Tag: Acebeam

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Acebeam TK18 Review (3000 Lumens, LH351D, Triple Emitter, EDC Flashlight)

Today I am taking a look at the Acebeam TK18 in Aluminum. This is triple LED light thats powered by an 18650 battery and is available with 3 different LED options in 3 different materials. Today I have the Aluminum light with the Samsung LH351D LED’s. Thanks to Nitetorch for sending this to me to look at and review.

 

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Packaging & Accessories

Packaging on the TK18 is a nice white pull out box with a line drawing of the light on the front. On the side it has all the LED options and materials on it marked with small stickers. Inside you get an assortment of things, such as the light, an optional Acebeam ARC18650H-310A 3100mAh battery, 2 spare orings, button cover, branded lanyard, and a USB-A to MicroUSB charging cable that has a optional area to plug in another cable to say charge your phone if needed.

 

Construction

The TK18 is available in 3 different materials, Aluminum which I have here, a raw copper, and a titanium. The anodizing here is a flat black that reminds me kind of Armytek since it’s a little chalky. Starting at the tail as always the only button on this light is a nice contrasting gray silicone, and recessed. It’s an electronic switch so it doesn’t take much pressure to actuate, and it’s non magnetic. The lanyard attachment point is on the tail cap as well.

Inside the threads are anodized, square cut and nicely greased. There is a inner tube in this light which is a little surprising with it’s small diameter. In the tail cap there is a short spring as well. The body tube has small rectangles for grip, these are short and everything is nicely chamfered, it’s similar to a frag pattern but smoother and less harsh. The pocket clip only attaches near the head of the light on the body tube and is non captured. More on that in a minute. The front of the body tube does have a retaining ring in it so the battery can only slide out from the rear. 

The head features a spring as well inside, on the outside it’s pretty basic and has minimal heatsinking. The front bezel does have crenulations and has a nice patinated copper color. The edges of it are a little up, especially considering this is a bezel up EDC. Underneath is a carillo style optic, with a glass ARC lens on top. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 105.27mm, minimum diameter on the body at 22.28mm, maximum diameter on the head of the light at 25.19mm. Weight with the clip and the Acebeam 18650 battery was 109.1g. The light is IPX8 water rated. Here are a few pictures of similar lights so you can see a size comparison.

 

 

Retention

The Acebeam TK18 comes with a dual direction pocket clip that attaches on the front side only of the body of the light. It’s a pretty long clip in comparison to the light and it’s fairly deep carry with about 9.5mm sticking up out of your pocket, but the retention to the light could be a little better. I also didn’t care for the bezels sharpness here when EDCing it in a front pocket, my hand caught it once or twice. The clip does also allow for you to attach it to a baseball hat if you want, that side is fairly stiff.

 

LED & Beam

The LED’s in use on my light are the Samsung LH351D in cool white. At this point I think I have all major tints of the LH351D, and unfortunately cool white happens to be my least favorite just because of the tint mainly. In the TK18 you do have that carillo style optic which puts out a pretty even beam like most triple LED lights. It’s fairly floody but can throw at the higher powers, great for EDC and this is a smaller diameter light then a lot of triples. No PWM was observed. 

Stated mode spacing with the Samsung LH351D CW Emitters and a 20A 18650 in Power Mode.

  • Ultra Low – 3 Lumens
  • Low – 80 Lumens
  • Med – 200 Lumens
  • High – 1000 Lumens
  • Turbo – 3000 Lumens

 

Stated mode spacing with the Samsung LH351D CW Emitters and a 20A 18650 in Eco Mode.

  • Ultra Low – 3 Lumens
  • Low – 80 Lumens
  • Med – 200 Lumens
  • High – 630 Lumens
  • Turbo – 1450 Lumens

 

Heat & Runtime

I did all my runtime tests with the included Acebeam ARC18650H-310A 3100mAh battery. You need a battery capable of at least 20A sustained to get close to the rated outputs. The light will also run off 2 CR123A batteries with about half the normal outputs in high and turbo but similar overall runtimes. My tests were unknowingly done in Eco mode, read the directions guys. I will put some graphics of what Turbo mode looks like at the end. 

