Customer Reviews

Inova X5 LED Floodlight - Titanium Casing - Green Spotlight

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

No bulbs. No filaments. No reflectors. No glass. If you remove all the weak points of a standard flashlight, and all the old notions of what a flashlight should include, then start designing from scratch, you'll probably end up with something like Inova's X5.

It doesn't look much like a traditional flashlight - a smooth aluminum tube with eight flat sides machined into the center, capped at the ends with a rubber button switch at the tail and a stainless steel bezel at the front. Aside from the lanyard hole that goes through the knurled tailcap, it's about as simple and straightforward as it gets, measuring a full inch shorter than the MiniMag and a quarter of an ounce lighter. It resembles a flashlight circuit that's been carved into a solid slug of metal.

Which is exactly how it feels when you hold the X5. The aluminum is military-grade Type III anodized; if you're a long-time MagLite user, you might have noticed that it's Type II exterior collects nicks and scratches over time - no such problems here. With no glass or filaments, no "breakable" parts, the little Inova is about as rugged a light as modern technology can provide. A water-resistant 1+ ton crush rating means backing over it with your car in the rain will leave the X5 unfazed.

But the highlight is the light - *The X5 has as much light output as a full-size 3 D-cell Maglite.* The light beam is phosphor-white, similar to an HID car headlight, and produces an even, round flood on whatever you're lighting. The five Nichia CS LEDs are "lifetime" rated (100,000+ hours) and are actually a patented design utilizing fluorescence techniques in manufacturing, meaning they're uniquely brighter compared even to other LEDs. Note that this is a tactical light; shining it in yours (voice of experience) or someone else's eyes will produce momentary blindness even in a lit area.

All the light innovation wouldn't be complete without some battery innovation - The X5 is powered by a pair of 123A lithium batteries (sold overpriced at your local store in the "photo batteries" section, find them online at less than $2 each) providing six watts of power. Unlike flashlights of old, where you could determine battery life by how bright the light was, Inova employs a power regulator circuit - no more slowly fading light over time, leaving you to wonder if the flashlight is really as bright as it could be; 3+ hours into use, the X5 is still as bright as when the batteries were first installed (whereas the MiniMag is at roughly 25% of it's original brightness, and completely dead a couple hours later). Expect at least six hours of useable light, and since they're lithium batteries, months of shelf time for your X5 won't make a difference.

So if you're tired of the limitations of 20th century flashlights, and are ready for something brighter, tougher, and longer-lasting, Inova's X5 outshines them all. Five "extreme conditions" stars.

(Addendum: What about the new LED MiniMag? Maglite's new LED series of MiniMags are brighter than the X5, but only for the first hour or so of operation - their "energy management" circuit doesn't quite live up to it's name, so the light gradually dims over time like most other flashlights. LED MiniMags are also larger and heavier than the incandescent originals, and still use a plastic lens prone to scuffing. Powered by regular AA cells, battery life is at most four hours until completely dead, plus there's no polarity protection; should you accidentally place the batteries in backwards, the light will be destroyed. The LED MiniMag is a definite improvement over the original, but not quite on par with the X5.)

Last year, with a couple of tie wraps, I pressed one of these into service as a bike headlight, a task it fulfilled very well. Then I accidentally left it out in the elements, for 10 months of sun and rain. Despite the abuse, its finish still looks great, and it functions flawlessy (even without changing batteries, which speaks well for choosing a lithium-powered flashlight for emergency use).

The X5 is very solid, and has a nice feel in the hand; the tailcap switch makes it very handy to use, without fumbling for a side button. While I used to be seduced by the long "throw" of tightly focused flashlights, I've come to prefer the smooth, broad flood-like beam of LED flashlights like this one, since nearly everything I do with a flashlight is within 20 feet.

Excellent Quality. Just the right size to carry with you always. Bright, uniform, clean white light. 3-way cap switch is very handy. Being that it is a floodlight it worked excellent for me as an electrician. The best light for the price by far. Made in the USA. Its almost to nice though. Everyone likes it and it was stolen from my car in a parking garage.

