Nitecore "Tiny Monster" TM11 (4x18650, 3xXM-L) Review: RUNTIMES, BEAMSHOTS, VIDEO +

[mauiblue]

Where did you order from? New versions are currently on sale for $150 shipped.

Where? I checked the usual vendors and they were all still around $260.

The original sale thread from CPFMP was deleted but you can get the same deal with the same coupon code here.

I saw that sale and I was all sick. Could have saved $50 from the one I bought.

[JetskiMark]

The vendors warehouse is only about twenty minutes away from me, so I went by there to pick one up. I like it. A lot. And it is not even dark yet.

I brought three EagleTac 3100's with me and compared several different lights. (These are the only button top 18650's that I own. I am ordering four more today.) Two boxes were marked with a "W" and two were not. The tint looked the same on all of the lights, on the warm side. I wish I had enough button tops to have run all of them side by side.

The only problem that I have now is that my Zebralight SC600W seems like an old Maglite Solitaire by comparison.

[SDM44]

The only problem that I have now is that my Zebralight SC600W seems like an old Maglite Solitaire by comparison.

I was looking into getting the SC600 since they just came back in stock everywhere. However, since I just ordered the TM11 then I guess it'll suffice instead of getting the SC600 (although I'd still like to get one since they're always sold out and are still cool )

[scottyhazzard]

After my Zebralight died for no reason I'm now gun shy of anything Zebralight.

[Patriot]

After my Zebralight died for no reason I'm now gun shy of anything Zebralight.

It can happen to the best of them, just read this thread. Generally speaking, the Zebralight has a good reputation as does the SC600.

[HIDblue]

I am really liking my new TM11. The switch will take a little while to get used to but what a great concept of using an electronic switch that has the capability of momentary on/off.

I wish the ZL switches had the same momentary on/off feature.

[Draven451]

I was looking into getting the SC600 since they just came back in stock everywhere. However, since I just ordered the TM11 then I guess it'll suffice instead of getting the SC600 (although I'd still like to get one since they're always sold out and are still cool )

While the TM11 is a great and bright floody light because of the larger size it is not easily placed in a pants/jeans pocket like the SC600 for easier edc.

I would recommend getting both as they fill different roles in your collection
I enjoy both of mine!

[Wiking]

I don’t know if it’s ok to post links, but I wonder if anyone knows if these batteries works in TM11? Xtar 18650 3100mAh protected button top li-ion. They are 68,5 mm +/- 0,5 mm and diameter 18,4 mm +/- 0,1 mm.

[Draven451]

I don’t know if it’s ok to post links, but I wonder if anyone knows if these batteries works in TM11? Xtar 18650 3100mAh protected button top li-ion. They are 68,5 mm +/- 0,5 mm and diameter 18,4 mm +/- 0,1 mm.

My Redilast 3100mAh fit and they are ~18.5mm x 68.8mm and they are button top as well. Based on these specs it looks like you shouldn't have a problem with the Xtar cells.

[HIDblue]

I was shopping around for a diffuser for my TM11 and stumbled on some DC Fix diffusion film that I forgot I had. Just put it on the lens of my TM11 and WOW! The TM11 already has a floody beam with great spill, but the DC Fix film really disperses the beam evenly and makes it a great area lighting tool.

[selfbuilt]

I was shopping around for a diffuser for my TM11 and stumbled on some DC Fix diffusion film that I forgot I had. Just put it on the lens of my TM11 and WOW! The TM11 already has a floody beam with great spill, but the DC Fix film really disperses the beam evenly and makes it a great area lighting tool.

Diffusion films are a good, inexpensive solution for many lights.

It's been mentioned here before (but probably lost in the 15 pages now ), the screw-on bezel diffuser from the Eagletac M2 and M3 series lights (e.g., M3C4) is a perfect fit. Just unscrew the metal bezel on the TM11, and screw on the ET diffuser, et voila.

[subwoofer]

I was shopping around for a diffuser for my TM11 and stumbled on some DC Fix diffusion film that I forgot I had. Just put it on the lens of my TM11 and WOW! The TM11 already has a floody beam with great spill, but the DC Fix film really disperses the beam evenly and makes it a great area lighting tool.

Just thought I would mention that after running some tests with my new integrating sphere, I have found that a high quality glass diffuser results in around 20% loss in total output. I haven't any of this film to do a similar test, but wouldn't be surprised if it was similar result.