 

In Eco I was able to hold turbo 1450 lumens for 5:30 before stepping down and this was pretty good. Step down was 55% of relative output where it held till the 2:17:00 mark. Starting at 2:00:00 the light starts flashing, dropping output down near 20% then back up to 55% to let you know the battery is getting low. This continues as the light does it’s last major step down to 6% relative output for the remaining hour. Total runtime in Eco from Turbo was 3:15:00. I saw max temps of 52C at the 10 minute mark in Eco. 

Here are 2 graphs of what output was like in Power mode with the same supplied battery. 

 

UI

You have 2 main UI groups with this light, an Eco and a Power mode, by default the light ships in Eco mode. To switch between them you have to lock the light (From off press and hold for 5 seconds), While locked click 10 times and the light will go from low output a higher output and this will mean the light is in power mode. It’s a similar action to go back to eco.

 

Normal operation is a short press to turn on where you last left it (Not for ultra low or turbo) then press and hold to cycle through each mode steps (Low, medium, high). Double click at any time to get to turbo, triple press to get to strobe. It’s a fairly simple UI thats similar to many other lights. Just read the manual for switching between eco and power.

 

Recharging

My light came with the Acebeam ARC18650H-310A 3100mAh protected button top battery. It has a MicroUSB port on the side for charging and is pretty long a 69.95mm in length. It also has an LED indicator on the positive terminal side, it’s always green when charged, but does turn off when fully discharged.I charged the light from LVP at 2.961V tyo Full at 4.168V in 2:31:35. Max charge rate I saw was 1.1A. The charge curve started off slow as I like to see then increased substantially and then trailed off. No issues here other then it’s a bit slow. 

 

Pro’s

  • I find this as a good looking light with the copper colored accents
  • Small diameter for a dual tube, triple LED light.
  • On the pricey side for not having a battery that comes with all packages. Aluminium is fairly affordable.

 

Con’s

  • No tint data for the LED choices are given, the LH351D’s here are cool white, quite floody.
  • Doesn’t seem to hit 3000 lumens when compared to other lights, this is supported by a few other reviewers. 
  • Front bezel needs to be toned down a little for a head up EDC light.

 

Conclusion

The Acebeam TK18 is an interesting light overall. Visually I like most of the look here, the aged copper colored accents are nice, I wish the clip didn’t have the Acebeam website on it, because I think that’s a little distracting. It’s pretty thin for a triple LED too, which helps it cary well in the pocket. It’s as narrow as many of the competitors single LED lights. That said I don’t care for the semi aggressive bezel when carrying. 

 

While I typically love the Samsung LH351D emitters, here I would probably recommend you go with the Nichia 219C instead to get high CRI and hopefully a warmer emitter. You give up some output but I am ok with that. The UI here is easy to follow but I don’t care for the Eco and Power settings, it adds unnecessary complexity. It’s nice to be able to use CR123A too in a pinch, it’s not something you see that often anymore. Overall if you were looking for a small diameter triple and wanted something a bit different with LED options that was reliable this would be a solid choice, just make sure your using a very capable battery for max performance.

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Acebeam H30 Headlight Review (4000 Lumens, USB-C, 21700,XHP 70.2, Red, Green)

The headlamp lumen arms race takes another step with the newest release from Acebeam the H30 Headlamp. The previous brightest headlamp I had had has been the Thrunite TH30 at 3300 lumens. The Acebeam H30 is 4000 lumens, contains a 21700 battery, and has USB-C charging and can act as a power bank. Thanks to Acebeam for sending this to me to take a look at.

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/qikUjn8
YouTube Version of this Review: 

Packaging & Accessories
The packaging is a compact full color retail box. The front advertises the big lumen number, USB-C and the 21700 battery. The back gives lots of stats. Inside The light came in a plastic bag on one side with the 21700 preinstalled. On the other side were the other accessories such as the headband, spare orings, and a USB A to USB-C cable that also has a place to plug a cable to charge your phone along with a warranty card, instruction manual, and certificate of authenticity. I do wish it came with an adapter tube like some other 21700 battery lights I have, so you can run an 18650 assuming the springs are long enough.








