Any info on the Tiablo E3A Exquisite Series AAA?

Does anyone have any further info on the Tiablo E3A Exquisite Series AAA? It looks really interesting and I was certain that a search on CPF would bring up at least something about it but, nada. Is this product actually available or will it be soon?

I have a Black Cat AAA made by Tank that I really enjoy because among other reasons I'm partial to a tail clicky on a light that size but ultimately the Black Cat is an 8 dollar budget light with one mode. A well built AAA XP-G R5 that can run a 10440 and claims 200 lumens at 600mA along with all the other appealing features this light offers could be pretty cool!

The manufacturer's data indicates the E3A is almost exactly the same size as the updated NiteCore EZ-AA R5. Although the E3A is advertised as being able to produce 200 lumens (presumably at the emitter), the AA cell format of the EZ-AA ought to provide greater runtimes.

Not enough of an incentive for me to part with my cash (there's already plenty of incentive in the market for that).

Yes, you make a good point. It is a bit beefy for a AAA.

Actually, on second thought maybe the E3A isn't so beefy after all. At 14.2mm diameter it's only a hair wider than an ITP A3 EOS at 14mm. Of course, it weighs more and it's longer because of the tail clicky, but indeed, what interests me about this light is the UI combination of a tail clicky with a head switch in a bright AAA body. The NiteCore EZ-AA R5 seems like a nice light but it's a AA with a twisty that is wider and heavier still. To my mind a AA is a whole different animal. Actually, I've got my eye on a Quark single AA tactical, in part because of the tail clicky and UI but my interest here is specifically that it's a AAA. Interesting how Googling "Tiablo E3A Exquisite Series" doesn't really bring up much. Probably this unit isn't on the market just yet.

Did another search for this light today. Found a few foreign dealers. The only review I found was posted on a website Google translated from Slovakian. The closest dealer to the states appears to be in Canada but I dare not linky. Hopefully one of OUR North American Tiablo dealers gets their hands on this soon. So I can get my grubby paws on it.
poke:7777)

Function: High----Low----Strobe

JDest said:

Hopefully one of OUR North American Tiablo dealers gets their hands on this soon. So I can get my grubby paws on it.

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JDest, I went to the trouble of writing an email to Tiablo ([email protected]) after I saw your post asking for some info about the USA availability of this light and the rest of the "E" series. I even mentioned the "enormous groundswell of anticipation and excitement" over at CPF. (well, I didn't really put it quite that way but maybe I should have).

Alas, no response whatsoever (so far). I guess they're playing this pretty close to the vest (or they don't check their mail). Or perhaps there is a supplier issue that needs to be resolved before they can put this thing out there.

I was lost at high - low - strobe. VERY happy with my Illuminati CA1 XP-G at 115 lumens, low - med - high. I can't kill this light. Still blazing away with the battery it came with.

I finally got a reply after five days from Tiablo regarding my email query about the new "E Series flashlights. They were a little vague about when the light will actually be available here in the U.S. but it should be soon as they confirm it is now in production. The E1A and E2A should start showing up in October, they say.

"Tiablo E3A is now in production and has already started to ship to dealers
worldwide. Currently one dealer, Kit-Tronics in North America, has in
stock.

Tiablo E3A Exquisite EDC 200 Lumens LED Flashlight
(see: (www) kit-tronics.com/xcart/product.php?productid=4212)


Tiablo E1A and E2A will only be in production end of the month with
expected delivery to dealers during October 2010."

Looks like a nifty little light, but no low-low and that it's high first is a deal breaker for me...

I use my pocket light every day (night) for navigating to the potty, checking on the kids, making sure doors/windows are closed and locked, etc. and simply MUST have a low-low that comes on first.

B0wz3r said:

Looks like a nifty little light, but no low-low and that it's high first is a deal breaker for me...

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You have a point. 30 lumens is hardly "low". The longer I use LED powered lights the more I've come to appreciate moonlight mode, pretty much for the reasons you describe. On the other hand that's why I own a collection of lights and use them in different ways at different times. Maybe the next iteration of this light will have a lower low although that may be awhile.

Interesting timing to bring this up. I've been following a thread on the subject, "Do you really use 0.2 lumen?"

EZO said:

You have a point. 30 lumens is hardly "low". The longer I use LED powered lights the more I've come to appreciate moonlight mode, pretty much for the reasons you describe. On the other hand that's why I own a collection of lights and use them in different ways at different times. Maybe the next iteration of this light will have a lower low although that may be awhile.

