Xtar has an update for the original PB2 18650 charger and powerbank. As the name implices (PB2C) the new model adds USB-C but only for charging. The XTar PB2 lineup is a little confusing in naming. The Larger PBS can fit larger 21700 batteries, charge and discharge via USB-C and has a screen. The new PB2S is smaller in size, can only take 18650 batteries, and doesn’t have a screen. Thanks to Xtar for sending this to me to take a look at and review.
The Xtar PB2C packaging is very simple, it’s a clear plastic shell with a cardboard back with most of the information on the rear of the package. There is a simple multi language manual included in the package. Inside you get the PB2C itself and a USB-A(3) to USB-C cable.
Construction
The Xtar PB2C is made from hard plastic with some texture. The body and color of mine happens to be a sky blue with black accents. It’s a great look in my opinion and feels well built. The lid is held on with magnets at the center that are reasonably strong. There are nail nicks to make removal easier. On the inside you have the input and output specs as well as the units model and serial numbers.
Inside the cells are held in place with pretty robust springs on one end and tabs on the other. This allows all 18650’s from flat top unprotected cells to protected button tops to fit. There is a ribbon to make removal easier which is a nice. Polarity and charging rates are molded into the base too.
The only indicators that’s available are a series of 4 small white LED at the top, that are used for charge/discharge status, on/off status, and any errors (All blinking). Four lights building one by one means it’s charging, if all 4 lights are on charging is done.
Size and Weight
The PB2C is smaller then it’s larger more advanced PB2S brother because it only fits 18650 batteries and doesn’t have a display. I measured the length at 109mm, width at 50mm and depth at 24mm. Weight with 2 18650 batteries came in at 150g.
As a Powerbank
As a Powerbank the Xtar PB2C is a little disappointing because it only works via the USB-A slot. The USB-C connector is an input only. Then I remember the price here, about $12 and given that it comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable, I will give it a pass. As much as I love USB-C it’s still not as universal especially world wide as the Western World thinks it is. USB-A is the most compatible with the largest market yet.
I tested the PB2C with some 2600mAh Xtar batteries and was able to easily discharge at 2.25A for 1 hour 34 minutes. The voltage did sag some when running this hard, and wasn’t quite as stable as you see from most of my Anker and Aukey power banks but it was fine with an average voltage of 4.89V.. Capacity came in at a measured 3115mAh, which seems a little low but is roughly 80% efficiency assuming the labels on the batteries are correct. Higher capacity batteries will yield more capacity to recharge your devices. LVP on the cells kicked in at 3.23V and 3.40V. The powerbank function can be used while the charger is charging batteries, with it primarily powering the device off the USB input rather then discharging the batteries.
As a Charger
As a charger the Xtar PB2C combines all the features from Xtar that are proven and well respected such as zero volt activation, reverse polarity protection, safe charging rates, over discharge protection, etc. If one battery is inserted, into the 2 slot charger, charging speed will be 1A, if 2 batteries are installed it will be upto 2A. If the batteries inserted have different power levels, the lower voltage cell will charge first till they are equal and then it will charge both batteries.
In my testing I charged 2 2600mAh cells to full in 3 hours and 7 minutes mostly at 1.9A of speed. Terminal voltage on both cells was 4.17V which is good. I had no trouble fitting protected, unprotected, and all manner of button top cells on the charger. Your luck may vary with custom cells from brands like Olight.
Pro’s
Very Affordable
Can take protected or unprotected 18650’s
Blue and Orange Color Options
Con’s
USB-C is only used for charging here, it would be better if it was bidirectional.
Conclusion
This is a nice little battery charger and powerbank combination if all you need to charge are 18650 sized batteries. It has most cases for those covered. It’s a nice update to see USB-C included but I wish it was in and out instead of just used for input power only. That said the included USB-A to C cable does help with this, and for the price I can’t fault it much. Overall this is a good basic charger and powerbank combo from Xtar at a very affordable price.
Today I am taking a look at the Nitecore Tiki and Tiki LE keychain lights. These are small, multicolor lights with built USB recharging and a sealed battery. Thanks for Nitecore Store for sending these two keychain lights out for me to take a look at. Links to them will be in the description.
Packaging on these are simple retail hangers with a try it feature on the clear see through bubble. The Tiki features a primary white LED, and then a high CRI white emitter and UV led as a an auxiliary. The LE version swaps the UV and High CRI aux emitters for red and blue. On the back the package goes through the simple models. The only included accessory is the keychain attachment point.
Construction
Both lights are made from polycarbonate plastic. The Tiki is made from a simi translucent plastic allowing you to see the internals pretty well. This also diffuses the side auxiliary LED’s. Up front there is a stainless steel bezel, the light is using a TIR style optic and a small glass lens. The hoop at the back is fairly thick and may not fit every key chain naively without the included small chain. The LE version is a black plastic thats semi transparent on the side LED’s. The front bezel is black colored here. On both the button is in a logical place on the barrel and takes a fairly firm press to actuate. The USB recharging port on the back is nicely flush fit with the body too.
Size & Weight
Overall length is 54mm on both lights, and the diameter as measured is 15mm at the head. This puts these lights a bit smaller then your average AAA keychain light and just a little longer then the Olight i1R and Lumintop Glow I recently reviewed. The light is IPX66 rated.
This review wouldn’t be complete without mentioning how close these look to the RoyVon A5 both in looks and operation. The USB ports are a little different but that’s about it. I asked Nitecore about this and they declined to comment on if there was any collaboration or licensing here.
LED & Beam & PWM
The primary LED being used on both lights is the Osram P8 LED in cool white. The beam pattern out the TIR optic is pretty decent for what this is but it does have very small artifacts. For a light like this it’s not something I am going to fault it on too much.
I am not that sensitive to PWM myself but I can see it on the lowest mode, my oscilloscope sees it in the higher modes as well. It’s fairly bad on the scope in at least the lights i have tested this year.
Not much data on the auxiliary LED’s is given. The UV LED is said to be 500mw and at 365nm. In practice this is really weak, you can use it to help point out the security features on a card or dollar bill but that’s about it, things need to be very close range. The high CRI LED is warm tint and decently bright. No data is given on the red or blue LED options on the LE version.
