Acebeam E70 Mini

[selfbuilt]

Here is the latest review on my flashlightreviews.ca website:

Acebeam E70 Mini

Following up my review of its big brother E70 model, this 1x18650 version of this Acebeam light features 3x Nicha 519A Hi CRI emitters (under a distinctive TIR optic). It has quite an interesting beam pattern (even spotbeam with milder spill), and excellent circuit performance. Still has the same quirky interface and high standby drain, like its larger sibling.

Here is a runtime graph from the review, showing the initial step-down from Turbo:



Hope you enjoy the review.

 

[selfbuilt]

Given the unusually high standby drain I detected, I decided to retest this light. With my current DMM, I continued to get inconsistent readings up the value reported in my review initially (note that my standard practice is to go with highest value when this happens).

But when I swapped in a new set of DMM leads and carefully masked off the inner contact surfaces (so no risk of contact with the inner body well contacts), I got a much more reasonable oscillation around ~58-60uA. So I've updated the review with a ~59uA estimate, which translates into 6 years to drain the cell.

I'm not going change the star rating, as I find the lack of Moonlight mode really hampers the use of this model as a EDC. But I will bump up my E70 review given its very nice moonlight mode (I had found a similar standby problem there - also resolved).

 

[Stress_Test]

I just placed an order for one of these today. The high-cri emitters and the beam pattern just seemed too good to pass up. It's been a long time since I bought a "serious" light like this and my 18650 lineup is pretty thin, so this seemed like a good choice after looking around at what was out there. I've got some good throwers but not a high-powered flooder, so this seems like a good bet.

Now the waiting game. Hope UPS doesn't go on strike this week!!

 

[selfbuilt]

It is a great light, with a surprisingly good beam for multi-emitter. I must say, I'm really digging all the new higher CRI options out there, it's greater to see more emitter choices on mainstream lights.

 

[Stress_Test]

Finally got it!! Took a full week. Anyway, I'm really liking it so far. Worked with an old Nitecore 18650 while I was charging the OEM cell. The light is surprisingly small, lengthwise anyway. Shorter than my Fenix PD31. The matte finish anodizing has kind of a grippy almost suede-like feel to it.

The lack of a very low "low" mode doesn't bother me too much; in practice, when I'm out and about, I've never found myself needing a moonlight mode. I mainly use it only at home (Quarks) if I wake up in the middle of night, or during power outages at home when I want to keep as much dark vision as possible.

I could see that the E70 Mini lowest mode might still be too much for some in a woods camping scenario, or maybe map reading or other very close-up activity at night in a totally blacked out environment. In general in my EDC uses I typically need higher modes rather than lower modes though.

There's only one drawback I don't like: it has an electronic lockout!! From off, you hold it until it blinks (about 5 sec). To unlock you hold it down again and wait till it comes on in low-low.

I dislike the idea of electronic lockout in general, and in this case in particular I don't like the way it's implemented because it seems easy to mess up because ramping brightness also requires a constant button hold.

So you could hold the button for low-low, then keep holding it expecting a mode ramp-up, but it'll lock out instead. At least it flashes to let you know it's entering lockout.

Anyway, I think I'd give it 4.5 / 5 stars myself, with the lockout being the only drawback on what otherwise looks like a great light!

 

[Stress_Test]

Also wanted to add:

There are Orbtronic 18650 cells available in 3500 mAh capacity that are also rated up to 10 amp max continuous discharge, which meets the light's requirement of 8 amp minimum for turbo mode.

These are also protected cells, so best of both worlds. High discharge and higher capacity than the factory cell that comes with the light.

 

[selfbuilt]

There's only one drawback I don't like: it has an electronic lockout!! From off, you hold it until it blinks (about 5 sec). To unlock you hold it down again and wait till it comes on in low-low.

Anyway, I think I'd give it 4.5 / 5 stars myself, with the lockout being the only drawback on what otherwise looks like a great light!

Yes, sorry about that - I was trying to be bit more brief in my early reviews upon my return to reviewing. The lockout is mentioned in the manual, and I have just gone back added it to both this review and the E70.

I agree, it is a little unusual to have as an extended press-hold, but I never actually had it engage accidentally in my testing, so forgot to mention it. I tend to be a lot more detailed in my more recent reviews, including mentioning any undocumented features I come across now.

And I can see giving it 4.5 stars ... I'm just a real fan of moonlight modes, and hate not seeing them on great multi-purpose lights like this one.