Anyone picked up a Eagletac D25A recently?

The 1xAA form factor is becoming a favorite of mine and I'm interested in the D25A clicky, possibly the Nichia variant, would be interesting on a 14500. However, around the Internet I've read reports of these lights having a blue ring in the beam presumably a result of the AR coating. I was wondering if anyone has purchased one recently and if this issue still exists? Also curious if you feel these are worth the $50 price tag.

I have the D25A2 xml2 and don't have any problems with the beam and I feel it's worth it's price. Love the ui, features, output and runtime

Most lights with AR coatings and also stainless steel bezels can/will produce this effect. It is on the very outside of the beam and in real world use not very noticeable. For whitewall hunters it is noticeable, particularly when up against the wall sideways. I have a Nichia 219 D25A and I love it. I have had many D25A models with various emitters but the Nichia is my favorite. It goes with me in my pocket everyday for work and leisure and it is still holding up. I believe the price is reasonable for what you get. The 2014 titanium models are on sale right now and can be had for near the price of the aluminum models. That is just in case you are in to titanium.

I was considering the Eagletac D25A, but decided to get an Armytek Prime A1 and A2 instead. Tougher, brighter, and (IMO) nicer UI. Available in warm tint, too.

But I still might get an Eagletac D25A for the Nichia 219. That is a great LED, if you don't need something bright. As for the other LED choices, I think the Armytek is a better light for the price.

I have some of the old 4sevens Quarks, but they no longer make them. Eagletac is a good alternative to 4sevens, now that 4sevens has gone in a different direction.

I have a D25A Clicky - XP-G R4 in Natural White that's a couple years old.

No purple/blue rings

Same for my L3 Illumination L10 with a Nichia 219 (NW)

The D25A Clicky with the Nichia LED is well worth the money and is my favorite carry light, I have been carrying one everyday for the past couple of years with an 14500 battery.

The blue ring is only noticeable on a white wall with the light perpendicular to the wall and using the 14500 battery I find the light to be just as bright as the D25A2 with two AA's.

I highly recommend this light to anyone that is looking for an EDC light that is comfortable in the pocket.

Yes I have the L11C with Nichia 219b and it's an outstanding light for the price. The only light I have that I'd care to have backups. Everything about it is really perfect for me.

I'm not huge on all the flashy modes of the Eagletac, but they do support 14500 which could be nice in giving the Nichia a little more oomph. It's about the same diameter as the L11C which is big for me and also seems to be shorter by 0.3 inches making a nice, compact light. Would love to see a side by side comparison if anyone cares to post a pic. Anyone running 14500s in theirs and will flat top cells work in them?

I've yet to look at Armytek and will have to do some research on them.

I really would like to get one D25A ti 2015 219. The blue outer ring comes from budget light review I think. I don't know if with 2015 this is corrected or not.

rickyro said:

I really would like to get one D25A ti 2015 219. The blue outer ring comes from budget light review I think. I don't know if with 2015 this is corrected or not.

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Yes that's the site where I saw the complaint. I don't really care about the titanium, the regular version is fine with me. The 2014 batch was reviewed there and would like to see an updated review of the 2015 version.

I think an interesting review would be the 2015 D25A and L11C head to head including 14500 info also.

uofaengr said:

Yes that's the site where I saw the complaint. I don't really care about the titanium, the regular version is fine with me. The 2014 batch was reviewed there and would like to see an updated review of the 2015 version.

I think an interesting review would be the 2015 D25A and L11C head to head including 14500 info also.

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In some pictures of their review of L10C, D25A 2014 was also in for a comparison. It seems that D25A is quite shorter and looks much nicer.

Titanium is a much Nicer material compared with HA AL. After getting my first and only ti light McGizmo, I like the feel of body and finish much more than non-titanium.

All of the EagleTac lights I own don't support flat top cells, as they employ their reverse battery protection by having a raised ring around the center contact.

rickyro said:

In some pictures of their review of L10C, D25A 2014 was also in for a comparison. It seems that D25A is quite shorter and looks much nicer.

Titanium is a much Nicer material compared with HA AL. After getting my first and only ti light McGizmo, I like the feel of body and finish much more than non-titanium.

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I'm starting to warm to the look of the titanium and think the 2015 model looks better. Also claims a dimmable mode when on Li-ion? Also claims better heat sinking. Too bad there's no reviews of this light out anywhere. The titanium itself could be reason to justify this light as I don't have one.

My L11C doesn't support flat tops either, but just playing around stuck a bit of aluminum foil on the positive to make contact, probably not a good long term fix.

uofaengr said:

I'm starting to warm to the look of the titanium and think the 2015 model looks better. Also claims a dimmable mode when on Li-ion? Also claims better heat sinking. Too bad there's no reviews of this light out anywhere. The titanium itself could be reason to justify this light as I don't have one. My L11C doesn't support flat tops either, but just playing around stuck a bit of aluminum foil on the positive to make contact, probably not a good long term fix.

