Archon M30A

Archon M30A flashlight review:

Introduction Archon M30A 

Being a Sunwayman fan, I had to try this Archon M30A way back in 2013. The light itself is by no means up to the current generations lights out there. Archon lights are mainly focused on scuba diving flashlights.

It does however use a magnetic ring, that is not comparable with Sunwayman MCR. 

box
box

Handling of the light

It fits really well in my hands, and changing modes is possible with only 1 hand.
The thing that might be an issue is that the control ring itself is a little slippery. So if you are using it in a cold environment, wearing thick gloves, this might be an issue.
That could be improved… better grip on the control ring!

The bezel and the side of the head have some sharp edges. Its not cutting sharp though! Just a little.  Changing batteries is also no issue, because of the well-made battery carrier, this is a big PLUS.

Although the light wasn’t very cheap during the time that it was for sale, the quality itself is a bit subpar. It has a few characteristics of being a cheap light, but it’s not the worst overall.

Build quality 

The build quality is very good.
Itis the same quality as the Xiware L20C I briefly reviewed a long time ago.
Because Xiware and Archon are the same thing, there is actually no difference in build quality.
The whole flashlight feels a little slippery, with not very aggressive knurling.
This could be a CON.
It`s definitely a step up from the KD C8 for example, and many Ultrafires I`ve seen and handled.
It feels Quality!

The battery carrier:

You get access to the battery carrier by unscrewing the lower part from the head.
Usually, that means you need to unscrew the tail cap.
Because there is NO tail cap, the body can be unscrewed just below the Mag control ring.
It`s not one of those plastic things you can buy at KD or elsewhere, where almost everything is plastic.
This one is made well, and doesn`t look cheapy.

Sunwayman
Sunwayman

Lens and reflector

Reflector:

Aluminum, 40 mm width and 40mm deep and smooth.

Lens: It`s made of glass, but gives a narrow ring around the hotspot.
Taking off the lens helps to remove this ring.
Taking off the white disc around the emitter doesn`t help.
The lens itself came really dirty!! please see my pics.
Not a problem for me at all, but for not flashaholics this might be a throw off.

Dimensions and weight:

  • Length: 136 mm
  • Head (outer) 49 mm
  • Head (inner) 40 mm
  • Depth reflector 40 mm
  • Weight empty: 200 gram
  • with batteries 275 gram
Archon
Archon
Archon
Archon

User Interface:

  • The magnetic control ring
    It goes almost as smooth as my SWM M10A, but the thing I like more about this M30A is that you can actually see in which mode it is when the light it turned off because of the marking.
    The SWM uses a Clicky switch in combination with the control ring, but this Archon only uses the Magnetic Control ring.

Modes:

  • Off
  • Low
  • Medium
  • High
  • Strobe
  • Sos

PWM

The PWM is noticeable in Low and Medium mode, but not in High-mode.

Performance:

I owned the Xiware L20C, which is a brother of this Archon, just a different name. I thought this was going to be on the low side.

These are the readings I got with my DMM LOW: 0.09 A
MED:  0.3 A
HIGH: 0.9 A Compared to the sunwayman M10A (1xAA) and Klarus P2A (which I had on hand, that are unmodified XPG lights), the Lowest mode on the M30A is arbout 30 or 40 Lumens, a little brighter than the P2A (which starts off at around 30 lumens)
High is just a bit brighter than the Klarus P2A on max, so I am guessing between 250-300lumens tops.

So it definitely won’t receive a place in the brightest flashlights out there.

Beamprofile

Especially in Low and Medum you can see some green cast. This is typical for the older 1st gen XPG leds. 
It has a ring around the hotspot. This is because of the lens that is used on this flashlight. When I took the lens off, it didnt show this ring.

Overall conclusion Archon M30A

Postive points:

  1. Fits well in my hand
  2. Runs on regular AA batteries
  3. Magnetic control ring
  4. Can tail-stand
  5. Symbols help with mode selection (The SWM M10A doesn’t have this)
  6. Comes with a nice retail box, and lanyard 
  7. Nice quality battery carrier

Negative points

  1. The anodizing on the threads is questionable (same as my Xiware L20C, some anodizing is missing)
  2. Noticeable WPM
  3. Manual is in Chinese only
  4. Mag.cont.ring has no knurling, and therefore slippery

Alternatives

Other great AA flashlights