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Nitecore is one of the leaders in the high-end flashlight industry, with lights of all sizes and purposes. Now, they've produced a long distance thrower with an OLED display, the longest distance thrower that I know of from a big manufacturer, by using the high output and round Luminus SBT-70 emitter in a huge reflector. Presenting the Tiny Monster 36:
Thanks to Nitecore for providing the TM36 for review.
I'll be reviewing the TM36 in two sections: first, I'll discuss the light objectively (the facts about the light itself), then I'll discuss the light subjectively (my impressions about the light's performance when used for specific applications). If you have any other specific applications you'd like the light tested for, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Video Review
Below is a video review of the TM36. Due to my old image hosting site closing down, I've got new restrictions on image uploads and have replaced the "Construction" section of my reviews with a more detailed video review.
For the TM36, I've done two separate videos: one standard review video, and one where I spend some time testing it's throwing capabilities.
Both of these videos are available in 1080p HD, but default to a lower quality. To select the playback quality click the settings button (looks like a gear) after you've started the video.
Objective
Manufacturer's Specifications
Price: 500 USD
Product Manual
Dimensions
Plus, here's a few shots with some good detail.
User Interface
The user interface of the TM36 is fairly complex, so I will just cover it generally here, and you can refer to the video for demonstration and the manual for a full explanation.
The TM36 has five brightness modes and three flashy modes, all controlled by a single two-stage switch (similar to a camera shutter). It also has an OLED display with a myriad of readings available, controlled by the small button next to the display. To turn the light on, you can do a full press to enter a setting with the modes Turbo -> High available. Or, you can do a half-press to enter a setting with the modes Lower -> Low -> Medium -> High available. While in this setting, you can also give the button a full press to switch to Turbo mode. Finally, from off you can turn the light on in momentary Turbo by holding the switch for a few seconds, and it will turn back off when you release the switch. To access the flashy modes you can turn the light on, then press the button twice quickly and you will be able to access Strobe -> SOS -> Beacon.
When the light is off it's considered to be in Standby mode, but you can activate an electronic lockout by holding the button for a few seconds when the light is on.
The battery can be charged either while connected to the light through the port on the head, or while disconnected through the port on the battery itself (both pictured above). In both cases charging/charge completion is indicated, but in the case of charging through the head, the OLED display will show the current voltage while charging.
Action Shots
You can click on any of these shots to see them full size.
Light in Hand
MugShot
BeamSlice
White Wall
ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/20"
Indoor Shots
ISO 100, f/3.5, 1"
Outdoor Shots
ISO 100, f/3.5, 2.5"
Long-Range Shots
ISO 100, f/3.5, 15"
Control
150m
20x Zoom
Control
230m
20x Zoom
Control
500m
20x Zoom
These shots were all taken on nights with average amounts of atmospheric interference in my area. As you can see, at 500m the beam of the light begins to obscure the target, but this could be overcome if the light was offset from the viewer position. Still, much beyond that range and even if you put .25 lux on the target (the ANSI standard for throw) not much of it will get back to you. However, the TM36 is still putting more light on distant targets than other lights with less throw, so the long throw distance is certainly not wasted, and lights with less throw will be stopped by the atmosphere sooner.
Performance
Submersion: I submersed the TM36 under a foot of water for about an hour, clicking the switch several times. I found no evidence of water entering or damaging the light. However, it's very important to remember to plug the charger cover and be sure it does not become dislodged during a submersion.
Heat: The TM36 has built-in temperature monitoring, and automatically decreases the brightness when the temperature reaches 60 degrees Celsius. Judging by the output graph on Turbo mode (below), the TM36 does not do an instant jump to some lower level, but rather decreases brightness gradually as necessary.
PWM:
Drop: I dropped the TM36 from about a meter onto various surfaces (including grass, carpet, dirt, and hard wood), and found no cosmetic or functional damage.