Construction
The light itself is made from aircraft grade aluminum and is hard anodized in a satin black. Starting at the left end cap, this is the one that gives access to the Acebeam branded 21700 button top battery. It’s got markings indicating it’s where the battery is and which way to twist for open and close. The knurling on the outside of the cap is more for looks then grip. Each end is spring loaded. The cap end has a large stiff spring. Threads were well greased, anodized, and square cut. The bore for the battery is not perfectly centered in the body of the light, with a bit more mass being on the emitter side. This is similar to how the Jetbeam HR30 that I reviewed this year was. The right side cap is similar in appearance however this is where the USB-C charging port lives and the cap is notated as such, again with directions. You must fully remove the cap to access the charging port. There is a little pin in the center under the clear plastic cover which must be for grounding? When the light is charging a red LED comes on. When being used as a powerbank you get a blue LED.






The central body is where the business is. On top are the two UI buttons, an orange square that is an on/off mostly, and a black domed circle. The back of the light has some shallow ribs for cooling. The front has the main emitter in the middle, It’s a big XHP 70.2 emitter in what’s a fairly shallow orange peel reflector. The front glass is just 19mm in diameter. Above and to the left and right of the main emitter are the colored emitters. On the left is red, and on the right is green. These are behind frosted plastic lenses. The front aluminum piece is held on with 3 recessed hex screws.




It may seem like a simple thing but I like that the headband on the H30 came pre assembled and ready to use right out of the box. On the outside band Acebeam is written in several places, it does contain a over the head strap too. On the inside of the band there are silicone strips all the way around to help keep the light in place on a helmet or something like that. It’s a nice step over not including any or a partial. The holder for the light itself is made of a silicone rubber. It has too large hoops that go over each end of the light when the caps are off. This is a pretty tight fit and not the easiest to take on or off, but holds firm for rotation. Pretty nice headband.




Size/Weight/Physical Comparisons
Overall length is 89.5mm, at it’s narrowest on the end caps are 29mm, and the widest at the center tube at 39mm. Weight with strap, and battery came in at 182g which makes is on the heavy side. This weight is noticeable but carries fairly well with the top head strap adjusted.

LED/Runtime
For the main emitter the Acebeam H30 uses a Cree XHP 70.2 LED in cool white at 6500k. It sits behind a piece of anti reflective coated glass, and a shallow orange peel reflector. The beam pattern is similar to other XHP 70.2 but without the donut at short ranges. It does have some Cree rainbow on the corona of the hotspot, it goes a bit warmer. As you keep going further out into the spill it cools off. It looks like a few other LED options may be coming, like a 5000k main emitter, and a Nichia UV emitter, or Nichia 219C for High CRI for the secondaries.


White is available in the following lumen spacing. 3 lumens, 120 lumens, 380 lumen, 1100 lumen. Turbo is good for 2200 lumens for 5.5 minutes then it drops down to 1000 lumens for about 2.4 hours. The light also has Turbo Max which has 4000 lumens for 1.5 minutes then drops to 1000 lumens for 2.5 hours.

White runtime had a total of 150 minutes from turbo max down to low voltage protection kick in. I saw a little more length in runtime for Turbo max, about 2.5 minutes before it decreased. The decrease is quite substantial. Down to about 25% relative output from those 4000 lumens, so about 1000 lumens. Still a ton of light for a headlamp. The light as able to maintain that 1000 lumens for the remainder of the 147 minutes. That
is a long runtime for 1000 lumens. The 21700 5100mAh battery shows it’s advantage here over an 18650. Heat was pretty well controlled. The light gets on the upper end of warmish but never uncomfortably hot when on the head.

The Red Emitter is a Cree XPE2-R2 emitter at 630nm. Red has only one mode at 50 lumens but is diffused very well. It’s runtime is 10 hours. It has no hotspot. I would prefer a dimmer red mode for up close map reading because 50 lumens is fairly bright.

