Any reason to get the Nitecore Defender vs the D10?

Same circuit, just retuned. NDI costs more too. Anyone get it anyways?

GarageBoy said:

Same circuit, just retuned. NDI costs more too. Anyone get it anyways?

Click to expand...

I bought a Defender first then when the D10 came out bought that and have never used the Defender since.

I had to carry the Defender in its holster in my pocket to stop it chewing the pocket lining up which sorted of defeated the object of having and EDC with a smaller diameter than a CR123A light.

I prefer the switch on the NDI. Like both, but use the NDI more.

Mine is clipped to the pocket so it doesn't damage it all. I use one of the Surefire clips, but there is a decent one included.

This is a very small carabiner type clip not a knife type clip..

Here is a picture of the clip attached to a Surefire E1L clip.



Sverre

bagman said:

I bought a Defender first then when the D10 came out bought that and have never used the Defender since.

I had to carry the Defender in its holster in my pocket to stop it chewing the pocket lining up which sorted of defeated the object of having and EDC with a smaller diameter than a CR123A light.

Click to expand...

I had the same problem, so i did this.

In my opinion the user interface is more than worth it. I don't like changing modes by clicking the switch. So when I wanted a reliable quality flashlight I got the NDI, even tough the D10 was cheaper and everybody was praising it all the way into heaven. And I'm glad I did. The user interface is more than worth the difference in price IMO.

I went with NDI silver , reasoning that # version had better LED

Mine has excellent tint & beam

Only gripe is sharp crenalations

The user memory on the NDI is retained. It is not retained on the D10.
The NDI offers a strobe mode. The D10 does not.

And remember that NDI offers real momentary switch, D10 does not. I happen to value the momentary switch function a lot :thumbsup:

jupello said:

And remember that NDI offers real momentary switch, D10 does not. I happen to value the momentary switch function a lot :thumbsup:

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Yes it does, the D10 has momentary on. Just twist the head out some and you can do momentary on.

I prefer the NDI interface as well. On my EDCs I frequently switch back and forth between output levels. Quick and easy to do on the NDI but becomes a huge PITA with the D10 with it's lack of preset level retention.

h2oflyer said:

I went with NDI silver , reasoning that # version had better LED

Mine has excellent tint & beam

Only gripe is sharp crenalations

Click to expand...

Hmm, I am not sure about the NDI silver having a better LED. I hadn't heard that. Isn't it just a Q5? However, you can get the non silver NDI with either the Q5, or the Osram Gold Dragon Plus emitter, which is supposed to give a smoother beam and better color rendition than the Q5. The tints with the GD Plus LED's, unfortunately are reported to be a lottery; some are warm, some are a bit cold.

snowlover91 said:

Yes it does, the D10 has momentary on. Just twist the head out some and you can do momentary on.

Click to expand...

Yes, kinda, but it has it's annoyances.. like you cant press the button little more to make the light stay on without holding it down.. and if you hold the light on for too long on momentary, the light thinks you are doing "press and hold" and it jumps into max brightness (sure, that can be avoided if you can do "half click" with the piston.. I don't know how good feel the piston has, but I'd imagine that it's not easy).

the NDI is more "tactical" than the D10. i didnt like the UI of the D10 at all. the NDI is one of my main EDCs now.

From what I've heard the D10 always has a very slight current being drawn from the battery even when not in use, while the NDI does not.
The NDI might be better if you ever decide to use it as a "standby" light, (when the upcoming newer flashlights and more efficient Leds will tend to make
currents lights not used as often, IMHO).

I was starting to think about replacing my NDI with a D10; however, after relubing the threads and putting an o-ring (I'd previously removed it) on my NDI, it's now better than ever, and I'm not going to replace it.

That said, if I hadn't bought the NDI when the D10 wasn't yet out and had to choose one now, I'd be really torn...

GarageBoy said:

Same circuit, just retuned. NDI costs more too. Anyone get it anyways?

Click to expand...

Yes-I got a D10 first and got my NDI a couple of months later. Why? I wanted it. I like both. You can buy both for less than the cost of one SureFire LED (no flames, please; I am a SureFire fan), they may not be SureFires but they are good lights IMO.

BTW I am now inspired to grind down the crenellations on mine. They're too small to make a difference anyway.

My CR123 lights are surefire, and my AA light is my D10.

The D10 interface is more utility and not lending itself to "tactical" usage. However, I make sure I always turn mine off on high so if in a pinch I would have high come on.

The D10 is very small ... I rarely carried my Surefires when around town but I bring my D10.

Mikellen said:

From what I've heard the D10 always has a very slight current being drawn from the battery even when not in use, while the NDI does not.

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Can someone confirm that? I assumed that to retain the previous brightness the NDI also draws a small amount of current.

In regards to the NDI not having the slight current draw from the battery while not in use; I received that information from one of the tech reps at 4sevens.

JJV said:

BTW I am now inspired to grind down the crenellations on mine. They're too small to make a difference anyway.

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I've said it before and I'll say it again: they genuinely help the light to hurt a great deal more in the unlucky case you're forced to use it in self-defense.