Reverse Polarity Protection: The included battery pack is not possible to insert backwards--it connects correctly as you screw it in. However, I'm told the TM36 can also use the same battery tube as smaller TM models, which hold a set of 18650's, and in this case I presume you would need to insert the 18650's correctly.
Over-Discharge Protection: The TM36 has an exact voltage display available at all times, in addition to an approximate battery level display for those who aren't familiar with Li-ion voltages, and finally a display of the runtime left if continuing to use the current mode (see pictures above for images of these display settings). With these, you can always know how soon you will have to charge the battery. At the very end of the run the brightness decreases abruptly before the ight turns off. The battery also has built-in over-discharge cutoff so that it's voltage does not drop too low.
Spectral Analysis
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All light that we see as white is actually made up of several different colors put together. The relative intensities of the different colors in the mix are what determine the tint of the white we see. For example, cool white LED's have a lot of blue, and warm white LED's have more red or yellow. This measurement was done on a home made spectrometer. The plot below the picture is corrected for the spectral sensitivity of the human eye. Note: the peak in the 900nm region doesn't really exist, it's a piece of the second-order spectrum that's showing up here because of the high intensity of the light source.
Output and Runtime
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ANSI FL-1 runtime ratings are the time it takes for a light to fall to 10% of it's original output (counting from 30 seconds after turning the light on).
The vertical axis of the graphs below represents a relative brightness measurement using a home made light box. The horizontal axis is time in hours:minutes:seconds. Runtimes are stated in hours:minutes:seconds. These graphs may be truncated to show detail.
Mode Comparison
Turbo
free image upload
High
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Throwing Distance
ANSI FL-1 standard for stating a light's throwing distance is the distance at which the peak beam intensity (usually at the center of the beam) is 0.25 lux. I calculate throwing distance and candela (lux at 1 meter) by measuring peak beam intensity at five different distances and using the formula lux*distance^2=constant.
Note: A calibration factor of ~6.88% has been added into my throw measurements starting on 9.11.14. To compare the throw of a light I reviewed previous to that date, multiply the candela value by 1.0688 to get the corrected value.
Subjective Review
Quick break down:
+++ Throw.
- Big.
But seriously,
+ Throw
+ OLED Display
+ Intimidating appearance
+ Runtime estimate
+ Voltage reading
+ Flashy modes hidden
+ Carrying strap
+ Excellent regulation
+ Charge battery through head or directly
+ Big battery included
+ Charge status display
+ Momentary Turbo function
+ Heat dissipation finds
+ Blue "find-me" under-button LED
+ Exceeds specifications
+ Tripod mount
+/- Extremely specialized
- Big
- Hard lockout takes a few turns
- Thin rubber charge port cover
- Tripod mount is a bit crowded
- The atmosphere cramps my style
The TM36 is the largest light with the longest throw that I've reviewed, and while testing it I was continually impressed with how it performed. It's got a whole host of good features, and while all of these are secondary to it's performance as a thrower, they're what makes the TM36 come together as a truly useful light.
I'll start with the most obvious features, and they really are the size and the throw of the light. If you've spent much time using flashlights, you know that those qualities are linked--the larger the reflector, the better it can focus all the light into a tight beam, and the larger the mass and surface area, the better it can soak up heat from the emitter and dissipate it into the air to allow high output for longer times. Most lights go for some balance of throw and flood and thus have more balanced size, but the TM36 has been made extremely specialized, and concern for size has been thrown out the window to maximize the distance the light can throw. First, Nitecore chose to start with a Luminus SBT-70 emitter as the light source for the TM36. This emitter is capable of high output, but has a fairly large die size. The larger the emitter, the larger the reflector has to be to focus it. The great advantage of the SBT-70 is that it's a round die, which means that a round reflector can focus it more perfectly, and less light is lost from the unfocused corners. So, while other lights are putting out 1800 lumens from a square die, the light from the corners can't be well focused into the beam, but every bit of light from the SBT-70 in the TM36 is focused well in the reflector. As you can see in the beamshots and video above, the TM36 has a very tight hotspot, with an even flood that's relatively dim. With a reflector this size, it's worth comparing the throw to those of aspheric lenses. Very few mass manufactured lights make use of aspheric lenses, mostly because the beam pattern just isn't that desirable, but it is the best way to get long throw without a large reflector. The use of a lens means you can focus the light better with less space used, but the resulting beam pattern from most aspheric lenses, at best is just a tight circle with even light distribution across it (compared to the spot/spill pattern familiar from reflectors), and at worst is often uneven and ringy. Thus, aspheric lenses often have literally no flood or no hotspot, just one or the other depending on the size of the the circle projected. This is fine for some circumstances, but even with the longest distances in mind, I almost always want some spill light to give some illumination to the area around me, even if it's just a little bit. So, to get good throw without the weird beam pattern of an aspheric lens means a very big reflector, and Nitecore has paired that with a round high-output emitter to maximize that throw.
