Inova T3 arrived today...

Hey guys,

Just got my Inova T3. This is the first high quality flashlight that I have ever owned and I must say that I am totally satisfied and very excited about this light.

I really don't know what else to say about this light, it's awesome. The quality of this light is unbelievable. When I did the research on this light, I knew that I was going to be getting a very nice flashlight, but I really didn't know that I was going to be getting something of this quality. It's just so beautiful...

The one thing that I love about this light is the tail cap, it's exactly what I've always wanted. You press it about half way for the momentary on/off and all the way for continuous on. It works great and it's smooth as butter.

The work put into the anodized aluminum frame is excellent, it truly is a beautiful finish. The machined grips are excellent, they really do provide a perfect grip and the light fits my hand perfectly. Also, I really do like the weight of the light. In my hand, I don't consider the light heavy at all, but it's not super "light", either. It has a weight to it that says "quality"...

One thing that really amazed me is the TIROS lens. Although I don't have a clue how to get the steel ring off so that I can really get a good look at this lens, you can see that it is a work of art. It's like a big diamond sitting in there, it looks so pure. The beam that this light puts out with the TIROS lens is truly amazing, I can't believe how bright this light is with this TIROS lens or how they did it, it's unbelievable. On top of that, this review is my impressions of the light during daylight time, I have not used this light outside in the dark, although I did take it into the bathroom just to give me an idea of the brightness I am going to be dealing with... Once again, the light is very bright! You DO NOT want to look directly into the beam of this light, or even look at the beam from an angle. It's very intense. The light could probably permanently damage your eyes in just a couple seconds, I would not doubt this.

Another thing that impressed me about this light is the Duracell Ultra lithium batteries that it came with. I don't know much about batteries, but I can only assume that these are top-of-the-line.

So there you have it. I am excited about this little Inova T3 flashlight, it really is more than what I expected and I did expect a high quality flashlight. I am totally impressed and I must say that if you do not own this flashlight and have just been putting it off or something, you have been missing out. This light is truly an amazing piece. I would definitely recommend it to anybody and everybody.

So thanks, you guys sold me on this flashlight and I must say that you didn't let me down. Also, my brother led me to this forum and he also sparked my interest in these Inova lights, so I must give him some credit, too... Now I just have to get me that T2 for my not-so-bright applications (I'm serious)... :naughty:

Later!

Always nice to see someone so happy with their newest light. They are beautifully made and nice to look at and to hold.

If I was to pick only one of the Inova T series, the T3 would be the one.

Don't be to eager to try and take the thing apart. They designed it to prevent this. It can be done, but it involves a difficult process and damage is quite possible. Search Inova threads if you must.

I recommend you appreciate in one piece.

Mark

Like I said in your other thread... whether you end up liking the light or not, it has a very nice quality feel to it that makes you like it before you ever even use it as a light.

If you want to search around, there was a thread where someone removed the TIROS but I'm almost certain he killed the light in the process. Pretty neat thread though.

Glad you like it. But I will caution you... since you are happy with it, forget you ever found CPF and just enjoy your light.

I'm glad your happy with the new light JonL. It really is a nice piece. I like them for medium throw. The only method I've seen to open it is the "frozen method". I strongly recommend against doing it. There is one way you can see the inside without opening your light. If you search for posts by DOWNLOAD, you will see images of his light after opening it. I think he also sells AA battery converter/extender pieces for the Inova T series.

Goof luck with the light!!

fieldops

Beamshots pleaseeee?

Well, Way to go on your new acquisition JonL! Enjoy!

not everything thats silver-colored is stainles steel.

Before asuming the bezel ring is SS make sure it really is. On my inova T4 the ring is bare aluminum, no stainles, no HA3 ... moving it over the table is sufficient to put many tiny scratches in it.

What i really like about inovas T-series is the grip texture. Way ahead of regular knurling

Guys,

Last night I got to take my T3 and try it out. I wasn't out there for too long, though. It was pretty cold.

Anyway, I am very pleased and impressed with the T3. This light is very bright! I spotted various objects (trees, buildings, etc...) at 50-100 yards and it illuminated the objects very nicely... I didn't expect it to be this bright, but once again, this little T3 has surprised me. I can see that this light is going to be a lot of fun, especially on them walks through the park...

Also, I'll see if I can get some beamshots (never have tried this).

Wow 100 yards! You sh*tting me? :naughty:

Anyway thanks for that mini review. Looking forward to some nice pics.

On the 100 yards thing... it's all relative. I've used pretty much all of my 2x123 lights to way past 100 yards. Not all were that impressive, but I've tried most of them that far. A couple weeks ago, we were at my father in law's property and he was walking down from the tractor barn which is 120 yards from the gates to the orchard. I knew he was on the other side, so I was shining my light up that way, but just to the west of where he was assuming he would walk around to the east. The light I was using was a Vital Gear body with a TW0K-modified BOG module with 2 R123s.

Anyway, from that distance, I could brighten the side of the barn and could cast a fairly distinct shadow on the barn from an apple tree. I could have easily distinguished the difference between a man or a woman and could have told of someone had long hair or short and blonde hair or dark hair, but I couldn't have distinguished between my father in law and one of his brothers.

And since he walked around the other way, he told me to get that $@#! light out of his &*#%ing eyes... and that was without the hotspot shining at him and from 120 yards away.

Hey Guys,

Just thought I would check back on this thread and let you know that I am selling my T3...

I really did like that flashlight. It really is an awesome light, but for the application that I bought the T3 for, it was a little too bright... I have 2 dogs that I take outside at night and they are always tracking and sniffing stuff. I have to make sure that they don't "get into" anything, so I shine the beam on the ground where they stop and sniff. The beam is really bright on the ground, so you can imagine what this does to my eyes and the dogs.

So, I figured that I would just keep the T3 and get the T2 with less power, but then something caught my eye... The SureFire E2L... According to FlashlightReviews.com, it has a little less power than the T3, which for me, is a step in the right direction.

So, now I have an E2L on the way. I think that this light is going to be perfect for what I want to use it for. I really like the different head conversions that you can buy for this light, it really makes it versatile... The main thing that I like about the E2L is the optical lens (the main component that I like on the Inova lights, also). Another part of the E2L that I think is going to be a very helpful piece is the clip. This is something that the Inova doesn't have and my experience with the T3 shows that this could be very useful.

Sooo, there you have it. I am in no way knocking the T3, not at all. The light is excellent. And yes, 50-100 yard throw from this T3 may sound like a "stretch" for some of you guys, but I seem to be looking at this with a different perspective... Of course this light isn't going to "spot" targets at 100 yards, but it will illuminate them and give you a good idea of what is there.

Trying to disguise my "flashaholism"...