Speras P4

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Speras P4 specs

Brand & Model	Speras P4
Flashlight category	EDC / searchlight / hunting
LED	OSRAM P9 x3
Max. output	4,000 lumens
Max. beam distance	288 meters
Max. beam intensity	20,750 cd
Battery config.	1x 21700
Onboard charging	USB-C
Modes	5
Blinkies	Strobe, SOS
Waterproof	IP68
Review publication date	March 2023

I’ve reviewed a couple of Speras lights lately. My thoughts? In general, this fairly quiet brand has really impressed me with their overall quality and electronics / UI design. The M2R-35 headlamp and M4 pocket thrower were immediate successes in my mind. The flashlight we’re reviewing now – the Speras P4 – is a bit different than those. It’s certainly larger and is more of a large EDC flashlight / searchlight / outdoor kind of light. With a reasonably compact design (for a 21700 light) and boasting 4,000 lumens, it sounds good on paper. And initial impressions say that it should live up to the Speras name. But how does it perform?

Package quality.

The packaging for the Speras P4 is neither impressive nor disappointing. I’ve seen my share of brown cardboard boxes, and this is certainly a step up. That said, the Speras came in a pretty ordinary-looking white box with a hanger for display racks. The box itself is almost entirely white with just the name, an image of the P4, and a couple of key specs on the front. The back has a little chart and a description. Basic and to the point. Inside the box is a little plastic tray with the contents:

• Speras P4
• Battery (in the flashlight)
• USB charging cable
• USB-A to USB-C adapter
• Spare o-rings
• Holster
• Lanyard
• Manual

For a high-lumen, multi-emitter, 21700-based flashlight, the Speras P4 feels fairly compact. The battery tube is trim and comfortable to hold onto. The lone e-switch button is positioned on the side of the P4’s head. It has a shallow, clean press with good tactile feedback. Opposite the button is a USB-C port hidden behind a shallow rubber cover.

The body of the Speras P4 is very round and would roll off a flat surface if you’re not careful. The tailcap is very flat and perfect for tailstanding. There is no pocket clip, but the shape of the flashlight doesn’t lend itself much to using a clip. There is a bog-standard lanyard included, though, in addition to a nice holster. The holster has a hook & loop closer and seems well-built.

What would you use the Speras P4 for? Well, it’s a little large for a typical EDC light. It wouldn’t be very comfortable in your pants pocket for many hours, but it would sit nicely in a jacket pocket or riding shotgun in the included holster. The P4 would also make a good truck light or a by-the-door light for going on walks, around the house, looking for a lost dog, or perhaps tracking a wounded animal. It has a convenient size with lots of output and seems pretty flexible.

Some lights just seems nicer than others. From the moment you pick them up, you can feel it. The anodizing is better (thicker, less glossy). They’ve paid attention to detail on all of the machining, making sure everything lines up perfectly and that there are no sharp edges. And that’s exactly what I’ve found with all of the Speras lights I have reviewed, the P4 included. It just looks and feels like a nice flashlight. As to be expected, it is constructed out of 6061 aluminum alloy with a premium Type III hard-anodized finish.

Warranty:

• The light is covered by a 5 year warranty for “non-artificial” damage
• The warranty does not cover normal wear & tear, modifications, misuse, etc

Unlike the Speras M4 that I reviewed previously, they actually clued us into what LED they chose for the P4 model: an OSRAM P9. It’s one of those run-of-the-mill LEDs that you find in a bunch of lights. It seems to be pretty efficient with a clean beam profile, though it probably won’t win over any aficionados.

The tri-LED reflector is made up of three individual cups with a slight margin in between each one. The OSRAM P9 is centered neatly in the middle of each one using a centering gasket. The reflector is smooth and produces a clean beam without any noticeable artifacts or flower petal shapes. There is some tint shift, but not nearly as bad as what you’d find on a Cree flip-chip design.

Using an Opple Light Master, I obtained the following measurement on Turbo at 5 meters:

• CCT: 6044K
• CRI: 68.7 Ra
• DUV: +0.0064

Dimensions: 

Speras P4	Millimeters	Inches
Length	119 mm	4.7 in
Head diameter	40 mm	1.6 in
Body diameter	26.5 mm	1.0 in

Dimensions are rounded to the nearest millimeter, and to the nearest tenth of an Inch.

Weight: 

Speras P4	Weight in grams	Weight in oz
Without battery:	112 g	4.0 oz
With battery	183 g	6.5 oz

Weight is rounded to the nearest gram, and to the nearest tenth of an Oz.

Flashlight size comparison with its competition:

Group 1: Speras M4, Speras P4, Speras M2R-35

Group 2: Sofirn IF25A, Speras P4, Nitecore P20iX

There are some e-switch UI’s that are nearly universal and quick to pick up on. And then there are others that I try to use and I think to myself “oh, why did you have to go and ruin a nice light by giving it a terrible UI?” Thankfully, the Speras P4 belongs to the former camp. The UI is intuitive and natural, and it’s exactly the same as what I saw on the Speras M4.

