Review: Acebeam K60 (1 x XHP70 | 4 x 18650)

Summary:
Battery: 4 x 18650
Switch: Tail switch (forward clicky) and Magnetic control ring
Modes: 7: 6 brightness modes & Strobe
LED Type: XHP70 (CW, bin not specified, about 6000K)
Lens: Glass, AR coated
Tailstands: Yes
Date Ordered: April 2015


Pros:

• Bright! And I mean BRIGHT!!
• Good UI
  • Magnetic control ring with six modes, Standby mode, and Cruel Strobe (conveniently at the other end of the magnetic control ring for quick access)
  • Forward clicky tail switch
• Automatic step down at 3min to prevent overheating
• Features state of the art XHP70 emitter, driven hard! No modding / current boost needed, ready to use!
• Gets hot quickly on Turbo mode (= driven hard, good thermal transfer)
• Near perfect regulation
• Ok runtime on highest mode, good on other modes.
• Good thermal characteristics
• Low mode is low enough! (about 1lm!)
• All modes are Current Controlled -> No PWM
• Nice tint (for CW) - not even a hint of green, not too cold either
• Great design & build quality
  • Good anodizing
  • AR coated lens
• No-nonsense design: No in-light charging, non-complicated battery holder, keep it simple: Safer and more reliable, allowing you to enjoy this light for years.
• Throws well (with pure power!)
• Not too heavy for the size (& power)
• Comes in a nice box, great for gifting!
• Good operating instructions included (in English!)
• Did I mention that it's bright? Like 5000lm OTF bright. /sites/all/libraries/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-cool.gif
• Think of X60 power in smaller & lighter, belt-holsterable form! (and significantly more affordable too!)

Cons:

• Gets hot quickly on Turbo mode (= don't leave it running on Turbo unattended!)
• Not available as NW

Features / Value: ★★★★★

The light comes in a nice cardboard case: [Not as nice as their earlier aluminum cases, but "good enough" and allows lower pricing]



It's nice to have the strategic info on the box, and the fact that the Manufacturer is telling the true numbers is even nicer.



Inside the case you can find the light and accessories. All well packed inside foam padding - making it practically impossible to break the light during shipping (even if Finnish post tries hard ):



In the box are: Nice half-covering holster, lanyard, user manual (in plain English!), warranty card (24months), and the light itself.



The light itself features a big head (88mm diameter) with one state of the art XHP70 CW emitter, clear AR-coated glass lens, and LOP reflector:



Features are very good: All modes are current regulated, without PWM. Strobe mode is there if needed, conveniently placed to the end of magnetic control ring movement -> doesn't bother in normal usage, but is quickly accessible if/when needed.

Unlike some other Acebeam models, this light doesn't provide in-light charging or highly sophisticated battery carrier. I consider that as a good thing, making the light safer and more reliable.


UI is very good:
- tailcap has a main switch, which is forward clicky, allowing momentary on
- between the head and body, in a convenient place, there is a magnetic control ring:
- on the leftmost end, there's a nice low mode of about 1lm
- turning the ring right over the first notch brings up the second mode of about 50lm, followed by 850lm, 1950lm, 3750lm, and 5000lm

- turning the ring right further allows to temporarily turn off the light (Standby) without moving hand to the tail switch [Nice! Acebeam listened to us. That was one of my complaints in the X60 review]
- turning right over the standby mode brings up the strobe, which is very cruel, bright and disorienting (just think of 5000lm / 150kcd strobing towards your eyes!)



Highest (Turbo) mode has an automatic step-down feature: After 3min on, the light steps down to about 3500-4000lm to prevent overheating. If you would like to continue with maximum brightness, just turn the light off and on again(from the tail switch).

The light can be locked out by unscrewing the body tube for about half a turn. This prevents the light from accidentally turning on when transported in bag or something.

Value for money: Very Good!


Design / Build Quality: ★★★★★

Design is very nice and functional. Even though the head is large, the whole light is surprisingly light at 783g (ready to use). Bezel is lightly scalloped, allowing to see if the light was left on by mistake, but not being too aggressive.

Glass is fairly thick (2.5mm) and AR coated:



Head has a lot of pretty deep cooling fins, which are very necessary when pushing out so many lumens.



Let's see some other details..

Body has a smooth and nice anodizing. Knurling is good, making the light feel good in hand without being slippery at all.



