My EDC Flashlight Showdown

The Flashlight Showdown

Eagletac D25C
Eagletac D25A Ti
Sunwayman V11R Mirage
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I figured since I have them I might as well share my thoughts on them as compared to one another for those looking for a single light that may have any of these on the old radar. First let me state for the Mirage and Ti editions I wasnt actually out to get the LE models but I found the Mirage on the ole ebay for less then the regular V11R which the battery extender is another 15 dollar option (It comes with the mirage, more on this later) and the Ti edition I kind of lucked into as the place I bought it from was out of the regular D25A and offered the Ti as a no extra charge replacement to make sure the order got out okay. (Ya'ay me). so lets get some thoughts on each out of the way then ill round em all up



The D25A Ti is a cool light, but im going to focus more on the model as a whole and not the difference between the regular one and the Ti edition (Which is just the titanium body anyway). A thin lightweight light that carries amazing in the pocket, this like most of the lights are to big for a keychain but the slender body of this light makes it no trouble to carry in the pockets of Jeans, dress pants, or some light weight shorts. Its pretty dang bright running the regular ole AA's as well, but it is insanely bright when run off a rechargeable 14500 battery. The older models ran direct drive off the rechargeables giving even more brightness (To the point that you could actually over heat the light) but the new models use voltage regulation in their circuits now on all levels. it can still get hot, but you can run a few minutes on the highest setting no trouble, and the medium is more then enough in most cases anyway. of the three lights this fits best in pocket. The light in its loosened state has 7 flashing modes, but they are hidden anyway, you have to cycle twice through low > medium > high, to have them become active, without turning the light off in between, so when you dont want them you dont have them here. the light does have a lower output function (Moon light) which you can activate by doing some head tight and loosen moves, but on this light its almost unnoticeable. with the head tight there is only two options, full out turbo, and strobe.



The light runs a bit fatter and much shorter then the D25A but is lighter, although the regular CR123 batteries will outlast the AA, the RCR123 (16340) in my experience don't have the life of the 14500 the D25A can run, but neither have been an issue for my thus far. this light uses the same interface that the D25A uses save for two differences. first is the moonlight when activated is super low, and very useful. its low enough even in pitch black with your eyes adjusted you can actually look down the light right at the LED, not bad for making you way to the bathroom in the middle of the night (Nice to have in a hotel room) without blinding yourself or waking anyone you may be sharing the room with. on the road you could easily read in the passenger seat without whitewashing the page, hurting your night vision or distracting the driver no problem either. the second difference is this light has a memory mode which can be activated that will remember where you turned the light off in either stage (Head tight or head loose) and when turning the light back on will bring you to that point, the problem with it is in the head loose state it doesn't just remember which light mode, but on which cycle you are on, which means if you have switched from low > medium > high then back to low and maybe a few days later back to medium, it remembers you are on the second cycle of that medium, which means (and its truly annoying) when you pass high the next time you will enter the strobe modes, and when memory is turned off you can exit strobe simply by shutting the light off, the memory mode forces you through all 7 strobe modes before you can get back to low again.... needless to say this gets old very fast and I don't use memory mode anymore. the size is great in the pocket, except that its short size makes it slightly vulnerable to flipping out of dress pant pockets when sitting down as the clip is a bit on the loose side in tension and the lights short nature means it can carry very deep when using the pocket clip. One thing to note, during long blackouts or camping trips when you may have to use you light for very long periods of time, the batteries needed can get very expensive to burn through )Specially compared to AA's, rechargeables here not only (Almost double) the output but can save you a lot of money, but only if you have the power to recharge them (I use a vp2 charger that can charge in my car).



The V11R is a cool little light, it has the simplest of the three interfaces, no fancy strobes, just a magnetic ring the when twisted will take you from the lowest of the three lights lows, to the highest (When on rechargeables) of the three highs, when really makes this unique is the battery extender you can see in the front of this photo, it takes the light from a cr123 power source to a AA size one, so you can keep the light smaller with cr123, and if all power sources fail most everyone has AA's and you can change in the extender and tally hoe. with four battery options this is the most versatile light of the bunch, but also the biggest. longer then the d25C without the extender, as well as the D25A with it, and wider as well, in tighter Jean pockets you will certainly know this guy is there, for me its just at the upper limits of what I tolerate in my pockets (Unless im hot, then I cant really even take a penny in them) its extra size may be an issue for some.

all three lights are really cool to have and function great, which one is right for you would depend on your needs, some things to consider here are

Size - the D25C is the lightest of the bunch but a little fatter then the A model, they are really a toss up, but pocketwise I prefer the D25A out of the three, and once in a while the size of the V11R is enough to make me reach for one of the other two.

