Powertac E5R-G4

The photons are being emitted from a cool white Cree XHP35 HI LED that is well centered in the middle of a smooth reflector. The reflector is fairly large for a tube light. There are some fairly blunt, medium-sized crenelations on the business end of the E5R-G4.  

The beam has a defined hotspot that exhibits a minimal amount of tint shift. The spill is very wide and even with no rings

• Length: 133.2 mm / 5.2 inches
• Head diameter:  25.4 mm / 1.0 inches
• Body diameter:  23 mm / 0.9 inches

Weight: 

• Without battery: 76 grams / 2.7 ounces
• With included battery: 122 grams / 4.3 ounces

Size comparison

Size compared to some EDC flashlights

Image 1+2: From left to right: Convoy S2+, Powertac E5R-G4, Sofirn SC31B

Image 3: From left to right: Powertac E5R-G4, Sofirn C8

The Powertac E5R-G4 uses a fairly traditional dual-switch UI. The rear clicky switch is solely for on-off duties and the front e-switch is for mode switching.

Modes: Firefly, Low, Medium, High, Turbo

From OFF:

• Press and Hold (tail switch): momentary, last used mode
• Single-click (tail switch): turn on in last used mode

From ON:

• Single-click (tail switch): turn off
• Single-click (side switch): change modes
• Press and hold: strobe mode

Mode memory:

•  Yes, any mode can be memorized (including strobe).

Low voltage warning:

• The is an indicator LED that will light up when the battery gets low
• At 30% remaining, the LED will turn on (red)
• At 10% remaining, the LED will begin flashing red

Strobe/blinkies

• There is a single strobe mode (a single high frequency)

Lock-out mode: 

• The tailswitch provides lock-out functionality.

PWM

•   PWM was not noticed in any mode

The Powertac E5R-G4 comes with a Powertac-branded 3200 mAh battery, which is of the protected button-top style. Also included in the package is a magnetic USB charging cable that attaches to a pad opposite of the front switch. And – this is a new one for me – should you need to charge your Powertac and you don’t have the magnetic charging cable around, you can pry out the magnetic plug and gasket to reveal a normal micro-USB charging port! The magnetic plug is in there pretty firmly, so I wouldn’t want to be doing that on a regular basis, but it’s a nice addition that would be handy in a pinch. A true rechargeable flashlight.

When the E5R-G4 is charging, the indicator LED under the switch lights up red. When charging is done, it switches to blue (Powertac – thank you for not using red-green indicators!). I measured the charge rate at 1.19 amps. After charging was done, I measured the battery voltage at a perfect 4.20 volts.

Furthermore, when the light is charging, you are still able to use Firefly, Low, and Medium modes. I also tried turning the flashlight on while “charging” without the battery – firefly worked and it also switched to a lower-than-normal Low mode.

A note about battery fitment… I tried an unprotected, flat top Samsung 30Q cell and the E5R-G4 would not turn on. It seemed to be making contact at the tail spring (no rattling), so from what I can tell there is physical reverse polarity protection at the positive terminal.

For current measurements, a ANENG AN8008 multimeter and UNI-T UT210E clamp meter were used. Lux was measured by a UNI-T UT383 BT at 10 meters. Lumens were measured in a homemade lumen tube using a TSL2591 sensor, calibrated against several known lights. The temperature was monitored with an MLX90614 IR temperature sensor.

Amp measurement  

• Standby: 40 uA
• Firefly: 2.8 mA
• Low: 114 mA
• Med: 458 mA
• High: 2.53 A
• Turbo: 5.12 A

Runtime graph

In Turbo mode, the Powertac E5R-G4 started out at 1718 lumens and gradually tapered down over the first 2 ½ minutes, arriving at 600 lumens.  It stayed at that level until quickly dropping down and turning off at 134 minutes.  In Turbo, the temperature was very steady and topped out at a comfortable 43°C. The battery voltage at the end of the run measured 2.87 volts.

A second runtime test was performed, this time in High mode. The results were nearly identical to the Turbo run, except that output began at 1072 lumens and decreased around the 3-minute mark to just over 600 lumens. The light shut off at 133 minutes, having topped out at 42°C.

Lumen measurements

• Firefly: <1 Lm (spec: 0.33)
• Low: 70 Lm (spec: 57)
• Medium: 258 Lm (spec: 214)
• High @ 30 sec: 1036 Lm @ 30 sec (spec: 850)
• Turbo @ 0 sec: 1718 Lm
• Turbo @ 30 sec: 1602 Lm (spec: 1800) 

Throw numbers: 

• Measured 217 lux @ 10 meters
• = 21,700 cd
• = 295 meter throw / 322 yards (spec: 320 meters)

Outdoor beam shots are taken at 25m (82ft) using a Pixel 3 set to ISO 200 with ½ second exposure time

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