The Eagletac D25a in titanium was one of the more popular EDC lights a few years. I don't hear much about them or about Eagletac in general anymore. This is the 2017 version of the D25a Ti. I don't believe you can find them anymore. They were a limited edition and seem to have sold out quickly. I can't find much information about them, so I'll mostly be focusing on design and how it's functioned in my carry. It's a decent light, but not one of my favorites for EDC. I've had this one on loan and wouldn't have felt inclined to buy one myself if they were still available.
There's nothing that fancy about the design. It's kind of boring to me. All the machining and knurling is well-done and gives you some extra grip. The 2017 version got rid of the knurling on the head of the light for the three grooves instead. That's fine with me, as you don't have to twist the head all that much. A lot of people weren't happy with that design change compared to the earlier ones. It's made out of titanium which isn't a necessity for me. I'm more than good enough with an aluminum light if it keeps the cost low. Being a AA/14500 light, it's relatively compact and slim. I didn't have a problem carrying it as my EDC light. The quality has been perfectly fine. I've got no complaints there. You can tailstand it if you like to do that with your lights.
I've scoured the internet, but I still can't find accurate output numbers using a 14500. The following specs are right off Eagletac's website (linked here). This page also has some info on modes/outputs for the D25a's in general. Supposedly the XP-L HI V3 version has the following modes, outputs and runtimes off a regular AA: moonlight (1 lumen for 150+ hours), low (11 lumens for 20 hours), medium (121 lumens for 2.5 hours), and high (200 lumens for 1.3 hours). I've been using a 14500 battery in here, and it seems so much brighter than those numbers as you'd expect. It at least seems like it'd be 400 to 500 lumens max. The high mode looks similar to the ReyLight Pineapple's 470 lumen high, so I'm assuming it's somewhere around there. Since the moonlight mode has been disabled, the low is about six times brighter and the medium will increase slightly as well according to Eagletac. That does seem accurate. The low is definitely too bright for me. It seems more like a medium mode. Based on pure brightness alone, I've been impressed. If you want a bright light that you can trust, this will serve you perfectly well. I personally wish there was more of a difference between each mode. There's no true low in my opinion. The light has felt hot during use on the higher modes which typically happens with most lights.
One thing that's greatly annoyed me about this light is the programmable features. Apparently there's a way to get a moonlight mode, but I've been unable to get it to work. You're supposed to be able to loosen the head of the light, turn it on, and then tighten/loosen the head three times to enable it. That's such a finicky way to enable a mode. I've had no luck doing that, though I'm sure it's user error. If you've got the head all the way tightened, you'll have access to the high and strobe only. If you slightly loosen the head, you have access to all your typical modes as well as a billion strobes/SOS/beacons. It's neat that you can pick between having a couple modes vs. a ton. You're not going to have to go through all the special modes unless you cycle through the low/medium/high twice. I love that since they're not going to clutter up the main modes unless you go looking for them. I never use those modes personally, yet I guess it's nice to know they're there if you need them. Since the programmable features for that moonlight mode aren't easy to do, then there's no point on having them on this light in the first place.
The beam looks great. It's a whiter tint and is more flood than hotspot. It easily lights up my entire room with no problems.
Once I got the UI figured out, it's been alright. It functions like every other clicky would. You press the button to turn it on and then you can do half presses to cycle through the modes. You can also individually click for each mode if you enjoy doing that. Doing the half presses is much simpler. It does take a decent amount of pressure to turn on the light. That means there's minimal chance of accidentally turning it on if you brush it in the pocket. There's no momentary on which is kind of a let down for me. I enjoy having that feature along with mode memory on all my EDC lights. Mode memory is another thing this light is lacking. That's a pretty big disappointment when both those features are defaults on most EDC lights nowadays. My favorite part about the tailcap is that it glows in the dark! I wish more companies would start doing that on their lights. It makes way more sense to do on all the black lights out there, since companies refuse to make colorful lights that are easier to see in the dark. Below is a crappy phone photo of the tailcap glowing. It's actually very bright and allows you to find the light easily.
I'm not a fan of the look of the clip, but it does carry well. It seems sturdy and has nice retention. It helps that this is such a lightweight light. I like that it carries deeper than most flashlights typically do. You can unscrew the clip if it's not your cup of tea.
Since this light isn't sold anymore, my comments on price/value aren't that valid. I believe they were on the more expensive side, maybe at least $60 but most likely more. I wouldn't want to pay that much for one. Titanium is nice for those that want higher quality materials. I'd rather take a aluminum flashlight for much less.
Honestly this light has been more of a pain to use than it should've been. I'm probably not the intended audience for it. I've never been addicted to titanium like a lot of gear nuts out there. I hate how Eagletac won't tell you exact outputs off a 14500. They seem behind the times on that. Most companies love to have the opportunity to brag about how much brighter their lights are. I don't hear much about them as a company anymore, and that's probably for a good reason. I've been way more impressed with what newer companies are doing. Olight is putting out a lot of great lights. Plus there's been a huge variety of lights coming out from Chinese companies that have great quality and outputs for affordable prices. I would not personally recommend this light. My biggest gripes would be the lack of mode memory/momentary on and the annoying programmable features. I don't need to have the moonlight mode, but if it's advertised to have one, I better be able to access it if I want. Since this light has a billion modes anyways, what would the harm of been in having the moonlight always enabled. Anyways, that's it. You can't find them anymore, and I wouldn't recommend you attempt to track one down. There's tons of fantastic, readily available lights out there. Thanks for looking!
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