Login or register:
Login:
Password:
Register!


Imageserver Favorite:


Portfolio Galleries:
Animals
Architecture
Flowers
Landscape
People
Wildlife

Recent Subjects:
Landout
5-inch sky robot
Vacuum printing
e-bike
Farnsworth Fusor


Search:


Resources:
ImageServer

Friends:
Jon Sullivan
Mark Blair


New Articles:

Southern California Glider Landout Database
Soaring
5-Inch Sky Robot
FDM in Vacuum
Gin
Books
Hacktastic e-bike
Farnsworth Fusor
Land Anchor
Turchickentato
Bowmaking
Custom Discovery Roof Rack
August, 2012 - Sierra Backpacking
July 22nd, 2012 - Hiking in Santa Barbara
July 15th, 2012 - Valley of Fire
May 5th, 2012 - Afton Canyon
April 28th, 2012 - Devils Playground
Alpine Tripod
Convict Creek Trail
January 2012 - Mustangs
January 3rd, 2012 - Heart Lake
August 7th, 2011 - Kelso Dunes
August 5th, 2011 - Lundy Canyon Hike
August 2011, Mammoth Archery
Birds in the garden
June 4th, 2011 - San Gorgonio
May 29th, 2011 - Sequoia National Forest
April 23rd, 2011 - Living Desert
April 2nd, 2011 - Death Valley
March 8th, 2011 - Mountain Palm Springs
February 13th, 2011 - Iron Smelt
Blacksmithing
November 13th, 2010 - Mojave
October, 2010 - Mammoth
Android
September, 2010 - Mammoth
September, 2010 - Duck Lake Trail Backpacking
Red
Iron bloom forging
August 28th, 2010 - Mt. San Jacinto
OSM Import: US Designated Wilderness
July 25th, 2010 - Mojave Mustangs
July 17th, 2010 - Mojave Exploration
Bloomery furnace iron smelting
Open Street Map: Mojave Project
June 13th, 2010 - Mojave
June 6th, 2010 - El Cajon Trails
Wolf Mountain Sanctuary
Carrizo Gorge
March 28th, 2010 - Salton Sea
March 21st, 2010 - South Main Divide
March 13th, 2010 - Anza Borrego Wildflowers
March 7th, 2010 - CSULB Japanese Garden
February 2010 - Mammoth
GeoRSS
AISlib
OpenStreetMap
Dakota and Asha Celebrate Christmas, 2009
November 21st, 2009 - Mojave Road
November 14th, 2009 - Anza Borrego
Exploring The East Mojave: The Afton Canyon Area
Broken flex plate
Remote Image Serving
Astro/night photography in Inyo National Forest
Wild Mustang Sightings
RSS
September 26th, 2009 - Night Photography In Frazier Park
Whiskey
Brandy
August 15th, 2009 - Catalina dive trip
Astrophotography
Sensornet
January 24th, 2009 - Mojave Exploration
July 2008 Mammoth Vacation
AIS
President Barack Obama!
Rachel Maddow
Big Geek
Barack Obama
April 12th, 2008 - Wildflowers and Landmarks
My Grandfather's Alfa Romeo Spider
March 8th, 2008 - Carrizo Plain
Bridge To Nowhere
High Availability
October 20th, 2007 - Big Bear Camping
October 22nd, 2007 - Fire
Scottish Highlands, Aug 7th, 2006
Scottish Highlands, Aug 6th, 2006
August 5th, 2007 - Duck Lake Trail
May 26th, 2007 - Kelso Dunes
Culloden Battlefield, Aug 5th, 2006
May 20th, 2006 - Irwindale Renaissance Faire
Edinburgh, Aug 4th, 2006
The Clifs of Moher, Aug 3rd, 2006
The Burren, Aug 2nd, 2006
Bunratty Castle, Aug 1st, 2006
May 5th, 2007 - Mojave
Truck Audio/Data Network
2007 - Master Bath Remodel
Centrum: Exit
The Ring of Kerry, Jul 31st, 2006
Nikon D200
Victory in 2006!
Blarney and Killarney, Jul 30th, 2006
Dublin and Cork, Jul 29th, 2006
Dublin, Jul 27th & 28th, 2006
Married!
What Can I Do?
April 30th, 2006 - Anza Borrego
New desktop: Intel 805 D
Macro Photography
