Inova T4-WB 175 Lumen Rechargeable LED Flashlight, Black
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List Price: Our Price: $129.95 You Save: $20.04 (13%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Inova T4-WB 175 Lumen Rechargeable LED Flashlight, Black
Customer Review: Best Workhorse Flashlight I've Found
Summary: 5 Stars
My flashlights are an absolute necessity for my job. I'd been through several brands and models, until four years ago, a co-worker mentioned a newer company called Inova. I bought one of the original T4's (thick lense). I loved it so much, in 2008, I retired my piece-of-garbage Streamlight, and purchased a 2008 model T4 to use alongside my original model.
The charge time is fantastic, and the light, nice and bright, seemed to last forever between charges. I particularly like the light's reaction to a low battery. Instead of slowly dwindling like a Streamlight, the light turns itself off, but gives second long full bursts of light. Just enough to complete a minor task.
Until this past week, I'd never encountered a problem with either Inova light. BUT, my original T4 just experienced a malfunction, and will not turn on, though it is fully charged.
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I should also mention I am very VERY hard on my equipment. My job can be very physically demanding, and I am exposed to all the elements (snow, rain, sun, heat, high humidity, cold...VERY cold weather). My original T4 was dropped dozens of times, is severely nicked in areas from harsh wear and tear, and never EVER failed me prior to this single occasion.
I have several co-workers who have gone through several Streamlights, SureFires and other brands in the time I have owned my initial T4. Most have now turned to Inova for the durability, the bright LED light and fast charge times.
Although disappointed my initial T4 conked, I am surely impressed by my experience with their customer service. I'm hooked on Inova lights and would not recommend any other.
Customer Review: Best flashlight I've ever had.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been in the food manufacturing industry for 11+ years. I've only used stingers in my career. I recently started a new job which required extensive inspection of food manufacturing equipment. The equipment is in areas with very good lighting and my stinger was not sufficient, both in battery and brightness. I read the reviews here and gave it a whirl. It has twice the battery life between charges and blows the stinger away in brightness. If you need a flashlight for viewing at distance, ceilings for example, I would stay with the stinger ultra. For inspecting equipment, T4 blows the stinger away.Customer Review: Bright light but useless charger
Summary: 1 Stars
I use a flashlight in my job all day every day.
The Inova T4 has the brightest, cleanest light I've seen except:
The charger works inconsistently.
There's an LED on the charger that should remain lit while it's charging but blinks which indicates that the charger and flashlight are not making correct contact. Inova has ignored my e-mails and calls go unanswered.
A company that sells a flashlight for $120 should have better customer service. The fact that I need to carry a $35 flashlight to back up this expensive piece of equipment is unexcusable. DON'T BUY IT!
Customer Review: Do not buy, obsolete technology at a rip-off price
Summary: 2 Stars
The Inova T4 is part of a group of rechargeable Li-ion flashlights that appeared before standard rechargeable Li-ion cells became widely available, and therefore it uses a PROPRIETARY battery, which costs 3 to 4 times more than a 18650 cell (the reference for modern flashlights). The T4 also is inferior because of the fact it does not use a reflector, but instead has a sort of Fresnel lens in front of the emitter. The beam is very uneven, marred by several rings, and the throw is also sub-par.
The Streamlight Strion belongs to the same group, but it is even more obsolete for using an incandescent bulb rather than a low-consumption LED.
Another major handicap of those early-day Li-ion flashlights compared to more recent ones is that their crude circuitry does not allow to have a variable output, and also it does not provide a low-battery warning: when the voltage in the cell goes below a certain threshold, the protection mechanism simply shuts down, meaning you are left in the dark on your own. Instead, modern LED lights will allow you hours of emergency light by going in a low-power mode. Some, like the Fenix, will warn you of a low-battery situation through a pulsating beam.
I bought a T4 when it came out (around 2005), and when the battery died on me less than a year later I switched to more modern, Chinese-made flashlights (yes, China today leads the market for high-powered LED flashlights and rechargeable Li-ion cells).
Unless you want to spend top dollars for a Surefire (not worth it in my opinion), the best brands of flashlights today are Fenix, JetBeam and Wolf Eyes. All use the latest LEDs (mostly from Cree), and most offer several choices of off-the-shelf battery power, rechargeable or not.
The state of the art should be: Cree Q5 or R2 (newest version yet) and a tube that accepts a 18650 rechargeable cell (it will then be able to hold 2 CR123 batteries, rechargeable or not). Tenergy batteries and chargers are excellent.
The whole package should cost around 100$ and you will get 220-250 Lumens out of it.
Customer Review: Does what it says, Quality Build, Made in America
Summary: 5 Stars
Bottom Line:
The light throws a beam 300' or more. It charged in 2 hours, even though it was on the porch in a box at 30F all day. The build is solid, but not to heavy. The modes of operation are simple. Momentary, on full, strobe, on low, off. Easy to select. Don't need 8000 modes on a flashlight.
Everything, including charger, have the fit and finish I would expect for the money.
This light will spend its heavy use time in IDPA (pistol matches, require hand held lights) and will get a beating from drops and recoil. If it fails in any I will post an update.
So far, so good.