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Acebeam Pokelit Review ($22, 5000k, 95CRI, 550 Lumens)
Today I am looking at the Acebream Pokelit. It’s a AA-sized light, that can run on 14500 lithium-ion batteries or alkaline/NiMH. It features a neutral high CRI Nichia emitter and is very affordable. Thanks to Acebeam for sending this to me to look at and review.
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Packaging & Accessories
The packaging is quite small and compact. It’s a nice retail box with a see-through window. Everything slides out in a plastic tray. Accessories came with the clip preinstalled, optional Accebeam 920mAh 14500 battery with onboard USB-C charging, USB-A to C charging cable, Acebeam lanyard, 2 extra orings, and manual.
Construction and Design
The light comes in 3 available colors as of this review, Green, Orange, and Black that I have here. It comes both with and without a 14500 battery, the version I have is with the battery, and it would be the one I would recommend for most people.
Starting at the tail, there is a proud button, with a textured grip and hard plastic sides that stick proudly of the light. This is quite a stiff button and is a mechanical switch I believe. The tail cap has straight knurls and is glued onto the body of the light.
The clip attaches at the rear and is nonfixed in place, more on that in retention. The body is fairly plain with horizontal groves cut into it providing some grip.
The head section is straight with no detail milled into it. It contains all of the engraving of the model name, serial number, brand, and temperature warning. There is a smooth shallow bezel protecting the AR-coated glass lens and a shallow smooth reflector.
Retention
Retention options include the snap-on pocket clip. It’s finished in a glossy blue anodizing. It’s a dual-direction clip that’s reasonably deep carry. A bit of the tail does stick out of the pocket but with the stiff switch, I experienced no accidental activations. Your other option is an Acebeam lanyard. Its only attachment point is the hole built into the clip. Not my favorite attachment method but the clip does fit tightly here.
Size & Weight
I measured the length at 3.74”, the diameter at 0.72”. I measured the weight with the included battery and clip at exactly 2 ounces. The light is IPX8 water rated and drop-rated to 2M.
There are a number of competitor lights that I pulled from my collection. The Olight i5T and i5R are probably your two most similar lights, In general, the Acebeam is slightly smaller in diameter, and the two have a very similar button style. The Acebeam Ryder RX is similar in size, although with its stainless steel outer body and bolt action it’s different. The heads here are not compatible with each other. I will throw in a Reylight LAN as well since it’s dual fuel, although it’s in a different price category.
LED & Beam
The Acebeam Pokelit AA uses a Nichia 219F LED in 5000k and 90+ CRI. I measured the light on medium mode on my Oppple meter at 4438 CCT (k), and 95 RA (CRI). It’s a pleasant tint, without any distracting tint shifts. The beam is a medium-large hotspot and a large minimal spill. Exactly what was expected from the medium-depth orange peel reflector. My meter detects PWM here but it’s very fast so my eye or camera can’t detect it.
Heat & Runtimes
I will hit on a few highlights here and let the graphs speak for themselves. I primarily will run this light with the 14500 Li-ion battery because of the better performance. High came in just short of 500 lumens, and that decreases to 300 after 1:30. Total runtime slowly decreasing is 1 hour. Max heat here is 61C. This does get pretty warm to hold when on in high. Medium mode with the Li-ion battery is a pretty stable output starting at 150 lumens decreasing to about 80 or so out to 2:35:00 total runtime.
I also tested with an Ikea 2450 NiMH and you get about 225 lumens at the start by 2 and a half minutes you are running at about 70 lumens for two and a half hours, total runtime was 2:45:00. Medium mode extends this out to 3:12:00.
UI
The UI here is very simple with the reverse clicky switch. With the 14500 battery, you have 3 modes with memory mode. Click once to come on in the lowest model, if you fully clicked you do need to shut if off and then on again to advance, but if you don’t fully click you can half click to advance, hopefully, that makes sense. It’s a very simple user interface that I think anyone can understand.
Recharging
While the flashlight itself doesn’t have built-in charging, the optional Acebeam 14500 battery does have built-in charging via USB-C. I had no issues charging this via USB-C to C or PD. Charging here is at 0.5C about .45A at the maximum for most of the charging time. Overall charging time is 2:30:00 at which time the LED on the battery itself goes from red to green. The battery itself has LVP built into it.
Final Thoughts
Acebeam is on a streak of listening to consumers and enthusiasts and has been doing great putting out some new models this year with great emitter options. The Pokelit AA is no different. The Nichia 219F LED here puts out a neutral 5000k tint, with no ugly tones, and a nice beam pattern with High CRI. It does run hot when used for extended periods of time with the 14500 battery in high mode, reaching up to 140F. You may have to change your grip on it to be comfortable when it gets hot, holding more at the rear instead of in your fist.
I like the Pokelit AA better than the Lumentop Tool personally because it has a more desirable LED and a better clip. It also comes with a Li-ion battery here (depending on where you order it from), and is very affordable. It’s available on Amazon right now for about $21 in black or orange. Acebeam sells them directly too, but the cost is a little higher. For a basic, high-quality flashlight that anyone can use with an easy user interface, the Pokelit AA is a great choice that I can recommend.
