Category: Reviews

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Sofirn LT1s Lantern Review (21700, Tint Shifting, Red, USB-C)

Today I am looking at the Sofirn LT1s, where the s stands for Small or Short. If you have followed my reviews you know I really enjoyed the BLF/Sofirn LT1. While the LT1s takes some design cues and even a few parts from it’s larger brother, the two are really different lanterns on the inside. The LT1s runs on a single 21700 battery, offers red mode, tint shift in white, aimable beam, and a different UI. Thanks to Sofirn for sending this to me now let’s get to it.

 

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Pickup the Sofirn LT1S Lantern at https://bit.ly/LQLT1S and use code BJ5B11QN to save 15%. (Valid till 4/28/2022)

The LT1S is also available on Amazon https://amzn.to/3Nz5xL5  use code 20WQ2PHC to save 20%. (Valid till 4/28/2022)

Here is the case I featured in the review, it fits but isn’t a perfect fit. https://amzn.to/3LlK1aO

 

Packaging & Accessories

Not much to write about here, Sofrin like usually has very basic packaging. Inside the light is wrapped in bubble wrap to protect it during shipping. Accessories with the LT1s include a 5000mAh battery that’s preinstalled, 2X extra orings, USB-A to C charging cable and the manual. 

 

Construction & Design

The LT1s takes many design ques from the LT1 on the top half at least. Starting at the top you have the hanger which is identical. You then have the main textured button that has a satisfying click to it, your 4 amber power level indicator LED’s, and the USB-C charge point. It’s a little odd to see the charge port be on top for moisture reasons, but the LT1s did survive a trip in the shower with me without issue. 

Below this is the same style of diffuser as the LT1 a white diffused hard plastic. The LT1s are all on the top of the light facing down, and in the white modes you can turn off half to better steer the beam to the side where you want the light, I will talk more about this later on. 

At the bottom you have the large tailcap. It doesn’t have much in terms of grip on it and it could be challenging to use with gloves or when wet. Threads here are ACME cut and sufficient. The tail cap has a large beefy spring to make contact with the inner battery tube, completing the circuit on the inside of the light. The large spring also allows you to run the light on an 18650 without issue other then some side to side rattle if shaken, even though it’s not officially rated for it. The head side also has a smaller spring. 

There is very minimal branding on the light, Only the Sofrin logo, model number and battery direction indicator on the front, serial number on the back and your typical CE, ROHS, and Recycling marks on the bottom. 

 

Thanks to Reddit user /u/DerMaxPower for allowing me the use of his deconstruction photos. You can see there are only emitters mounted on the top facing down, the center battery tube is aluminum which helps with heat dissipation. It’s a simple design but very functions.

Overall it’s a solid feeling lantern. The aluminum on top and bottom feel much better then the cheaper feeling plastic the competition uses. I suspect it makes it a good amount more durable as well. 

 

Mounting

Your primary method of mounting this light will be the wire bail at the top. This folds in either direction and can be removed if you wish. The LT1s ditches the ¼ 20 threaded receiving holes that the LT1 had and the tailcap is not magnetic. 

 

I spent some time on Amazon looking for a speaker case that would fit the LT1S and ordered a few things. Here is a link to the best one I could find at the time. https://amzn.to/3LlK1aO It’s not a perfect fit and a little to narrow but it does zip and leaves a little room for a charging cable and small charger if you wish.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 97mm at the maximum height. Diameter at the top was 68mm, diameter at the bottom was 59.5mm. Weight with the battery is 338.9g. The light is IPX8 water rated and I confirmed this by putting it in the shower with me one day. I didn’t completely submerge it though. Here are some comparison photos with the LT1 and Olight O’Lantern. 

 

Emitters and Beam

The LT1s uses a lot of LED’s, 40 in total to be exact. 18x 2700k in the CSP 1919 package, 18x 6500k in the CSP 1919 package, and 4x Lattice Power Red LED’s. Sofrin doens’t give an exact model, but there is speculation they might be Luxeon brand due to the high CRI. My unscientific Opple meter measured the warm tint as 2585 CCT with a 97Ra, and cool white as 5732 CCT with a 100 Ra. I think these numbers should be taken with a large grain of salt for the Ra value. They are clearly high CRI probably above 90 but I wouldn’t read any more into it. It’s interesting that the cool white number didn’t quite hit the 6500k claim. In moonlight mode I did notice some PWM visible to the eye but this largely goes away in higher outputs at least to my eye. However it can be detected via my Opple meter or scope. 

The LED’s are mounted on the top of the light and well diffused to create a nice light pattern. The light does have the feature of being able to shut off one side while in white mode, to direct the beam to a 180 field of view rather than the full 360. This works pretty well,  I think it’s probably more useful to maybe not shine in your eyes so much if you have it out on a patio table or in a tent etc. It’s a nice idea but only works in the white modes.

 

Official Outputs

 

Runtime & Heat

I did lots of runtime tests here with all the different modes, and a few extra with the light powered by an 18650, and by a 10k powerbank. I will try to let the graphs do most of the talking here.

 

Since the light is capable of 4 tints I ran some tests multiple times and did comparisons. Here is the runtime test for the maximum warm output with the 5000mAh battery, As you can see the light can sustain nearly 100 relative output for 25 minutes before stepping down, Total runtime ends up being 3:09:00, with max temps reaching 42C. I ran the same test comparing Warm, Cool, and Neutral Outputs, and results are similar. Cool white had the least runtime, but only by 10 minutes, then warm. The surprise was Neutral white, it had the longers runtime by about an hour. More LED’s but less bright I assume. It resulted in a more linear output and ran out to 4:03:00. 

I also tested the runtime of running one side of the emitters in the warm mode at full output vs both sides. As expected running half of the LED’s result in a more stable output initially and for longer. It resulted in a substantial increase in total output but over half of this was at about 5% relative output so very dim. 

The red runtime shows the light isn’t able to sustain it’s high output for nearly as long as it’s white output in it’s highest mode before step down but the decline is slow. It has about 2:30:00 of it’s main output but continued to run at 5% for a considerable amount of time for a total of 5:30:00. 

Since an 18650 battery fits and makes contact I threw in a 3000mAh VTC6 and it’s output shape was identical to the 5000mAh 21700  but just shorter Total runtime was 1:43:00 vs 3:06:00. 

The lantern will also run directly off USB power (Without a tail cap or battery too when plugged into USB), although in lesser output. I ran it off a 10k powerbank and it ran for 12:20:00 which is impressive.

  • LVP – 2.738v
  • Full – 4.102v
  • Drain measured at 150-198uA

 

UI

Unlike the original LT1 the LT1s is using a UI Sofirn developed instead of Andruil. This is kind of disappointing because Anduril works so well on the LT1 and the special blinking modes are great there. That said my guess is Sofrin wanted a simpler UI, especially for switching between LED colors. The Sofirn UI here works well in my experience and the list below should serve as a simple guide of what you can do.