[HIDblue]

Diffusion films are a good, inexpensive solution for many lights.

It's been mentioned here before (but probably lost in the 15 pages now ), the screw-on bezel diffuser from the Eagletac M2 and M3 series lights (e.g., M3C4) is a perfect fit. Just unscrew the metal bezel on the TM11, and screw on the ET diffuser, et voila.

It's funny you mention it selfbuilt...I just ordered pne last night. Luckily, I found a CPF vendor that sells the ET screw on diffusers separately from the M3 light. Would definitely be more convenient as well when I want to switch from a diffused beam to the regular beam.

[TEEJ]

The TM11 is so floody to start with, a diffuser might be carrying coal to Newcastle.

[HIDblue]

Just thought I would mention that after running some tests with my new integrating sphere, I have found that a high quality glass diffuser results in around 20% loss in total output. I haven't any of this film to do a similar test, but wouldn't be surprised if it was similar result.

Thanks for the info subwoofer. I knew the output would drop with a diffuser, but 20% is surprising...

[varuscelli]

I had posted this link a few pages back, but I was able to make a really inexpensive diffuser (that fits the TM11 bezel exactly without any special pains to cut it to size) from a Pillsbury icing container. You have to cut out the bottom container disk, but it's already sized perfectly for the bezel.

Sure, you'll have more light loss with something like this...but with light output up to 2000 lumens...who cares? If you don't get caught up in worrying over some moderate percentage of light loss and look at what your eyes show you, you'll be impressed with what you see with the TM11 light diffused.

It looks like there are several options for the TM11...but here's what I did.

Thread link:

Free Diffuser for NiteCore TM11 with Purchase of Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls

[selfbuilt]

Just thought I would mention that after running some tests with my new integrating sphere, I have found that a high quality glass diffuser results in around 20% loss in total output. I haven't any of this film to do a similar test, but wouldn't be surprised if it was similar result.

I measured a variety of films and diffusers in my lightbox once long ago, and found anywhere from ~5-30% loss of output. The diffuser films generally produced the least amount of diffusion - and correspondingly, the least amount of output loss (e.g., I think frosted scotch tape was somewhere in the ~5-10% range, but don't remember exactly).

A good glass diffuser will result in a more significant loss, in the 20%+ range - but that's because it is actually providing very good beam dispersal.

The TM11 is so floody to start with, a diffuser might be carrying coal to Newcastle.

On a throwy light, a good diffuser provides both widening of the spillbeam and a more even dispersal of the beam pattern. On a light like the TM11, it is true that you already have a very wide spillbeam to start with.

But the dispersal effect is still quite useful in itself. The problem with a clear hotspot is that you tend to fall into the "follow the bouncing ball" method of flashlight use (i.e., focus on the hotspot only). I sometimes find it more useful to level the playing field, so that my eyes can do the wandering without needing to track closely with the flashlight.

I particularly find diffused beams useful when taking my dog out into in my back yard at night to do her business - I can see where she is wandering around to before she gets there, as opposed to being focused directly on her with a more traditional beam.

[jmpaul320]

mine just showed up from gun safari - i got the tm11 version (cool white?)

going to be a long wait for my redilast 3100s to all charge up hehe

[varuscelli]

I particularly find diffused beams useful when taking my dog out into in my back yard at night to do her business - I can see where she is wandering around to before she gets there, as opposed to being focused directly on her with a more traditional beam.

It seems to me that with a light that has a distinctly brighter hotspot, the eyes don't see as well into the edges of the spill (either with peripheral vision or outright glances into the periphery) because of the eyes adjusting to the brighter area of light that they're naturally drawn to. The eye is not nearly so challenged when there is a more even dispersal of light. It's a lot like being in a room with the room light on where everything receives a pretty much balanced amount of light...as opposed to using a traditional flashlight in a room and having to point it toward where you want to see.

[TEEJ]

The above is a beam shot I took the other night with the TM11

I don't see a "Bouncing Hot Spot" issue...its a pool of light.



For perspective, that transmission tower is ~103 M away, and those wooden telephone polls are 73 M apart from each other.

You will see where the dog is going, where you are stepping, and the pot holes a football field away...without panning the light.




Here's the same scene using a Maglite 3D LED:



Notice a tree hundreds of yards further away is now visible, but everything inbetween that tree and the light is not well lit at all.