Fenix E18R V2.0 Review (1200 Lumens, 16340, USB-C)
Fenix has a new small higher performance EDC with the updated FenixE18R V2.0. This is running a Luminis SST40 and a 1634 battery. Its biggest competitor would be the Olight Baton 3, and I will be using that as a comparison throughout the review. Thanks to Fenix for sending this to me to look at and review, all opinions are my own.
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Packaging & Accessories
The packaging here is a nice fully decorated retail-style box. The outside has some of your typical stats on the back. Inside the light is in a plastic tray, but what I really like here is that the accessories underneath are held in place with an extra piece of plastic. While this is minor it really helps to put everything back into the box with ease. If you save boxes and everything that comes with a light like I do this a useful bit of packaging. Accessories include the light itself, preinstalled pocket clip, lanyard, 700mAh Fenix branded battery, USB-A to C charging cable (short), layard, extra orings, port cover, warranty, and manual,
Design & Construction
The E18R V2 is made from 6061 aluminum, and hard anodized in black in a smooth semi-gloss anodizing. The tail is mostly flat, and strong magnetic. It tail stands without an issue despite it only having 2 outer wings. The tailcap as very shallow straight knurls on it for minimal grip.
The body has very fine circular grooves milled into it. They provide a minimal amount of grip but on a light this small I feel like the clip help gives your fingers something to lock on to. The threads on the tail are anodized and inside there is a spring only on the rear of the light. The head is glued onto the body tube, and the clip only attaches in one position but isn’t captured in terms of rotation.
The head has a slightly raised area around the electronic switch. The switch has a metal button cover with LED in the center to give the battery and lockout status. The accent colors here are a rosy copper color that I think is attractive. The USB charging port is opposite the button, and the port cover here is very secure as it has an additional hook to hold it in place. The lens is plastic TIR with a flat top, with no additional cover to protect it. The light has basically no bezel, what bezel it does have is flat.
Lastly, the markings on this light should be mentioned, they are laser engraved, and nicely aligned. I like that they hid the CE mark, and it contains the typical hot warning near the head. What I hadn’t seen before but think is a decent idea is very small directions under the switch to remind you how to lock and unlock the light.
Retention
The primary retention method with the light is the dual direction pocket clip. It’s designed primarily as a lens up carry clip which isnt’ my personal favorite method. When carrying this way it leaves about ½” of light sticking out. The same can be said If you flip it over. The clip is also one of the 3 ways to do lockout on this light if you slide it over so it physically covers the switch.
You also have the two lanyard attachment points on the rear of the light. In hand it’s pretty small, the body design doesn’t aid much in grip but the clip does when installed giving you a place to lock into.
Size & Weight
I measured the length at 66.64mm, and the diameter at the head at 21.1mm. I measured the weight with the clip and battery installed at 1.9oz. The light is IP68 water rated and impact resistant to 1 meter. In comparison to the Olight Baton 3, the E18R V2 is just slightly longer.
LED & Beam
The Fenix E18R V2.0 is using the Luminis SST 40 LED in cool white. On my Opple meter, I measured it at 5278K with a 62 CRI. So a fairly neutral tint but a pretty low CRI. There is PWM but it’s extremely fast, I don’t think anyone will notice it.
The beam profile is pretty typical of a TIR-style optic. A reasonably large hot center with minimal spill and no artifacts. Good for short-range EDC tasks and throws further than you think in the higher output modes when needed.
Outputs & Mode Spacing
For my output measurements I tested on my Texas Ace calibrated PVC lumen tube, it’s not professional measuring equipment but usually a pretty good approximation. Outputs here were very close to Fenix’s claim, the only place I saw a difference was turbo and that was only by 30 lumens or so short.
Mode spacing here not taking into account Turbo is 4 modes from 1 to 350 lumens. They are well spaced inside this, and I appreciate they included a true 1 lumen moon mode here. Turbo on the other hand is kind of off the charts at 1200 lumens.
Heat & Runtime
For my heat and runtime shots, I used the Li-ion battery the light came with. Turbo stepped down after 1:45 down to the 600-lumen range. The heat peaked around the 6:00 mark at 46C. The light ends up being very stable at about 11 minutes of runtime around the 400-lumen mark and runs out till 42 minutes before seeing a large stepdown and running in moonlight mode out till an hour.
I also did a runtime test comparing Turbo, High, and Medium modes that you can see in this graph.
UI
The UI is a little different from many other flashlights, so it might take a few minutes to understand if you’re coming from Olight, Thrunite, Nitecore, Sofirn, and others. To turn it on you have to long press. To increase in modes once on long press and the light will cycle from moonlight mode up through turbo. The light does have memory for all modes except strobe and turbo. If you shut it off in Turbo it will come on again in High next time. There is no shortcut to turbo, you have to incrementally get there. You can access moonlight mode by long pressing from off. If you hold the button too long when turning off the light will also go to strobe. Double pressing is a shortcut to strobe. To turn off you long press again. To lockout, the light double tap when off, same to unlock. You can also unscrew the tail cap slightly or cover the switch with the pocket clip.