 

From On

  • 4 clicks to switch between ramping or stepped mode
  • 3 clicks to go between red and white modes
  • 2 clicks (Double click) to operate as a directional light and move between either side or full on just repeat
  • Double click when in red mode to activate SOS
  • 1 click and hold to change the tint of the light
  • 1 Click hold to switch between modes or ramp to adjust brightness

 

From Off

  • Long press to turn on to moon light mode. 

 

There is no ramping in Red mode and when you shut the light off in red mode, memory won’t return you to red. 

 

Recharging

The lantern recharges via a USB-C port on the top thats well sealed with a silicone cover. It is USB-C PD compatible, and it works as a powerbank to charge your smartphone or other device. My Samsung Smartphone reports it as charging via “Fast Charge” when plugged in. I didn’t do much testing here other then to verify it works. Here is the charging graph of the included 5000mAh battery from LVP at 2.738V to full at 4.1V. This took just at 3 hours and 18 minutes. Max charging speed I saw during this was 1.8A. The manual says it charges up to  3A max charging speed but I didn’t see anything like this. It may possibly need to trigger QuickCharge but it doesn’t seem to use the normal USB-C protocol for this. 

The light will run while charging although this significantly slows down charging speed. I ran the light at max output and started charging via a 65W USB-C power source, and at the end of 4 hours it was showing only one LED solid so between 25-50% power. I let the light go for 24 hours and it never fully completed charging but got to between 75-100%.

 

Final Thoughts

Lanterns are one of those things you can probably do without if you have a good flashlight but once you have one you immediately notice the value of having a light designed with a specific task in mind. The LT1s is the smaller, more stable, easy to use version of the LT1. 

Reading over the comments at BLF on the LT1s there are a few that are a little unhappy about the similarities in design to the BLF LT1 that Sofirn produces. That said I think most have concluded that the two are different enough not to ruffle too many feathers, and I agree. 

 

I like the more simple UI here for the most part, it’s going to be better for most people who are not used to Anduril nor want to take the time to learn it. The addition of red here is great for those who want to preserve night vision but even in low, I would say it’s almost too bright and on high it’s really bright. I like the ability to shut off half the white emitters to steer the beam, it’s nice for keeping the light out of your eyes if it’s sitting on a table or something. I am using this lantern quite a bit in the shower even to have something a little more soothing, and with less blue light.  

This is an easy recommendation for me, the pro’s easily outweigh the small cons. Sofirn has provided a 15% discount which I will have in the description/comments below the video. I will also have a link to the case I found that almost fits but isn’t quite thick enough for my liking. 

 

Pickup the Sofirn LT1S Lantern at https://bit.ly/LQLT1S and use code BJ5B11QN to save 15%. (Valid till 4/28/2022)

The LT1S is also available on Amazon https://amzn.to/3Nz5xL5  use code 20WQ2PHC to save 20%. (Valid till 4/28/2022)

Here is the case I featured in the review, it fits but isn’t a perfect fit. https://amzn.to/3LlK1aO

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Folomov EDC C2 Review (2022 Version, Cree XT-E, 14300)

Folomov is back on the channel after a few years break with their new EDC C2. It’s a very small “EDC” style light running a 14300 battery, and a Cree XT-E LED producing 525 lumens. I am going to try and keep this one short but still through. Thanks to Folomov for sending this to me to take a look at. 

 

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Pick up the Folomov EDC C2 (2022 Version) at  Amazon: https://amzn.to/36y3fdP 

 

Packaging & Accessories

The name of this light is confusing. So to understand this you have to understand that in 2019 Folmov released a small light called the EDC C2. The new light is has printed on it “EDC” however the marketing material and manual say it’s the C2. I asked Folmov about this and they said it’s the same name as the old but a different design, LED, UI, with a similar battery. A real head scratcher why they would call the two the same when they are similar but quite different. So prepare for confusion in the market place for the purposes of this review I am going to call it the EDC.

 

Packaging is a small retail box in orange and gray will all the relevant info on the outside. Included accessories are the pocket clip, the 520mA 14300 battery, 2 extra orings, manual and USB-A  to MicroUSB charging cable.

 

Construction and Design

The light is made from aluminum, anodized black, with no construction or anodizing issues. The overall design is basic, the tail is flat and non magnetic. There is no knurling on the light and all the surfaces are smooth. Only the rear tail cap is removable and it’s not interchangeable with the previous model. Internally only the rear has a short spring, the front is a brass post. 

The button is an eswitch, with a silicone/plastic cover, with no LED under. The front bezel is brass, very flat and holds in the diffused TIR style optic. 

 

Retention

Your main retention is the pocket clip on this light. It’s a captured snap on style clip, and is in a tip up configuration only. The clip has plenty of room for pocket material. Mine is secure however its slightly away from the body. The very end of the clip is flared out and this makes it easier to snag on things like a seat belt.

The you could attach a lanyard (Not included), although there isn’t a dedicated mounting place on the light itself, I think the idea is to attach via the hold in the clip. Not the most secure design. You could put a split ring here to attach as a keychain light but again not the most secure option.

 

Size & Weight

Length is 42.4mm, minimum diameter on the body is 16.1g, maximum diameter is 17mm at the head. Weight with battery and clip is 24.2g. The light is IPX 8 water rated and drop rated to 2 meters.

 

LED & Beam

The LED being used here is a Cree XT-E LED in a very cool white behind a TIR style reflector to diffuse the light. My Opple meter measured between 5400 and 6100k with a 77 CRI but to my eye it’s cooler then that, probably closer to 6500k. The beam coming out of the TIR reflector is fairly diffused with a huge hot spot creating the flood and minors spill. A good beam for EDC. PWM is very minimal on all modes and fast.

Parasitic Drain was measured at 135uA which is pretty significant. This was a problem with the previous model and this light actually has a slightly higher drain rate. That said Folomov says this light is still good for 166 days of standby, but my recommendation would be to mechanically lock out the light instead to avoid the drain issue. There is a pretty big jump between high and turbo here, other then that mode spacing is good. 

 

Official Output numbers

  • Turbo – 525 Lumens
  • High – 150 Lumens
  • Medium – 50 Lumens
  • Low – 10 Lumens
  • Moon – 1 Lumen

 

Heat & Runtime

For my Runtime tests I did my usual tests of comparing the percentage of relative output of the light while measuring runtimes here. Starting in Turbo it lasts a good 3 minutes before it starts dropping all while heat climes to 45C  out at the 4ish minute mark. Turbo steps down considerably and then starts a very linear decline starting at about 30 minutes. Runtime out to FL1 at 10% is roughly 1:20:00 however the light still produces light out to 5 hours, just very very little between 0-1% of relative output. LVP Kicks in at 2.806v.

I did the same comparison test but with Turbo compared to high output. High on this light is only 150 lumens so it was able to sustain this for longer, the output here is very linear so possibly not regulated or it didn’t make enough heat to actually regulate itself. FL1 is out to 3:20:00, but again it keeps running just making very little light out to 7 hours. 

