With seven models on the way out to market from new manufacturer SUNWAYLED, I'm sure I wasn't the only person with a particular interest in one of their new lights. As a photographer I'm always working with light in different ways be it flash, natural or other things like flashlights.
When I caught wind of SUNWAYLED's new offerings one in particular caught my eye. The M40A uses a Cree MC-E quad die emitter and runs off four AA batteries. It'll take alkalines, NiMH or anything else up to 1.5V (supposed to take lithiums as well). As a general rule, I try to avoid equipment that doesn't use AAs if it will be spending a lot of time in or around my camera bag. I far prefer being able to keep a couple spare sets of four Eneloop AAs in the bag, being able to swap batteries between devices as needed instead of having multiple devices with different battery types.
When I caught wind of the thread on the CPF Marketplace forum I subscribed with email notifications to try to keep on top of it and get myself a chance at winning one of their lights. It must be destiny because on the morning that SUNWAYLED posted the M40A, the shaving mirror I had suctioned to the wall in my shower fell down and woke me up. In my bleary eyed stumbling at 5:20AM I picked up the fallen mirror and shampoo bottle and took a peek at the messages on my Blackberry. Just minutes before everything started falling on the floor I received an email that SUNWAYLED had updated the thread so I quickly logged on and checked it out. It must have been fate, because I managed to slip in the first reply after the announcement of the M40A.
Upon first receiving the light I was struck by a few things. First it has a very nice anodizing finish, secondly it felt very nicely put together and finally the size was really quite nice. About the same length as a 2xAA light like my Fenix LD20 or Quark AA^2 lights, but obviously larger around. It fills your hand nicely and the magnetic control rings are placed just about where you'd want them for easy control while holding.
Speaking of the magnetic control ring, it was one of the features that most intrigued me about this light. I've never had a light with this kind of interface and I was very curious to try it out. Once I opened the package I immediately started working the ring back and forth and found it has noticeable but not jarring detents which it settles in to when selecting modes. Some have claimed these aren't obvious enough when they used it but for me they feel about right so far. Similarly the stiffness of the ring seems to be about right such that it's easy enough to change modes when you want to but not too easy that bumping it will knock it out of the current mode and in to something else. Strobe is similarly accessed for better or for worse but for whatever reason it doesn't feel as jarring as with some of my other lights. Almost as though the LED doesn't have enough time to dim before the next pulse. This isn't a feature I use much and I wouldn't mind it being replaced with another light level but in the end it's neither here nor there for me.
Taking the light apart I noticed high quality square threads that were quite substantial. Similarly the battery carrier is impressively robust looking and feeling.
The battery carrier itself has no polarity when inserted in to the light. It can be placed in either direction but you do have to observe polarity when placing the batteries in the carrier itself. For those that are interested in lockout abilities, less than half a turn of the battery tube seems to be enough to lock the light out. On the bottom of the head a copper terminal is present which is spring loaded to make contact with and hold the battery carrier in place. The entire assembly is fairly solid when closed up and I can only notice a little rattle when batteries are installed.
Getting back to using an over-analyzing the light now that I had batteries in it, I notice the various quirks and mannerisms of the light. For one the obvious question of whether the MC-E LED projects any unusual artifacts was quickly tested and I found that after 3-5 feet any indication of a donut in the beam vanishes. In practical use this isn't the light I'd be using for reading something up close too often and in such situations some artifacts might be noticed, but for everything else I simply never noticed anything unusual with the beam whether I was looking for it or not. Tint wise, I'm no expert (my name isn't a joke) but it's warmer than my cool-white Fenix LD20 Q5 and cooler than my neutral white Quark XP-G... overall it seems like a nice tint as it's not one of those blue-whiteish LEDs. Third party opinions provided by some other people over the weekend seemed to indicate the same.
I didn't do any official runtime tests. My interest in lights isn't generally measurebating but to use them, but I did find that with 4 AA Eneloops that it was plenty for a couple hours of frequent max use with the rest of the time spent on medium leaving plenty left on the batteries. The output is considerable, the flood is generous and the spot has good reach and puts a wall of light on objects that are a hundred feet away with ease. I did some quick beamshots this evening which are at the end of this. I'd like to redo them eventually when I get the new reflector for my Mag and hopefully on a day when I'm not fighting against persistent wind.
Slightly visible magnet?
Overall my impressions on this light are very good. It feels good, it looks good and it works extremely well. In looking it over and playing with it the only things that stood out as a bit different were what would appear to be the visible top of the magnet (I presume) under the control ring. It's not loose or noticeable, but if you are studying the light you can see it and with the fit and finish of the light in consideration it does seem a bit odd but not alarming. The control ring is smooth but I feel ever so slightly more unevenness when sliding it back to the off position from the low setting and I do wonder what I am to do should I need to clean the control ring. That being said, the light was a complete joy to use over this weekend and everyone else was equally impressed by it and enjoyed trying it out. The quibbles I just mentioned would likely fall under the "very anal" category of quality analysis and I'd easily rank this light with my Fenix in terms of quality which IMO is better than the Quarks and overall a very good blend of performance and quality for the money. It just feels, operates and looks the part of a quality light that was well thought out, engineered, designed and built.
Aside from my previous comment on the available modes and how I could do without strobe, another setting between low and medium might be nice. Additionally I would soften the edges around the lanyard attachment holes. I attached a lanyard (paracord 550) without any split ring and one weekend of use has already started cutting in to and fraying the paracord where it loops around the lanyard hole. I will be redoing this at some point I suppose but first I'll have to decide how I want to attach my next lanyard!
This light will be going a lot of places with me I think.
Here are the beamshots. The tree is approximately 110 meters away, the exposure is locked at ISO 400, f/4 and 8 seconds. WB was auto, I haven't decided what I preferred for demonstrating the beams. When I get better shots I'll revisit this.
M40A on high:
M40A on medium:
4D Mag with Malkoff SSC P4 mod on... um... on:
Fenix LD20 Premium Q5 on turbo:
FWIW you guys are getting this as I work on finishing it up for CPF... so it's subject to changes, improvements, etc.
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