Foursevens Preon P0

[GuyZero]

Do any of the lucky P0 owners also have an E05 that they could compare the beam too? I don't need beamshots or anything, I'm just curious how wide of an angle the beam spread is in comparison. The one thing that keeps me from EDC'ing my E05 is that I like to have a long-running low mode in case I find myself in an extended emergency. The P0 addresses that, but I'm not sure I'll want a beam that's too much wider spread than the E05.

Have any of you tried walking down a trail with the P0? Does it seem like enough light to illuminate 10-15 feet in front of you, or does it give you the sort of reverse-tunnel-vision effect that the old Zebralights do, where it lights up all the close stuff in your periphery but doesn't throw enough to light up the actual trail. That always creeps me out...

 

[Houdiny]

Mine shipped today as well, not more than one (!) hour after I had ordered it! Absolutely fantastic work at almost the speed of light, FOURSEVENS!

 

[Harry999]

I will definitely be ordering a Peon PO or two when I place my next FourSevens order in about a week or so. The footage convinced me. I love flood beams. BTW I am surprised no one has commented on David's point about a FourSevens headlamp with 2,000 lumens output!!! I am interested!

 

[hiuintahs]

Guys, I updated the chart in post #142 to also include run time with an Energizer L92 lithium battery. Run time came in at 306 minutes.

 

[RedForest UK]

Wow, that's what I mean about manufacturers including alkalines with their lights. If they spent around $0.30 more per package they could advertise ANSI 5hrs runtime instead of ANSI 1.5hrs. It would be a massive selling point, I seriously don't get why people haven't cottoned onto this yet..

 

[Sno4Life]

I will definitely be ordering a Peon PO or two when I place my next FourSevens order in about a week or so. The footage convinced me. I love flood beams. BTW I am surprised no one has commented on David's point about a FourSevens headlamp with 2,000 lumens output!!! I am interested!

What time is the comment in the video? I didn't catch that the first time through.

 

[AnAppleSnail]

Wow, that's what I mean about manufacturers including alkalines with their lights. If they spent around $0.30 more per package they could advertise ANSI 5hrs runtime instead of ANSI 1.5hrs. It would be a massive selling point, I seriously don't get why people haven't cottoned onto this yet..

I wonder if Energizer pays a licensing bonus to flashlight makers to include the alkies with the lights...

 

[shelm]

It would be a massive selling point, I seriously don't get why people haven't cottoned onto this yet..

"we want to underpromise, and overdeliver" -- that's what David repeatedly stated in the nutnfancy booth review and in the goinggear press conference video. if you insert the **itti*** cell you can find in your house in the Preon PO, you'll get the 1.5hrs runtime for sure. as promised on the packaging. non-flashaholics who insert NimH's or lithium's will be stunned by the ongoing runtime and talk enthusiastically about the product "hey, you get much more runtime out of the product if you DONT use Alkalines! what an amazing product!!" and the reputation of the product (and the company) grows. long-term effect. Those customers will think highly of 4sevens, eventually get interested in the subject, visit the website and maybe buy a Preon P2. David wins.

if you state 'this product can run over 300 min.' and it's not a promise but people will take it as such and may feel tempted to test it. They take an Alkaline and fail, take an Enveloop and fail. At that point they give up and begin to think bad about the product (and the company).

a neutral and fair way to convey runtimes would be:
"Max-mode Runtime w/ Alkaline: 1.5 hrs
Max-mode Runtime w/ Eneloop: 3.1 hrs
Max-mode Runtime w/ Lithium: 5.1 hrs"

if we agree that this looks **itt* and too confusing to the average lady and you had to choose a single line, which one would *you* choose?

the clever marketing decision is to keep it low. and underpromise.

 

[AlphaZen]

I could be wrong, but I guess that most average consumers don't get too worked up about the runtime from a single-aaa light, or they don't really have a basis for comparison to make it relevant. It is probably only us flashoholics who scrutinize it, and the Foursevens team knows we will sort it out ourselves. Shelm has a good point about their marketing approach, which I happen to agree with. It IS better to under promise and over deliver. Look at how many people reading this thread went out and bought one when they realized the light is better than what they originally thought. We are lucky to have people who are willing to take the time to do runtime tests and share it with us, because we DO care about the runtime. Thanks hiuintahs:thumbsup:

 

[MCN]

Just got mine today. My initial reactions:

Material: Love the stainless steel. Looks good and presumably is strong for the size.
Size: Fab. Just what I was hoping for on my keyring.
Magnet: Potentially useful, I carry anything it could damage in another pocket, so no issue for me.
GITD: Meh
Appearance: Seems a little too fancy and the polished bits are likely to get scratched up fast.
Grip: The satin/polished finish is a little too slick. If they had even gone with a slightly rougher brushed finish it would have been better.
Beam: The floody beam is potentially useful although I don't have any other lights like that so I will need to live with it for a while to see how useful it actually is.
Tint: Weird greeny tint. Not exactly my cup of tea, but ok I guess.
Really crappy thing: the worst switch debounce I've ever encountered. You've got a 50/50 chance of the light starting in the mode you expected. Maybe if I go after it with some Caig Deoxit things will be better -- haven't tried yet, but I really shouldn't have to on a brand new battery/light.

 

[Got Lumens?]