 

UI

The light has a low, medium, high, turbo mode progression. It has a memorized mode feature as well. Double click unfortunately takes you to strobe instead of turbo. Once in strobe you can double click again to cycle between Strobe, SOS, and beacon modes. Personally I find these blinking modes unnecessary on a light this small and would have preferred a shortcut to turbo. 

 

Moonlight mode can be activated by long pressing when the light is off. To turn the light off from any mode you have hold the button for half a second. 


Recharging

The light runs off of a 14300 battery with a capacity of 525mAh. It has onboard microUSB charging built into the battery. 14300 batteries are not common, a quick google search doesn’t bring up any listings for them and Folomov doesn’t sell replacements direct but mentions their resellers may in the future.

Charging is slow here which is what you want. It took 1:53:00 to charge from LVP at 2.806v to full at 4.128v. Max changing speed I saw was about 0.26A. No problems detected with the charging curve. 

 

Final Thoughts

My final thoughts on the EDC C2 (2022 Version) is that it’s an interesting space to be in due to it’s size. It’s small enough yet functional that this would make a great keychain light, but it doesn’t have a solid keychain attachment point.

 

Unfortunately what I loved about the older Folomov EDC C2 was the warm (3000k)  high CRI (98 CRI) Nichia 21A LED. The new light however uses a far inferior LED in my opinion, as it’s low CRI and very cool white. It’s user interface is less useful for a light this size, with a double click going to strobe instead of turbo. This is a small enough light your not going to use it to blind someone and practically I don’t know anyone that actually uses strobe for signaling. 

 

The new light is smaller, has a better pocket clip, and a nice TIR reflector, while not giving up any battery capacity. It’s still plagued by the high parasitic drain though that the older model had. So I have mixed feelings on the new EDC C2, it’s not bad but I don’t think the sum of the parts are an improvement for me over the outgoing model, mainly due to the LED being used here. However I am a tint snob and prefer warmer tinted lights to cooler tint lights and that’s a personal preference and your opinion may vary. 

Pick up the Folomov EDC C2 (2022 Version) at  Amazon: https://amzn.to/36y3fdP 

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Vezerlezer ED10 Review (2200 Lumens, SST40, USB-C, New Brand)

Today I have the first light from a new company Vezerlezer with the ED10. No idea if I am pronouncing the company name correctly or not. This is a 18650 based light, with an SST40 LED, onboard USB-C charging and a side mounted switch. Thanks to Vezerlezer for sending it for me to check and providing a discount code for 30% off good till 2023. 

 

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Pickup the Vezerlezer ED10 from Vezerlezer at https://bit.ly/VEZED10

Use code CTZK5A8E to save 30% off the ED10 until 2023

 

Packaging & Accessories

The ED10 packaging is a nice retail style box, with a black, green and gray color scheme and various flashlight stats through out. Accessories that come with the light include a branded lanyard, extra oring, pocket clip, USB-A to USB-C cable, and a 2600mAh battery. 

 

 

Construction & Design

The ED10 isn’t breaking any new ground in terms of design but it does what it does pretty well. I am only going to hit the highlights here. Machining and anodizing are what I would expect in this price range but the edges are lacking champers around the head. The tail cap is flat, allowing it to tail stand and is non magnetic. 

There are quite a few markings on the light, with the logo, URL, model and company name appearing no less than 4 times, and they seem to be masked before anodizing, if scratched a bit it reveals bare aluminum at least on the tail. 

The body has a nice spiral shallow knurl in it. It reminds me of the Klarus ST15R I tested a while back. It provides a minimal amount of grip though. The pocket clip mounts at the rear of the body tube and the tube is non reversible.

The light does come into 3 pieces, with springs on both the head and tail. The head has a large anti roll ring, the switch is a metal eswitch with a near silent operation and a RGB led indicator at the center. The head has a large bezel that is removable, Inside is a lightly orange pealed reflector. What’s kind of unique is the reflector threads into the head which isn’t super common. As a result of all of this, it should be an easily modified light. 

 

Retention

Retention options with the Vezelezer ED10 are the included lanyard which attaches best on the side of the tail cap, or on the pocket clip. Your other option is the pocket clip. It’s a fairly deep pocket clip but the way mine is bent near the body it catches going into your pocket a bit. I think I can probably fix this with some pliers if I wanted to. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured length at 4.4” or 112mm. Maximum diameter at 1.1” (28mm) at the switch area, and minimum diameter of 0.96” (24.5mm). Weight with the cell and clip was 4.59oz or 130.2g. The light is IP68 rated and drop rated to 1.5m. Here are a few comparison photos to similar lights. 

 

LED & Beam

The light is running an SST40 LED in cool white. My Opple meter measured the tint at 6076k, and a CRI of 67 when in high mode. The beam profile is what I would call normal, primarily a central focused beam with minimal spill with no strange artifacts. PWM is present on all modes, it’s very a rapid PWM and I have a few graphs that show this from my Opple meter on high and turbo. Parasitic draw was measured at 20uA which is ok.

Official Outputs

  • Turbo – 2200 Lumens
  • High – 1400 Lumens
  • Medium – 560 Lumens
  • Low – 128 Lumens
  • Eco – 30 Lumens
  • Moon – 1 Lumen

Heat & Runtime

For my Relative output Runtime graphs I ran the Vezerlezer ED10 with the included 2600mAh battery. Turbo lasted to 2:40 with peak heat coming about the 3 minute mark at 51C. You can see active thermal protection on the light working through out the runtime as it takes little steps up and down to keep the temps regulated just under 50C before eventually turning off as power runs out at 1:40:00.

In my relative output comparison graph where I am basically comparing the runtime curves to one another (not total output), Turbo and high look very similar with high being slightly longer in runtime like you would expect but not in medium mode. Medium mode 

UI

The ED10 has 2 UI modes, stepped or ramping. To switch between them with the light off hold the button for about 5 second till the light flashes then let go. In stepped the light has memory mode. From off if you turn on and keep pressing the light will step up all the way to turbo and it stops. You have to press the button again to then step down. Anywhere you stop on that ramp, the next button press will step down. This is logical but takes time to get used to.

 

In ramping mode it behaves just like you would expect, except it only ramps to high mode, and you have to double press to go to turbo. The ramping is quite fast, and seems to be on a curve instead of linear. With the moon to mediumish being quicker then medium to high or so, maybe that’s because it leaves out turbo? In any mode triple click to get strobe.

 

Recharging

The ED10 charges via USB-C under a silicone cap opposite the e-button. The silicone cap fits well and stays out of the way. While charging the button turns into a charge indicator, red when charging, green when charged. The 2600mAh battery ended up testing 2694mAh, so that’s good.

Unfortunately C to C charging does not work here, so stick to the included USB-A to C cable. The charge curve here looks fine, it’s quite flat during the constant current charging for 2:32:00 minutes, but not very fast peaking at right around 1A. LVP is around 2.94v and the light charges the battery to 4.16v.