So, the reflector has to be big. Next, the rest of the light is very big. I'm not as familiar with the SBT-70 as with the Cree X-Led family, but one thing they have in common is that much of the energy put in is released as heat, and that heat has to go somewhere if it's not going to damage the emitter and shorten it's lifetime. Two things are important for that, the first is having plenty of solid mass to soak up that heat and move it quickly away from the emitter, and the second is to have plenty of surface area to get the heat out of the light's body and into the air. On the TM36, we've got plenty of both of these. The light has a lot of metal in it, and it's got plenty of heat dissipation fins to increase the surface area. This accounts for the big size of the light. These two things combined mean the TM36 has the opportunity for great performance, but is going to be very big as the cost, and that's why this is such a specialized light. It can throw like a beast, and it's sized like a beast. So, if you need a light that can throw like this, the TM36 is going to be great for you, but if you don't really need that much throw, it's size will likely keep you from using it much.
Next, we'll cover some of the support features. One of my favorites is the active heat monitoring. The TM36 has a built-in temp sensor, and if the temperature rises above 60 degrees, it will decrease the output to prevent over-heating. I haven't determined for sure yet, but judging by the runtime graphs I've done, it looks like it decreases the output gradually rather than in one big step. This is a great feature--most high output lights will either have no overheating prevention at all, or will be set to step down after a certain period of time. In this case, the light will either overheat when ran too long, or will step down before the accumulation of heat made it necessary. With the TM36, that's not an issue.
How about that display? I've heard some reports that some other TM models have had finicky displays, but on my TM36 the display has worked flawlessly. You can scroll back up to the top of the review to see some shots of all the different types of screen displays I've been able to find. You'll notice that one says ERROR, that one occurred when I tried to charge the battery through the plug in the head without the battery being fully tightened on the head. On each output mode you have the option of seeing the starting output of that mode, the starting throw, the realtime battery level and voltage, the temperature, and an approximate time remaining on that mode. I find the runtime estimate to be especially helpful, even more so than the battery voltage level, because I don't have to remember the runtimes of various modes or how fast they make the voltage drop. This display is a great feature, and really improves the practicality of a light with such high output.
When I first opened up this light, I thought, "You know it's a real flashlight when they give you a shoulder strap instead of a lanyard." Seriously, I'm not normally into straps and holsters and lanyards, but with the TM36 the shoulder strap greatly increases the light's usefulness. Without the strap, the TM36 is pretty awkward to carry around for much time, but with the strap I've successfully taken it for long walks and even bike rides. In fact, this has become one of my favorite lights to take on bike rides because I can sling it across my back, and I like having all that power with me when I'm out away from any other light source for hours at night.
Next I'll mention the regulation. It's pretty much exactly what I like to see--steady output at the beginning, holding steady until the end where there is a period of lower output to allow you to find another light or battery before you loose your light. The TM36 does this (except on Turbo, which is what I expect from a mode named "Turbo"), but it's actually less necessary here due to the great voltage and runtime indications on the display. Still, I'm happy to see this regulation pattern, and it's what I've come to expect from Nitecore lights.
