EagleTac D25A Mini Ti Review

Reviewed here is a special titanium edition of the EagleTac D25AM. Other than the premium titanium metal used for construction, this is essentially the same as the regular EagleTac D25AM part of the D25 Mini series. Up the front the D25AM has a smooth and shallow bezel. The glass lens sits just slightly recessed from the bezel, and because the bezel is relatively shallow, carrying this in a pocket or bag with other items would inevitably end up scratching the lens sooner or later. The lens uses anti-reflective (AR) coated glass for maximum light transmission. The aluminum reflector has a very subtle texture to it, looking almost smooth at first glance. Surface finish is clean and perfectly polished. A well-centered LED sits at the bottom of the reflector cut. Externally the D25AM Ti’s head has a band of knurling for grip which really helps since it’s a twist-activated light. Other parts are polished titanium, however there are some noticeable scuff marks though nothing too distracting. Thankfully the D25AM Ti also comes with a nylon holster too. The threads between the head and battery tube are the only problematic parts of this light. They aren’t smoothly machined and you can definitely feel the coarseness and sometimes cross-threading when twisting on the head to the battery tube. This is even more of an issue since activation and output cycling is performed by twists of the head.

The battery tube is pretty simple cylindrical design, mostly covered in textured knurling on its exterior face. Inside, the tube has a “-” battery contact spring which prevents battery rattle within the tube even when the head is loosened with the light switched off. Towards the tail end you’ll find a couple of lanyard holes. There is also a notch cut along the rear end lip so that the D25AM Ti is still able to tail stand with a key ring attached to one of the lanyard holes. A pocket clip comes pre-attached which allows the D25AM Ti to be carried head-down. The clip is stiff and provides a secure hold. The clip can also be removed if desired by simply unscrewed the two hex head screws towards the rear end.

A wide array of output modes are provided by the D25AM Ti, all of which are accessible by repeatedly loosening/tightening (eash cycle within 1 second) its head. Available output modes are as follows.

Initially, this might seem like an unusually long series of mode cycling. However, that’s exactly why the first set of constant illumination modes (Low/Medium?Turbo) are repeated. It has been designed such that in practical use, you can generally activate the D25AM Ti without accidentally cycling through the strobe modes. When switched off, the D25AM Ti will not remember the last output mode selected and always reverts back to the initial Low output mode in the cycle. The lower output modes are controlled by means of pulse width modulation (PWM), good thing is the frequency of PWM used here is high enough to be practically unnoticeable unless you really try to look for it while waving the light around. Beam profile has a medium sized spot, common with most light of this size, accompanied by a wide spill beam. Generally, the beam profile is clean with no artifacts other than some minor rings towards the outer edge of the spill beam. Color wise, the beam tint is close to neutral white perhaps leaning just slightly towards the cool side, but certainly not by much. Output performance is very good with the D25AM Ti, holding solid regulation and decent run time respective to overall output. Although, do note that the Turbo output level only maintains that peak brightness for about 5 minutes as can be seen from the run time graph below. Following which, the output drops to about 70% of initial brightness of Turbo. This is to prevent a small sized light as this from overheating. Note that while the D25AM Tiwill run on a 3.7V 14500 li-ion battery, this causes the light to work in direct-drive with no regulation and no lower output levels. Also, excessive heat will be produced and should be used with caution especially since bring the titanium version, heat isn’t dissipated as well as aluminum.

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