 

Final Thoughts

Not knowing what to expect from a brand new company I would say they have a pretty solid offering here for a first attempt. The exterior design is a nice size, I like the body tube milling rather than just standard knruling but you do pay in a bit less grip, and the port cover fits well. The beam properties are solid too, nothing really negative to say other then my standard gripe of cool white. 

That said there is room for improvement. The tail cap is just begging for a magnet with how flat it is, the pocket clip has that edge that catches on pockets, and they have went a bit overboard with the branding in my opinion on the light. I wish the battery was a larger size for the money being spent, 2600mAh isn’t that much in 2022 and the light really should be capable of C to C charging.

 

There are those firmware flaws that I mentioned in the UI section that another reviewer had found, None of them are deal breakers for me but they should be fixed. Ramping here is maybe a touch too fast in my opinion but I would rather it be faster then too slow. 

 

So in all a decent first attempt from a new model. The UI is easy to use, and the beam is suited just fine for EDC or general use. If they offered LED tint’s I think they could be a serious competitor with brands like Sofirn and Wurkkos for quality budget offerings. With the discount code that Vezerlezer has provided I think that puts the ED10 about where it should be price wise but it’s original MSRP is a bit too high to be competitive. 

 

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Lumintop GT Nano (Worlds Smallest Thrower?)

The Lumintop GT Nano is tiny, it’s modeled off the big BLF GT thrower that took 8 18650 batteries and came with a shoulder strap, the GT Nano looks similar but is smaller than your thumb. So you might be thinking something this small can’t possibly be functional right? Think again. 

This light was provided for me for free by Flashlightbrand.com a newer reseller based out of China. 

 

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Pickup the GT Nano from FlashlightBrand.com at https://www.flashlightbrand.com/lumintop-gt-nano-brass-everyday-carry-lights-450-lumen-keychain-flashlight-p3822334.html

 

10440 Tube https://www.flashlightbrand.com/lumintop-gt-nano-10440-tube-copper-brass-p3958893.html

Use Coupon Code LR10 for 10% off

 

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging here is a nice high quality box, and you get a number of accessories. Obviously the light itself, an 80mah button top 10180 battery, the recharger, a very short MicroUSB charging cable, split ring, lanyard and carabiner. There is an optional 10440 tube that you can purchase to run larger battery and more runtime but mine didn’t come with that. The light does come in black aluminum, titanium, and copper version too. 

 

I will note my light didn’t come sealed in a vacuum bag to prevent patina like Lumintop does normally. I asked FlashlightBrand about this and they said they open them up to make sure they are working…… I let them know this is not normal and my light arrived with fingerprints on it and scratches on the tail. All of the studio shots of the lights in the video were taken as the light came out of the box. Hopefully they stop this behavior.

 

Construction & Design

The Lumintop GT Nano is basically an exact clone as the larger BLF GT but just scaled down here significantly. I am not going into extensive descriptions here as the video and pictures will do it justice. There is a bunny logo on the tail inside the recessed area on the tail. The button here does seem large but that’s just because it’s such a small light. The front bezel does unscrew by hand easily it does have a AR glass lens and smooth deep reflector. Internally the head has just a center post, and the tail has reasonably long spring for the overall size of the light.

 

Retention

For retention you do have a small lanyard attachment point at the tail. A lanyard and split ring as well as a small keychain carabiner is included here. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 54mm, max diameter at the head at 24m, and diameter of the body tube at 14mm. 

Weight with the battery installed is 1.74oz or 49.4g. The light is IPX8 water rated.

 

LED & Beam

The GT Nano is running an Osram Flat White emitter the actual model is a CSLNM1.TG quite a mouthful. It’s a great choice here. On my Opple meter measured a CCT of 7289 and CRI of 71. Neither are very surprising. 

The beam pattern here isn’t the most beautiful but for what it is it’s ok. You have that very hot small center, and then in the spill there is a notable ring and some minor artifacts further out. It’s no surprise there is PWM here it’s pretty fast, here are some visualizations. 

The driver here appears to be unregulated with the manual warning not to exceed 2.4A of draw. With the 10140 battery this isn’t an issue, but if you do buy the 10440 tube make sure you throw a battery of the proper maximum output in or you risk damaging the driver. With the LED under the switch and such a small battery it would be best if you mechanically locked the light out when not in use. 

Official Outputs are listed at 450 lumens with a throw up to 300 meters;. 

 

Night Shots can be found in the video version of this review.

 

Runtime & Heat

With an 80mAh battery in this configuration runtime were never going to be anything super impressive. That said I feel like a maximum useable runtime from turbo of 24 minutes is decent. The brightest of that output lasts for the first 8 minutes as you can see in the graph. The peak in temp was about 38C after about 8 minutes. The brass here does a good job of holding heat. . 

I did a second runtime test in stepped mode 3 of 5 so a medium output and it was able to hold the brightest of that mode for 17 minutes before stepping down and ending at about 28 minutes. 

 

UI

The GT Nano is running Narsil M version 1.3. Narsil is kind of old firmware at this point and something I haven’t seen on a light in a few years. It’s nice firmware but kind of complicated with all it’s different configuration options. I won’t go into those but I will link to a chart that explains it. 

http://bit.ly/narsil-cs

What you need to know for the GT Nano is it ships in ramping mode. Ramping mode is good, and fast. You can change it to stepped mode if you wish which is how I tested in my runtime graphs but for general operation I prefer ramping. Switching between them is easy, with the light on press and hold for about 3 seconds the light will flash twice pause, and then blink once. It’s easiest to then just let the light exit programming by putting it down for about 45 seconds. 

 

Recharging

The light comes with it’s own charger and it’s neat how it works here. It looks like a lanyard bead with a MicroUSB port on the inside but upon further investigation the end with hole unscrews and you actually unscrew the tail of the light that holds the battery and then screw the side with the USB port into the tail of the light with the battery and your in business. The white plastic dome is the charge indicator here, red charging, green charged. This only works with the 10180 battery, if your running a 10440 you need your own charger. I am using my Vapcell S4 Plus because I can manually select a low charge speed of 250mA. 

For an 80mAh battery, you want to charge very slowly, and it does this at 0.09A, so charging here takes about 90 minutes. LVP was measured at 3.33v and full at 4.14V. 

 

Final Thoughts

A lot of tiny flashlights are gimmicks but the Lumintop GT Nano is the real deal. I am frankly quite amazed at how well this actually works. It throws an impressive distance especially for it’s size. Most of the time throwers are larger because that larger head works better for throwers, but here its quite small. That said with an 80ma battery your run times are very short and for that reason it kind of is a gimmick, so for that reason spend the few extra dollars and make sure you get yourself the 10440 tube too so you can increase that runtime. 

Pickup the GT Nano from FlashlightBrand.com at https://www.flashlightbrand.com/lumintop-gt-nano-brass-everyday-carry-lights-450-lumen-keychain-flashlight-p3822334.html

 

10440 Tube https://www.flashlightbrand.com/lumintop-gt-nano-10440-tube-copper-brass-p3958893.html

Use Coupon Code LR10 for 10% off

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Thrunite TC15 V3 Review (2403 Lumens, 18650, USB-C Charging)

Today I have one of Thrunite’s newest models and an update to one of my favorites the TV15 V3. It’s a 18650 powered, Cree XHP35.2 general purpose EDC flashlight with onboard charging. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to review. If they have provided me a discount that will be in the description below along with all my social media links to check out.