Available modes: Eco, Low, Medium, High, Turbo

Available blinky modes: Strobe, SOS

User interface:

From OFF:

• Press and Hold: Eco mode
• Single click: turn on (memorized mode)
• Double click: Turbo mode
• 3 clicks: Strobe mode
• Hold 2 seconds: Lockout mode

From ON:

• Press and Hold: change brightness (Low > Medium > High)
• 1 click: turn off
• Double click: Turbo Mode
• 3 clicks: Strobe Mode

Mode memory:

• Yes, it will memorize Low, Medium, and High

Shortcuts:

• To Eco: hold 0.5 seconds from Off
• To Turbo: double click from Off or On
• To Strobe: triple click from Off or On

Low voltage warning:

• When turning the flashlight on, the indicator LED in the switch will light up or 5 seconds to indicate the power level:
  • Green: 100% – 70%
  • Orange: 70% – 30%
  • Red: 30% – 10%
  • Red Flash: 10% – 1%

Strobe/blinkies: SOS / Strobe

• Strobe is activated by a triple click from Off or On
• When in Strobe Mode triple-click to get to SOS Mode

Lock-out mode: 

• Activate Lockout by a 2 second hold from Off
• Unlock with a triple click

PWM

• There is 31.2 kHz PWM present. So it’s there, but fast enough that you won’t see it with the naked eye

Additional info on the UI: 

• Eco mode (and only Eco) can be used while charging

The Speras P4 ships with a Speras-branded 5,000 mAh (18.0 Wh) 21700 battery pre-inserted in the light, separated by a little bit of insulating film. The “S50” battery includes a button-top protection circuit, but it seems fairly short for a protected cell. I also tried a Samsung 40T flat-top 21700 battery and it worked just fine, thanks in part to the P4 having a spring at both ends.

Speras says that the built-in USB-C charging supports 5V/2A and should take around 3 hours to give the P4 a full charge. In my testing, it completed in 2 hours and 40 minutes. I observed a 10.1 watt (1.98 amps at 5.08 volts) charge rate. The battery ended up at 4.17 volts.

The Speras P4 ships with a USB-A to USB-C charging cable. It also comes with a little USB OTG adapter (USB-A female to USB-C male) so that you can charge other devices with the P4. Just plug the OTG adapter into the flashlight, then plug the included cord into that. I tried charging a laptop from the Speras P4 and saw a (dis)charge rate of 9.3 watts (1.86 amps at 5.00 volts). This isn’t something I would personally use frequently, but it’s a handy option for emergencies, camping, etc. Just remember to have that OTG adapter with you.

Lux was measured by a UNI-T UT383 BT at 5 meters. Lumens were measured in a homemade lumen tube using a VEML7700 sensor, calibrated with a calibration light provided by 1Lumen. The included Speras-branded battery was used for testing.

Lumen measurements (for each mode)

Mode	Amps at start	Specs	turn on	30 sec	10 minutes
Eco	30 mA	15	15 lm	15 lm	–
Low	155 mA	100	91 lm	90 lm	–
Med	760 mA	500	557 lm	550 lm	534 lm
High	3.9 A	2000 > 600	2139 lm	2044 lm	649 lm
Turbo	13.4 A	4000 > 800	4999 lm	4644 lm	833 lm
Turbo at 3.6V	8.6		3760 lm	3497 lm	–

Parasitic drain:

• 104 µA

In general, the output either met or exceeded Speras’s output claims.

Battery Life: Runtime graphs

Mode	Specified	Measured runtime ANSI	Time till shut off
Eco	167h (6d 23h)	–	–
Low	35h	–	–
Med	8h	7h 56min	8h 50min+
High	90s + 6h	5h 55min	6h 21min+
Turbo	90s + 5h	3h 9min	4h 53min+

The Speras P4 runtimes seem in-line with specs. The Turbo is a bit off, but that’s because of the large drop in output right around 90 seconds. The other thing to note: at the end of the tests, the P4 kept petering along at 3 lumens for quite a while before eventually shutting off. The timing stopped after the light dropped below 3 lumens for a few minutes.

The runtime tests did reveal something about this light that is my only real dislike about the P4 – the current seems completely unregulated. It appears to be just a PWM’ed MOSFET. This is very common in a lot of lights, especially those in the budget-end of the spectrum. It’s not wrong to PWM a MOSFET, but you do see a constant drop in output as battery voltage falls. And they tend to produce more heat and be a bit less efficient than their switch-mode regulator brethren (buck or boost lights). I would have loved for the Speras P4 to have a nice buck or boost regulator, like both of the other Speras lights I’ve reviewed.

About ANSI FL1 standards: The runtime is measured until the light drops to 10% of its initial output (30 seconds after turning on). This does not mean that the flashlight is not usable anymore. The last column shows how long the light actually works till it shuts off. If there is a + symbol, it means that the test was stopped at that particular point, but the light was actually still running. This happens on certain occasions, with certain drivers, firmware, or batteries.

Peak beam intensity and beam distance measurements

The intensity was measured at 5 meters after being turned on for 30 seconds. Since candela values for Eco and Low are low, those were measured at 2 meters. A UNI-T UT383 BT lux meter was used.

Mode	Specified	Candela measured	Meters	Yards
Eco	250 cd	75	17 m	19 yd
Low	800 cd	540	46 m	51 yd
Medium	2,975 cd	2,975	109 m	119 yd
High	11,750 cd	10,450	204 m	224 yd
Turbo	20,750 cd	24,375 cd	312 m	341 yd

Like the lumen output, the beam intensity tests line up well with Speras’s claims.

About peak beam intensity: Peak beam distance according to ANSI FL1 standards: The calculated value of distance in meters at which the flashlight produces a light intensity of 0.25 lux. (0.25 lux is about the brightness of a full moon shining on an object). The columns ‘Meters’ and ‘Yards’ use rounded numbers.

Camera settings and distance: 

Beam shots of the building are taken at 30 m (33 yd) using a Pixel 7 set to ISO 800 with 1/10 second exposure time

Beamshots of the following flashlights compared:

• Speras P4
• ThruNite TC20 Pro
• Nitecore P20iX
• Sofirn SP35

Disclaimer: This flashlight was sent to me for review at no cost by Speras. I have not been paid to review, nor have I been holding back on problems or defects.