Jan 7th and 14th, 2006 - Hiking
Whiting Ranch Hiking
Engaged!
Digital Photography with Linux
September 5th, 2005 - Living Desert
August 19th, 2005 - Mammoth
Hiking and Photography
July 30th, 2005 - Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary
Nikon D70
Death, Fright and Photography
Mmmmmm Eggs
MythTV
Inova T4
May 14th, 2005 - Red Rock
April 2nd, 2005 - Death Valley
Count Every Vote Act of 2005
Image Archiving
Linear Logic ScanGuage
Gentoo Linux
November 6, 2004 - Mojave
Super Tuesday, 2004
John Kerry
Kayaking
Irish Stew
ImageServer
Ireland, 2004
Canon A80 Camera
Jul 25, 2004 - Death Valley
Chronic Hiccups
May 4th, 2004
Landscaping - My Front Slope
Stump Pullin' Yeeee Haw!
Feb 22nd, 2004
Feb 16th, 2004
PostgreSQL Logfile Analysis
Spam
Mountains? Desert? Jan 30th, 2004
Jan 28th, 2004
Encryption
Ceiling Cargo Basket
Front Bumper Version 2
Asha
Exide Orbitals
Land Rover Valve Jobs
Spirits
The Matrix: Revolutions
Halloween 2003
Greg Davis CDL Linkage
Ouzo
Democracy
Mom's Turkey Gravy
Grandma's Guacamole
Top Nodes
Julian Pie Company
DeCSS
The KB1DIG 2-meter Halo Antenna
Incomming searches
Gardening is hard!
Aug 13th, 2003
SQL and Perl
Cancun 2003
Jul 9th, 2003
Aprs intelegence
Jun 17th, 2003
Some People's Comments
Dakota is a silly dog
The Matrix: Reloaded
Chris' Stage Bottle Harness
April 23rd, 2003
Cracked Radiator!
Black Wednesday
DVD Burning Under Linux
My Satellite Phone
Wind!
My Near-Death Experience
Laser Cannon Revival
Front Bumper, Version 2
SpamAssassin
The Critters
Dakota
Milton
KPC 3 Plus and HTX-252
My House
Moving, moving moving...
Mobile 1
Portola Hills
New new house
Suse Linux
Database images
In Truck Dr. Pepper
My Favorite Toilet
Kelso Dunes
Desert Trips
Ifulmuh
Late Thoughts: Dr. Pepper Cooler
265/75-R16 Tires on a DII
Linux
George W. Bush
Rants
Driving
Reservations
Horses Sep 14 2002
Obsession
August 17th Yukon Dives
Less notifications
My Custom Front Bumper
Bracketless, Renamable Links
Discreet Winch
Welding
Jul 28 2002 Day Trip
My Firewall
Jedi Group, my T1 and money
A Bumperless Discovery!
My Custom Rear Bumper
Vanessa's 24th Birthday
Jun 30th Dive to Long Beach Canyon
PHP/PostgreSQL String Quoting
Tonsillectomy, Uvulaectomy and Turbinite Reduction
Searching functionality
240 Watt CO2 Laser Cannon
My Workspace
Dr. Pepper
The Tulsa Rib Company
The quality of hard disks these days
Email notification of articles
Email notification of comments
erikburrows.com source code
User Bios
User Preferences
Login feature
Renisance Faire Jun 9, 2002
Computers hate me, and it is mutual.
Star Wars Sucks!
Horses, Jun 1, 2002
Land Rover Mileage
Insomnia, Robin goes evil.
100 Watt Diode Laser Test Firing 1
Amateur Radio
The Matrix
2001: A Space Odyssey
TDI Deco Class
Horses, Apr 30, 2002
APRS
Movies
Blackbird
My Truck Batteries
My Truck
Vasquez Rocks
The Zope Bible
PSK31
Mojave Apr-12-2002
100 Watt Diode Laser
The New www.erikburrows.com
Hunter the Kitty
Horses
Geeks
Yukon May-13-2001
Computers
Matts Desert Pics
Mojave Feb-10-2001
Mojave Apr-01-2001
Programming Languages
Ironage Jul-4-2001
Mojave Jan-27-2001
Ironage Feb-03-2001
Mojave Jun-09-2001
SCUBA
Jedi Group
Inova T4   -   2005/05/21Viewed 216 times this month, last update: 2005/05/22


