Sunwayled M30A




Sunwayled is a new name in flashlight and for their introduction they presented a range of led lights (M20C, M30A, M40A, M40C, M10R, L10A, L10R), most with a ring to select brightness. Here I am going to look at a 3xAA light with 3 brightness settings and strobe, both settings and on/off is controlled with the ring. The light is made of aluminum with hard-anodized (Type 3) finish.



The light is packed in a cardboard box. It is marked with the new FL1 standard that is supposed to make flashlight ratings more comparable.



The content of the box is: The flashlight, a lanyard, 2 spare o-rings, manual, warranty card and a brochure of the Sunwayled lights.



The light has a OP (Orange peel) reflector with a XR-E led in the center.



On the head there are some cooling fins, these are probably more for design than for cooling purpose.



Next is the magnetic ring that is used to select between off-low-medium-high-strobe. It has click-stop, but it is possible to select positions in between, I found no extra modes.



The head has a very good quality of square threads with anodized, making it possible to lock out the light by loosen the battery tube.



The battery connection in the head is not directly on the circuit board, but on a metal knob with a spring behind.



The battery tube does not have any connections to the battery, this is handled by the battery magazine.




The battery magazine is a solid construction that can take 3 AA batteries. Note that the battery container has mechanical polarity protection at the + connection.



The battery container has both power connections at the same end.



The battery tube has some groves on it to improve grip.



The tail does not have any switch, only a logo. The light can easily tail stand, except when the lanyard is mounted.



This is the parts I could disassemble the light into without using tools.


The light has a good mechanical quality with a good user interface (The ring), it has a good runtime. Because both on/off and brightness is selected with the ring, the light works very well in a underhand grip. I like the distribution of levels with a factor 5 between them, the only thing I do not like is the flash at power on.



Technical specification and measurements



This light is designed for any type of 1.5 volt AA batteries (Alkaline, lithium, NiMH).

Measured size and weight:
Length: 129 mm
Diameter: 36 to 53 mm
Weight: 298 gram with 3xeneloop

The light uses a Cree XR-E R2 led



In the above table I have used 2000mAh eneloop batteries for measuring and estimating the runtime. The estimated lumen are based on the specified 240 lumen and then scaled according to measured brightness, note that the medium is considerable lower than specified. The light has a small current draw when off, but it will take more than 3 years to empty a set of eneloop batteries.



A voltage scan shows that the light has very good regulation down to around 2.7 volt.



The runtime plot also shows the good stabilization and medium is twice the specified time (This has something to do with the lower brightness of medium).



The light has no pwm or other noise in the light, but when turning on, after it has been off for some time, it will give a very bright flash (It can be up to same level as high brightness setting and last for 0.03 second).



The strobe is a fast 16.3 Hz with a 50% duty cycle.



Comparison to other Flashlights

Sunwayled M30A, Sunwayled M40A, Sunwayled M40C


Fenix TK40, Fenix TK45, ThruNite Catapult V2


For the full comparison to other lights with graphs and beamshots see here.



Notes

Sunwayled has changed name to Sunwayman