Runtime
Runtimes on the main LED are identical on this light. The highest mode is good for 300 lumens for about 1 minute before stepping down and running at about 40% output where it runs till the 30 minute mark and where it then steps down and runs for another 20 minutes or so before LVP kicks in. This is pretty respectable for a light of this size. It’s not something you will hike with but more then enough to find something you dropped on the ground, get the mail, or find your key hole.
UI
UI is fairly straight forward here and the same on each light. A slow double press turns the light on in Low mode, with single presses going up in output (4 total modes). Long press to turn off. When off a long press turns it on in maximum output in momentary mode.
To get to the auxiliary modes triple click from off, single click changes modes. The Tiki has the UV on by default, single click again and it goes to high CRI which is warmer and much brighter. Single click again and it goes to high cri blinking. The Tiki LE default is the Red LED, click again and it goes blue, then again and you red/blue cycling option.
Recharging
From 100% depleted the light took 1 hour and 15 minutes to fully charge. It does have a little red/blue LED in the body to tell you when it’s done. Charging is quite slow at 0.14A at the maximum but that’s what you want for the health of such a small battery. I am ok with this.
Pro’s
The UV/High CRI side lights on the Tiki make for a more useful overall light.
Good form factor but not an original design.
Con’s
Significant PWM in lower modes
Seems to be a copy of other lights on the market in this segment
UV is limited in what it can do due to the low power and wave length used here.
Conclusion
The keychain market has gotten hotter here in the last year or so, and there are lots of good options on the market. I am not that sensitive to PWM personally but can see it on these lights in the lower modes easily. For me that makes it hard to recommend them when there are other lights that don’t have that problem. That said I like the form factor and they produce a good amount of light on the highest output mode. Other then the UV mode I can’t find a ton of practical use for the side LED’s here especially the LE’s Red and blue outputs. That said these make fun zipper pulls and that’s where the are going on a couple of my jackets.
Aukey has released a new line of chargers called the Omnia. Today we are going to take a look at 2 of these models as well as some high quality USB-C and Lightning cables they now offer as well. Thanks to Aukey for sending these to me to take a look at and review.
A quick few words on the packaging that everything comes in. The chargers come in cardboard boxes with simple line drawings of each charger on them, and the color that each is, with minimal other information. Inside the charges come with a simple manual, warranty card and that’s it. No cables are included with either.
The two cables come in more retail looking boxes, printed in full color and more descriptive information on each. The USB-C to Lightning cable came wrapped around a reel. Which helped it keep it’s length in check. The USB-C cables came wrapped in their own bags. Each included a warranty card as well.
Charger Construction & Performance
Both chargers I am looking at today are part of their new Omnia Power charging lineup. Omnia power is a term for all the latest charging technology rolled into a one chip solution. In the 2 charges I am looking at today that’s GaN (Gallium Nitride) technology, allowing more power to be smaller and lighter weight, USB-C PD technology for Power Delivery support meaning it can increase and decrease power as the device needs it, Dynamic Detect technology to ensure the power is distributed efficiently between the different ports.
Let’s start by looking at the PA-B4 which is the charger I have been using most since it’s dual USB-C ports. These are quite small in size for being capable of delivering 65W. Here it is compared with the Anker charger I reviewed a few weeks back that didn’t have GaN technology, and only provided 30W or so. Here it is compared with a dollar bill and standard household key. It also has folding prongs which is nice to keep it compact when not in use.
On the front of this charger there is a small white LED that lets you know when it’s in use, it’s not too bright which is good. The top port has a little computer next to it to let you know this is the highest power port that’s available. This can deliver the full 65W if your devices support it. When both ports are in use the top port delivers up to 45w and the bottom port delivers 12W. My laptop requires a max of 45W so for me this was a good fit, in the photo you can see here it did 43W and I plugged in my ipad at the top and it was charging at 8W speed since it was over half full. For me this makes a great travel charger since I can charge my laptop at full speed and charge my phone or ipad all with one compact charger.
Specs the BA-B4 supports for output are
Port 1 65W via PD 3.0
20V @ 3.25A
15V @ 3A
12V @ 3A
9V @ 3A
5V @ 3A
Port 2 18W via PD 3.0
12V @ 1.5A
9V @ 3A
5V @ 2.4A
The PA-B3 is the same size as the PA-B4 and features 1 USB-C port with all the same specs, capable of 65W. The big difference is instead of a second USB-C port this charger has a USB-A port. Unfortunately the USB-A port doesn’t support any of the Qualcomm quick charge standards and it’s just a standard 5V 2.4A port. When both are in use the top port reduces from 65W to 45W.
Specs the PA-B3 supports for output are
Port 1 65W via PD 3.0
20V @ 3.25A
15V @ 3A
12V @ 3A
9V @ 3A
5V @ 3A
Port 2
5V @ 2.4A
Cable Construction and Performance
A few quick words about Aukey’s braided cables. I have enjoyed my time with them and have no complaints about them. Both come with velcro organization loops to help keep everything organized and helps keep things looking nice during travel and use. I have found the right angle USB-C cables really nice to use when I am using my phone and charging it at the same time, I think it’s less stress than a traditional cable. It fit fine over my case but if you have a larger case it may not have the clearance for you. Quality wise it’s very comparable to my Anker cables and I like the red color.
The USB-C to lightning cable is great too as it allows me to charge faster then the standard cable and charger that came with my ipad. The 6.6ft length is great here, if you don’t have a longer cable your really missing out, as the stock is pretty limiting. When combined with the Omnia chargers both my devices were able to charge as fast as they are capable of with these cables. No complaints.
Pro’s
Compact size, and delivered the performance it stated.
LED’s are not super bright, great for charging at night.
45W is just enough to charge my Dell laptop and phone at the same time.
Great build quality on the cables, on par with other braided cables I have from Anker.
Right angle cables are pretty useful especially when holding a phone while charging.
Con’s
Little bit of weird behavior when charging high watt devices and plugging in a low wattage device on the PA-B3, it sometimes wanted to stop charging on the first and and I had to replug it to get it going again.
