Sunwayled M40A




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 one of the largest of them, a 4xAA 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 MC-E led in the center.



On the head there are some cooling fins, these are needed when the light is at full power with white light.



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 a low between medium and high and between high and strobe.



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 4 AA batteries. The connection between the battery magazine and the light in independet on the orientation of the magazine (It has the same connections in both ends).



The battery tube has a good knurling.



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 would have liked one more position on the ring with a brightness between low and medium.



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: 145 mm
Diameter: 38 to 57 mm
Weight: 353 gram with 4xeneloop

The light uses a Cree MC-E 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 500 lumen and then scaled according to measured brightness, note that the low is considerable lower than specified. The light has a small current draw when off, but it will take two years to empty a set of eneloop batteries.



A voltage scan shows that the light has very good regulation down to around 3.5 volt.



The runtime plot also shows the good stabilization.



The regulation of the brightness is not completely smooth, but it has some regulation at a high frequency making it invisible. The actual frequency depends on the voltage, but is around 78 kHz.



The regulation is also present at medium brightness, the frequency is lower but still way above anything visible.




The strobe is at 12 Hz with a 50% duty cycle, but the strobe is not off/on, it switches between medium (blue line) and high (green line). This can be seen on the second curve that includes some filtering to remove the switching noise, making it possible to directly compare the brightness.



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