-series at least do not work quite that way. Loose and tight switch between mode sets, but within each set you still cycle through modes using the tailcap switch. My D25A works like this: bezel tight, cycle between turbo and strobe. bezel loose (general mode?) cycle through low, med, high (and disco modes eventually). I don't have any other eagletac models to compare with.

The 18650 requirement makes this harder. I think the best example of what you're looking for would be the 4-Sevens Quark _Tactical_ line (different UI than the Quark _Pro_). It's effectively a 2-mode light -- loose bezel and tight bezel -- and the tailcap switch does not change modes at all. the cool part is that you can pre-select what you want the two modes to be from a nice range of brightness and disco modes, so you can select for example turbo and moonlight for your modes. Unfortunately I don't think there are 18650 bodies anymore for the Quark, but hopefully I'm mistaken. The 2x123 lights are the QT2L and QT2L-X if you want to check them out. Maybe it can be bored for 18650?

The JETBeam BC20 (newer versions) and BC25 can take an 18650 and have two modes: high with bezel tight, and low with bezel loose.

I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of any that take 18650.

I hope that helps
-John

 

[Joe Talmadge]

Alas, for those of us who demand that the tail button only turn the light on and off, and never change modes, it seems as if each Eagletac UI is more disastrous than the next. You'll be looking at a different brand entirely, IMO. You seem to also be wanting a fairly compact light, so for an 18650 that means a 1" light.

I'm with John up above in that I can think of the BC20 and some 2x123A lights like the Quark, those immediately sprung to mind. But if you insist on an 18650, then perhaps a small change in the UI is worth considering? With the Klarus ST2C and XT2C, Fenix PD35, Nitecore P7, and Thrunite TN12 2014, you get a 1"-bodied light that takes 18650s, the main button only turns the light on and off (with momentary), but for mode-changing, instead of just adjusting the head between high and low, there's a second button that is used to click through the various modes. Of course, that means that if you just used the light outside on high, when you go inside it will still come on in high, and you'll need to click-click-click the second button to bring the level down to low.

The other alternative is a light with a magnetic ring -- so instead of twisting the head, you'd twist the ring between high and low (or anywhere in between). This actually probably meets your use case better. The Nitecore SRT5 might be a good fit. It's got a zillion modes you don't need, but the key thing is it's compact, takes an 18650, and you can just use the magnetic ring to set the right light level before you turn the light on.

 

[defloyd77]

So in the P series Eagletac lights, can someone explain what exactly "general mode" is?

That's just what Eagletac calls the 126 lumen mode. General modes on Eagletacs are basically medium modes for general use.

 

[WhitedragonBC]

The T200C2 has the UI you're looking for, though it might be a bit too big.

 

[CarpentryHero]

And different P20c2 modules have different UI's the old xpe and xpg dropins have a different UI then the current XML dropins.

For a simple head tight turbo and head loosen for moonlight the Quark Tactical might be the way to go, the two cr123 model also fits a 17650. There are burst models that start off with over 700 lumens and then after 60 seconds drop to around 300-400 depending on the model and tint. The Quark tactical a are programable, you can select two modes