I really like that the TM36 includes it's own battery pack. At this price, it really should, and the battery pack included really is great. Of course it would be even better if they used higher capacity cells, but as it is, I really can't complain. I've been told that the bodies of the TM series are interchangeable, so you could use a battery slot body with your own batteries if you like, but I don't have any other TM series lights yet so I couldn't test this. Because there is a built-in charger both in the battery and in the head, I expect you'd still be able to charge the batteries if you used your own in a different TM's body on the TM36's head. Speaking of the battery charger, these are becoming more and more common on high end lights, and I'm glad to see it. If you've got many flashlights or if you use them often, it can be a pain to keep cycling all your batteries through the charger, keeping track of which batteries are older or newer, matching them up, etc. Having a built-in charger on the light means I can just use the light at night, and plug it back in during the day, ensuring I'll have the full charge when I need it. The TM36's charger does claim to take 16 hours to fully charge a depleted battery, and that seems pretty accurate, but Nitecore also apparently has a higher current charger available that will work with the TM36 and charge it in only 8 hours. Aside from the long time it takes to charge (which I can't complain about because of the large capacity), the only real complaints I have about the TM36's charger are that it uses round jack to plug into the light instead of mini-USB (I'm guessing because of the large charge current) which is more standard, and that the charging port on the head is covered by a rubber piece that seems a bit flimsy. They do include a replacement piece for that port cover in the same little baggie as the o-rings, but I'd rather see something more substantial there. So far it hasn't given my trouble, but I do worry about it. Overall, the battery pack and charging port included mean this comes as a self-sufficient light, which is great for both flashaholics and flashlight beginners. I do find myself wishing I had a second battery pack for it, because of how fast it can burn through one when running on Turbo, so that I don't have to wait 16 hours before using it again. I think a new NBP52 pack is running about 140 USD now, so it might be cheaper to find a body from another TM series and use my own 18650's in it, but we'll see how much I find that necessary when this light stops being my shiny new toy and I use it a bit less
.That pretty much covers the main things, which just leaves all the little things that come together to make this light great. There is a little blue LED under the button that helps you find the button in the dark, or also find the light if you've left it somewhere in a dark room or lost it outside at night. It's got a momentray Turbo function in the UI that you access just by holding the button for a second, which I found to be surpassingly useful--instant access to max brightness whenever I need it without having to think about to how to get it. It's got a tripod mount, which means you don't have to hold it all the time, which can be pretty nice for a light this size (and was helpful for taking long-range beamshots :thumbsup
. I found the mount to be well-balanced, so that it sat right about on the center of mass, though I expect that would change if you were using the body of a different TM series light. It was plenty deep and fit a standard tripod mount, but I did find that the space around the mount was a bit crowded--the next step up of the head left little room for the tripod shoe to fit. Take another look at this picture for reference: One of my tripod shoes was able to fit in that spot, the other was not. So, if you're looking to purchase this light with tripod use as a definite goal, be sure that your tripod shoe will fit there, or be willing to buy one that does.
The only other downside I found with the TM36 is that the atmosphere just really cramps my style. You can see it in the beamshots and the video--at about 500m or so on a night with average humidity for my area, the interference from humidity and particles in the air make the beam show up so bright that it starts to obscure the target. On an exceptionally clear night I can see further, and the TM36 puts more light on a target at 500m than any other flashlight I've seen, but it just frustrates me to have my power cut short by the air like that :sigh:.
So, overall, the TM36 is a beast of a light, and I know of no other stock manufacturer light that can perform like this does. If you need long throw, the TM36 will do it, and all the extra features mean it's going to be pretty convenient to use. It's got a large size, but the shoulder strap and tripod mount give you some options for dealing with that if it you have little hands. If you're looking for a top-of-the-line thrower, the TM36 is an excellent choice.
Long Term Impressions
I'll fill this part in after carrying the light for a while. If nothing get's added here, either I find nothing else worth noting about the light, or I end up not using it often.
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