Interesting timing to bring this up. I've been following a thread on the subject, "Do you really use 0.2 lumen?"

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Hey EZO, I agree, 30 Lumens is higher than the "medium" mode on my Quarks or Jetbeams... :thinking:

I saw that thread but too late... don't really have the time to read through the whole thing, but the short answer is yeah, I do use a "moon mode" regularly, even though not exactly .2 lumens. I typically have one of the modes on my Jet III Pro ST set to its minimum setting which is supposed to be 2 lumens. For my tired old eyes that's the best level for a moon mode or night vision mode.

A shame this Tiablo won't work for me; I'm coming to be more and more of a fan of the smallest lights I can find but this one just won't cut it. It would be fantastic to have a light like that with a moon mode and a neutral white emitter... I'd be one of the first to order if they did.

You're the man EZO. Thanks a million for getting a response from Tiablo directly. I'm going to attempt to hold out until one of the CPF dealers gets these bad boys in, but I may soon cave and just get it already. This would be great for my purposes. Strobe doesn't bother me at all, especially when it comes on last.

JDest said:

You're the man EZO. Thanks a million for getting a response from Tiablo directly. I'm going to attempt to hold out until one of the CPF dealers gets these bad boys in, but I may soon cave and just get it already. This would be great for my purposes. Strobe doesn't bother me at all, especially when it comes on last.

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I have ordered one from the Canadian dealer and it should arrive today or tomorrow.

Thanks
Todd

diesel_dad said:

I have ordered one from the Canadian dealer and it should arrive today or tomorrow.

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Cool! A CPFer takes the first plunge! Looking forward to hearing your first impressions.

Good show diesel_dad. I hope you know that you are required by the CPF honor code to report your findings immediately.:nana:

JDest said:

Good show diesel_dad. I hope you know that you are required by the CPF honor code to report your findings immediately.:nana:

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Canada Post forecasts delivery tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Cool! Can't wait to hear your impressions.

It seems unusual that a light like this from a well known and respected company has what amounts to a stealth introduction for a product line such as this. Perhaps it's the way Tiablo wishes to introduce this product but not really being all that familiar with their previous product intros I wouldn't really know.

All I can say is that I have slowly become a huge fan of bright small AAA lights (torches?) with a good tail clicky and can't wait to see what Tiablo has come up with. Not sure what their thinking is regarding the low setting though, but that could change.

diesel_dad said:

Canada Post forecasts delivery tomorrow, so stay tuned.

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The E3A arrived today and here are my initial impressions:
Finish - excellent matte finish anodizing, no apparent flaws
Threads - smooth with no lubrication required out of the box
Beam quality - slightly floody with nice hotspot, no artifacts, less throw than my Quark AA
UI - simple but not my preference
Weight - very light
Switch - nice forward clicky, positive response, not too much force required
Does not tail stand due to click sticking out

Compared to my old Fenix L0D, this is a great little light. Costs were reasonable and the CDN dealer delivered exactly as promised.

Suggestions for improvement:
Low needs to be lower (0.2 lumens like Quark AA)
First setting needs to be low rather than high
Could live without the strobe

The brightness with a NiMH AAA is similar to Med-High on Quark AA. I do not have a 10440 but I would be scared to use one anyway. Nowhere does it state that there is a low battery warning or shutoff. There are no protected 10440 on the market. So it seems like a recipe for a small meltdown. Bright enough for me with NiMh but hopefully there will be some brave folks that push the envelope.

Great light -- if it started with a low-low, then it would be perfect.

Hey diesel_dad,

Thanks for the report on the E3A. Sounds like this light has much of what I had hoped for but with some big holes in the offering. Glad to hear that is has a forward clicky though. It's interesting that the Tiablo web site said it had a"tactical reverse clicky with knobbing head switch" but the Kit-Tronic site said "forward clicky". Then again, the Tiablo site also spelled switch as "stwitch".

When I saw that the E3A would have a "knobbing head switch" along with a tail clicky I thought perhaps it would allow for more control over the output, kind of like the Quark Tactical UI where you can choose which mode comes on when you hit the clicky. So what exactly does the head switch do on this thing?

It's really too bad this light has no adequate low setting and a backwards UI. Still, I'm very curious to learn how this light will perform with a 10440. If it turns out to be a real "pocket rocket" with that battery I might see my way past its shortcomings. I seem to be developing a taste for small powerful flashlights and I'm glad to see companies giving more attention to the AAA form factor. By the way DX offers protected 10440s from Trustfire and Ultrafire but they are of course slightly longer than a standard AAA. (sku: 36026 & 30788)