I wish Aukey offered a longer right angle USB-C cable.
Conclusion
Aukey’s latest Omnia chargers are the real deal. They combine the technology you should be looking for with high wattage chargers, with GaN, USB-C PD, and have the dynamic delivery technology to make sure you can charge each of your devices as fast as the charger and device will allow.
I can recommend these chargers if your looking for multiple port, high wattage chargers. If you don’t have one yet, you really should pick up one. They are smaller, faster, and just as safe as what your device came with. If you travel a lot it’s a must have, and for most people they will enjoy the added speed of recharging in every day use too. Make sure to check them out in links below.
Pick up any of the chargers or cables with the links below.
YLP is a Russian Flashlight manufacturer (Lights are made in China) that is new to the US market. Their name when translated roughly means bright ray. They have been known by enthusiasts for a few years but it’s been more difficult to buy their lights, having to use google translated versions of their website. Recently they have launched a US English version of the website and got in touch with me to take a look at some of their lights. The YLP Unicorn 1.0 has been on my radar since last year so I selected that to take a further look at and review myself. Thanks to them for sending this out and providing a discount that’s in the description along with links to follow me on various social media platforms. This will probably be a little bit longer of a review so settle back and enjoy.
Packaging on the Unicorn 1.0 is a nice magnetic closure box full of printing, showing the light on the front, a lot of the highlights on the sides and more details on the back. It’s nicely designed without looking excessive. Inside the light is protected with some custom cut black foam. Accessories include a pocket clip preinstalled, a basic lanyard, and 2 extra o’rings. The manual that came with the light is in borth Russian and English. It’s pretty thorough but an advanced manual is available online as well and I will have a link to it in my description. One other thing to add, my light shipped in a box covered with cool Russian stamps on it too, definitely cool looking and not what I am used to.
Construction
The light is made from aluminum and hard anodized in a gray/brown almost tan color. It’s a really nice color and nice to see something other then black. Machining here is good, with no complaints. Branding is extremely minimal with just the Unicorn 1.0 name and Unicorn logo on the rear of the tail cap, it doesn’t even say YLP on it anywhere!
The tailcap itself is flat, and magnetic. The internal magnet is held in place with the tail spring so if you want to remove it, it’s easy to do so. You have a place for the lanyard to go on the side of the tail cap if you choose. Threads internally are beefy and square cut.
The knurling on the tail and body tube is aggressive, it feels good in my hands but you may see some accelerated wear of your pants under the pocket clip. It’s pyramid shaped with the tip left on. There is a Y shape milled out of the knurling to add some style to the light, you can see some tool paths in this but I think that’s done on purpose. The tube itself is not removable as it seems to be glued to the head.
The head itself has shallow heatsyncs around about ¾ of the range. The button sits in a slightly raised block on the head but is then recessed inside this. The button itself has a clear silicone cover over it. Underheat there are red and green LED’s used for indicating battery voltage and as a locator beacon. The button itself is on the small side and may be a little hard to actuate with larger gloves on. The front of the light has a smooth bezel with the TIR optic in place. There isn’t glass over the optic so you may see some scratches over time.
Size & Weight
The YLP Unicorn 1.0 is a pretty compact light for what all it offers. I measured it’s overall length at 102.2mm, maximum diameter in the head at 27.20mm, and minimum diameter on the body at 25mm. When compared to the FW3A is about 20mm shorter, and the Wurkkos FC11 is about 14mm longer. The Unicorn 1.0 weighed in with a Sony VTC6 battery and clip onboard at 113.6g. Compared to the FW3A’s 98.2g, and Wurkkos FC11 at 111.8G.
Retention
The Unicorn 1.0 features a reversible pocket clip with plenty of room in it’s top loop for thicker pants. It’s not super deep cary but I found it to carry quite well. As I mentioned earlier the knurling here is aggressive and while I like the feel in my hand, you might find it wears out your pants pocket a little faster them most lights, especially under the pocket clip. The magnet in the tail is quite strong and has no trouble holding the light. It’s also fairly easy to remove if you wish. I had no issues with it activating in my pocket during cary thanks to the recessed e-switch on the head of the light.
LED & Beam
The YLP Unicorn 1.0 is using a 4200k Samsung LH351D at a minimum of 90 CRI. This is one of my favorite emitters right now and a fantastic choice for EDC in my opinion. It’s warmer in tint and doesn’t have any of the green that the LH351D in the Wurkkos FC11 had. My LED was nicely centered, and has a TIR style optic. The light doesn’t have a glass lens, which means overtime you might see a few scratches. Not a huge deal with everything else going on here. The beam pattern does have a defined hot center, and the transition to the spill isn’t the smoothest but it’s not bad either.
One of the side effects of this light not being designed for huge output numbers is heat is well controlled and it’s also configurable in the UI if you want to push it a bit more.
1 Minute = 90F
5 Minutes = 101F
10 Minutes = 104F.
I measured the parasitic drain of the eswitch at 22?A which is pretty minimal. I didn’t measure any PWM with my scope or eye.
Runtime and Outputs
Officially the light produces the following in it’s default UI. .
Turbo 850 lumens
High 450 lumens
Medium 170 Lumens
Low 40 Lumens
Moon 3 Lumens
Runtimes here didn’t have any big surprises from the regulated driver. I performed my tests with a 3000mAh Sony VTC6 battery but you don’t need such a high output battery in this application, a NGR18650GA battery would be a perfect comdination here. Turbo was good for just under 4 minutes, and we then saw stepdowns to 65% relative output. This continued to decline to about 50% output at the 30 minute mark or so but then the light started increasing in output as it cooled and the battery was able to keep up. This peaked at 60% relative output before a sharp decline to the lights lowest mode at the 130 minute mark where it continued running till LVP kicked in at 2.859V at 300 minutes. It’s nice to see active thermal controls on this one.
