I'm not an experienced flashaholic (I am a gadgetholic in general, so that dictates I can't spend too much just on lights), and I've never owned an EagleTac light, so please tell me if what I think is a defective light is actually bad.
I receive my new toy (EagleTac P20A2 MkII) and immediately throw in the two batteries I have closest at hand, a couple of Powerex 2200mah NiMH that I've had for a year or two. They came off the charger a few days ago and hadn't been used for anything.
For those that don't know, the basic UI for this light is: forward clicky switch, bezel loose = General 60lm, Bezel tight = Turbo 270lm, quick double-twist (Turbo-Gen or Gen-Turbo) to enact Low (15lm).
So.. I turn on the light with bezel loose (general), it lights up. I twist the bezel to tighten (turbo), no change. Huh. I do a double-twist and low mode does engage. At this point I figure maybe my NiMH are older and deader than I thought - I get my DMM and both cells are right around 1.3V. I figure maybe 2.6V isnt enought to kick the light into Turbo, even though its printed on the side on the LED module 0.8 - 3.2V
Next test - two lightly used AA alkalines - 1.40V and 1.32V. Still no turbo. Now I'm getting worried.
Last test - two fresh out-of-the-box AA alkalines - 1.54V and 1.54V. Turbo works with 3.1V combined! I play with the light for MAYBE five minutes max, in turbo, general, and low modes, and the remove the batteries to test them. They are maybe a little warm, and I wait a couple minutes (I don't know if heat affects batt voltage): 1.43V and 1.44V. That much juiced sucked out in five minutes!?
So as a summary:
2.6V NiMH - no turbo
2.72V alk - no turbo
3.08V alk - turbo, reduced to 2.87V in five minutes use.
Does this sound right to you? Should it really take near-maximum voltage of 2 AA alkalines if I want to use turbo? Based on what I saw above, turbo will never work on NiMH? I didn't do a run time test, but it sure doesn't look like 2 AA alks will run in turbo mode for the claimed 1.5hours...
Another (possible) abnormality - there wasn't as much difference as I was expecting between 60lm general and 270lm turbo. 60lm turbo seems brighter than 60lm - very comparable, maybe brighter than my Quark Mini AA on high 90lm. Difficult to judge actual output for certain side-by-side b/c the beam patterns are much differnt.
So, after that long-winded story... Did I get a dud? Or does it sound like the light is operating properly and I just had different expectations?
Thanks
I receive my new toy (EagleTac P20A2 MkII) and immediately throw in the two batteries I have closest at hand, a couple of Powerex 2200mah NiMH that I've had for a year or two. They came off the charger a few days ago and hadn't been used for anything.
For those that don't know, the basic UI for this light is: forward clicky switch, bezel loose = General 60lm, Bezel tight = Turbo 270lm, quick double-twist (Turbo-Gen or Gen-Turbo) to enact Low (15lm).
So.. I turn on the light with bezel loose (general), it lights up. I twist the bezel to tighten (turbo), no change. Huh. I do a double-twist and low mode does engage. At this point I figure maybe my NiMH are older and deader than I thought - I get my DMM and both cells are right around 1.3V. I figure maybe 2.6V isnt enought to kick the light into Turbo, even though its printed on the side on the LED module 0.8 - 3.2V
Next test - two lightly used AA alkalines - 1.40V and 1.32V. Still no turbo. Now I'm getting worried.
Last test - two fresh out-of-the-box AA alkalines - 1.54V and 1.54V. Turbo works with 3.1V combined! I play with the light for MAYBE five minutes max, in turbo, general, and low modes, and the remove the batteries to test them. They are maybe a little warm, and I wait a couple minutes (I don't know if heat affects batt voltage): 1.43V and 1.44V. That much juiced sucked out in five minutes!?
So as a summary:
2.6V NiMH - no turbo
2.72V alk - no turbo
3.08V alk - turbo, reduced to 2.87V in five minutes use.
Does this sound right to you? Should it really take near-maximum voltage of 2 AA alkalines if I want to use turbo? Based on what I saw above, turbo will never work on NiMH? I didn't do a run time test, but it sure doesn't look like 2 AA alks will run in turbo mode for the claimed 1.5hours...
Another (possible) abnormality - there wasn't as much difference as I was expecting between 60lm general and 270lm turbo. 60lm turbo seems brighter than 60lm - very comparable, maybe brighter than my Quark Mini AA on high 90lm. Difficult to judge actual output for certain side-by-side b/c the beam patterns are much differnt.
So, after that long-winded story... Did I get a dud? Or does it sound like the light is operating properly and I just had different expectations?
Thanks