Battery - if you dont want to source out oddball cr123's (Locally they can be a horrid 15 bucks each, at battery junction buying bulk can bring them to as low as $1ea) you may have to consider rechargeables and a good charger, or sticking with the AA models (keeping in mind the regular v11R's battery extender is an optional edition)

Interface - although I dont do anything that would really have a need for the strobes, they are fun to play with (Specially with buddies around the camp fire who have had a few to many lol) some may like to play with them, other not want anything to do with them and prefer the simplicity of the V11R.

Tint - although the D series lights both run cool white versions of the xm-l2 u2 it does have a warm tint (Probably due to a anti reflective lens coating on the glass) not being pure white though is not a huge issue as our eyes feel more comfortable (as its closer to sunlight) and see more definition, or at least I do. but the V11R uses a xm-l u3 which is definately a cool white as white rice light beam, although colours dont look as natural the light is brighter, and will travel a bit further (the v11r also has the largest head of the three that help this)

Beam - while none of these have large enough heads to throw the light, and all are great (Really great) flood lights the head sizes do run small (D25A) medium(D25C) and large(V11R) compared to one another, and scale how far they can throw that flooded light accordingly, for an edc its not all that important as flood really is key to me anyway, but if Im walking the dogs who can move far and fast quickly having the extra difference isnt a bad thing to have no and then

Price on all these were pretty much the same for me, but hunting down a deal is important to achieving that, all where around the 60 dollar mark give or take a bit.

Im happy with all three, im happy to have all three as they offer me variety, but If I could only live with on, I will tell you the one I would pick would be the D25C, ust slightly edging out the D25A, but I owuld be sad without the other two as well.

There is a tonne of reviews and videos on people with these lights so Ill leave you with two photos, my cell camera adjusts to lighting differences (And im to lazy to tinker with the manual settings on my canon) so while this photos are not exact they should show you the difference between the high levels using a regular battery (3.0 volts) vs. the rechargeables (3.7 volts, but after a fresh charge are closer to 4.2)

the only light source in my little bathroom is the flash light, which is pointed straight up at the ceiling (which we call a ceiling bounce) this reflects the light across the whole room rather then just show you the beam pattern (And is very handy when the power goes out to light a whole room)... pics in next post

 

Both are the V11R

first is the AA



And the 14500 rechargeable



although I did touch the photos up a bit, I did it so they look accurate to my eyes on my monitor and this is just the V11R all three have a huge difference (double to more then double) the output when going from a regular 3.0v battery to the 3.7v rechargeables, which all three support from factory. of course always hold the head in hand when running them in case they get to hot on high. which you shouldnt do for more then a few minutes (They get really hot).

 

three things i forgot to mention...

the eagletacs are reverse Clicky switches meaning they don't turn on till you release the switch... so no momentary on. the V11R has a momentary on though


the clips on the eagletacs are screwed on while the sunwayman has a friction fit one... but the fit on the sunwayman is super tight and its clip is by far the strongest of the bunch... actually i find it holds to tight as i need two hands to get it back in pocket.

and lastly they all come with spare o rings, rubber switch covers and cases, but the eagletac cases are form fit and structured which offer much more protection than the sunwayman

 

James, all these threads on flashlights lately has gotten me interested.

What brand and model do you recommend for something small to attach to a key ring? I want to carry it with me all the time I am out of the house.

Thanks in advance.

Ferry

 

i was looking into getting a klarus MI X6 for a while, id have a look into that one

 

I haven't acquired a torch in a while, but I was an early adopter when the good led's came out years ago. I consider cutting down to carrying only one a major demonstration of restraint.

Although I've had many, my job requires decent output, a decent white, and most importantly the ability to withstand a fall from 11 feet or stepping on it, so my main light is an old Nuwai Q3. It's tough as nails and dependable. Of course, Jim will tell you that that my job requires that it stay in my pocket and not move for years at a clip.

 

That one looks good sizewise, anyone else has any other experiences with small flashlights?

 

I have a Fenix LD01, nice little AAA light, 3 modes 3, 26, 72 lumens, a twist of the top switches between modes, key chain or pocket clip. Perfect for my everyday needs