Pickup the Thrunite TC15 V3 at Amazon https://amzn.to/3uZY8xh (Be careful to select the V3) Use code LBJQKH2I to save an additional 5% until 3/10 on top of the existing 10% click coupon on the page.

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Packaging & Accessories

Standard Thrunite packaging here that I will let the photos do the descriptive work. While the box does note that a NW emitter is available, it’s not out at the time of review. Accessories that come with the light are the flashlight itself, a Thrunite branded standard 3100mAh 18650 IMR battery, branded lanyard, USB-A to USB-C cable, 2 extra orings, spare USB port cover, pocket clip, nylon holster and assorted paperwork. 

 

Construction and Design

The TC15 V3 looks a lot like the previous TC15 V2. Starting at the tail cap it is mostly flat with a small indent, and non magnetic. Your lanyard attachment point is on the rear. There is no knurling on the light, with only flat areas milled in the tail cap for grip to remove the battery. The body tube has flutes milled into it for style and a bit of grip. As mentioned in the retention section the clip only attaches in the middle of the light and the body tube is not reversible. 

Internally there is a spring at the tail, and a solid post in the head. Threads on both ends are square cut, lubricated and anodized. The head has a anti roll ring where the button sits. It’s the same e-button Thrunite has used on many other lights and tolerances are good, no side to side movement. It makes a nice click and requires slightly more force than normal to push. The charging port here is 90 degrees to the right of the button, in a very slim silicone cover that stays out of the way.

The front is one piece, no extra bezel, what bezel is there is smooth. The glass lens is slightly recessed and has AR coating. The reflector has an orange peel and is deep. 

 

Retention

Retention options on the TC15 V3 are pretty typical with one asterisk. Thrunite does include nice branded lanyard that attaches on the tail cap. You also get a branded holster, it’s ok, mine had lots of loose strings and felt kind of thin. 

Lastly is the clip on the TC15 V3. It’s changed from being mounted near the tail, to mounting in the middle of the body. It’s a dual direction clip but backwards from how I would carry this light, head down. That means to carry it head down you have to lift your pocket over the rather large bend of the clip. Once you do that it carries pretty well but it’s just not easy to put in the pocket like pretty much every other knife or light with a clip. Oh and for those suggesting you rotate tube so the pocket clip carries more traditionally you can’t. The thread line up but it doesn’t make electrical contact due to a 1mm difference on the head side. Not a fan of this design personally. 

Size and Weight

I measured the length of the TC15 V3 at 122.5mm (4.82”), minimum diameter at 23.5mm (0.925”), and maximum diameter at 25.6mm (1”). Weight with the included battery and clip was 134.5g or 4.74oz. The light is IPX8 water rated and 1.5M impact resistant. Here are some comparison shots with similar sized lights you might have. Branding is pretty minimal on this light which is great. 

LED & Beam

The TC15 V3 is using a Cree XHP35.2 LED. As of the creation of this video it’s only available in cool white. My unscientific Opple Meter registered this at 7000k in turbo with a CRI of 72 in the center. The beam has tint rainbow, with the beam getting green around the spill. The beam shape is a medium sized hotspot in the center and large amount of spill. This light does have PWM, but I don’t notice it with my eye. I will throw up what the meter shows in medium mode. I measured parasitic drain at an acceptable 47uA. 

 

Thrunite lists the official outputs as the following.

 

Heat and Runtime

For my runtime tests I measured the % of relative output at the 30 second mark to set what 100% relative output is according to the FL1 Standard then let them run. I did this with the supplied 3100mAh battery fully charged. 

Turbo ran for 3 minutes stepping down gradually as heat increased. From here it ran for 1:20:00 before 2 final step downs for a somewhat short total runtime at 1:35:00. Maximum heat was recorded at 1:20:00 at 46C. I then compared Turbo, High, and Medium runtimes and there really is not much difference between Turbo and High runtimes, less than 5 minutes. However medium ran out to 4:10:00. I did test low but didn’t graph it, it clicked in an impressive 58 hours and 17 minutes which is longer than The United claimed runtime. 

 

UI

The UI here is pretty simple. When the light is off, a quick press turns it on in the last mode used (memory), a press and hold lets you cycle through the 3 main modes (Low, Medium, High). When on double press to go to Turbo or Triple Press to go to strobe. When going to turbo or strobe the light does blink to off for a second which isn’t my favorite thing. From off long press to get to firefly mode, to lock/unlock from firefly press and hold to lock. 

 

Battery and Recharging

The TC15 V3 comes with a Thrunite branded 3100mAh IMR battery. This is a standard button top battery which is great to see. The light charges via the USB-C port on the side of the light. It is USB-C to C compatible and USB-C PD compatible. I charged from LVP at 2.94v to full at 4.1v in 2:17:04. It’s worth noting that charging speed here hit 2A almost immediately and continued at this rate for the first hour. Not a ton of light actually hit and hold 2A charging. Make sure you have a high quality power supply though to hit this. 

Final Thoughts

The TC15 V3 is mostly a win for me. It’s a nice size, easy user interface, and uses standard batteries with onboard USB-C charging. The pocket clip is what doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, it really should be flipped to the tail for deep carry, or mill the body so you can mount it in either direction. Both would be great solutions and improve the carryability of this light. As is to carry it head down it’s basically a 2 hand operation to put it back into your pocket. Not idea in my opinion.

I do hope we see a NW emitter for the TC15 V3 some day, it’s a personal preference of mine and something Thrunite has been good at in the past. I hope this isn’t a situation of slower sales of NW emitters causing the company to choose not to come out with that option. 

 

So if your looking for a good quality general purpose, non complicated 18650 flashlight with an easy UI and good customer service, look no further than the TC15 V3.

Pickup the Thrunite TC15 V3 at Amazon https://amzn.to/3uZY8xh (Be careful to select the V3) Use code LBJQKH2I to save an additional 5% until 3/10 on top of the existing 10% click coupon on the page.

 

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Wurkkos TS21 Review (3200 Lumens, SST20 90+ CRI, 21700, USB-C)

Today I have a fun one that I think you will want to stick around and watch, with the Wurkkos TS21. This is a newish light that Wurkkos has come out with, it’s a compact design, has 3 emitters, runs off a standard 21700 battery, uses the Andruil 2 firmware, and has onboard USB-C charging. Wurkkos did send this to me to look at and review, and they have offered a 20% discount on Amazon which is in the description if you’re interested in picking one up. 

 

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Pickup the Wurkkos TS21 from Amazon and save with the coupons below, or from Wurkkos direct (no coupon)

Gray from Amazon https://amzn.to/3rxyEFD Use code X5KSZIQH to save 20%

Black from Amazon WARNING THIS IS RUNNING Anduril 1 Read the listing carefully https://amzn.to/3Jb3byH Use code 5SDBMRK8 to save 20%

More options from Wurkkos direct are at the end of the review.