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Yeah, different material is quite a good topic for being flashaholic after the basic features and demanfs are met. I also found the copper, brass, ss are all fun to play with. I think I will finally got one 2015 ti no matter if the blue ring is still there since I cannot find many interesting and affordable titanium lights from the markets. 2015 ti seems to me being a sweet point with LED, design, price, brand all taken into account.By the way, that light being developed by one CPF member and discussed here is also very interesting.

I have a 2014 Titanium D25A and the only dislike I have for it is that the head screws into the body versus the body screwing into the head like the aluminum version, other than that it's just another awesome light.

I have keychained a D25A Ti Nichia 219 for almost a year. It makes my keys huge, it's actually too big to really be a good keychain light, but I do it anyway because it's such a GREAT 1xAA light. Besides, I almost always carry my keys in my bag, not my pocket... so it's all good.

I have the 2014 model, I bought it shortly after they came out. It has 4 problems, all minor and none of them "deal breakers". It has no "moonlight" mode when using 14500, so I power it with an Eneloop Pro instead. It has the "blue ring" on the outer edge of the beam, caused by the anti-reflective coating on the glass. I don't notice this unless I'm intentionally looking for it. The "moonlight" mode is a bit too high for such a mode, seems like 2 or 3 Lumens - just barely on the edge of acceptible (for my needs). I wish it were about half as bright. Finally, there is no difference between "high" and "turbo" mode brightness when using 14500, another problem that is solved by me using an Eneloop Pro to power it. I do not know if these 4 problems have been solved in the 2015 version, but it doesn't matter to me. All of these problems are so minor when considering the level of TRUE GREATNESS that the rest of this light represents.

The bottom line? This is an AWESOME 1xAA Eneloop light, and a pretty good 1x14500 light if you don't need moonlight mode.

I highly recommend it, despite the warts.

yoyobrotha said:

All of the EagleTac lights I own don't support flat top cells, as they employ their reverse battery protection by having a raised ring around the center contact.

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This is one thing I don't like about Eagletac lights, and a big reason why I generally stay away from their lithium lights. But I have to admit that I REALLY like my D25A2 XM-L2 neutral, and am considering that titanium Nichia 219 D25A on sale at Illumination Gear.

I'm still on the fence about this one. I'm not sure if I like having to twist how many ever times to get to moonlight nor do I care for any of the flashy modes. To be honest don't really care for twisting back and forth between the main modes and turbo modes. I like the simplicity of the L11C UI - ML, L, M, H, no mode memory. Just simple and it works. Something always draws me to Eagletac, but for some reason always get turned off whether it's the UI or whatever. Maybe it's not as big a deal as I'm thinking it is. I'm mostly curious to see how the 2015 version performs on 14500 and how the mode spacing is.

uofaengr said:

I'm still on the fence about this one. I'm not sure if I like having to twist how many ever times to get to moonlight nor do I care for any of the flashy modes. To be honest don't really care for twisting back and forth between the main modes and turbo modes. I like the simplicity of the L11C UI - ML, L, M, H, no mode memory. Just simple and it works. Something always draws me to Eagletac, but for some reason always get turned off whether it's the UI or whatever. Maybe it's not as big a deal as I'm thinking it is. I'm mostly curious to see how the 2015 version performs on 14500 and how the mode spacing is.

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This light (D25A) is different than most other EagleTac lights. The only "twisting" you have to do is to go from the "normal" modes to "Turbo", you tighten the head. While in the "normal" modes, you do reverse-clicky half presses (bumps) to switch between modes... just like the L11C.

Also, there's no mode memory, which is nice!

Amelia said:

This light (D25A) is different than most other EagleTac lights. The only "twisting" you have to do is to go from the "normal" modes to "Turbo", you tighten the head. While in the "normal" modes, you do reverse-clicky half presses (bumps) to switch between modes... just like the L11C.

Also, there's no mode memory, which is nice!

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Thanks for the explanation. I've still got my eye on it. Do you think they're using the updated driver that's in the 2015 Ti D25A in the aluminum version also? I'm curious to know how this "dimmable when using Li-ion" works.

uofaengr said:

Thanks for the explanation. I've still got my eye on it. Do you think they're using the updated driver that's in the 2015 Ti D25A in the aluminum version also? I'm curious to know how this "dimmable when using Li-ion" works.

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They probably fixed the "no moonlight mode with 14500" problem I previously referred to. That would be my guess.
I don't have one, and probably won't be buying one (I have 3 of the 2014 model stashed away) so you'll need to find better info from someone who owns a 2015.