Green Emitter is a Cree XPE2-G3 emitter at 530nm. It’s rated at 70 lumens for a runtime of 11h. It’s diffused very well and has no hotspot.

UI
The H30 has 2 buttons on the top a circle and a square next to each other for UI control The Square is flat, and the circle is domed a bit. Depending on what color mode you are in the buttons do slightly different things. For normal white operating modes, the orange square is On/Off. When the light is it comes on in the last previously used mode. Use the circle to go up in mode up to Turbo (Not Turbo Max). Double click the square to go to Turbo Max (Full 4000 lumens). Triple click to go into the Red SOS mode. When in any mode long pressing on the circle (about 1.5 seconds) will go into the color modes. A short press of the round button will switch color modes (Red to Green, Green to Red), and a long press of the circle will move back to white mode at low output.
Moonlight mode is also available if you hold the square for about 1 second when the light is off. Overall the UI takes a little getting used to. I think 2 buttons make sense.

Recharging And Powerbank
*Recharging: *This light has a USB-C port under the right side cap. You must completely remove the tailcap to access the port. Maximum charging rate I saw while charging from an empty battery was an even 2A. This is great to see and speed the charging process up but it still took 3 hours and 23 minutes to charge the battery to completely full. While charging there is a red LED in the center of the light that goes solid when completely recharged. The included Acebeam branded battery is a button top but flat top cells work too, for all functions of the light. Standard USB A to USB-C cables work or the cable that’s included.

What was odd and I am seeing on more and more USB-C flashlights are that they seem to have a problem charging with USB-C to USB-C cables/power sources. The H30 is no different. I tried charging it using an Anker USB-C to USB-C cable and a couple of different charger I have that support USB-C and none work. If I used a USB-A to USB-C charger it works without an issue.

*Powerbank: *This light can also be used as a powerbank. Included was a special USB-C cable that has a female USB A port on it to allow you to plug in another cable (Not included) to charge your phone or other device. I was able to pull 2.5A from a full battery for a while, but the light is happier pulling 2A for a longer time. When using as a powerbank you get a Blue LED under the plastic cover showing which way the power is flowing.

Pro

  • Preassembled headband with silicone all the way around.
  • Pretty good heat control for such a bright light
  • Really long runtime for 1000 lumens 147 minutes)
  • Ok beam profile for an XHP 70.2, Great beam profiles for Red and Green
  • Good charge/discharge speed.

Con

  • On the heavy side – the top band helps when on the head.
  • I would like an additional lower power red mode for map reading.
  • USB-C to USB-C charging doesn’t work.

Conclusion
Acebeam has built a flagship headlamp with the H30 that ticks a lot of boxes. The XHP 70.2 isn’t my favorite emitter due to the Cree Rainbow and beam pattern but if your not super picky I think you won’t mind. They have made a light that can sustain 1000 lumens for a substantial amount of time and burst up to 4000 lumens for short duration. The penalty you pay for this is weight. At 182 grams it’s on the heavy side but I got used to it, especially after adjusting the top head strap. I am glad USB-C is becoming more common on lights, and the extra powerbank feature here is a nice bonus. I think the Acebeam H30 is best for someone who needs a high output headlamp for a long amount of time, it certainly has significantly better runtime then some of it’s 18650 based counterparts.

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Acebeam UC15 Review (1000 Lumens)

Keychain style flashlights have been a popular item over the past several years. Today I have the Acebeam UC15 which is advertised as the brightest flashlight of this style currently available. It can produce up to 1000 lumens briefly out of it’s main emitter. This light also has a red and UV emitters as secondary modes too. Thanks to Acebeam for sending this to me to take a look at.

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/R7d5C(link is external)
Youtube Version of This Review: (Subscribe today! I am trying to hit 10k subs)

Construction
This is a solidly built light. The body and tail cap are made of a fairly thick walled aluminum. With batteries it’s a little heavier than I expected weighing 52 Grams. Mine here is in silver, but it also comes in a dark blue, black, and pink colors. Size wise it’s large then the Nitecore TIP and has no onboard charging. It seems a bit almost overbuilt for a keychain light but hopefully that means it stands up to hard use. Inside the springs are quite stout and gold plated. That said in the hand it feels better built.



