Nitecore SRT3 - Expectations too high or a bad copy?

Hi all, it's been a while since I have posted here or even bought a light. For the past few years my favourite EDCs have been my beloved Niteore Extreme GDP and Bitz Titanium, pictured below:



Both have served me extremely well and I felt it was time to give them a bit of a rest, so I invested in an SRT3. I like the light, however I feel that it falls short in a couple of areas.

First of all, the grey anodizing is nice, however the head and tail of my light are nowhere near the same shade. This is my (broken and binned) EX11 all over again... I don't understand how Nitecore can't anodize two parts of the same light the same shade of grey. It's basic cosmetic stuff, and on a light that still costs over £70 in the UK, it doesn't sit well with me that it doesn't match. None of my many older Nitecores have mismatched anodizing. The ano on the NEX pictured above was flawless when it was new (and now has that nice patina that any regular EDC gets ).

Secondly and more disappointingly, the beam pattern is pretty poor. It has a large dark hole in the middle of the hotspot, completely killing the throw. For the size, depth and smoothness of the reflector, I feel that the throw is extremely short, and on the ~500 lumen mode, my Spark SL6 740NW looks brighter because it has a smooth, even hotspot. My (220 lumen?) Osram GDP Nitecore Extreme almost out-throws it, and the flawless beam pattern of the NEX easily puts the SRT3 to shame.

I bought another Nitecore after a couple of years hoping that the quality had come back and this light is almost brilliant, but falls slightly short because of these couple of things. I'm hoping I just got a bad one and might be able to get it replaced. Can anyone else share their thoughts on the points I've raised?

There is a big hole right in the middle of the reflector where the LED is that causes this.
Usually the hole in the middle is accompanied by his friend, square beam pattern.
Nitecore lists the SR3 as 1500cd with an AA. That is extremely low. That is just plain flood.
From the specs alone, you could have known it was never gonna throw nothing.

Hi malt! Sorry to hear about your srt3. I guess maybe it's a bad copy? I got mine a year ago and the anodizing matches. I have no donut either except on firefly mode when i put the light against a wall at 1-2cm apart. But other than that, the beam of the light is flawless too.

I suggest you return your copy and ask for a new one. All of us deserve to be happy with our investments. Best of luck.

Here's a pic of mine:

Here in detail my SRT3
http://www.forolinternas.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6890

Poor with NiMH AA, acceptable with CR123A primary and Great!! with RCR123a.

Only hole at 2-3 cm of wall, for the rest perfect beam.

GordoJones88 said:

There is a big hole right in the middle of the reflector where the LED is that causes this.
Usually the hole in the middle is accompanied by his friend, square beam pattern.
Nitecore lists the SR3 as 1500cd with an AA. That is extremely low. That is just plain flood.
From the specs alone, you could have known it was never gonna throw nothing.

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I am having a little trouble understanding what you mean when you say that the LED "hole" causes the hole in the middle of the hotspot. First of all, I have plenty of lights which have rings around the LED but which have perfectly smooth, bright hotspots. Seondly, I researched this light a lot before I purchased it, and in the beam shots I saw in ReviewTheLight's thread as well as a couple of others, there is no noticeable dark spot in the middle of the beam. Similarly, I have not seen a review sample with mismatched anodizing like mine has.

I use the light exclusively with RCR123A's and candela readings aside, given the diameter, depth and smoothness of the reflector as well as the 550 lumen output, it should definitely throw farther than it does. The centre of the hot spot from my light is dark, which is why it's not performing as expected.

I will try to take a couple of photos this evening to demonstrate my issues. The light was purchased from Flashaholics in the UK whom I have never returned a light to for another copy, so I don't know if they would be willing to do this or not.

as I understand it in order to get the full performance out of this light you need the AA extender and a 14500 Li-ion cell? Thought all this info was on the website

I've returned stuff to Flashaholics just because I changed my mind, and they didn't quibble at all. I had a refund within a couple of days and that was that. They'll be getting more of my business in future, I can tell you that! I can also tell you that LEDFireTorches are equally good on this point.

UK law requires that mail order companies allow people to return items for a refund with no reason whatsoever within two weeks of receipt. The idea is that you can't inspect an item before you buy when mail ordering, so you get to inspect it at home when it arrives, and you get the option of sending it back if you don't like it. The only snag is that you have to pay the postage for returning the item.

If you have to send something back because it's faulty - or they've sent you the wrong item altogether - then the mail order company is legally required to refund the return postage.

The upshot:

If you send it back and Flashaholics don't consider it faulty, you can have a refund or exchange it for a different light - it's your choice - and you'll only be out the postage. Worth it to get a light you're happy with, in my opinion.

If it is faulty, Flashaholics will refund the postage (you may need to ask, sometimes they forget) and you have the choice of a repair, a replacement, a refund or an exchange for a different light.

I have one of these lights coming next week. I hope it's a little reliable edc light. I plan on using cr123.

dooku77 said:

I have one of these lights coming next week. I hope it's a little reliable edc light. I plan on using cr123.

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Dooku,

Mine's totally reliable even though i've dropped it numerous times. I suggest you take advantage of its full potential by running rcr123s instead of primary cr123s. Huge difference between the two. Runtimes arent bad on rcr's either. Left mine on overnight at roughly 15-20% brightness and i still had plenty of juice left the next day.

HaileStorm said:

Dooku,

Mine's totally reliable even though i've dropped it numerous times. I suggest you take advantage of its full potential by running rcr123s instead of primary cr123s. Huge difference between the two. Runtimes arent bad on rcr's either. Left mine on overnight at roughly 15-20% brightness and i still had plenty of juice left the next day.

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That's great news. I had no idea there was a difference between the 2 batteries. I was getting ready to order some. Thank you for the info. I'm getting tired of carrying 2 full size lights on duty so I'm excited to get this one.

Im sure you'll love it! The rcr123s or 16340 run at 3.7v while the cr123s only run at 3v. Get the protected ones if you can. I run mine on the nitecore rcr's and never had a problem ☺

HaileStorm said:

Im sure you'll love it! The rcr123s or 16340 run at 3.7v while the cr123s only run at 3v. Get the protected ones if you can. I run mine on the nitecore rcr's and never had a problem [emoji5]

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I was just looking at those just now. Going to order now