Personally, this isn’t my favorite UI, and I would prefer there to be direct access to turbo with a double tap, and strobe is a triple tap. I find myself instead putting the light into strobe when I want turbo. Long pressing to turn off isn’t my personal favorite either.
Recharging
The light has onboard USB-C charging opposite the e-swtich on the light. I had no issues charging via USB-C to C or PD. I ran all tests with the included Fenix 700mAh branded battery. I tested the capacity of this battery at 685mAh on my Vapcell S4 Plus charger which I reviewed previously.
Charging from LVP of the battery at 2.973V to full when charging stopped at 4.163V took 1:21:00. Charging speed was right at 1C for most of the charging, and the charging curve looked pretty typical.
The light is capable of running a few different battery types. The manual notes that it can run a standard button top 16340, but may not be able to achieve peak performance. Same with a CR123a which is nonrechargeable. LiFePO4 16340’s are strongly not recommended due to the lower voltage the charging circuit isn’t designed to handle these.
One thing to note is that the battery level indicator is specified to only work with the Fenix branded ARB-L16-700P battery the light comes with.
Final Thoughts
There is a lot to like about the Fenix E18R V2.0. I like the design of the light physically I think it looks pretty good with the bronze-colored accents. There isn’t a ton of grip on the body tube but for me, the clip makes up for that. The tint here doesn’t seem to have any noticeable undesirable green tint. While I tend to like more neutral or warm emitters I understand why they went with cool white here to maximize the number of lumens and because it seems that’s what the segment of the market this light is aimed to prefer and it’s not super blue.
I like that battery here isn’t proprietary, and that it can run on CR123a’s in a pinch but with reduced performance. Another plus is that it uses USB-C for charging instead of a proprietary system.
A few things I wasn’t a fan of either, like UI here with no direct access to turbo, and where strobe is only a double pressor extra long press when turning off. I am not as much of a fan of lens up carry with 1/6th of the light sticking up out of my pocket and the switch being right at the pocket hem of your pants or shorts.
Overall a pretty solid light. If you like Olight but want to try another brand that’s similar but different I think this would be a good place to go. The UI will be a change for sure, but it’s a well-built light with a good beam thanks to the TIR lens and above-average build quality.
Get the Fenix E18R V2.0 at Fenix-store.com and save 20% for first-time orders.
Acebeam E70 Mini Review(Triple Nichia 519a, 2000 Lumens, 18650)
Acebeam has a new light, in the E70 Mini, it’s a smaller version of the E70 but this time it’s running on an 18650, and runs triple Nichia 519a LED’s. The Nicha 519a LED is the new hotness in the enthusiast flashlight communities. It’s the successor to the popular Nichia 219b, but the new version is brighter, and more importantly, has become known for being very neutral and rosy if you want. Thanks to Acebeam for sending this to me, and these thoughts and opinions have not been influenced by anyone.
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Package & Accessories
The E70 Mini arrived in a white retail package with a clear window showing the light inside. Pretty minimal info on the package, but it is surprisingly compact. Inside the accessories and extras included, a 3100mAh button top protected 18650 battery with onboard USB-C charging, Short USB-A to USB-C charging cable, Acebeam Lanyard, spare o-rings, warranty card, and manual.
Construction & Design
The E70 Mini for all intents and purposes a scaled-down version of its larger brother the E70 with a few minor exterior changes. For now, it’s available in aluminum that’s anodized matte black. It’s a premium feeling of anodizing, and the inner tube is the same blue aluminum we have seen on other E70 versions and the RX Ryder. I would expect to see different colors or materials of the E70 Mini at some time but for now just aluminum.
The tail features the same style of a flat metal button over the eswitch, it has a shiny finish that matches the clip well and is probably made of stainless steel like the clip. It has some interesting mounting options at the rear I will cover a bit later in the review. The light will tailstand too but it’s not magnetic.
The body tube has the same milled pattern as the E70, with a similar inner liner of blue aluminum and at the top 6 slots for 1 x 6mm tritium tubes, where the head has slots for 6 more. Threads on the body are square cut, and anodized. Inside you can see the spring at the tail, and head. Longer batteries or protected batteries are required, here, unprotected flat top 18650s are just too short to make contact. The bezel on the head is made from the same steel as the clip and rear switch. It has a crenulated bezel but it’s not sharp. The bezel does unscrew pretty easily too which should make maybe dedoming those LEDs (A popular thing to do with the Nichia 519s) possible without too much effort. The TIR optic sits behind an anti-reflective coated piece of glass with an o’ring keeping everything watertight.
Retention
The rear of the light has 3 wing like parts spaced out evenly around the light, and each is unique, you have the stock clip that comes on the light, with spacing that’s slightly wider than the more standard “Steel Flame” style clip, but to the left, there are threaded holes that fit the standard “Steel Flame” sizing, and then the third has larger unthreaded holes for the lanyard.
The clip itself is stamped steel but slightly curved and uses a milled piece to make it stand out a bit. I found this to be a fantastic clip. It reminded me more of a custom light with this clip than a production light. It carries pretty deeply in the pocket too. I like the glossy finish here, it seems to almost take on a little color with oils from your hands. I carried this around the 4th of July holiday and found it to be nice and secure in shorts.