UI
This light has 4 different UI modes. By default it comes in what YLP calls Basic UI where the light has 5 discrete modes and memory mode turned on. It starts off in low and when you hold the button it starts ramping up about every second. When it gets to the top it automatically starts ramping down. Single click to turn off, Double clicking when on gets your to the maximum output. 4 Clicks gets you to battery check mode where the light flashes the batteries voltage. The way the basic UI works with it cycling up and then down instead of resetting takes a little getting used to as it’s different from a lot of lights and requires you to go up through high before going lower if thats what you want.
The other main UI modes are UI1, which is ramping with memory mode turned on. UI2 which is ramping with memory on and the buttons light on, UI 3 is 5 modes, memory off, and starting on medium instead of low.
The light has other advanced features which are best if you look at the advanced manual on the YLP website as you can adjust the thermal settings, and engineering mode where you can configure each UI mode through a series of clicks. These are complex and for time sake I won’t go over them in this review, but the manual has you covered and the translation is decent. You can find the full advanced manual here.
Pro’s
Great overall size and clip
Wide acceptance on it’s battery type, flat tops, button tops, protected, unprotected it takes all the 18650 types.
Not another black light
Great LED and Tint
Very flexible user interface the default Basic UI does it for me just fine but ramping is available if you want it.
Con’s
Knurling is quite aggressive, and if EDCed in a pants pocket this will eat away at it over time.
Not the brightest light in this class but more than enough to get the job done with less heat and more usability.
Lowest output mode should be 1 lumen or less
Minor annoyance with the Basic UI, I would prefer it start back over on low after reaching top output rather then reversing back down through high, mediu, low etc.
Conclusion
This is a light designed with practicality in mind instead of big numbers for a marketing purpose. As a result it can sustain itself on higher outputs without large stepdows. It’s using a high CRI LED with a pleasant tint and very useful beam pattern. For me it ticks all the boxes on what I want as a solid all purpose flashlight.
I have taken it walking several times over the few weeks I have had it and it’s done great with that. It’s a useful beam pattern and I like the combination of tint and high CRI LED. It has a lot of UI options for you if you want, if not the default UI I enjoy.
I hope we see YLP continue the Unicorn line of lights, making enhancements and tweaks as it goes along. At this price point it’s a lot of value, coming in significantly less than some of the well known brands that also share animal names. I look forward to seeing other lights from YLP, after reviewing the Unicorn 1.0 the bar was set high, lets see what they can deliver. I recommend the YLP Unicorn 1.0 without reservations.
If you are considering picking up a YLP Unicorn 1.0 make sure to check the description for a link to their English website and use the code in the description to save 15% off the price which helps cover shipping cost.
Lumintop has a new small keychain style light on the market that’s using using TurboGlow as part of the heads structure. It has a built in battery and microUSB recharging. Thanks to Lumintop for sending this to me to review.
The light comes in a small nicer cardboard box with foam holding it in place. It comes preinstalled with the non removable battery. Accessories include a short 5” USB-A to Micro USB cable and a split ring attached to a small chain and clip for attaching to your keys or other device.
Construction
The Glow I is made from aluminium and works off a twist design but is different from some other similar lights. First the tail cap is removable, and held in place with an internal neodymium magnet and indexing notches. Pull force to disconnect here I would guess is about 5-6 pounds. I think this is sufficiently strong for many scenarios but if you were concerned about it coming off accidentally a bit of superglue or JB Weld would make this more permanent.
I found the magnet here to be actually really nice. It means the light could server as a short under the hood light in your car at night if needed etc. The body of the light has a hole in the side the body is twisted all the way to the left reveals the microUSB charging port. There is a small internal LED in the port that goes red when charging, green when charged.
To operate the light you screw it to the right until it turns on. The light has only 1 mode and no UI to speak of. The head is captured so you don’t have to worry about it getting loose or lost during charging which I know has been a minor issue with other similar lights. The internal 80mAh 10180 battery is sealed and not replaceable.
The turbo glow barrel built into the head of this light, and serves as the walls of the reflector, meaning it’s directly exposed to the LED anytime it’s on. This means it gets charged up everytime the light is on, and since it’s turbo glow it’s much brighter and lasts significantly longer then standard glow in the dark material. It even does a pretty good job of charging and maintaining charge during normal exposure to room or sunlight.
Size & Weight
This is a small light, similar to the Olight i1R I reviewed a while back. It’s currently been my keychain light. I measured the length of the Lumintop Glow I at 45.3mm, maximum diameter around the turboglow at 15.6mm and minimum diameter on the body at 14mm. Weight was 16.4g without the keychain. It’s pretty comparable in size and diameter to the Olight i1R. See the photos below for other peers.
LED & Beamshot
The Glow I uses an Osram LED. No specific model or temperature is given but no surprise here, it’s cool white. Lumintop lists the output officially has 40 lumens. This is more than sufficient with the size and application here. The light is using an optic with a built in diffuser. The result is a pretty standard beam, floody, good for short range which is what you would expect with this light.
Runtime
Runtime here out of the 80mAh battery was better then I expected. My total runtime was around 80 minutes, with the first 60 of that being near the 40 lumen mark and declining. The light actually ran significantly longer but it doesn’t have low voltage protection so it would be best after you notice the decline in output to charge it.
Recharging
Charging took 1 hour and 10 minutes and the fastest I observed was 0.12A via the microUSB port. While that’s pretty slow this is a very small battery so that’s what you would expect.
Pro’s
Turboglow from the Netherlands is integral to the design and is really pretty effective.
Captured head although in theory the tail could come loose unintentionally.
Good size and construction
Con’s
No Low Voltage protection here, or removable battery means you need to be careful about running the light too long and keep the battery topped up.
Non removable/replaceable battery
Conclusion
This is a neat little keychain light. I like that it’s small and compact but still has a decent amount of output for its size and task. The addition of authentic TurboGlow (Seriously if you have not tried TurboGlow it’s significantly better then any other GITD material) separates this light from the competition for me. It’s a clever design making the TurboGlow an actual part of the light body vs just an insert. I wish the light did have LVP to protect the internal cell since it cant be changed. The magnetic connection here is a give and take, it’s handy but if your concerned about the light dropping off unintentionally it’s an easy fix with some superglue or JB Weld. I don’t think it will be an issue for me. Let me know what you think of the Lumintop Glow I in the comments below.