Well first off, let me say that this is a FLOODLIGHT and it is advertised as such. It outputs a coarse, even beam that spreads into an evenly lit circle. It will NOT produce the typical "bright dot in the center and dim spill on the edge" beam you might expect out of a maglite or similar reflector-based flashlight.

The X5 gives you a lot of great usable light for its entire beam radius and is great for close-range navigation or searching for things in the dark, but it will NOT be like a reflectored tactical light that can produce a beam visible a football field away! It was never designed to do so.

What you will get is 6-hours of full brightness runtime and then another 6 hours or more of dimming light on top of that. In fact, if you have a camera or other flashlight that uses CR-123A batteries, you can even stuff their "dead" batteries into this flashlight and it'll still light up brightly. This is a great flashlight for sucking every last drop out of those expensive CR-123A cells.

The use of 5 LED's also means you get a pure consistent-white beam unlike the "luxeon lottery" effect where with single-LED flashlights you can buy 5 white ones and they actually have strong blue purple green red tints to it due to manufacturing variance. The use of 5 LED's means that this all balances out. The overall color of the beam is white with a bit of a violet/blue corona, "cool white" as lightbulb manufacturers call it.

It's comfortably sized and easy to hold in the hand and the momentary-on push function is effortlessly depressed , not tightly loaded like some Inovas.

As with every Inova, it's made here in the USA and comes with a lifetime warranty. Anytime this thing breaks, contact CS and they'll simply ask you to mail yours back and they'll send you a brand-new one.

I do not have a single complaint about this device -- it's great. And I don't ever worry about this expensive investment failing in the future -- it's backed by a solid manufacturer who stands by their product.

Although the X5's are a little on the pricey side - they are the best light out there!! I used my titanium X5 through one year in Afghanistan last year (I'm not a soldier) and over seven months in Iraq this year - no problems whatsoever. I dropped it a few times and there were no marks or dings. I finally (foolishly) traded it for a plastic 'police' flashlight (G2) - on which the switch broke within one week! You cannot go wrong getting one of these!

I bought this flashlight hopeing that it would be what I wanted it to. It was and so much more. I was wanting a flashlight that was skinny, light weight, canstant on and push button, and very bright it was exactly that. Perfect for camping, auto, self-defence, and the perfect shotgun/tactical mounted light, and very affordable too. I recommended this flashlight to all of my friends. Next time I need a flashlight I will buy another.

I have a 3 D-cell Maglite and have to replace batteries more often than I like. Plus it delivers the yellowish, semi-bright light and is not good for backpacking use. So I got this light for a recent weekend trip and was glad I did because it performed quite well. I was biking an unlit, tree-covered, dirt path for about 5 miles and this light performed better than my buddy's led bike light (I do not know what light he has). This light was able to shine to about 20' with a 5' spread on the ground bright enough to see roots, potholes, rocks moving at about 10 mph. It has a screw down mechanism to stay on or unscrew enough to not worry about accidentally pushing the on button (on the end) while in your backpack. There is no click on/off function, only screw. The button works only when pressed.

Overall great light and would recommend.

Inova did a great job with this little light. It is bright enough to use even in high light conditions. It is also comfortable to the hand and light on the belt. It also is durable and looks nice too. I don't think you will regret buying it.

Works as described. Small enough to carry in pocket, but not too small. Nice beam of light. Easily allowed us to walk at night with no lights.

I bought this because I work a lot with circuit boards at school and sometimes I have trouble seeing the components in normal lighting conditions.
The X5 is excellent for this purpose. I was impressed when I took it outside in the night and it illuminated over 20 meters away.
Just do not look directly at it when it's on unless you want to have a burned imaged for the next 5 minutes.
The frame is strong and has a good weight to it. It has a 3 state cap at the end which either keeps it on, allows for pushing the button and turning it on, and a last state that prevents the light from turning on. This is all controlled by turning this cap.
I recommend it for the countryside and workshops.