Size & Weight
I measured the length at 111.34mm in length, 25.96mm at the head, and 23.39mm at the body. Weight with the Acebeam battery and clip installed came in at 124.8g or 4.4oz. It’s impact resistant to 1M and water-rated to IP68 (2 Meters). Here are a few photos of similar sized or spec’d lights that I have in my collection.
LED & Beam
As mentioned the E70 Mini is using the latest LED from Nichia the 519a. This LED has quickly gained a cult-like following over on /r/flashlight and on the BLF forums because of its great neutral tint, that leans to the rosy side of things and high CRI. With my Opple meter, I measured 4973k and 97 CRI. The DUV of the light is very neutral as you can see. It’s the most neural emitter I have seen in a production light this year for sure. No PWM was observed either.
The TIR optic here produces a large even hotspot with basically no spill. It’s in that middle ground between thrower and flood, good for EDC type users, and the optic does a good job of diffusing that there are 3 LEDs here. I will be interested to see if people dedoam the light as that show make it throw a bit more, and rosy up the tint. I measured the parasitic draw at 72.1µA.
Outputs
I measured outputs in my Texas Ace PVC Lumen tube and came a bit short in most of the categories, but everything was within 80% of the claimed lumens after 30 seconds.
Heat & Runtime
I tested my runtimes with the optional 3100mAh Acebeam battery. Turbo was good for right at a minute before stepping down to around 500 lumens. The heat peaked at 57C (135F) at the 1:15 minute mark, so this is mostly a thermal-based step-down. You can trigger turbo manually again and I did this during filming some night shots a few times and the light did get hot enough where it was too hot to hold. Running from turbo after the initial step down is pretty flat for 1:45:00 then gradual step downs for another 45 minutes till it shuts off.
I did runtime measurements for Turbo, High, Mide 2 and Mid1 as well and plotted them all on one graph here. Turbo and High give the same total runtime which was a little bit of a surprise. Mid 2 was good for 3:51:00, and Mid1 shut off just shy of 8 hours.
UI
The UI here is as far as I can tell the same as what was in the full-size E70. It’s a little different from other lights but easy enough to understand once you know you have to double press to turn on and it’s this element that builds safety into not turning on accidentally.
To turn the light on you can double press the tail switch to turn the light on in low, the light does have a memory so if it’s recent it will turn on in the last mode used excluding turbo. Once on, long press and hold to advance into the 4 available modes. Double press to turbo, triple to strobe. The light also has moonlight mode which you can access from off by long pressing, as well as lockout. Lastly, to turn off it’s a simple quick press to turn off.
Recharging
The Acebeam E70 Mini doesn’t have onboard USB charging. Instead, it has an optional Acebeam battery with onboard USB-C charging on its side. I had no issues charging via USB-C PD, or C to C cables on a variety of chargers. The battery is a 3100mAh button-top protected cell that I measured at 3049mAh in my Vapcell S4 Plus charger.
I measured LVP of the cell at 2.931V and charged the battery to full at 4.131V in 3:02:00. Charging curve looked good and the battery charged at an average of around 1A, definitely on the conservative side. The battery does seem to have a powerbank feature, that I can charge my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with. With a meter and load, I was able to pull 2A without a problem.
Final Thoughts
I had a positive review of the Acebeam E70, mine was in brass and has the High CRI LED, but it was too big and heavy for a front pocket EDC for me. The E70 Mini solves that problem, with the smaller size it still fits nicely into my hands, but the smaller diameter and lighter weight make it much more carryable. It’s still not a small 18650 light with its dual-wall construction but it’s a lot more doable.
The best part for me might be the LEDs and beam pattern. The Nichia 519a LEDs live up to the hype for me. I have done LED Swaps on one of my Reylight LANs and a Reylight Pineapple Mini in Timascus where I dedomed it too and the result is just a pretty much perfect tint in my opinion. If you are a tint snob it’s a fantastic LED. It’s not the brightest LED available but it produces one of the best quality light/tints in my opinion right now. The TIR optic makes for a very usable beam too.
It’s not perfect, the UI here with the long press to turn on takes getting used to but it’s really only that small change. It’s not ideal in my opinion but it does provide extra protection so that it won’t come on accidentally in your pocket. It also doesn’t accept flat top unprotected batteries which I happen to have a fair number of. I do wish turbo lasted a bit longer before stepping down on its own too without retriggering, and the markings on the light don’t line up with the clip on my light. I do really like how they put some markings inside the battery tube to hide them.
This is probably going to be my new pick for someone wanting to spend between $50-100 on a 18650 sized flashlight with a tail eswitch, especially if LED and Tint is important to them. While there are cheaper ways to try a Nichia 519a LED this would be a great way to get into one with a great light around it.
Pickup the Acebeam E70 Mini from Acebeam Direct at https://shrsl.com/3m7bt and save 10% (on any Acebeam) with the code “Liq10”
Or get it on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3AUDYrF
Wuben G2 Review (500 Lumen, P9 LED, Flat Keychain Light)
Wuben has a new flat keychain style light out with the G2. It’s a little different with the LED being on the flat side, with a wide large reflector, USB-C rechargeable, and can crank out up to 500 lumens in turbo.
