Review ITP A3 EOS Titanium

Skipping to the end: I am truly impressed, and recommend it.
For the past couple of years, I had an LD01 (Q5) EDC on my keychain. I have just received the A3 (XP-G R5) as the intended replacement. Sadly, I do not have access to basic tools: ruler, scale, or camera; sorry about that.
It comes with 2 extra O-rings, pocket clip, lobster claw keychain, and is packaged in small, metal tin that looks like it has mints inside, but1 x AAA not included. It is, maybe, ten bucks more than the LD01.


LOOKING GOOD
the A3 is slightly shorter and a tad heavier. It has a high polish, so it can easily be mistaken for SS or chrome, although the color is slightly darker. The LD01 has gouges, scratches, and nicks; how long the A3 will retain its shiny, mirror finish, we shall see. Unlike the LD01, the A3 does not tailstand since that is where the keychain is connected. Both the head and body are knurled slightly.


LET THERE BE LIGHT
Putting fresh batteries in both, I did some white wall hunting. Despite the dramatic difference in LED's, the beams were remarkably similar. The shape and intensity were nearly identical, close enough to call it a draw. The R5 had a cool, bluish tint, while the Q5 had a warm, yellowish tint; I prefer the color of the Q5.


MODES
Here, the A3 won hands down. The first mode is a fauxton-like 2 lumens low mode, quite useful and very nice; the LD01 low is not that low. The PWM of the LD01 is quite noticeable and annoying to the point that I never use the med or low modes. The A3 has a high enough frequency to be not noticeable; hallelujah.


FINAL WORD
I had trouble finding the A3 (in fact, I found it kinda by accident), so I think it might be discontinued. I am quite impressed, and give it highest recommendation: buy it if you ever see it for sale.

No pictures?

The head is a little difficult to turn because of the o-ring.
i dont know why my o-ring is so swelled. i had applied silicone grease and exchanged it with superlube.
i mean i like it that it's impossible to lose the head. tight with the "fat" o-ring. but definitely not easy to operate.
the threads are fine (they produce grey gunk in any case and are NOT wear-resistant!) .. just the o-ring is a little too fat. even superlube doesnt help here.

twisting operation was much easier when the a3 was new (and unlubed). since i have applied lubes (silicone grease OR superlube), twisting with 1-hand has become impossible.

The itp A3 has been replaced with the Olight i3. Olight was the parent company of itp, and the A1, A2 are similarly replaced with I1,I2s. The A6 polestar's closest cousin the baton S65 that uses 6xAAs.

joe1512 said:

The itp A3 has been replaced with the Olight i3.

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true.

but i think that the itp a3 still comes off the production machines!
unless we have an official statement from a itp machinist, we wont know.

actually, if i was the chief of itp i wouldnt let you cpf guys know whether the a3 is still being produced or not. think about it. disclosing that itp a3 isnt produced any longer would harm a3 sales (and pricing). disclosing that itp a3 is still being manufactured would question the sense and quality and right to exist of the olight i3.

fact is, the itp a3 has better performance data (brightness AND runtimes) than the olight i3. and it's cheaper and exists in Titanium, stainless steel.

i am assuming that itp a3 is still being manufactured. in parallel to olight i3. because both models sell well.

Thread galling is a known drawback of titanium threads. I have the SS version of the light and love it.

If you want to be blown away, try a 10440 cell in it.

joe1512 said:

The itp A3 has been replaced with the Olight i3. Olight was the parent company of itp, and the A1, A2 are similarly replaced with I1,I2s. The A6 polestar's closest cousin the baton S65 that uses 6xAAs.

Click to expand...

I've been enjoying my ITP 3A EOS SS for the past week. I looked at the Olight i3, but...there was no SS model. Please correct me if wrong, as I'll buy one too. Both have a Cree XPG and similar modes.

jondotcom said:

If you want to be blown away, try a 10440 cell in it.

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max runtime of the itp a3 xpg-r5 on a typical blue Ultrafire 10440 cell is less than 15min in High-mode. it heavily depends on the actual capacity of your cell and is more like 10mins (because ultrafire cells are low quality cells with fluctuating capacity).

current draw in High-mode with 10440 is 4C

Just ordered the ITP A3 SS EOS Cree XP-G R5 from Shining Beam. I didn't own any AAA LED lights, and from the reviews & comments, this looked like a good one to keep in my pocket. :thumbsup:

No pics,we like pics.

mcnair55 said:

No pics,we like pics.

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yeah, I know. I lost all my stuff (including my flashlight collection) in a fire, so no pics. sorry.

jerry i h said:

yeah, I know. I lost all my stuff (including my flashlight collection) in a fire, so no pics. sorry.

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Ouch, sorry to hear that.

shelm said:

twisting operation was much easier when the a3 was new (and unlubed). since i have applied lubes (silicone grease OR superlube), twisting with 1-hand has become impossible.

Click to expand...

twisting operation is like new with a little trick:
since you use 2-hands anyway, simply press head against the body so that the threads detach from each other and THEN do the twisting operation

i do have difficulties with switching modes reliably (has something to do with Ti threads, my lube, my sample, etc.) and the above trick doesnt help it, but it does help to reduce the friction in the threads.

Twisting operation is much easier this way.

The advantage of the problematic threads is: there is no ****ing way that one could lose the head!! NO WAY. (On amazon people report about accidentally losing the iTP A3 head in the pant pockets .. )

shelm said:

The head is a little difficult to turn because of the o-ring.
i dont know why my o-ring is so swelled. i had applied silicone grease and exchanged it with superlube.

Click to expand...

Some types of silicon o-rings can react, and swell, when using silicon based oil/lube. Dont use silicon on silicon There are many threads about good lubes for o-rings here on cpf.

joe1512 said:

The itp A3 has been replaced with the Olight i3. Olight was the parent company of itp, and the A1, A2 are similarly replaced with I1,I2s. The A6 polestar's closest cousin the baton S65 that uses 6xAAs.

Click to expand...

:wave: I think so！！！i have an A3，and like it verymuch

All well and good, but there is no SS Olight i3. I am considering buying a few more ITP A3's in SS in case it is old stock.

jorn, i am going to try your rubbing component trick!! we'll see..

Julian, SS is heavy. why not buy Klarus MiX6 in Titanium?

( haha )

lol

i know, it's an insider

shelm said:

Julian, SS is heavy. why not buy Klarus MiX6 in Titanium?

( haha )

lol

i know, it's an insider

Click to expand...

Good idea. I know DinoDirect sells some great Klarus Mixups.:scowl:

anyone else having trouble with changing modes?
my Titanium unit is well maintained (cleaned, lubed, ..) but isnt very reliable with switching modes. it does mode skipping (tons!), or stays on the same mode. eventually i would get into my desired mode (Lo, Med, or Hi) but it takes some patience to get there because of the mode skipping.

i am not so sure what causes the mode skipping. i use Eneloops and 10440's.

EDC report – iTP A3 EOS Titanium

This guy has been on my keychain for acouple of months, and I can report that I am very happy with it, and certainly do prefer it to my previous EDC – the LD01.

• the finish is still beautiful, shiny metal, but is no longer mirror smooth
• it has become slightly harder to twist the head to turn it on
• only 3 modes and the first one being a low 2 lumens, is the correct UI
• has worked flawlessly

For me, this is the perfect keychain AAA EDC. I give it highest recommendation, you will not regret spending the extra $$$.