[Review] Lumintop EDC 2xAA (XP-L, 2xAA)

Budda

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
611
Location
Italy
I received the lumintop EDC2AA from flashlightbrand.com

The Lumintop EDC 2AA as the name implies, is a EDC flashlight featuring an XP-L emitter, is powered by 2 AA batteries, with a mechanical switch at the tailcap combined a twist function at the head.

The light comes in this box with the clip already installed, warranty card, a spare oring and 2 AA alkaline batteries.
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The light measures 148 mm in length, and has a diameter of 22 mm. Without the batteries it weights 76 grams.
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There's plenty of knurling on this light, to help the grip.
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The clip allows for a deep carry, and is made so it doesn't interfere with the tailcap when screwing it on and off the light.
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Remember to take off the protective film at the tailcap, exposing a smooth reflector.
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The tailcap is U shaped and allows tailstand and easy access to the switch. The U shaped portion also features 2 lanyard holes.
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The threads at the tailcap are triangular cut and anodised, so physical lockout is possible.
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The threads at the head are square cut and not anodised, since the twisting action plays a role in the UI.
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The UI
The UI is pretty simple and straightforward: when the head is fully twisted on the light, you have 3 constant output modes: high, medium and low; you scroll through them with a half press on the switch. The light has memory modes.
When the head is loosened, you have the blinking modes: strobe and beacon, in loop; and again, you scroll through them with a half press on the switch.

Output and runtime.
Measured with 2 Eneloop Pro AA Batteries.
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Beamshots (sorry for the mistake in the picture overhead, the brighter beamshot is high mode obviously)
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My thoughts
The light is well built and finished.
It doesn't lack in output for a 2xAA flashlight, but interestingly enough the output actually increases over time for both tested modes. Is not a mistake, I turned the light on and witnessed several times the luxmeter number climb rapidly. This is also reflected in the beamshot, since they are taken a few seconds from starting the light.
Having only 3 levels leads to too big of a difference in the output of the levels. There's an ok distance in brightness between the 3 lumens of the low mode and the 80 of mid mode, but quite big jump in brightness from 80 to 450 lumens of the high modes. An intermediate 200 lumens mode would have been nice, but this is coherent with the decision of making a EDC product with an easy UI.
The beam is appropriate for an EDC: a wide beam useful for close distances.
I like the UI: it's very appropriate for an EDC light; you don't have any flashing mode in your way when you need constant outputs, but is still available if you want them.
If you plan to use larger AA batteries, such as the Eneloop Pro I used, they do fit very very very tightly in the tube, and they might get stuck.
I wish the light had a neutral tint and came with a sheath.
 
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The slow "ramp up" is very strange; I don't think I've ever seen that characteristic on a flashlight before. Makes me think of the older CFL light bulbs that start off fairly dim then slowly come up to full brightness after a couple minutes!

I wonder if that was an intentional design choice, or more of an accidental "oops" that somehow happened because of programming or circuit design. (I'm no expert so that's just speculation on my part)
 
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