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Packaging & Accessories
The packaging is a nice clear box, with the product labels being stickers on the top and bottom. Inside the box includes the light, USB-A to C charging cable, a gray plastic clip, and manual.
Construction & Design
The G2 is flat light, with the reflector on the flat side. Its body is made from aluminum and is available in 3 colors currently, black, Blue, and Green which I have here. The ends are both plastics. At the bottom end there is a plastic keychain ring that twists on and off, it can be a little tricky to put back on. Under this is a magnet that is strong enough to hold the light vertically on a painted metal surface without an issue.
In the middle is the P9 LED and TIR optic. On the sides there is the connection point for the pocket clip which I will talk about more in a minute.
At the top is the USB-C charging port. It has a silicone flap covering it. It’s not a very tight fit. The light doesn’t have a dust or water rating as a result. This is an area for improvement in future versions. Next to the charging port is the switch. It sits nearly flush and I had no issues with accidentally activating it.
Retention & Size
Size here is 2.3” x 1” x 0.36” thick without the clip. Weight is 1 ounce without clip. There is no water or dust rating officially for the light. With that flap I think it would probably struggle to meet the standard specs.
Retention options include a plastic clip that clips on the rear of the light in some indentions. This isn’t necessarily a light or clip designed for front pants pocket EDC but more to strap on to a bag, hat, etc. The clip is stiff. It also has a split ring attachment that twists off to reveal a magnet underneath too.
UI
The UI on the G2 requires a Long press to turn on when the light is off. This really mitigates accidental activations in my experience. The light has a memory mode to the last previously used setting. To adjust between the 4 modes when turned on, just press the button. The double press goes to turbo.
LED & Beam
The LED being used here is an OSRAM P9 LED. My Opple meter measured 6050k at 68 CRI as well as some PWM on high. The beam is mostly flood with a small hot center thanks to the TRI style optic. A good beam profile for up-close work for a light this size.
Outputs, runtimes, temps
Official outputs on Turbo were 500 lumens, and I measured 437 lumens initially, with a fast decline in under a minute to around 190. High is rated at 200 lumens, I measured 190. Medium is rated at 65 lumens I measured 61 at 30 seconds. Max heat I saw on the body of the light was 36C near the end of the runtime. Total runtime starting in Turbo was 40 minutes as well as in High mode. Medium lasted out to 2 hours of runtime which is longer than quoted.
Recharging
Internally the light contains a 280mAh lithium polymer battery. When I tested the capacity I got slightly more than this at about 314mAh. The total charge time here via USB-C was 1 hour. The light is USB-C PD compatible but you don’t get any benefits of the charging speed here with such a small battery. There is a small LED near the button that goes red when charging, and blue when charged.
Final Thoughts
At less than $20 with my discount coupon, the G2 is a decent keychain light. I like the small thin nature, it’s smaller and thinner than most car key fobs and produces a good amount of light for its size. It’s smaller than some of the Nitecore lights I have like the TIP which is similar but larger than some of the Royvon lights.
I don’t like that the silicone port covering the USB-C port is more of a flap. It’s not really a seal, and the light carries no water rating as a result. I did pour some water on it in the sink and it was ok, but it definitely won’t survive a full submersion. Hopefully, they can come up with a better cover in the future.
It has a really broad floody beam but with a super small center hots spot, thanks to its TIR optic. It works for the close-range tasks it’s designed for pretty well. The cool white LED isn’t my favorite but it works. Overall a decent keychain light for the money.
Pickup the Wuben G2 at https://www.wubenlight.com/products/wuben-g2-mini-flashlight
Use code “LRG220” to save 20%
Thrunite T1S Review ($35, 1212 Lumens, 18350)
Thrunite has updated their small EDC offering with the T1S, it features an 18350 battery, SST40 LED, and is said to produce up to 1200 lumens. They have updated the design a bit, added USB-C charging, and a new TIR Optic. Thanks to Thrunite for sending it to me to review.
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Black: https://amzn.to/3rh5OI6
Grey: https://amzn.to/3qz2SY0
Packaging & Accessories
Packaging is standard Thrunite here, Not much to explain that the pictures won’t answer. You do get the note to remove the battery isolator before using the light, a key point for new users. Accessories you get with the T1S are a 1100mAh 18350 battery, lanyard, extra oring, snap on pocket clip, and a USB-A to USB-C charging cable.
Construction & Design
The T1S is made from aluminum, and anodized in a semi shiny black. Fit and finish is good, above average for this price point I would say. Everything feels good, threads are anodized. The tail is flat, with a magnet inside. The clip attaches at the rear only, more on that later. The body is has 3 smooth sides, and 3 sides with small shallow slots milled into them for grip and style. The head is slightly larger, with minimal fins to dissipate heat. The electronic switch sits on a shallow platform which helps make it indexable, it has LED’s under to server as power indicators too. Opposite the button is the USB-C charging port, with standard silicone rubber cover.
Internally there is a spring and magnet at the tail, and a brass post up front. Tolerances here are good, the battery is slip fit and the light can run standard flat top or button top cells from whomever you choose. Nothing is proprietary.