Nitecore has a new large format headlamp on the market, with 4 LED, and a diffused lens. It runs a 21700 battery, and has onboard microUSB for recharging. While designed as a headlamp I am going to come at this one from the angle of a worklight too. Thanks to Nitecore Store for sending this to me to look at and review. I will have a link to them in the description below.
Packaging is a large yellow retail hanging box, with photos of the lights and lots of stats throughout. Inside the light and accessories site in a plastic shell.
Accessories include the HC35 with the Nitecore button top 21700 4000mAH battery (NL2140HP), pocket clip, Nitecore branded headband, spare o-rings, micro USB cable, manual, warranty, 18650 adapter. Somewhat strangely no extra USB port cover was included and I actually broke mine during testing. (My fault, not Nitecore’s)
Construction
The light is made from anodized aluminum, and machining here is pretty good. Starting at the tail cap, it’s flat, magnetic and labeled accordingly. The tailcap has shallow diamond knurling on it that doesn’t add a ton of texture but enough.
The body tube features the same knurling and is not reversible. The clip only attaches at the head of the light.
The light is attached to the headband on one side via a spring steel clip, similar to how a clip on clip works. It’s easy to take on and off and allows for the light to be attached without taking off the pocket clip (Nice) which makes charging easier but it doesn’t take a ton to make the heavy light come loose from an accidental smack or bump. For hiking or house work it’s ok, but I want to see something more secure ideally especially if you were caving/climbing with the light. That said when using this more as a work light rather then a headlamp it’s a handy feature to be able to remove it easily. I used it to change some brakes on a car recently and it was nice to pull off and use as an area flood light. For heavier duty situations a zip tie or even rubber band on the other end of the light would make it more secure.
The head features a fairly large lens, with the 4 LED’s under it. It has a optic sitting on top of the LED with a textured diffuser on top to really even out that beam pattern. Everything is surrounded by a silver aluminum bezel. On top there is a textured rubber button, with a pround silver bezel to help locate it. This does allow the light head stand. This button is a little hard to push if you have on larger gloves. On the back there are 3 deeply milled groves for heat dissipation. Lastly the microUSB port is on the light covered with a gray silicone rubber cover. The head has minimal labeling of just the serial number, model number and various regulatory symbols.
Size and Weight
I measured the length at 128mm, minimum diameter on the body was 26mm, maximum diameter at the head was 30mm. Weight with the battery, came in at 172.3g. The headstrap alone weighs in at 41g. This is fairly heavy. It’s a big headlamp, especially when you put it next it’s 18650 counterparts kind of like the Olight Perun I recently reviewed.
Comfort when used as a headlamp is ok for a couple of hours. Past that the weight kind of starts to get to you in the forehead. Nitecore could add a bit more padding on the back of the bracket to help with this. I do like that the headbands webbing has ventilation holes.
Retention
For me this isn’t a light I want to EDC in my front pockets, it’s just too big for that. The pocket clip can mount on either end of the light. When mounted nearest the head about 25mm of the light sticks up, when mounted at the tail, the clip extends past the tail and renders the magnet less useful. The balance point of the light is nearer the head so to keep from having to move the clip each time you mount the light to the strap, it really should go at the tail.
LED | Beam Shots | Heat
The light is using 4x Cree XP-G3 S3 LED. Tint is pretty cool white. The S3 varient has less green tint, but at lower powers it’s still noticeable. The optics and diffuser here do a very good job of making the 4 leds one uniform floody beam. Perfect for this type of application. I didn’t detect any PWM via eye or my scope.
Official modes and spacing are listed at
1 Lumen – Ultra Low
40 Lumens – Low
270 Lumens – Mid
800 Lumens – High
2700 Lumens Turbo, Strobe, Beacon, SOS
Runtime
This is really a light designed for longer outputs. Turbo starts decreasing at the 30 second mark and it declines pretty rapidly down to high at 800 lumens. This is disappointing that it’s so short, I would have hoped to get a couple minutes out of turbo output here given the size of the light and relative conservative heat values. From here it mostly maintains this while sagging a little for about 140 minutes, then over the next 20 minutes or so you see 2 large stepdowns and the light runs in low and ultra low for the remainder of time about 475 minutes, till it LVP kicks in at 2.947v. Heat was fairly well controlled, at 1 minute I saw 95F, at 5 minutes 97.8F, and at 10 minutes 101F.
UI
UI here is different different, with fewer shortcuts. It’s a quick press to turn on, and then quick single presses to go up in brightness, and all solid modes are available, ultra low through turbo. Long press to turn off. You have short cuts to low when the light is off, a short press gives you 1 lumen. To directly access turbo from off press the button for more then 1 second. When the light is on there is no way to access turbo directly.
To access the blinking modes double press the button when the light is off, then short presses changes the mode. Long press to exit blinking modes.
Recharging
Charge time from LVP at 2.947V to Full at 4.12V on the included Nitecore 4000mAh 21700 battery was 2 hours and 41 minutes at a maximum of 2.1A via MicroUSB. Charge curve here looked normal, and I have no complaints. It’s nice here that with the included cell adapter the light will also charge an 18650 battery. During charging the blue LED on top will flash, and when charged it goes solid. This LED is also used as a voltage indicator when the light is in use.
I do wish the light came with an extra port cover (my first time needing one due to my mistake). Also being a new design and a large capacity battery the light would see a benefit from USB-C.
Pro’s
Blinking modes are not part of the normal operating modes.
Very even diffused light but quite cool tint.
Direct access to low from off
Nice it can run off of 21700, 18650 and 2x CR123 with the included adapters.
No proprietary cables or batteries needed, but it’s still MicroUSB 🙁
Con’s
Cree XP-G3 emitters isn’t what I would expect to find on something in this price range and I am not a fan of the tint.
Turbos 2700 lumen output has a very short duration, only 30 seconds.
Long press to turn off keeps tricking my brain.
Wish it had an additional clip to secure the light in the headband for added security
Anodizing doesn’t seem to be the most durable, especially around the clip.