I could be wrong, but I guess that most average consumers don't get too worked up about the runtime from a single-aaa light, or they don't really have a basis for comparison to make it relevant. It is probably only us flashoholics who scrutinize it, and the Foursevens team knows we will sort it out ourselves. Shelm has a good point about their marketing approach, which I happen to agree with. It IS better to under promise and over deliver. Look at how many people reading this thread went out and bought one when they realized the light is better than what they originally thought. We are lucky to have people who are willing to take the time to do runtime tests and share it with us, because we DO care about the runtime. Thanks hiuintahs:thumbsup:

+1
I was going to write something very simular. They are marketing this light to many others that use and know AAA's, the non-flashaholic.
Thanks Hiuintahs for your testing.
Mine won't arrive until at least Saturday when I will do a review also.
GL

 

[smokelaw1]

Got mine, love it. Low is perfect for night time use around the house.
I do have a stupid question, though....what can the magnet damage? Can I have it in the same pocket as an iphone without messing with the phone/memory? Thanks all.

 

[RedForest UK]

Yeah, I see what everyone is saying about underpromising. But I know many people do compare runtimes on lights and buy according to the numbers on the package, 4sevens could at least mention that this light will run for 5+ hours on a lithium cell, that would at least get people thinking about using lithiums and I think would increase comparative sales. Many people order online and simply do a quick comparison of output/runtimes listed between similar lights, it's only us on CPF that will see the actual runtime graphs.

I work part-time in a small supermarket (still completing my degree) and when people come in and ask for batteries they have no idea of any differences other than the 'Duracell lasts longer' marketing rubbish. I simply asked what they'd be using them for and if it was low-drain recommended the better value Panasonic alkaline cells and if high drain explained how lithiums lasted much longer. We'd had around 15 packs of lithiums on the shelf sitting for months before I started doing this and within a few weeks of me doing this (and I'm only in on Monday evenings) they were sold out. The people I'd told once remembered next time and got lithiums again even if I wasn't there next time. Unfortunately the owner didn't decide to get anymore in and the people who had now learned about lithium cells were dissapointed when they came back for more in the future, as they had to go somewhere else.

The point is that most people are willing and perfectly able to learn that lithium cells are better in high-drain applications, they just don't even consider it until they are told or see it advertised.

 

[MatNeh]

Why is the design so similar to the DQG II? Small size, 2 modes, glow ring, magnet, optic. Was there a collaboration between the two companies, or is there just 1 design that makes sense in this form factor?

 

[sspc]

I'm really impressed by the reported runtime. I'm really into single cell lights and have been on the hunt for an inexpensive AAA to EDC.

The only thing holding back is the magnet. I love the thought of a magnet, but I have accidentaly magnetized a couple movements in my automatic watches by somehow getting them too close to magnets. So I worry about that possibility as this light would always be on me.

So I'm still undecided between the Preon P0 and the Thrunite TI

 

[Viper715]

Got mine in today! Great little light and I'm loving the magnet mount. I haven't seen it mentioned though I could have missed it mine came with a small magnet that could be used to mount it on the other side of say fabrics. Nice thing to include. The beam is real nice and even flood. My only dislike is it is a cooler bin. Mine is slightly blue and the edges show green from the glow powder. Other than that I love it and will probably get at less 1-2 more.

 

[The Shadow]

Tint: Weird greeny tint. Not exactly my cup of tea, but ok I guess.

My only dislike is it is a cooler bin. Mine is slightly blue and the edges show green from the glow powder.

Guys - thanks for the honest reviews. Like most of you, I was caught up in the hype and was getting ready to order one. But blue, green, or purple tinted LEDs always disappoint me. Other than that it looks like a nice little light. I'll wait until they offer one with a neutral tint (or something better comes around).

Thanks to everyone who posted.

 

[Flying Turtle]

Got mine today. This thing is tiny. Very unique little light. No problem with the tint. The green is coming from the glowflector that it uses and only seems noticeable when the light is almost touching a white surface. Beware that the magnet can come out. Mine pulled straight out of its seat. I pressed it back in and it now seems tight.

One handed use, at least until it loosens up, is tough. Being so small and smooth makes it a two-hander. After spending a couple weeks with a ThruNite Ti I was concerned the Preon might seem too bright on low, but its pure flood changes things. In fact at its 0.04 level the Ti actually throws a bit better, but, of course, it's really a different animal.

Can't wait for night to give this little guy a good test.

Geoff

 

[shelm]

The green is coming from the glowflector that it uses

so a neutralwhite or warmwhite or highcri tint wouldnt help after all. the turquoise glowflector ruins it maybe :)

 

[moshow9]

Wow! I know it's been mentioned that the P0 is only slightly bigger than a AAA battery, and David even held the 2 up side by side for comparison at the press conference (@SHOT), but this light is so much smaller than I imagined.

I ordered two but only 1 works :(, so I'll be contacting 4Sevens (foursevens) for a possible exchange depending if any solutions can be found. This is the first light I have owned that has a magnet. I've never had a use for one prior and don't know if I will like this particular feature. Then again, there may come a time when it could prove useful. As the saying goes, it's better to have something and not need it, than to need something and not have it. :)

Tint seems good to me. Once the sun goes down I'll be able to test this a bit more. Other than the first couple of twists, action is smooth and I'm able to operate it one-handed. All in all this is a very nice keychain/backup up close light, and small enough to where there is no reason not to have and carry one daily. I do wish a spare o-ring had been included but I may not have looked closely enough when I unboxed.