 

Packaging & Accessories

Wurkkos has a pleasant but basic white box with orange ends that largely displays their name in the middle. On the side is a sticker telling you what model you have inside, body color as well as emitter choice. Inside the light was in bubble wrap and continued the 5000mAh 21700 battery, pocket clip, Lanyard, extra orings, a USB-A to C Charging cable, and literature. 

 

Construction & Design

The TS21 is made from aluminum and in anodized in a variety of colors. It’s currently available in Champagne (A metallic tan color), Metal Gray, Black, Red (What I have here), and a splatter camouflage. The anodizing here is god, but I have noticed my red isn’t super durable, this isn’t uncommon with aluminum anodizing because black is the most durable color available.

The tailcap is flat, and magnetic, not super strong but enough to hold the weight of the light. The lanyard hole is an eyelet and is a little sharp. The body tube is nicely scalloped and completely reversible. It has groves milled in to accept the pocket clip on either end. 

The head grows in side, and contains minimal heat syncing. The button press feels about what you would expect from an eswitch, but the button itself kind of rattles around some, not the best feeling in the world. There are LED indicators under the switch that are used to show the charge status, and act as a locator LED. They go Red, Blue, and Amber in color. At the front there is a stainless steel bezel with large but shallow crenulations, a glass lens and a triple TIR optic. Note this isn’t the standard size you have seen in other lights like the FW3A, etc, it’s slightly larger.

Thread are anodized, square cut and nicely lubricated from the factory. Internally, the front is just a button contact, out the rear there is a large gold coated spring, and the tail cap is magnetic. It’s just strong enough to hold the light on a painted metal surface with a slight amount of slippage. 

 

Retention

Retention options are the dual direction pocket clip, which allows you to put the light on a hat and run a makeshift headlamp, or use more traditionally as a pocket clip. It’s reasonably deep carry and will mount on the rear or front of the light. Your lanyard attachment points are either on the tailcap of the light, or on the pocket clip. As mentioned the mount on the tailcap is a little sharp and can be a hot spot for larger hands. Speaking of fit in the hands it’s pretty good, It’s a reasonably compact design and provides a modest amount of grip. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the TS21 at 113.3mm (4.46”) in length, maximum diameter at the head at 28mm (1.1”) and minimum diameter on the body at 26.06mm (1.02”). Weight with the battery and clip installed came in at 158.7g or 5.10oz. The light is IPX water rated and here it is compared with a few similar style lights and the popular Wurkkos FC11. 

 

LED & Beam

The TS21 has 3 Luminus SST-20 Emitters, mine shipped with the 4000k tint but 5000k and 6000k are also available. These are behind a narrow TIR optic and it creates a very nice narrow semi floody beam. It’s a very practical and useful beam for a variety of tasks in my opinion. The bezel does interfere ever so slightly at short ranges with the very outside of the spill with the narrow optics here. With my not so scientific Opple meter I registered 3780k with 95 CRI. You have to take those CRI numbers with a grain of salt, but they are high enough to consider “high CRI” for me. It’s a pleasant warmer tint. 

Officially Wurkkos rates this as making 3500 lumens with 217M of throw. That may be a little optimistic with these specific warmer LED’s and I suspect they achieved this using the cooler tint LED’s that typically have a small performance advantage. This is a FET driving light and there is PWM here, it’s how ramping is achieved. It’s not noticeable to the eye for me but my equipment can pick it up. Personally I didn’t notice any whining during ramping. For me Turbo pulled 7.8A at the tailcap with the included battery, so you don’t need a particularly high drain battery for this light. See my night shots section of the video version of this review for a full demonstration of the beam and some comparison with other lights.

 

Heat & Runtime

So for my heat and runtime tests I used the included Wurkkos branded (standard non proprietary)  5000mAh flat top battery. I calibrated the light to a 60C and ran two rounds of tests. The graphs are using the FL1 standard so 100% of relative output is taken at the 30 second mark. First was my standard Turbo test, where I take the light to its absolute top output and just let it go. In doing this I saw the light almost immediately start stepping down at about 25 seconds it then ran at about 100% output for a minute and a half as heat peaked just under 50C. This makes me rethink my thermal calibration may need to be revisited. I won’t lie if I said I didn’t struggle with this a bit. Anyways output continues to decrease and it stabilizes between 30-45% of relative output for another nearly 4 hours. Total runtime down to 1% relative output was just shy of 5 hours.

I then ran a runtime which was the top of the default ramp curve. For this is was able to sustain 100% relative output for a little longer and the total output graph was pretty similar. Active thermal management shows itself in both modes well with the light increasing output as it cools even though the battery voltage is declining. This is something Andruil does well. LVP was measured at 2.994V. 

UI

The TS21 when it came out originally came with the Andruil 1.0 firmware by Toykeeper, but they are now shipping it with Andruil 2.0. This is my first light with Andruil 2.0 so it had a bit of a learning curve. I won’t pretend to be an Andruil expert, but I will say the diagram on how to navigate the light is absolutely critical to learning it and doing more advanced settings like setting the thermal calibration which I highly recommend doing. 

The light ships in Simple UI mode and this is a benefit of Anduril 2.0 as it’s your basic flashlight functions like turning on, increasing and decreasing brightness, battery check and lockout. It’s much easier to not end up in an advanced mode or get lost. Much better for more novice users or someone who wants something easier, that said it’s not calibrated so you can expect your runtimes to be less, especially at high outputs.

 

Your basic functions are ramping (Which can be switched to steps with 3 Clicks once on), double press to go to top of ram (Technically not turbo). In advanced mode you have the full range of features including all the blinking modes, changing the color of the auxiliary channel which on the TS21 is on the button, etc. You can see I somehow unintentionally turned my button LED to be on all the time in orange. You can of course go in and disable this. I think in time as I use Andruil 2 more I will like it but right now it’s a little confusing and not muscle memory yet. 

 

Recharging

Recharging is done via the onboard USB-C charging port built into the light. The silicone port cover here fits well but is rounded so it does help it roll on it’s side. A note on the battery here, it’s a flat top 21700 that’s non proprietary which is fantastic to see. The light supports charging via USB-C PD but doesn’t benefit from a speed increase as a result. 

Recharging from LVP at 2.994v to full at 4.17v took 2:53:00 at a maximum of 1.85A at the very beginning of charging, with the bulk of charging a bit lower then that. This is well under 1C for this battery and safe for long term use. 

 

Final Thoughts

Wurkkos has made their name in offering quality lights that appeal to enthusiasts at affordable prices and the TS21 is no different. It’s nice and compact, I don’t generally EDC a 21700 light because of it’s size but this is small and compact enough that I would if I was anticipating needing the output or runtime here. Because of that size though and this having 3 emitters it does build heat quickly and ramps down. This may be a slight disappointment if your not used to that, my advice would be to calibrate the light, raise that ceiling but also don’t run the light on the maximum output if you don’t need it. 