Conclusion
The Nitecore HC35 is a big bright light. I tend to think of it more as a worklight then a headlamp but it does both jobs fairly well. It’s a bit heavier than I want to use as a headlamp longer term, but what you pay for in weight you get in runtime. With the strong magnet and very floody beam it works good as a work light to stick onto a metal object or tail stand on it’s flat base.
UI here is easy but different from a lot of other lights so I can see people fumbling a little around on this one initially. It’s different having turbo as part of your main mode. I do wish turbo could sustain itself for longer, 30 seconds just isn’t very long. Overall this is an interesting combination of headlamp and worklight. Let me know what you think of the HC35 in the comments.
Reylight has a new Pineapple Mini available in Raw copper with a Nichia 219B R9080 LED. This light has the same milling profile as found on the brass Pineapple that Reylight may be best known for, but is an entirely new design from the Previous Copper Pineapple Mini made several years ago. That light was a twist design, where as the new Copper Pineapple Mini is a tail click design. Full disclosure, Rey at Reylight is a friend and sent me this light to evaluate and review. I will do my best to remain impartial and give an honest review.
The arrives in a clear plastic bifold box. The light itself is vacuum sealed in plastic to prevent a patina to form on the raw copper during shipping. ReyLight offers the light for sale with a 320mAh 10440 battery preinstalled if your country allows such a thing. The only other accessory that comes with the light is the pocket clip which is preinstalled. No manual is shipped with the light, but some directions are available on the ReyLight website.
Construction
The light is made from Copper and is delivered raw, with no coatings to inhibit or slow the natural patina from forming. The surface texture of the copper is what I will call a machined finish. It’s not perfectly smooth or a mirror polish and there is a slight feel of tool paths on the light if you drag your fingernail across the surface. I think I will probably end up hand polishing mine up after this review and then letting it patina naturally.
Starting at the tail cap you have an extended button with a place milled in the middle for a 1.5 x 6mm tritium tube. Tolerances on this button are quite a bit better then other Reylight Lan/Pineapple lights. There is no rattle and much less side to side movement when pressed. The tail is removable and inside you will find a rubber boot for waterproofing the switch action. Inside the switch/spring assembly itself is fixed in place in the body.
The body itself is milled to look like a smaller version of the Reylight Pineapple. If the light is standing up the horizontal edges have been chamfered a bit much like on the Pineapple, but the vertical milled reliefs are more 90 degrees. These give the light more purchase in your hands and but not so much that it will cut you or damage clothing. It’s a nice way to give the light more grip without being too aggressive.
The head here is fairly basic, with some horizontal groves milled in similar to but a smaller and shallower version of what’s on the body. The front bezel is smooth, and the lens is recessed with a GITD oring. The reflector is relatively deep for it’s size and has a very light orange peel on it.
Retention
The Pineapple Mini 2019 is using a generic pocket clip not specifically engineered for this light and as a result I think that retention is a little compromised here. The pocket clip is not reversible and only attaches at back end of the body tube. It’s a clip on style and seems very tight. It doesn’t easily rotate and is stiff to pull off. For me the clip on the new Copper Pineapple Mini isn’t perfect. I wish it had more space at the top for thicker pocket material, and a little deeper carry. I think both of these combined with possibly a little more stiff button or forward clicky switch would help with it not coming on in my pocket accidentally. That said it’s only happened twice in the week plus of carry. That said a few people have been trying various other clips on the Reylight Facebook group and the best I have seen is the clip from FreeLux on the Synergy 1 flashlight.
Size & Weight
I measured overall length at 89mm, maximum diameter at the head 15mm, Minimum diameter at the body at 12mm. Weight with a 10440 battery and clip came in at 60.7g.
Peer Comparisons
When I initially saw the light on the Reylight Facebook page I thought it was a bit long for a AAA light given the size of the old Reylight Mini Pineapple but the action of operations were different on the two lights. That said after getting it in hand it’s nearly identical to my copper Olight i3T which is also a tail switch light. Clip location relative to the top of the tail is super similar too. The olight is about 10 grams heavier. The older Reylight Copper Mini Pineapple is similar in diameter due to it’s different mode of operation.
LED | BeamShots | Heat
The LED here in use is the Nichia 219B R9080 at 4500k and it’s a tint snob’s and high CRI fan boys dream LED. Output isn’t up to modern standards but what it lacks in output it makes up for in quality! These are fairly difficult LED’s to get a hold of in a decent quantity as I believe they are no longer produced. The tint here is a good mix between neutral white and warm, but it’s a little rosy pink in color. CRI measures roughly at 97. I think I am going to see if I can get my hands on a few more of these to swap into some other lights as it’s just a fantastic LED in my opinion. Reylights the maximum output with a 10440 battery at 300 lumens.
The beam is well suited to EDC use, it has a traditional beam profile, with a slight hotspot of higher intensity and then some spill. Cut off is fairly hard here. Good for general use of a light of this size and output.
Runtimes
The light can run with a AAA or 10440. From my runtime here you can see that performance is much better from a 10440 since with a AAA you get a very brief amount of bright light before a large step down for a long time. I used the 320mAh that Reylight makes available as an optional purchase with the light for my tests. I was running in mode 2 (Factory Default) at 100% output and the highest output was good for 1 minute before the light stepped down to about 30% relative output. From here it was a pretty linear decline decline making me think it most likely has an unregulated driver. Total runtime was just over 80 minutes on the 320mAh battery. Heat is a non issue with this light due to it’s rapid step down.
With the 750mAh AmazonBasics NiHM battery maximum output was only good for 1 minute and then it stepped down to about 18% relative output. It ran for longer then I expected and I ended up stopping the test at the 220 minute mark before I went to bed. Outputt here was a good deal less. My recommendation would be to run the light with a 10440 as your primary power source and use a AAA or NiHM as a backup power source only.
I measured LVP on the 10440 coming in at 3.116V and on the NiHM at 1.04V.
There is a little bit of PWM in the light but’s quite minimal and only something that’s showing up in my scope.