Retention
The T1S comes with the same pocket clip that the T1 had, this is a press fit on the rear only. It has a bit of a step in it and the top of the loop is small both of which are not my favorite, but works well here and carries super deep. It’s a dual direction clip so it can clip onto a hat well too. Don’t forget the tail is magnetic too.
Size, Weight, and Comparison
I measured the length of the T1S at 69.3mm, minimum diameter at 22.2mm, maximum diameter at 26mm at the button in the head. Weight with the battery and clip installed was 2.47oz, or 70.1g. Size wise it’s extremely similar to the original Thrunite T1. When I compare it to the Olight Baton 3, it’s longer and larger in diameter, and that’s expected given the different batteries the two run. The T1S is IPX8 water rated.
LED & Beam
The T1S is running a SST-40 in Cool White. When tested with my Opple meter, I received an unscientific 5375k tint in turbo, and 5230k in high. Ra value is somewhere in the 60s. What my eye saw was in the lower modes there is a significant amount of green tint shift that disappears in the higher modes.
The optic here makes all the difference in my opinion, the T1 was a traditional reflector but super short, the result was all flood. The T1S has a TIR optic so you get a very useful balanced beam for EDC tasks, a reasonably large hotspot with most of the beam intensity and some spill. One thing to note is the TIR is concave, plastic, and doesn’t have a glass lens on top. Not a big deal at this price point, but expect it to get scratched some with use.
Official Outputs
Runtime & Heat
Turbo output on the light is rated at 1212 lumens for 5 minutes, but in my test I really only saw that for about 2:30 before that stepdown started. It was a slow stepdown that took about 10 minutes to reach around 30% relative output where it ran for an additional hour before running at its low/firefly modes for the remaining 3 hours or so for a total of 3:20:00. Max heat during that time was 50C. I then ran a runtime in medium mode where it was extremely stable and outdid the rated runtime out to 6:30:00.
UI
The Thrunite T1S has the pretty standard flashlight UI from Thrunite. From off, long hold to get to firefly mode, when off a single click turns on in the last standard mode used. Long press when on to cycle through the 3 main modes. Double click to go to turbo, triple click to go to strobe. This is simple and definitly an improvement over the slow ramping UI of the original T1.
Recharging
The light recharges via the onboard USB-C that’s opposite the main switch. It is USB-C PD Compatible which is great to see. When recharging the button on the light turns red and turns blue when charged. Maximum charging speed I saw with the included 1100mAh battery was about 0.6A which is conservative. Total charging time from LVP at 3.033V to full at 4.144v was 2:20:00. One other note is that the light uses a standard 18350 battery, I was able to swap in a flat top Vapcell or Keeppower brand battery without problem here.
Final Thoughts
If you were looking for a small EDC light, with USB-C charging, and a non proprietary battery, the Thrunite T1S is a great place to look. At an MSRP of $40, but with a $10 off currently the Thrunite T1S is a bargain at just under $30 and remember that includes the 1100mAh battery and USB-C charging cable. That’s a great bargain for what you’re getting, and fast shipping from the USA. If you’re looking for a new EDC light in this form factor that’s small and don’t mind the greener tint’s at lower outputs, I can recommend the T1S. Hopefully when the chip shortage eases we will see some neutral white emitters and other body colors soon. Thanks for watching or reading.
Pickup the Thrunite T1S on Amazon on the links below. For the discount click the coupon on the page and use coupon code MZMO4272 for an extra 15% off.
Black: https://amzn.to/3rh5OI6
Grey: https://amzn.to/3qz2SY0
Acebeam E70 Brass Review (95+ CRI, GT-FC40 LED, 21700)
Today I am taking a look at the Acebeam E70 in Brass. This is one of the many variants of the Acebeam E70 that have been made, in many different materials, a few colors, and with LED choices. The one I have here has a new special high CRI large format LED which I will talk about here later on in the review. Acebeam sent this one to me as a gift, but I decided I would do a review for you guys too as this one is pretty cool I think.
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Packaging and Accessories
A few notes on the versions of this light, you can go for a black anodized aluminum version, as well as Copper, Stainless Steel, a bead blasted or rainbow titanium and a polished brass which I have here.
The packaging is a nice cardboard white box, with clear plastic window showing the light itself. In the case of the brass light it came sealed in a vacuum sealed bag, which I opened before I took pictures (a cardinal sin of flashlight reviewing). Acebeam sells this light with and without a battery, but everything else is included. A lanyard, manual, warranty card, and warning card, a Lanyard, extra orings, a felt drawstring bag, and a USB cable allowing you to use to charge the optional battery and use it as a powerbank.
Construction
Instead of covering everything on the design here I want to hit the highlights while you look at all the photos I have taken of the light. So somethings to note, the tail is flat so it tail stands well, on my version the electronic button in the rear is brass but this is normally stainless steel on the aluminum version.
The light uses a dual tube design, and they have chosen to mill out areas of the body tube to see the inner anodized aluminum blue tube. This creates a pretty unique look for a production light. It’s also a dirt trap, so probably not the light I would choose to go camping with but fun none the less. The body tube also has a place for 6 small tritium tubes milled, which isn’t seen commonly on production lights.