The Mag is a thrower...and you see the stuff far away...but NOT up close...its a small patch of light you HAVE TO pan around to find anything with.

As far as night vision being messed up by a bright light....that goes for the light on the target as well...you don't see anything around the target either, as your eyes stop down to adjust for the target's lighting...so you are still blind to everything else.

If you have LIGHT, you don't NEED as much night vision to see with...because even though you ARE in a ball of light, if its a BIG BALL of light, you can still see more than you would with just night vision and a thrower.

After that, its all bout the specifics of why you need to see in the first place, as to what makes more sense.

For walking the dog...a flood is perfect...and a spot is harder to use and les effective.

[LitFuse]

It's funny you mention it selfbuilt...I just ordered pne last night. Luckily, I found a CPF vendor that sells the ET screw on diffusers separately from the M3 light. Would definitely be more convenient as well when I want to switch from a diffused beam to the regular beam.

I love that ET diffuser on the TM11 and am looking to get a 2nd one. Where did you get the diffuser from HIDblue?

[HIDblue]

I love that ET diffuser on the TM11 and am looking to get a 2nd one. Where did you get the diffuser from HIDblue?

PM received and PM sent with the info.

[LitFuse]

Thanks for the reply HIDblue.

The Eagletac diffuser is great on the TM11, but you need to be careful about losing the window (lens) on the TM11 when you unscrew the stainless bezel ring. Unlike the Eagletac lights, the TM11's bezel ring secures the glass into the body of the light.

[HIDblue]

No worries. Even though I ordered the ET diffuser, I think I'm going to keep on using the DC Film. IIRC, the ET diffuser did reduce the output of my old M3C4 quite noticeably...but I don't get that impression with the DC Fix film, as selfbuilt pointed out above.

For my purposes, I need a large uniform beam or proverbial 'wall of light' without the backsplash from the hotspot of the TM11 which I dare say is sometimes too bright (Did I really just say the hotspot was too bright? blasphemy...).

[varuscelli]

Well...I guess I can show the diffuser effect using a wall shot, but I'll do it by getting as far away from a wall as I can get in my home. These shots were done with a Canon 14mm lens at 20 feet from the far wall. The first shot is the TM11 with no diffuser and the second is the TM11 with my own homemade diffuser. The TM11 does put out a great wall of light...but it's not without a hotspot. The diffuser makes a big difference.

[HIDblue]

Wow, great beamshots varuscelli! Perfect example of why a diffuser is such a great tool...especially with the TM11.

[varuscelli]

Thanks, HIDblue. With a flashlight that does things as "big" as the TM11 does, I felt like I had to back off as far as I could to give a good visual (and to use a really wide angle lens to show it). Something like warehouse interior might have been better.

Forgot to mention an added bonus of the diffuser I used is that it turns the tint of the TM11 from cool to more of a neutral tint. I can't say what the color temperature would be after adding the diffuser, but when I shine the light on a while wall and then just hold the diffuser in front of it (back and forth), I can see the light go distinctly from bluish without the diffuser toward neutral with it. Anyone who makes one of them will see what I mean (assuming all those containers are made with the same plastic material).

[HIDblue]

Here's a pic of my TM11 with DC Fix diffusion film on the lens. Probably allows more light through than an actual dedicated diffuser lens like the ET diffuser I just ordered last night.

[Phanatic]

I received my TM11 from Gun Safari today and my first impression is that it is smaller than I expected -- others have made this same observation. It fits very nicely in my hand. Size is relative, of course, as the pic below of some of my lights indicates. I have to wait a few days to receive my RediLast 18650 3100mAh batteries before I can try it out. BTW, it is version 3XML-V1.12-1111

4Sevens Mini CR2, JetBeam PC10, Nitecore TM11, Stanley HID 3000

[varuscelli]

Thanks for the reply HIDblue.

The Eagletac diffuser is great on the TM11, but you need to be careful about losing the window (lens) on the TM11 when you unscrew the stainless bezel ring. Unlike the Eagletac lights, the TM11's bezel ring secures the glass into the body of the light.

I'm wondering about adding a couple of dabs of something under the TM11 glass to hold it into place for times when removing the bezel. I don't want to do anything permanent like glue...but maybe two or three specs of silicon sealant? Maybe even a heat resistant sealant. Ideally, something easily removed (if desired) without leaving any residue. Any ideas on on that anyone?