UI
The Reylight Copper Pineapple Mini is using a reverse clicky switch for it’s operation with 4 available operating modes and then a variety of options. The driver also features high temp protection, LVP, memory, mode progression options (LMH, HML), Moonlight On or Off, Memory on or off, and the ability to set it back to default.
The light doesn’t come with a manual, but Reylight Facebook group member Kevin Manley created this programming guide and said I could republish it here as well. A big thanks goes out to him.
For me I turned on memory mode and moonlight mode. I will throw a link to a PDF I created to make this a little more better visually formatted as it looks complicated but with the light in hand and a little practice it’s not too bad.
Pro’s
The LED tint is just really nice here.
Raw Copper!
Small narrow profile and good purchase in the hand.
Better tolerances in the tail switch assembly.
Several output options, and pretty programmable especially for a small light.
Con’s
I have had some minor issues with the proud tail button coming on in low mode in my pocket.
I wish the pocket clip allowed for deeper carry and a bit of a thicker pocket material.
Driver seems to be very conservative on temps and is really more optimized for use with 10440 batteries as opposed to NiHM or Alkaline.
Driver is glued in place.
Conclusion
If you are a raw copper fan or tint CRI/Tint snob you can buy this light and enjoy it just for these reasons alone. The LED here in use is relatively rare outside the custom or modified flashlight world, they are hard to come by in large quantities but are absolutely lovely in terms of tint (a slightly rosy 4500k) and super high CRI at 97. It really makes plants and other colors pop.
The original Mini was a fun light with it’s small size and raw copper but it’s driver had some issues. The new one here fixes those issues and adds a tail button instead of twist operation. For me the clip on the new Copper Pineapple Mini isn’t perfect. I do hope Reylight offers a custom clip for this light in the future.
It’s nice to see a light with so many mode options on a small light. For me the default Mode 2 option works pretty well and I think this is where I will leave it. Overall this is a fun little light and one I am enjoying quite a bit. If your interested in checking it out I will have a link to where you can get it from the Reylight website down in the description below.
Olight has introduced a new right angle light with the Perun. The name comes from the Slavic God of Thunder. The Perun makes some kind of odd design choices from the fairly popular Olight H2R it logically replaces, that I will go through during this review. Thanks to SkyBen on Amazon for sending this to me to take a look at and review. This will probably be a longer review so grab your favorite cold or hot beverages and enjoy.
I think it’s fair to say Olight might just have the nicest packaging in the production flashlight world and one wonders what it adds to the cost of a light. The box is a heavy white cardboard with pictures of the light on the front, it’s a magnetic box that folds out from the side. On the back you have a nice summary of the light, along with features specs, and package contents. Inside your greeted with a quick start card that tells you to remove the protective battery spacer, and charge the light, new on the Perun are warnings to make sure to keep the lens free from mist and scratches or the lights sensor may prevent higher operating modes.
Standard accessories include 3500mAh proprietary Olight battery 10A capable (ORB-186C35), pocket clip, Lanyard and lanyard threading tool, and 3rd generation faster MCC charging cable. No headstrap comes standard with the Perun, like it does for nearly every other right angle light on the market. Instead Olight choose to make the strap an optional extra or part of a bundle deal. The strap itself is very similar to what was on the H2R with only some screen printing on the side being different. It’s a magnetic mount and it’s easy to get the light on and off, and it will even work with the pocket clip attached although I don’t recommend it.
Construction
The Olight Perun is made from black anodized aluminum as expected. The body and tail cap are all one piece like we saw on the Baton Pro. While similar in design these two tubes are not interchangeable as they as slightly different lengths. Patterns are different as well, the Peruns texture is larger pyramids with the points not milled off. I think it’s attractive and aggressive looking but interferes with the operation some as I will explain in a minute.
The head is a collar design, with the pocket clip only attaching here, While it is a dual direction clip, it’s quite far from deep carry. I measured 20mm of the light’s head sticking up out of my pocket, which for me is way too much for EDC in a front pocket. I could see someone clipping this on a vest, or backpack strap possibly. The backside of the head has some groves milled in for style and heat dissipation. The top of the light is where you find the large silicone button thats slightly domed and angled away from the lens. This is easy to operate with gloves and produces a good click for an electronic switch. It’s surrounded by a blue signature ring. The lens of this light itself is again surrounded by a blue ring. The lens itself is plastic, it contains a clear center so you can easily see the LED underneath. It doesn’t really have a reflector to speak of. On top of the lens is a blacked out section, when looking up at it you can see a sensor is mounted inside, and this is the IR sensor used to dim/turn off the light if something comes close to it. More on that here in a minute.
The strap is a high quality one with an over the head piece. The mount is magnetic to hold the light but it’s not strong enough to hold the light with any movement. There is a rubber/silicone strap that stretches over the light to secure it. It even allows for use with the pocket clip attached but it’s a stretch. Combine this design with the increased texture on the body and it makes rotating the light a little difficult, it’s best done so from the tail side, as if you do so from the head side it’s more likely you will unscrew the head from the light rather then rotate it.
Size & Weight
I measured the length of the Perun at 112mm, maximum diameter at the head at 25mm, and minimum diameter on the body/tail at 23mm. Weight with the included battery and clip came in at 115.7g.
The natural competitor here is the previous model, the Olight H2R. I measured the length of the H2R at 110mm, maximum diameter at the head at 25.3mm and minimum diameter on the body at 20mm. Weight of the H2R with it’s included battery and clip came in at 109g.
Next to my Nitecore HC35 the Olight Perun looks tiny, that said the Nitecore is running 4 LED, and a larger 21700 battery. Be sure to make sure your subscribed so you can watch the review of the Nitecore HC35 coming in the next week or two.
See pictures of the Nitecore in the video.
LED | Beamshot | Mode Spacing
Unfortunately Olight has not said officially what LED the Perun is using. I can tell you it looks like a quad package and is a fairly large domed emitter. My guess is it’s a Cree XHP 50.2 LED. It’s tint is pretty cool white, easily 6500k or greater. The beam pattern here is all flood with no real hotspot at distance thanks to the TIR optic. When I compare it to my NW H2R the first thing I notice is the huge difference in tint, and the second thing I notice beam angle. While both lights are all flood, the Perun is a little wider and slightly less throwy. Olight rates them at 12 meters of difference in throw, to the eye though it’s hard to perceive the difference. The IR sensor doesn’t seem to change the beam pattern here which is a good thing.