Emitter is well centered, as seen in this shot taken when light was in low (1lm) mode:



Here's a shot when light is turned off, showing the reflector quality. Reflector has light orange peel finish and it is totally flawless and beautiful:



The tail cap features a forward clicky main switch. Other side of the tail has a cutout, allowing easier access to the switch:



The cutout also allows the light to tail stand stably even with the lanyard on:



Threads of the body tube are anodized, square, well lubed and of good quality:



Threads may look deformed in the above photo, but that's only because of the generous amount of oily lube. So generous that I managed to stain my photo backdrop with it:


Here the opposite part of those threads (in head). Nice and smooth. Note the amount of lube also here. I would suggest cleaning it away and replacing with thicker silicone lube. [I had accidentally left the light on highest mode and tailcap switch on when screwing in the body tube: The oily lube is conductive and started to make crackling sound when the current went through it..]

The spring is thick and works well with the high current and voltage needed for 5000 lumens:

Battery holder is 4S and follows same no-nonsense or KISS principle: It can even be inserted either way around:



Tailcap has two sturdy springs and the PCB is well secured with two screws.



Opening the screws allows us to see the other side of the switch:



Also the tailcap threads are square cut. There's no lube in these, as this side of the light shouldn't be opened in normal use.



Continuing to open the head: The driver is not accessible because of screws covered with strong glue:



So here are the parts normal user should ever open in this light: Head, battery carrier, and body tube. Nice and easy, isn't it?





Wait, did you really think I would leave the head intact?

Tinkered with the screws a while, removed the glue, and now: Continuing to open the head.



This side of the driver looks pretty simple:



..but the other side is full of action: (note also the thick silicone wires)



Under the driver we can see that this light uses unibody design, which is good for thermal transfer. Emitter sits on a DTP copper star, which sits on top of the thick enough shelf (which is integral part of the head). Tip of the screw tells us that the emitter is tightened to the shelf by two screws (and thermal paste in between).



The reflector is surrounded by a thick O-ring, pressed down by lens and bezel. A well water tight solution.

Here's the business side torn apart:



Glimpse to the emitter. (what a beauty!) Note also the centering ring with a ridge thin enough not to cut significant amount of light.



Reflector is roughly 82mm x 66mm, and made of aluminum:



Lens is a bit larger, covering also the O-ring around the reflector:




Some measurements:
Length: 206mm
Head diameter: 88mm
Body diameter: 48.0mm
Tail diameter: 52.0mm
Lens diameter: 83.9mm
Lens thickness: 2.5mm
Reflector diameter: 82.0mm
Reflector depth: 66.5mm

Weight:
- 599g without cells
- 783g with 4 x 18650 cells (= ready to use)
- 796g with 4 x 18650 cells and lanyard (= ready to use)





Compared to other lights:






In hand:



Both tail switch and control ring are accessible with one hand:




Included half-covering holster was a positive surprise to me. Light hangs there very well and the smaller size when light is out of the holster is a plus!

Upper part has a plastic loop for attachment:



..or you can simply hang it up to your belt with well gripping velcro:



Also the front side has large enough patch of that same good velcro:




Material feels good and durable:




All in all, big thumbs up to this holster!





And the bottom line in the quality: Acebeam is known of good quality lights and this one continues on the same level, if not above. Well done!


Battery Life: ★★★★☆

Good!

Measured runtime on Turbo/high with a fresh* set of 3400mAh KeepPowers was 56min to 50%. [* 1st discharge -> maybe bit less than full capacity]

And, as this light has lots of power, and it features good brightness levels, the user can always use the correct amount of light => best possible runtime for each use case! (Up to 2000h, based on manufacturer's rating)



Light Output: ★★★★★


Runtime graph:



This runtime test was performed indoors, with ambient temperature of 25°C, cooled with a small table fan on lowest setting. This light seems to be well regulated and handles the heat pretty well. Maximum temperature measured was 62°C, but medium wind or just holding the light in hand will keep the temperature low enough for the full runtime.


This light has a low voltage warning, so at 46min it started showing 3 blinks every 15s. After stepping down it continued with about 1lm over the 2h mark, with batteries at 3.05V at that time. That should guarantee that you can always get back from your hike. (A spare light is still recommended )



What would happen if I would reset the light after the step down kicks in? Let's try: 3minutes turbo, 2min stepped down, and repeat:



Very nice, no surprises here.



What if the light doesn't get *any* cooling? Let's try:



Well. You guessed it! A quite small, high driven XHP70 light will get hot. Temperature in hottest part of the light (near the control ring: between emitter and driver) did go up to 71°C in only 10 minutes, and the whole light was pretty hot at that time. So hot that I wouldn't leave it alone running on high, at least not when indoors (or outdoors without even a light breeze).

Is this bad? Well.. Yes and no. This light is a hot rod and should be handled like one. Lower modes will provide enough lumens and throw for most situations. Use them if the absolute full blast is not needed. On the other hand, keeping the light in hand will help to keep the temperature down.

I have always said that and someone might wonder if that's true. Ok, let's try it!
Keeping the light in hand, occasionally alternating from right to left and back. Using hottest cells I currently had.

