Litesam is a newer brand operated by the same people who run FiTorch. It’s a single emitter AA/14500 sized light designed with everyday carry in mind. Thanks to Litesam for sending it to me. Due to some recent wrist surgery I am going to try and keep this shorter since typing and editing with a splint/cast isn’t the most fun thing to do right now. So if you see fewer reviews and videos from me over the next 8 weeks this is why.
Packaging and Accessories
Packaging is a small cardboard box with a slip on cover where all the details are located. It was a very tight fit and a little difficult to open without ripping it open. Inside the light was contained in a clear plastic tray with the light, holster, lanyard, and extra oring, and extra tail button. The battery was preinstalled but needed to have a plastic disk removed before it was operational.
The light is made from black anodized aluminum. Its fairly light weight in at 55g with the included battery and clip. Length comes in at 101mm and diameter at 18.25mm and compared to a few other 14500 lights I have the ED08 is slightly longer then my Reylight Ti-Lan V3, and quite a bit longer then my Olight S1A. However of the 3, the ED08’s diameter is the smallest. The knurling is a diamond shaped with the flats having additional texture and a few milled areas. Shape wise it’s fairly generic and is just about as thin as possible for as possible. Threads were standard but dry.
The tail has 2 large lanyard holes that also serve the purpose of protecting the button. The light will tail stand but its not the most stable doing so.The button is a loud clicky mechanical style that takes a decent effort to push. I didn’t have any trouble with it coming on accidently in my pocket. The lens is smooth and LED is well centered.
LED, UI, Runtimes
This light uses a Cree XP-L in Cool white. It’s one of the most cold tint’s I have seen in a light this year or longer. The beam pattern is good for EDC tasks, it’s got a hot center and projects decently well. It’s flood is functional.
Included battery is a Litesam branded, button top, protected 14500 rated at 750mAh. It’s overall length is 52.13mm. I had no issues with it
Runtime on 14500
On the supplied 14500 total runtime from 100% output to 0 relative output was about 110 minutes. Most of the time was below 50% relative output. high lasted about 2-3 minutes before the big step down occurred. Medium is where this light stayed for most of its curve.
Advertised brightness’s are high at 700 lumens, 100 lumens on medium, 30 lumens on low. 700 lumens for both Strobe and SOS.
Runtime on Eneloop resulted in less overall output but more of that higher output for longer. It was able to keep over 90% relative output for about 50 minutes before a large decrease over the next 20 minutes. Overall runtime was 105 minutes.
Parasitic Drain was measured at 0.23mA.
UI
The UI of this light is one area that could be improved a lot in my opinion. It goes from High, Medium, Low, Strobe and then SOS. For EDC I prefer a light to start in its lowest mode giving the user the option to bump up if needed and retain night vision. I also really don’t like having to cycle through Strobe and SOS as part of the main mode group. These would be much better under a sub mode, requiring a double or triple click to get there.
Pocket Clip
In the pocket this is decent. The clip is built for thin pockets, jeans or any canvas type material will have a hard time fitting to the top of the clip and thus not as deep as possible. Personally I prefer as deep as carry as possible and this one could be deeper. Other then that I had no issues during carry or retention.
Pro’s
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I like that it includes a decent 14500 cell in the package with the light for the low price.
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Thin profile with good knurling
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Good Beam profile for an EDC light
Con’s
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Has Strobe and Beacon in main modes, these would be better as a shortcut or a secondary mode on an EDC light.
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Very cool tint
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Pocket clip could be deeper and designed to fit thicker pants.
Conclusion
At time of writing this light can be found in the US for less then $25 on Amazon (Affiliate Link). Given that it comes with a 14500 battery I find this is a pretty good value for this size of light if you don’t mind cool white. I don’t have the equipment to get an accurate lumen reading but when comparing it to other AA lights I feel like the rating of 700lm may be a little optimistic. I personally don’t care for the light having Strobe and SOS in it’s main mode group and the fact that it starts in high, with memory on all modes. Hopefully Lightsam offers a revised UI in the future that takes the special modes out of the main group as it would make the light a more attractive EDC option.