Multiple body color options from launch, LED Tint choices including warm, neutral tints, and high CRI are great to see at this price range. The number of manufactures that offer this keep declining and I think it’s an important feature. I hope consumers appreciate this complexity this adds to production and inventory with lots of additional SKU’s. 

 

Andruil is an enthusiasts UI for sure, it’s not super simple, but Andruil 2 with it’s separation of simple UI from Advanced UI improves this so it’s still a easy to use flashlight if you want it to be without all the complications, but those power features are there too if you want. Just make sure you have a diagram handy if you want to venture into the Advanced UI. 

So I can recommend this one both to new users, and enthusiasts. It’s a compact light with good performance, emitter tint options, high CRI, and body colors with onboard charging. This updated version I tested here today is a good way to try out Andruil 2 if you don’t have a light with it. With the coupons Wurkkos has provided I can get the light shipped to me for under $40 next day with a battery, which I think is a great deal. 

 

How to Purchase the TS21

Pickup the Wurkkos TS21 from Amazon and save with the coupons below, or from Wurkkos direct (no coupon)

 

Gray from Amazon https://amzn.to/3rxyEFD Use code X5KSZIQH to save 20%

Black from Amazon WARNING THIS IS RUNNING Anduril 1 Read the listing carefully https://amzn.to/3Jb3byH Use code 5SDBMRK8 to save 20%

 

All colors from Wurkkos https://wurkkos.com/products/wurkkos-ts21-new-color-metal-gray-and-champagne-with-anduril-20-21700-led-flashlight-3sst20-3500lm?VariantsId=10082

 

Blue Splatter from Wurkkos https://wurkkos.com/products/%E3%80%90pre-sale%E3%80%91wurkkos-new-ts21-with-anduril-20-nichia-219c-5000k-usb-c-rechargeable-21700-led-flashlight-with-power-bank-function-magnet-tail?VariantsId=10154

 

20350 Tube for the TS21 https://wurkkos.com/products/20350-short-tube-tube-work-for-wurkkos-hd20-ts21

 

Diffuser for the TS21 https://wurkkos.com/products/wurkkos-white-diffuser-for-ts21-soft-composite-materials-bright-indoor-reading-hiking-tent-lighting-with-malleability?VariantsId=10156

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Lumintop Antman Review (World’s Smallest LEP Flashlight)

Today I have for you what Lumintop claims as the smallest Laser or LEP flashlight on the market. It runs on a 14500 battery and is a familiar form factor. Thanks to Lumintop for sending this to me to look at and share with you.

 

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Get a 22% discount on the Ant man by using coupon code “JANTM2” at Lumintoponline at https://lumintoplighting.com/products/lumintop-ant-man-thor-mini-165lm-590m-14500-lep-mini-flashlight-184

 

Packaging & Accessories

Standard Lumintop cardboard packaging here, the light is well protected with some foam. Mine came with very minimal accessories, the light itself with the clip preinstalled, a Lumintop 920mAh battery with onboard USB-C, and a manual. 

 

Construction & Design

You probably recognize this light, it looks a lot like the Lumintop Tool series of lights from Lumintop. I don’t have a recent AA model to compare it to but it looks similar in most ways. Machining is good, with corners nicely broken and soft. Anodizing is flawless and markings are minimal. The head and tail are removable, threads are square cut, smooth and lubricated. The tail cap features a forward clicky button, it has LED’s underneath that glow ever so slightly as a locator feature. 

Internally there is only a stiff spring in the tail cap, with a solid post in the front. I would recommend changing the battery through the front of the light, due to the tail cap holding the clip into place, I find it’s easier that way. The body has standard diamond knurling thats minimally aggressive. 

The head features a six sided anti roll ring built into its heat fins. The front has a glass lens, with a GITD insert below the lens, blue in my case. The light will stand on it’s head but not the tail. 

 

Retention

The light ships with the standard Lumintop dual direction clip that’s held in place with the tail cap. It’s not my favorite due to not being deep carry but it works and keeps the light secure. It’s pre drilled for a lanyard if you wish but one isn’t included in the package. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 100mm, head diameter at 22mm, body tube at 19mm.I measured the weight with the Lumintop battery and clip at 85g or 3oz. The light is IPX8 water rated

 

Emitter & Beam

The Antman is using a LEP or Laser Excited Phosphor the result is a very throwy beam with no spill. I have explained this technology in some of my other videoss if your curious to learn more about it. The beam here is a little more fuzzy then other LEP’s I have and doesn’t have the same sharpness of the beam pattern. Tint here is very hard to measure due to the intensity, but it’s very cold, and I measured no flicker since this is a direct drive light.

Official stats have this at making 165 lumens and 87,025 candela. I don’t think mine is producing that with a full battery. I don’t have a calibrated setup that I trust to measure LEP’s right now to really give scientific evidence of this but my night shots shows what the eye sees decently.

 

Night Shots

You can see from my night shots (Video version) that the performance isn’t quite what I expected here. I compared it to the Thrunite Catapult Mini which on paper is pretty closer, while different technologies my Antman doesn’t seem to be close to the rated numbers. 

 

Runtime & Heat

I did my runtime tests with the optional Lumintop 920mAh button top battery. Flat tops and button tops work here but longer protected cells are not recommended. You don’t need a high drain battery either because the current draw is pretty minimal at just at 1A. 

Some other reviewers reported high parasitic drains with the Antman when off, I wanted to test this further but didn’t see the same effects on my light. I had the battery in the light and noticed no noticeable drop in voltage. 

 

The driver is direct drive and thats apparent in my runtime graph, it’s a very linear decline in relative output from the begging to the end. It is able to hold near 100% output for just about 10 minutes before declining. During this time the hottest temps I saw was 35C. Total output was 42 minutes on the supplied 920mAh battery. One thing to note is there is no low voltage protection built in here and the light will stop operating around 1.1V. Below you will see the direct charging via the battery too. 

 

UI

This is a single mode light so not much to say on the UI. It does have a forward clicky switch that you can half press for momentary mode or full press to lock it on. This is a little disappointing for the price range, I would expect another mode here.

 

Final Thoughts

The Antman is an interesting light. It’s quite small and is in a familiar form factor we know. However, in my experience it’s performance leaves something to be desired. While it does throw a reasonably far distance with a fairly focused beam, it’s not quite at the level I expected based on the other LEP lights that I own. I feel like my night shots do a good job of showing that in the video. I paired it up next to my Thrunite Catapult Mini which is a similar size but with a larger head. The performance of the two are very similar throw wise on paper, but not so much in the real world. For the Antman your putting size and form factor above performance.

I don’t normally talk about pricing in my reviews because it varies so much based on where you are in the world, where you buy it, what promotions are ongoing and when you buy. But on this review I have to mention price. LEP’s are not inexpensive, but typically their throw performance is unmatched. However on the Antman, the performance just isn’t quite there. There are lights that are LED based, that are a similar size, that offer the same or more performance but for half the cost. 