I don't know why exactly, but I am drawn to LED flashlights. There are practical reasons: longer battery life, longer bulb-life, tougher in general, but I think it's just because they're neat that I like them. So, I bought the first white-LED flashlight to come on the market, and was happy with it, but still looking for more. When I saw the Inova X5 at Sport Chalet one day, I had to have it, even though the price was a little silly. I've used my X5 for at least two years with great pleasure. I've taken it diving, camping, everywhere. It's a very tough little light. However, both my LED flashlights pre-dated the new super bright, single LED flashlights now on the market. Both of mine had five of the little LEDs with no special optics for focusing, so they were dim, and had a very wide beam making them good for close subjects only.

A year goes by, and I use my two LED flashlights, and my scuba super-bright (but incandescent) flashlights happily, even knowing there are better lights out there. Then, camping last weekend, Matt Bell shows me his new super-bright, single LED, tiny light. As tough as my X5 but ten times brighter, and actually even smaller! Punkass!

Matt carries his little light everywhere he goes, which is fine, but I hate having things like that in my pockets. I tried carrying my Swisstool around with me, but I just don't like the extra weight. So, my new goal in a LED light was brightness and toughness, with little regard to size. After extensive net surfing the brightest light I could find was made by my good friends at Inova, part of their Police/Military line, the T4:



It's a single four-watt LED with special focusing optics that puts out 100 lumens! It's machined from aluminum, and black-anodized. It's weather resistant, and probably immersion resistant, though I couldn't find numbers. It weighs 10 ounces, and feels very good in the hand. Compared to my X5:



It's twice as large and heavy, but easily twenty times brighter, and rechargeable, with a nice little charging cradle, that looks and works great screwed onto the drivers seat of my truck:



The thing is super bright. It's beam is very tight, more tight than any other I own and very white, without being too blue. Here's a demonstration of it's brightness, although it doesn't really do it justice, it gives you an idea:



I am very happy with my T4, even though I could have gotten an incandecent light for much less, because the T4 is freakin' cool! I expect many many years of happy camping and general use.

Comments:
Matt Bell (2005-05-23): Nice! I love the even beam that the LED's give.

Erik (2005-05-24): Yeah, geeky toys are fun!

Spewii (2005-09-11): Tooo right, i have purchased a T4 after having an assorted array of mag lites for years, and it is an awesome light to say the least, funcionality and brightness in one!

Randy (2005-10-20): Great light! I'm a police officer and have retired my Stinger (after 10 years of service), replacing it with the T4. Can't say enough about it!!

Paul (2005-11-14): I am a firefighter. This is far and away the best flashlight on the market. I now have a museum of old flashlights that I have purchased and used over the last 24 years on the job. This is the best light to date.

Jimmy (2006-02-14): I bought my T4 as soon as they hit the market. Also have an X5...and many others. The T4 is DaBomb! It goes so far beyond money well spent. I am an appliance servicer and carry it on my belt all day. I live in the woods and always have it with me at night to see traffic on the rattlesnake freeway that crosses my property. The T4 is as useful as a Surefire G2 without thte replacement battery expense and the light is white instead of yellow. Did I say I love my T4?

matt (2006-04-28): I just ordered a t4 and I can't wait.I will post after I spend some time with it.Did I mention that I can't wait........

Syed (2006-08-02): I'm about to go get one now. Tired of using the department issue ugly mag lite, even the suspect's chuckle.

Harry (2006-10-15): We have them here on sale at defensedevices.com
http://www.defensedevices.com/inova-t4-rechargeable-tactical-led-flashlight.html

Rob (2006-10-23): My ultra-stinger has been a trust companion but its length has been an issue during undercover ops. Being turned off by the Gladius hype and price, I ran across the T4 in the hands of a K9 officer. WOW. I hit the internet after my shift and the new love affair blossomed. My Stinger still has its place but the T4 is now my primary illumination. Even a few of my counterparts with the Blackhawks have made the switch. Who wants to bargain hunt lithium batteries with a less expensive, brighter, and rechargable alternative. The T4 ROCKS!!

Mitchell (2007-04-01): I have just placed an order for the new 2007 model, supposed to be 25% brighter and with a black lens ring, i can not wait for it to arrive.

Joe (2007-04-22): I too have replaced my stinger tactical. I'm in the brush most of the time and the T4 last twice as long, and the amount of light is awesome. Tough little cookie.

Lorne (2007-07-02): I am a 23-year police veteran who always carried Streamlight products until INOVA appeared. Doing some research, I learned I will get the biggest and brightest bang with the INOVA T4. Purchased it last week, fully charged the battery and passed the Streamlight Stinger onto my 9-year old son. The T4 is now on my belt.

Gary Australia (2007-07-23): I am a Police officer in Australia and have been singing the praises of Inova yto all my coleagues, most of them having a sure fire on their belts. That was until I demonstrated the awesome beam focus and pattern of Inova lights. The T4 is the second light I have from the company the first being the CR123 powered T2, it's just as good but has a slightly different beam (and costs $$$$ to run), the new T4 wipes the floor with the rest! don't mess about get one!