There. Temperature stabilizes to 50°C and doesn't rise from that. Ambient temperature was still 25°C. Not bad. Not at all.


Light output measured on different modes is (OTF, after 30s):
- Considering the size of the light: Unbelievable 4750lm on High (5225lm initial)
- 3750lm, 1950lm, 850lm, and 50lm on middle modes
- 1lm on Low mode

So you can select the desired output level between 1 and about 5000 lumens. That's really useful in my books.

Measured throw was 152kcd / 780m. That's a nice figure too, isn't it?


Outdoor beamshots:
All shots 2s, f5, ISO200, WB: Daylight.

Let's start with 100m shots:



Known good reference (Thrunite TN32):



Acebeam K60:



Comparison:

TN32 vs. K60:



K40M vs. K60:



And a bit longer range - 280m:



Known good reference (Thrunite TN32):



K60:



Comparison:

TN32 vs. K60 (cropped to better show the difference):


K40M vs. K60 (cropped to better show the difference):



How about beam profiles then?

We occurred to have a misty night, so I went out to shoot some beam profiles projected in fog.



Some others for comparison:

X60 with 4D emitters.



X60M:




Summary: ★★★★★

Great flashlight for outdoors. Very powerful (= finally a light, which I don't feel urge to mod straight away!), but also easy to carry with you. Generous amount of light, and throws well, making it a near perfect light for most situations.

Being about as powerful as X60, but roughly "half the size, half the price", and simpler (= should be even more reliable).. Well.. I can't anything but recommend this light.

Just remember that this light is driven on same level than our usual mods are! Use the lower modes when you don't need full blast! They will provide good amount of light and longer runtimes. And do not to leave it running on turbo unattended, or it will get very hot.


Verdict: Highly recommended!


The End (pun intended):


Thanks for reading & watching. Hope you enjoyed the review!

And special thanks to Acebeam for providing this light for review.

Thanks for your informative review. This item looks to be the best way to get the most throw from a 5000 lumen light.

Max boosted at the factory is a nice touch, too.

I will be searching the web/awaiting additional reviews in anticipation of more comparative beamshots.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the review! These XHP leds are proving to be quite nice.

Thanks for the review! :thumbsup:

Thanks for the review. It would be a great help and advice for me when I go to buy any flash light.

Thanks for the awesome review :thumbsup:

Awesome high output light that throwers really well, very interesting.

Thanx for the review, very nice work especially the head autopsy :thumbsup:

Thanks for the review!

Thanks for doing and sharing this review!!!!

Thanks for the compliments!

@richbuff: Did you see Candle Lamp's review? There's a comparison to K40, K40M, K50, and TK75. Or is there some other specific comparison you are after?

You're welcome. Yes, I saw the review. I am after a comparison with the Noctigon Meteor XP-L dedome.

Great review! Thx!

Great and waiting to pull the trigger.

Such a badass light! If my TM16vn doesn't impress, I think this will be the next one to try.

Great review. Love how the TN32 looks like it hasn't been switched on in comparison with the K60. Does the K60 feel similar to the TN32 to handle? I own both - well; I will once HK Equipment get my K60 to me.

:thumbsup: Because of this fantastic review; I cancelled my order of the TK75 2015 edition and ordered the K60 directly from Acebeam and Woo:W....output power is amazing, quality of the flashlight Is superb!! I loved the single led TK41 and not the biggest fan of multi led flashlights so when I saw this single led XHP70 + review...contacted and bought that same day

Will buy another one for partner, imagine two of these at night narf!! :devil:

SoulMyst said:

:I loved the single led TK41 and not the biggest fan of multi led flashlights so when I saw this single led XHP70 + review...contacted and bought that same day

Click to expand...

I agree, however the X60vn has 5 leds and you would swear it's one the way it throws and the perfect beam.

If that's your only reason you may consider the X60..its a tad longer and more expensive though and has built in charging which most don't recommend depending on but the throw and lumens is killer!

Thank you for your outstanding review about this light! I purchased a K60vn after reading your review and I am very happy about my purchase.

Thanks for the review. I haven't purchased a thrower of any sort in years. This one caught my attention, a thrower with volume. I can't wait to receive it.


For the last couple of weeks, I have been going back and forth between this one and the Noctigon M43 as my next purchase. I did the only logical thing, I ordered both.

I've got the previous models k40 k50 and recently bought the k70. Now after seeing this review i feel the urge to buy the k60 as well. An awesome flashlight indeed, but i've got an objection about the cardboard case. I wouldn't mind if i had to pay extra for the aluminium one, it's a pity that the newest version comes in paper case. It detracts from its beauty. I mean the new thrower king deserves a better costume