INOVA 5-LED Around 8 to 10 Years Old?

8 to 10 years ago, I bought this flashlight at a "Sharper Image" store for about $40.00, because I had never seen a flashlight like it before. I'm new here and I'm not a flashlight guy, so please excuse my ignorance, but I'm wondering if what I have is valuable. It is 4 5/8" long, 3/4" in diameter (from end to end). On the back end is "INOVA Patents Pending". The whole thing is silver in color (aluminum maybe), and the tip where the 5 blue LEDs are rotates to turn on/off. That rotating part is smooth, but the rest of the shaft has 8 milled grooves running down the shaft. There's a hole through the unit near the rear for attaching a lanyard. The 2 batteries inside are lithium 3.0v 03-2019.
I love it, and it's really bright (to me anyway). Can anyone tell me what I have??

It's an Inova X5 I believe. I have one also, but mine is all black. Don't even remember where I got it. I doubt if it's valuable in the sense your speaking though. Edited my post with a photo. My Inova is the 3rd light from the right. It's definitely showing it's age and wear, but still works.

I purchased one from SnapOn when they were new. The LEDs didn't match in color and the twisty tailcap switch was quick to get intermittent. I traded it in on some other stuff later.

The Inova X5 has gone through a few revisions and a new, 2-level version was recently introduced.

Links:
http://inovalight.com/x/techspecs_x5.php
http://www.niteize.com/products/inova-x5-series

Can't go past an Inova X5 in Red, 2nd only to a Milky Candle as far as battery vampires go...!

Yup, it is an Inova X5, first generation. The next generation had a tail cap twistie (linked below), the 3rd generation had flat sides instead of the grooved sides (which they still have). I have a second gen. It was my first "real" light. Puts out about 40 lumen and sucks down the 123s in short order. Not regulated either. Sorry, no value except to the Inova collector.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?315374-My-Modest-Collection

I just sold two on the MP. I'll leave the pictures up until the second recipient gets his light, if you would like to look.

Yeah, an X5 was the first well-built light I ever had. I think I had 4 or 5 of them at various points. They only ones that are particularly sought after are the ones with red LEDs and the olive drab HAIII version which tend to go for ~$60 - $100 or so. Most Fry's stores still have many of the white and blue lights in stock though they are mostly the second gen lights.

Moka said:

Can't go past an Inova X5 in Red, 2nd only to a Milky Candle as far as battery vampires go...!

Click to expand...

I don't know about that...I finally shut my L1-RD off after 114 hours...it was no longer producing usable light, although the put-put seemed to have stabilized, and it probably would have gone another 20-40 hours.

I just acquired one of LEDaddicts X5-RD's, and am looking to do a runtime test on this as well...but, I'm thinking of actually doing one of the L1 and X5 side-by-side, as I think that'll be more useful.

With that, I know I have a 1st Gen X5-WH...I bought it when I was station in Korea in '03. Still ahve and it's still running strong...the threads on it are actually smoother than my Surefires. Awesome light...bomb proof...one of my few Non-SF lights that I actually kept.

Anyways, off to put a fresh cell in my L1-RD and X5-Red (I should have done them both together to begin with, but, oh well...lesson learned). I have a feeling, regardless of the out come, I will be keeping both for a verrryyy long time.

So, we got any takers as to which will out-perform which?

l1-RD ~vs~ X5-Red ??? Not necessarily overall runtime, but useful runtime???

angelofwar said:

I don't know about that...I finally shut my L1-RD off after 114 hours...it was no longer producing usable light, although the put-put seemed to have stabilized, and it probably would have gone another 20-40 hours.

I just acquired one of LEDaddicts X5-RD's, and am looking to do a runtime test on this as well...but, I'm thinking of actually doing one of the L1 and X5 side-by-side, as I think that'll be more useful.

With that, I know I have a 1st Gen X5-WH...I bought it when I was station in Korea in '03. Still ahve and it's still running strong...the threads on it are actually smoother than my Surefires. Awesome light...bomb proof...one of my few Non-SF lights that I actually kept.

Anyways, off to put a fresh cell in my L1-RD and X5-Red (I should have done them both together to begin with, but, oh well...lesson learned). I have a feeling, regardless of the out come, I will be keeping both for a verrryyy long time.

So, we got any takers as to which will out-perform which?

l1-RD ~vs~ X5-Red ??? Not necessarily overall runtime, but useful runtime???

Click to expand...

I'm guessing both of them will last ridiculously long regardless of which one 'wins'... though I'll throw in a vote for the X5 to beat the L1 by half a day to a full day.

When I had a red X5, I was never able to complete an acutal runtime test since I liked using the light so much.

I did recently put in a XRE R2 into an old Nuwai Q3. Converted it to direct drive and use a nickle has a heatsink. Run direct drive off a CR123, it ran from Tuesday @ 4:30pm through the next Tuesday @ 11am when it seemed to completely shut off. If I leave it turned off for a half hour, it will light back up with enough light to read by. I checked the pull at the tailcap every evening. Overall, it slowly dropped over the first three days, then provided maybe 6 or 8 lumens for the next three days then trickled off to the 1 lumen range for the last day. I'm guessing the red X5 will act the same, but won't last quite as long as I'd suspect the five 5mm LEDs will pull more than the single XRE.