 

I do hope that Lumintop continues to develop this small form factor LEP based lights so that the performance comes up to what we have come to expect from LEP lights and the price decreases. I think this will happen with time. Right now I would have strong reservations on recommending the Antman, it’s remarkable in terms of its size and its technology but it’s performance lags my expectations in this case.

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Acebeam P15 Review (1700 Lumens, EDC, Tactical all in one)

Acebeam has a new dual purpose tactical weapon light that can also double as an EDC with the new P15. It’s designed to easily transition between the two uses and features a number of optimizations to work for both uses. It’s available in 4 colors with a variety of accessories too. Thanks to Acebeam for sending this to me to look at and review.

 

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Pickup the Acebeam P15 from Acebeam.com and save 10% by using the code ACE10

P15 EDC Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-edc

P15 Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-tactical-light

P15 Limited Edition https://www.acebeam.com/p15-limited-edition

Or Amazon at https://amzn.to/3nQLi03

 

Versions & Packaging & Accessories

The P15 comes in 4 colors, Black, Orange, Green, and Dark Green which is what I have here. The colors are really nice, Packaging is well done, with a full color magnetic closure box but not much info on the outside. Inside on my standard edition light I received an Acebeam Lanyard, 2 extra orings, allen key, 2 extra screws, the dual contact (proprietary) 18650 battery, and a proprietary charging cable. 

 

Construction & Design

Let’s talk about the design elements and construction on the Acebeam P15. Construction wise this feels and looks like a nicely built light in my opinion. Everything is nicely machined and finished. Edges are chamfered and the anodizing is flawless. This Dark Green color that I have here is my favorite, I wish more lights were finished this way. There is a good amount of laser engravings on the light, something is visible from almost every angle.

Let’s start at the tail, the light does tail stand, the switch is electronic, metal and flush. It’s hard to feel with gloves on but you can stab blindly and it generally works. There is a rotating locking ring in the rear as well to lock in your various accessories like the charging cable, tactical ring, or remote pressure switch on the side of the light. 

The body tube is smooth except for ribbing in the middle that adds a bit of grip and style. Threads are square cut and raw (but with grease). Internally there are springs on both sides. The head is pretty minimal in design with some basic milling for style mainly. The front bezel has some crenulations that allow light to escape when head down. Inside you have that double AR glass, and a smooth reflector.

 

Retention

Retention is one of the main differences on this light with it’s dual purpose design ethos of being weapon mountable and quickly converted to EDC. Starting first with EDC, there is the large pocket clip that dominates the light. It’s not a traditional pocket clip at all, it stands proud of the light quite a bit more then what we are used to seeing, that’s because it’s mounted on a “Scout” mount. As a result it’s not deep carry, but fairly secure. Given that I think it’s a better fit on a vest than in jeans pocket. The included lanyard can be attached at the rear of the clip or in the middle. The scout mount can be removed by taking the hex screws off the clip and then using your own smaller allen keys to remove it from the light if you wish. Acebeam sells a tactical ring that can be used in place of the clip if you wish too.

To convert to a weapon mount, you simply remove the two clip screws to reveal the standard scout mount you can then slide into any compatible mount. While easy to convert it’s not a tooless design.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 129.7mm, maximum diameter at the at the tail near the clip 34.5mm, minimum diameter on the body at 21.7mm. With the battery and clip installed the light comes in at 5.26oz, or 149.2g. The light is IPX8 water rated. 

LED & Beam

The P15 is using the Luminus SFT40 HI LED in an advertised 6500k tint with an advertised maximum 1700 lumens resulting in 330 meters of throw. On my unscientific Opple meter I recorded 6000K in turbo with a Ra (CRI) of about 65 and no measurable flicker. The beam is what you would expect, from a flat top LED, very throwy with a focused hot spot in the center and minimal spill. The crenulated bezel’s edges are visible in the spill but just a little. 

 

Official Outputs

    • Turbo 1700 Lumens – 27,225 Candela
    • High 600 Lumens
    • Mid 200 Lumens
    • Low 45 Lumens
    • Ultra Low 2 Lumens

 

Heat & Runtime

Let’s talk about the runtimes of the P15. Tubo lasts for 2 minutes before stepping down to 40% of relative output. It then continues on like this for 2 more hours till it takes a sharp decline for a total runtime of 2:18:00. During this time peak temp was 50C which is pretty controlled. I also ran a medium mode output and it’s very stable for 2:50:00 and then declines and shuts off for a total output of 3:12:00. 

 

UI

UI is simple on my version here without any of the accessories. From off, long press to turn on in firefly, long press to go into low, and the light will keep cycling up to medium and high. Double click to go to Turbo while on, and triple press to go to strobe. You can’t mechanically lock the light out due to those anodized threads but it does have electronic lockout that works pretty well. The quick function switch and pressures sensitive switch add other UI elements, but since I don’t have those I won’t comment on them directly. 

 

Recharging

Let’s talk about the battery in the Acebeam P15. It’s a 3100mAh 18650 that’s dual polarity on the one end with the plastic separator ring. We have seen other manufactures use these same type of cells usually on larger lights. I think Acebeam is doing it here to facilitate charging and the remote pressure switch without a dual tube light design to keep things slim. The bad news is it’s semi proprietary. 

So charging is accomplished via the pogo pins style connectors in the rear of the light. It comes with a special cable that plugs in via USB. It slides in from the rear and is a tight fit. It definitely takes some effort to get it there since the connector is a softer rubber/plastic. Once in place you can lock it in by turning the mechanical switch on the rear switch. This is also used for the other accessories. 

Charging took 2:27:00 to charge from LVP at 2.945V to full at 4.215v, so right where Acebeam claims. Fastest charging rate I saw was about 1.4V. The light will not turn on while charging.

 

Final Thoughts

I like the P15 EDC Tactical and the concept that Acebeam was trying to achieve with it. I like that they brought out multiple colors of the light from the beginning instead of dribbling them out over time. That said the light does make concessions in it’s design to do both tasks. Mainly the clip for me isn’t deep carry enough to create a light that I want to EDC in my front pockets, for me it’s more of a jacket light or something to go on a bag, that’s ok. As a weapon light I think this would do pretty well, they seem to have thought of most things, and it’s probably a little better as a weapon light than an EDC in my opinion.

This is the first light I have tried with the Luminis SFT40 HI LED. It’s pretty great for being cool white, without any major tint shift at lower outputs and creates a nice tight beam to throw well for its size. Hopefully we see this in future lights and from other manufactures.

The numerous different accessories with this light are nice as well, something for everyone aimed at both the tactical side if you wish, the P15 Defender kit will be the model you want to pick up, or the P15 EDC Tactical for more EDC uses but still have the ability to mount if you wish. With the P15 the choice is up to you and I can recommend it with those reservations about EDC use. 

 

Pickup the Acebeam P15 from Acebeam.com and save 10% by using the code ACE10

P15 EDC Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-edc

P15 Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-tactical-light

P15 Limited Edition https://www.acebeam.com/p15-limited-edition

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