Tiablo A9 with MOP?

[rmorgan84]

I am looking for a number of new ligfhts at the moment and one of them is for a general purpose to be left in the car with a couple of primary cells so i'll always be prepared.

Would a Tiablo A9 with a MOP reflector be a good choice?

I'm thinking:

Dual output
Fairly good battery life
Nice balance of good throw and a bit of flood with the MOP
Rugged

What does everyone think?

 

[Windscale]

Just bought an A9 about 10 days ago and used it for a few days. I think the original reflector is very good. It is a bit deep but resulted in what I think is a good balance between throw and spill (although slightly more throw than spill, which is what I want). Runtime with 18650 also respectable. I even got an UltraFire pouch that fitted it very well. I think they are all made by the same factory as many of the parts of UF, Conqueror and Tiablo are exactly the same. The standard of construction of many Chinese lights have improved so much over the past few months that now I think SF no longer have much of an edge in this respect.

 

[1 what]

The A9 is a fine and impressive flashlight, no doubt about that, but the size plus head diameter might be a pain if you intend keeping it in your glove box or some other small space. Currently I've got a Fenix P3D in its nylon holster in my glove box. It's small, no increased diameter for the head, multi brightness levels, deadly strobe for emergency situations and long life lithium primaries. I've also got 2 rare earth magnets epoxied to it so I can "stick" it on the car body if I need to. I'm sure there are other similar choices.

 

[Windscale]

I also have a P3D CE. Nice light. But only takes 17670 or CR123As. Can't really compare the two. The P3D CE is good for EDC and general use (I put 17670 in mine). But for going out to the wilderness I would carry the A9 and other 18650 lights. Horses for courses really.