Olight has recently started adding runtime progressions in the manual which is nice to see a manufacturer being honest about what their lights will actually do. For my own runtime testing I tested with the included battery. Turbo mode was good for just at 2.5 minutes and then it started stepping down from there to about 55% relative output for roughly 10 minutes. From there I saw one more step down to about 35% relative output for 90 minutes, We then saw 3 more major step downs over the next 60 minutes or so before the light ran in moonlight mode till LVP kicked in. Total runtime was just at 165 minutes. Heat was pretty well controlled, the hottest I saw during my runtime test was 104F at the 5 minute mark..
Here is the official output figures and mode spacing.
Moon – 5 Lumens
Low – 30 Lumens
Medium – 120 Lumens
High – 500 Lumens
Turbo – 2000 Lumens
My comment on mode spacing here is that it’s a huge difference between the 500 lumens of high and 2000 lumens in turbo. While I would prefer something in between the benefit is that high mode can sustain itself without stepping down for 3 hours.
PWM
I will insert some shots of my PWM tests here. There wasn’t any thing to see or find on my scope here.
UI
The Olight Perun has the standard Olight UI many of us have come to know, and I like with the slower fades from off/on and between modes. From off, long press to activate moonlight mode at 5 lumens. To turn on in normal modes single click the switch, to change brightness level hold the button and the light will cycle through the 5 available modes lowest to highest. Double click to access turbo. Triple click to access strobe. The light also features memory mode for normal modes.
Lockout can be accomplished when the light is off by pressing and holding the switch for 2 seconds until moonlight mode comes on and immediately shuts off. To exit lockout press the button for about 1 second until moonlight mode stays on. Personally I will just give the body of the light a ¼ turn to mechanically lock it out. The light features a short 3 minute timer, and a longer 9 minute timer. If these are setup (See the included manual) the light will automatically shut off when the end of the timer is reached.
The other thing the Perun has is an IR sensor that when the light detects it’s too close to an object it steps down in brightness to 30 lumens and if held there past the 60 second mark it will shut off the light entirely. Olight warns in the manual and the card right inside the package that dust or scratches on the (plastic) lens may affect the lights ability to run in high mode. There is no way to disable this sensor in the UI of the light.
In practice I found this interesting to use and experiment with and a little gimicky. Lighter colored object seem to make the light reduce output further away about 3-4 inches, where darker objects made that distance much shorter 1 inch or less. Angle of attack seemed to matter too, the distances were greater if the light was straight on to the object vs at an angle to it. For instance I could put the Perun right up to a wall at an angle and still get the full 2000 lumens, vs if I angle it straight on it turned off a few inches out.
I see the thought process behind including something like this, as you see people on forums burning holes in their jackets and pants sometimes with high power flashlights that turn on accidently. But I think it’s a design flaw in the UI to not be able to turn it off. A scratch in the lens, or a dusty/super heavy rainy environment reduces the lights output substantially and potentially even shuts it off after 60 seconds. Overall, I am not a fan of the IR sensor here when you can easily electronically or mechanically lock out the light instead.
Battery & Recharging
Olight choose to go with a proprietary 3500mAh 10A capable discharge battery for the Perun. However the somewhat exciting and unexpected news here is that you can use a standard button top generic battery as well in the light for everything except using the the magnetic charging system. I tested with a 3400mAh high discharge battery from Thrunite and the light ran well, even in turbo mode without a problem. The manual even points this out, it was all unexpected and quite nice to see.
Charging the included 3500mAh battery was accomplished with the new MCC 1.5A charger. I saw charge time take just at 4 hours from LVP at 2.88V and terminated at 4.17V. No voltage was detected at the tail cap and no charging speed issues.
Pro’s
Slightly less output here in turbo means you no longer need a high discharge battery, but a proprietary Olight battery is still needed for charging.
A standard button top 18650 will work in the light, but won’t charge.
Attractive overall design, good head band if you purchase it
High mode sustains itself for 3 hours, but it’s only 500 lumens.
A little more runtime then the older H2R, and it can sustain high for longer.
Con’s
Making the headstrap an optional extra
Clip doesn’t make for a practical EDC due to how much of the light sticks up from your pocket
Lack of a Neutral White Emitter and true moonlight mode
No glass lens over the plastic TIR, meaning it’s more susceptible to scratches which can impact the performance of the IR sensor and potentially making the light only work in low.
No setting to turn off the IR/Proximity sensor.
Conclusion
The Perun is just an odd mix of what seems like a step backwards combined with small upgrades that don’t matter much for actual use. The result is a light that in my opinion isn’t really better then the model it logically was set to replace with the Olight H2R which I was a fan of.
It’s nice to see Olight reducing the requirement of a high discharge battery being required here, allowing a higher capacity battery to be used. It’s also nice to still see and be mentioned in the manual that a normal button top 18650 battery will work, but not charge in the light.
The IR sensor seems kind of like a gimmick, this isn’t a very practical light to EDC in front pocket like the H2R was, or other right angle headlamps like the Armytek Wizard or Elf is. So dimming when something is near isn’t super needed here. I could see it being useful to throw it in a bag and it won’t come on and melt something but we have electronic or mechanical lockout for that too which is an easier and more reliable option in my opinion and doesn’t potentially compromise the light if the lens were dirty, or scratched.
The aggressive texture on the body looks good but again makes the light as a headlamp a little harder to use in the mount.
Admittedly these are mostly things enthusiasts care about, if you hand the Olight Perun to a non enthusiast they are going to think it’s a great product. It’s bright, comfortable, attractively designed, easy to use, and bright, but for many enthusiasts there are probably better choices. Mine is going to probably go to a family member who is in need of a headlight and doesn’t care about the things I mentioned, for them it will be a nice fit. So with that said let me know in the comments if this is the right headlamp for you?
