D2 Super Bright Flashligt wtih Cree P4 LED (CR123A and 18650 Powered)
by Tenergy
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Product Details
Manufacturer: TenergyTools and Hardware Reviews of D2 Super Bright Flashligt wtih Cree P4 LED (CR123A and 18650 Powered)
Customer Review: A single battery rechargable li-ion at a reasonable price
Summary: 5 Stars
Why did I buy ANOTHER flashlight (or more appropriately what's my excuse this time?) Well - a while back I bought the surefire e2d SureFire E2D LED Defender Flashlight Max-120 Lumens E2DL-BK and with ~200 lumens [amazon needs to update their description] in a 135mm long package only 17mm in diameter it is a killer light, but you get a choice - 200 lumens and your 2 cr-123 cells are dead in 75 min OR 15 more reasonable lumens and they last 60 hours give or take. I found 95% of the time I was using it in the 15 lumen mode for the above reason, and quite happy - but it lacked the eco-friendlyness of a rechargable.
Step forward a year and we have the 18650 li-ion cell virtually perfected with the protection pcb integrated in the cell. It is one of the most common building blocks of laptop battery packs. 2.6 ish amp hours (some are 3.0 Ah) and it is exactly the size of 2 cr-123's stacked on top of each other, except in diameter where it is one mm larger. Along time ago I said, someone should make a flashlight around these li-ion energy storage warehouses instead of the $1 ea CR-123's, which are still a bargain but end up in the landfill.
Tenergy did exactly what I wanted. The D2 is 125mm overall and 32.5 mm at its maximum diameter for accessories to slide over the head. It uses just one 18650 battery, and has a clicky style tailcap. click once and you get high power (est 30 ish lumens) click twice and you get low power (almost exactly equal to the 15 lumens i've been using from the surefire) click again and it turns off. I have not tried mine running on cr123s but I expect the numbers to go up with the 6V from 2 CR123s vs 4V from the 18650.
On high power it draws about 220 mA, so a 18650 cell should last 10 hours on high.
One design feature I did not like is that instead of designing a pulse modulating digital control for lower powers (which doesnt waste energy) they just put a resistor in series with the led of about 7.5 ohms. So running it on low converts some electric power to light in the head of the light and just wastes some as heat in the tail when you use the dim mode. But what the heck it uses rechargable batteries.
I bought the complete kit from tenergy - a package of 4 batteries with the all important protection circuit built in to prevent battery fires that plagued the laptop industry for years 4 pcs Tenergy Li-Ion 18650 3.7V 2600 mAh Rechargeable Batteries with Internal PCB for flashlights and others and a recharger also from tenergy Universal Li-Ion Plug-in Charger for 18650 cells. It's interesting to note that a battery mfgr has entered the flashlight mfgr space but hey - they did a decent job.
One of my likes is if for some reason all 4 of my 18650 batteries are dead I can put 2 CR123 cells into the body and it will run fine. Another like is that I can buy the whole kit for less than half the price of the surefire e2d so if the light goes missing it won't set me back $150.
There are other companies that I will no doubt make excuses to try their 18650 cell flashlights, especially when their lumen count gets up there - but for now this is a great all around use it and abuse it sealed up lamp that will take the place of the e2d for houshold work. While traveling I will probably take the E2d just for the convenience feature.
Last note before I go - if you are wondering about these wild battery numbers like 14250 18650 etc they simply refer to the dimentions of the cell with one decimal point in the length and no decimal digit in the diameter. so a 14250 decodes as 14 mm in diameter and 25.0 mm long, the 18650 decodes as 18mm diameter and 65.0 mm long. The CR123 is about 17mm +/- 0.2 mm diameter so there are some tight fit lights that are only going to take the cr123 batteries and not the 18650 = 2 cr123's in size but not in voltage (6V vs. 4V during discharge) Going the other way, you can always put the cr123 cells (x2) into a 18650 space with room to spare. Nowhere is the capacity specified so you must search for it - today on amazon there are 2000, 2200, 2600, and 3000 mAh 18650 cells available. Unlike NiMH, the li-ion do not loose but about 1% or less per month so you can charge them then store them, and with a pack of 4 keep one in the light, one in the car, and 2 at home. BTW, the tenergy charger can do 2 cells at once, but can also do just one cell at a time, so you do not need to pair them up.
The 18650 cell has alot of potential in flashlights - expect bigger and brighter ones to come out as the technology presents itself.
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