Irawan (2007-08-29): Great Product T4 it's. I'm waiting for 2007 version.

Stevo (2007-09-13): Just got my 2007 version ('B' series) T4 today. It was a replacement for
the older 'A' series T4 that was exhibiting odd charge cradle behavior,
though the light itself seemed perfectly fine. Five things I can note
is that:
1) The 'B' series no longer has the TRIOS optics between the LED
and the front glass: ie - you can now plainly see the LED.
2) The light appears a bit more blue (to me), and it seems to me
like the 'A' series was a bit more white.
3) There is no longer any ringing in the fringes of the light output ,
but there does seem to be a shift of some additional light being
added to the fringe area, giving a perception (to me) of the center
spot not being quite as bright/focused, or as large in diameter.
Possibly these 'A' attributes/effects were due to TRIOS optics ?
4) The charge cradle buttons are now ~2.5x bigger & about 2.5x
further apart (so, FYI, not compatible w/old charger)
5) Front ring, as already pointed out, is now anodized black vs
'A' series chrome.

4) & 5) are fine, IMO.
Personally, I prefer the 'A's more focused beam. I am hoping that
dropping the TRIOS optics was not a cost-cutting-at-the-expense-of-performance
measure. I would suggest comparing the 'B' to an 'A' if possible,
the 'A' may be The One.


Steveo (2007-09-13): Follow-up: Did some experimentation, believe the 'B' series beam
profile (as previously described above) may be of more tactical benefit
than the 'A' series.
ie: Peripheral area receives more illumination and
the beam is less focused in a spot. So while center
is brighter it is also smaller and lighting is more
evenly distributed overall. Compared it to my Streamlight
M2 UTL and while the 'B' was maybe 10-15 degrees
less-wide the 'B' was more uniform than the M2.
Still suggest comparing the 'B' to an 'A' if possible
(while the A is still available). Also suggest that Emissive
Energy consider at least allowing the TRIOS as an at-cost option,
for those of us who want more of a spot for less-tactical use.


Stevo (2007-09-13): Oops. That is 'TIROS', not TRIOS.
Hmmm. What would really be cool would be a rotating front ring coupled to a modified TIROS to provide either. (but a compromise in weather resistance? complexity?)


AlexB (2007-10-08): Hey ! The T4 is a really nice product ... but last week-end one of my buddy played in my truck with the charger and unfortunately it died ... (so as the battery obviously). The cost of a genuine Inova charger cradle + battery is about the 3/4 the price of a new T4 2007 ... So I have 2 options now : buy a new T4 (for 30 bucks more) or play Doc Frankenstein and buy a pair of chinese 18650 3.7 V Lithium batts + charger (30 USD). I want to have a try to see if the lamp handles this "non OEM" configuration ...
Any advice there ?
;-)
Alex from France ("da frog eater")

Erik (2007-10-09): Hmmmm, no idea Alex. I'm sure you can buy a replacement battery from Inova, but the charger, as you said, is going to cost. I'd say get a whole new kit, plus a new battery, then you'd have a working charger and two lights! :-)

Selwyn (2007-11-27): I bought my T4 in 2006 to use up north at the lake. It is a great flashlight, but I note that unless the battery has been sufficiently discharged, the charger emits an intermittant (flashing) blue light instead of a continuous blue no matter how much I try to ensure that the flashlight is properly seated on the charger. I do not have this problem when the when the battery has been sufficiently drained - I then get a continous blue light until it turns green. Does this only happen to me?

Erik (2007-12-08): Selwyn, that doesn't happen to me, though my charger must be different, since it never glows green, just blue while charging.

Fred (2010-04-28): Does any of you hava a manual of the t4 and are you willing to share?

Erik (2010-04-28): I don't have the manual any more, but I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Phalange (2011-01-31): 4Sevens makes great lights now (several years now, actually); makes most of Inova's lineup look like toys.

egnalahP (2011-05-13): 4Sevens flashlights are simply re-branded Chinese knockoffs. Don't be fooled.

permalink

Email me!


Erik Griffin Burrows and ErikBurrows.com are not responsible for any damage or loss caused by viewing this site, or actions taken as a result of reading any part of this site. Articles and comments on this site should not be taken as legal, medical, scientific, engineering, botanical, dietary or any other kind of professional direction. This site is not affiliated with any business institution.

You get the idea. This site is just another big pile of misinformed, uneducated, unsolicited opinion, and should be judged as no more truthful or accurate as anything else on the internet.

Don't Panic!