Installing the batteries is easy if you know what your doing and potentially disastrous if you don’t. The manual surprisingly doesn’t tell you how to install the batteries. Since this light includes a hex wrench I initially thought you needed to remove the two rear screws, however this is incorrect. Instead just unscrew the lanyard attachment on the rear of the light and the back cover comes off. Insert two batteries of like chemistry positive end first and then put back on the cover and screw the lanyard loop back on to attach.

This light has a pretty substantial clip. More so than any other light in this size class I have seen. It uses two small hex head screws (wrench included) to attach to the body. This clip is very stiff and sticks out from the body of the light further than most. I think this is intended more to be clipped on to a hat with a bill and it should attach here quite securely. Be Careful not to cross thread the hex screws. They are small and it’s easy to do. A nice trick I always like to do is to rotate the screw backwards until it falls into place then switch directions to tighten it down.

LED, Run-times, and Power Source

This light uses a Cree XP-L2 LED for it’s main white emitter. There was initially some confusion here but it seems that the website and package are all in agreement. This light also has a Cree XPE-R2 LED for the red emitter and a Nichia 267A for the UV emitter. Only the white emitter has a reflector which is quite large, smooth and reasonably deep for a small light as well as a anti reflective coated glass lens. The red and UV emitters are surface mount parts with glass lenses over them. The red emitter is quite strong, enough so I wish it had a low mode. UV is rather low output but that’s common.


This light has 2 power source options, 10440 lithium batteries or AAA alkaline or NiMH rechargeables. It can also run on only one battery. To reach the full 1000 lumen output you do need the lithium batteries. Acebeam lists that turbo mode as lasting for 1 minute 46 seconds so it’s timed, after that it drops to 200 lumens, then 10. On AAA cells the maximum is 250 lumens, 82, and 10. Run-times for the Red and UV modes are similar regardless of the battery at between 1.2 and 1.6 hours.

I ran my own run-times on main emitter in the brightest modes with both battery types. With the 10440 batteries you had the nearly 2 minutes of a falling turbo before a longer than anticipated about 70 minutes of flat output in the 200 lumen range. However after that was over the output stopped completely. With the NiHM batteries (AmazonBasics) I had the a little more 250 lumen of output that was nearly flat, and at the 55 minute mark it took a sharp decline and then dove a bit more before a straight fall to the bottom at the 63 minute mark.

UI
This light uses a single electronic button which has an LED indicator under it. The button takes a firm press and makes an audible click. Memory mode is present on all modes. If you single click the light returns to where you previously was, including strobe. From off if you long press you go to the white driver, in low mode by default. From off you can double click to go straight to turbo and triple click to enter strobe. In any mode if you hold the button it cycles through each mode. When in white, a fast double click will allow you to go up in to higher white modes.

Packaging
Packaging is very nice, It’s a full retail box with all your important info on the front and back. On the side it does have Nichia listed with a check box so maybe we will see a Nichia offered as a main driver. We can only hope however I don’t think this will be very likely. Inside the light sits in foam, and to the side you have the pocket clip, hex wrench, and below are the instruction. They are decently written but a bit sparse for my taste.




Summary
This is more than your average keychain flashlight. I have tested the Nitecore Tip CRI which I liked, and I have tested the Astrolux K1 which had the 3 LED modes like the Acebeam UC15. The UC15 feels better built then these others but at a weight penalty. It uses batteries that are more accessible but I to an enthusiast I don’t know if that’s a benefit as I think many would have access to other lights for more dedicated tasks like a headlamp. That said this is a nice options for an upgraded nicer keychain light or pocket carry. Red mode is quite bright and UV mode can come in handy here and there. If you are looking for a keychain type light that has lots of extra features or a lot of output in such a small package, definitely check out the Acebeam UC15.