Upgraded Inova T4

just picked up a Inova T4 from fry's electronics for $129.99. caught my eye because unlike the last one I couldn't unload back on them fast enough, it had a new box. Someone was kind enough to open it for me, so I peeked inside.

Flashlight itself now has the charging LED integrated into it's case above the on/off switch.

pulling the battery out reveals a big copper spring inside, close to the front of the flashlight (not installed in the tail cap, still has that rubber grommet)

the charging base stand now has a much firmer feel to the contacts and side contacts inside it, pulling out the bottom reveals a spring that fell out and I spent a while searching for, the old chrome buttons that make contact with the unit itself, and a small 3M electrical piece that looks like a clear/red M&M. gone is the circuit board, a nice improvement actually since all the flexing probably isn't good from the old push contact system used with the old setup. No LED on the unit either, Inova's logo is now all over it.

other improvements is that it claims it's now 175 lumens, not sure what upgrade it got in that department. charging contacts on the light itself now look like chrome instead of a brass, still has a serial number etched on it.

the box (covered by the price tag) claims to have the following modes:

high power,low power,strobe, and off. haven't tested it yet since it is charging up. was charged up when I got it, but I think only for quality control purposes so i'll give it a full charge before going into the rest of it.

will update with more info and pictures later of the box and everything if anyone wants. apologies if this was actually posted somewhere else also, maybe there is new hope for this flashlight!

god, I think this pos just failed..... :thumbsdow :sick2:

either the charging led failed or the charger itself failed, who the hell knows.....

I don't know why it failed on you because I don't have the T4 but T5. And just to let you know you can have it cheaper at BOG with fast shipping and customer support. If something's wrong you can email, PM, call, ... and they will answer almost right away.

mohavewolfpup said:

....
either the charging led failed or the charger itself failed, who the hell knows.....

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Sorry to hear about that. You have a newer T4. Perhaps it is like the older version T4 in that you must remove the tailcap and clean the very end of the battery tube, then reinstall the tailcap tightly to avoid charging problems.

It seems like any electrical resistance in that area interferes with the charger sensing the battery's state of charge. In my T4, the lubrication grease applied to the threads had migrated along the back edge of the battery tube and I had to clean the grease off the edge of the tube.

I have had no charging problems with the two I have delt with. Inova's customer service is very good.

EDIT: The first unit I received I got very wet and it did stop charging, but this was my fault and not the lights. See post below.

Good Luck

Bill

What changed is the LED. Now it has a current gen LED which is twice or more efficient then the last one.

Maybe you should return it and go for a different light. Or get it to customer service.

i may return it, grab a new one, test that, if it fails then i'm trying the pelican lapd one. is that one good, or a junker like these T4's?

so far i've been through about 3-4 T4 flash lights, got 2 good ones out of it and family members have those now (christmas presents) striking out with this second or 3rd generation of it.

i'm saddened by how rapidly it failed. now it's stuck in permanent strobe mode after a while, I think something got fried in it.... sigh

Did you get them Wet? The T4's are not very water resistant. They will survive a quick spash but are not dunkable. I got my first one wet and it stopped charging. The last two I've got (and did not dunk in water) I have had no problems with. I spoke with customer service and they confirmed the lights are not submersible at all and they are not warrantied against water damage. They appear to leak at the charging terminals which has no o-ring or any type of seal at all. They are splash resistant but I would be very careful with the T4 around any type of water use. For me all the other great factors of the T4 more than make up for the only slight water resistance.

Bill

Hitthespot said:

Did you get them Wet? The T4's are not very water resistant. They will survive a quick spash but are not dunkable. I got my first one wet and it stopped charging. The last two I've got (and did not dunk in water) I have had no problems with. I spoke with customer service and they confirmed the lights are not submersible at all and they are not warrantied against water damage. They appear to leak at the charging terminals which has no o-ring or any type of seal at all. They are splash resistant but I would be very careful with the T4 around any type of water use. For me all the other great factors of the T4 more than make up for the only slight water resistance.

Bill

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it's been a charger snake, sat in it's cradle until the charge led failed and then ran a battery test on it. never been outside once. going back along with some other stuff...

My T4 came with a minimal charge. Hi and low worked, but strobe did not. I charged it up and it has run just fine since. It is very bright and has a fantastic beam and nice warm tint.

Being water resistant and not submersible is the trade off for not having to buy batteries for it and always having a full charge. Otherwise it looks very durable.

mohavewolfpup said:

it's been a charger snake, sat in it's cradle until the charge led failed and then ran a battery test on it. never been outside once. going back along with some other stuff...

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I have been very happy with the one I now use almost daily. Most of the vendors who advertise on CPF and Inova have a reputation for taking care of their customers. I hope everythng works out for you.

Bill

Xak said:

My T4 came with a minimal charge. Hi and low worked, but strobe did not. I charged it up and it has run just fine since. It is very bright and has a fantastic beam and nice warm tint.

Being water resistant and not submersible is the trade off for not having to buy batteries for it and always having a full charge. Otherwise it looks very durable.

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does the charge led on it's body still work? I don't get a green light or anything now from it, and it just strobes when the battery gets weaker. seems to still charge, but it is flaky with the strobing when the battery gets weaker and lack of charging led. red for charging and green for finished?

A couple of thoughts:
Make sure that the light is dropping onto the indexing pin. I always have to snap the light into the charger, then wiggle it until it drops onto the pin. Then the led lights up.

Make sure that the body and charger contacts are all clean and free of debris. A small piece of junk anywhere in the interface area can prevent the contacts from doing their thing.

Personally, I never buy anything from Fry's if it has been opened. I have had some bad experiences with broken, missing, incorrect components.

The led should be red for charging, and turn green when charged.

Good luck.

gerG

gerG said:

A couple of thoughts:
Make sure that the light is dropping onto the indexing pin. I always have to snap the light into the charger, then wiggle it until it drops onto the pin. Then the led lights up.

Make sure that the body and charger contacts are all clean and free of debris. A small piece of junk anywhere in the interface area can prevent the contacts from doing their thing.

Personally, I never buy anything from Fry's if it has been opened. I have had some bad experiences with broken, missing, incorrect components.

The led should be red for charging, and turn green when charged.

Good luck.

gerG

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I never buy opened items unless it's something that can't be affected by being opened and possibly manhandled.

i'll just return it, it's acting flaky still and get a new one

mohavewolfpup said:

does the charge led on it's body still work? I don't get a green light or anything now from it, and it just strobes when the battery gets weaker. seems to still charge, but it is flaky with the strobing when the battery gets weaker and lack of charging led. red for charging and green for finished?

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Runs just fine. LED is red during charging and turns green when it's fully charged. I know I stated that the strobe didn't work when I first got it, that may have been user error (me not double clicking correctly because I hadn't read the directions yet), or it may have been because it doesn't come with a strong charge (the directions say to charge it before use anyhow).

I tossed it in the charger till the light turned from red to green (read the directions in the meantime) and have just been amazed at this lights performance ever since.

However, I have not used it for any extended period yet so I can't comment on it's performance as the battery drains.

got a new one, lets hope this works...

Let us know...

so far so good, actually charged up and turned green without the status light dying. now i'm letting it run down and then dropping it back on the charger for round 2