Threads are square cut and work well, although I had minor issues starting them on this light repeatedly. The head itself has holes drilled for style mainly and I like this look. The bezel is does unscrew and is quite sharp around the outer edges. The lens is mineral glass and the reflector has an orange peel. The internal connection points such as the springs are gold plated.
Size & Weight
The E70 is a medium sized 21700 light, with length coming in at a measured 128mm in length, 30.2mm in diameter at the head. Weight with the battery was quite heavy on this brass model at 284.8g or 10.04oz.
Retention
The light features a standard clip design with 2 screws, so your popular aftermarket clips will fit here. Kind of unique are the 3 predrilled locations for the clip. The stock clip is good but a little thin in my opinion for this lights weight. The front bezel is also pretty sharp, so I would personally think twice about EDCing this one inside a pants pocket, but it works great in a bag instead.
LED & Beam
There are 3 LED options available in most but not all of the E70 varients. The base models use a Cree XHP 70.2 LED in either 5000k or 6500k at 70 CRI. Optionally on many but not all of the models there is a new Getian GT-FC40 LED at 4500k producing 95 CRI which is what I have. This required a driver change as well as this LED runs off of 12V instead of the 6V for the Cree. You take a decrease in performance though with the High CRI option at 2800 lumens instead of the 4000 the XHP 70.2 produces.
The beam is a hot round center with some tint shift a rosy corona out into the spill. At distances this is mostly a flood light with the orange peel reflector and the massive doamless LED. It’s more pleasant to use in my opinion then a mule style flood since it does have a bit of optic but it’s not a thrower. Quite nice for normal tasks.
Heat and Runtimes
I did my runtime testing with the optional Acebeam branded 5000mAh battery. Output on the GT-FC40 LED in my light here is somewhere between 2500-3000 lumens in turbo, and step down came at 1 minute and seems timed. It then ran at 35% relative output for 90 minutes, stepping down a few more times for total output at a little over 2 hours. While this is producing a lot of light, it’s certainly not the most efficient LED or driver combination I have seen. It also produces a significant amount of heat, that builds over time with this light in a pretty linear fashion. You are going to want gloves or turn it down for sustained use, max heat was at 1:30:00 at a crazy 84.9C (185 F).
UI
The UI here took me a few times to get used to, but the more I use it, it’s become a good UI that builds in an element of safety. To turn the light on you can double press the tail switch to turn the light on in low, the light does have memory so if it’s recent it will turn on in the last mode used excluding turbo. Once on, long press and hold to advance into the 4 available modes. Double press to turbo, triple to strobe. The light also has moon light mode which you can access from off by long pressing, as well as lockout. Lastly to turn off it’s a simple quick press to turn off. This seems to be a change over previous versions of the E70.
Recharging
Charging is not built into this light. Acebeam sells an optional 21700 battery for an additional cost that has a USB-C plug on it. Recharging this cell took 2:07:00 to charge. You can use standard cells inside the E70, but you need to use a longer cell, like something that’s protected or a tall button top.
Conclusion
My conclusion on the Acebeam E70 is it’s a nice higher end model of production flashlight with a lot of nice features that have been well thought out. I love that Acebeam continues to offer LED tint choices, and on this model different versions of LED’s. For an application like this I will take the GT-FC40 LED every day over a XHP 70.2, especially when I can get a warmer tint and high CRI.
The brass and copper versions of this light are quite heavy with a battery, so if you were planning to use this as an EDC I would get one of the lighter versions like Titanium or even the Aluminum which also happens to be the most economical. I like that they included a standard clip configuration here so if you want you can further customize the light. I wish they offered a smooth bezel in the box too, this would make EDC in a front pocket a more pleasant experience. That said this is a bigger light and not one you will probably find me EDCing in my pants pocket often as a result. I will use it often for going on walks, etc.
I can recommend this one without reservations, especially with the GT-FC40 emitter, it’s got a wonderful tint in my opinion and produces enough lumens for most tasks. That said it does get quite hot, but this isn’t because of the LED choice itself.
Pickup the Acebeam E70 at https://bit.ly/Acebeam
RovyVon Aurora A33 Review (180 Lumens, Nichia 219C, 90CRI, USB-C)
Today I have a new penlight from Royvon, It’s available in a variety of exterior colors, and comes with an optional high CRI LED as well, and even has USB-C to charge it’s internal lithium ion battery. Thanks to Royvon for sending this to me to review. Link to where you can find it as well as my social media channels are down below in the description.
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If you like my spiffy new background for this video, and want one for yourself as a large mousepad or nice desk mat, you can find it over at PhotonPhreaks at http://bit.ly/PPDeskMat and get 10% off with the code “LiquidRetro”
Packaging & Accessories
Packaging is a simple black box with a line drawing of the light on the outside. The box has a black and orange theme, it is printed to reflect the LED that’s in this light with a sticker on the back telling you which version and body color you have here.
Accessories are limited and include the light, pocket clip thats preinstalled but removable, and a 6” USB-A to USB-C cable along with a manual and warranty card.
Construction
The Aurora A33 is made of aluminum and in my example is anodized in green. Several other body colors are available including Black, Gunmetal, Red, and Desert Tan. Starting at the rear it has a flat metal button with a nice machined circular pattern in it for a bit of texture for the eswitch. There is a ring around the button that makes it sit slightly recessed, this also helps protect the button too. It feels a little odd but does help you locate it and helps keep from turning on in the pocket. The button is does have a bit of a vague feeling to it that I am not a huge fan of but does has a nice click.
To access the charging port the rear tail section unscrews slightly. This is easier shown then described but it’s best to grab the tail section itself not the clip since the clip rotates more easily. Once unscrewed the USB-C port is exposed as well as a LED indicator when recharging. There is an oring to keep everything sealed
The body tube has some spirals milled into it for texture and style. These are better then normal knurling visually but could be a little more aggressive in my taste. The body tube and head are one piece with the front bezel being glued in place it looks like. The front features a glass lens and TIR style optic. Internally there is a 600mAh LiPo battery sealed inside the light. This is non user replaceable battery.
Retention
The primary method of retention is the included deep carry pocket clip on the A33. It’s a clip on style clip and can be removed if you want. The unfortunate thing is here that it does spin around the light with a little bit for effort, I wish it was a bit tighter fit. It’s a fairly wide and substantial clip, and the steel is springy. It’s reasonably secure in the pocket but I wish it was a little stiffer so it was more secure. There is a small step in the clip that your pocket can snag on. That said I am a fan here, the clip overall is better then 85% of flashlights I review.
Size and Weight
I measured the length of the Aurora A33 at 119mm, maximum diameter tail at 16.5mm, minimum diameter at the body at 14.6mm. Weight with the clip installed is 42.2g. The light is IPX8 rated which I did test overnight in a glass of water.
LED & Beam Shots
The Aurora A33 is available with 2 LED’s I have the Nichia 219C at 5000k and 90 CRI, but a Cree XP-G2 with cool white, and about 20 more lumens (200 lumens total) on it’s highest output if you prefer. The light is using a TIR reflector and produces a medium sized hot center and a medium amount of spill. It’s good for this style of light where your mostly going to be using at short and medium distances.
Aurora A33 on Left, Nitecore MT06MD
There is some PWM that my scope noticed here, it’s fast and not noticeable to my eye or camera. But the scope does catch it.
Output modes on the Nichia model are officially rated at 0.5 Lumens, 15 lumens, 60 lumens, and 180 lumens
Heat and Runtime
The light has 4 modes, and I did runtime graphs for the two highest modes. On high, the light lasts for a total of 88 minus, the first 12 minutes are above 90% relative output and you see a slight step down in output. At the 45 minute mark your still producing 80% of relative output. After this though you see a sharp decline for the remaining amount of time. Highest temp I observed was around 36C at the 40 minute mark.
In medium the light lasts an impressive 5:48:00. It an long S curve making me think there might not be much regulation on this mode. That said it was running at 60% relative output out to the 2:50:0) mark.
UI
UI here is mostly simple as long as you remember you have to long press to turn on the light. Once on single presses will allow you to go up in the 4 modes. Long press to turn off. There is no memory modes and you always start at the bottom of the mode range. Which changing modes I did notice that I had to give it some time to go up the range, I couldn’t click fast or double press to go up the range faster. That’s a little annoying, I would love a double or triple click to turbo here.
This is a revised UI than this light originally shipped with, and Royvon has yet to update their website to reflect this but I confirmed this with the company.
When the power does get low you do get a red LED indicator that comes on, however this LED is normally covered with the top of the cap that covers the USB-C port.
Recharging
Recharging is accomplished via USB-C onboard the light. It will charge via USB-C to C. To get to the charging port the tail cap must be unscrewed a bit. This is a little hard to do due the oring seal and the facto the pocket clip rotates fairly easily. Once open this will expose the port and charge status LED. When low on power (10% remaining) this light will remain red. When charging it a slow fading blue LED and when charged it’s solid blue. Total charge time on the internal 600mAh LiPo battery was 1:02:00. Max charge rate was .52A.
The light will work through all modes while charging but the button to turn the light on is hard to press, especially if you have larger fingers.
Pro’s
- Neutral white, high CRI emitter option is available. Nice choice with the Nicahia 219C LED.
- Good deep carry pocket clip, I wish it didn’t rotate as easily and was a bit stiffer.
- Affordable and available in a good variety of colors.
Con’s
- Built in battery is non user replaceable.
- Takes slightly longer to turn on with the long press to on then I would like but it won’t come on accidentally this way.
- The instructions talk about 2 modes on the later models like I have this has been eliminated for simplicity.
Conclusion
I like the Royvon Aurora A33 as a pen format sized light. It’s got the enthusiast in mind with a number of body colors and a neutral high CRI LED option. The Nichia 219C in 5000k is a great choice here for a number of tasks.
I like that it has onboard USB-C charging as well, it makes it convenient to charge and fairly quick. The UI here is good, not great, and I would say the same with the pocket clip, I would just like it to be a tad more secure.
Overall as long as you don’t mind the sealed battery I think this the best pen light I have reviewed in a few years. It’s affordable, has a choice of LED, and body color, good clip and just an overall well rounded package that I can recommend.