Nitecore MT10A Run Time Test

I did a run time test with the Nitecore MT10A running on a freshly charged Eneloop (2000mAh), and compared to a couple of other popular single AA lights. I was pleasantly happy to find the regulation and efficiency good and is one of the more efficient lights that I have tested in single AA. In fact on the level 4 output (high not turbo), it is now the most efficient single AA light that I have tested to date. It barely edged out the EagleTac D25A clicky XP-G2. Ironically, none of my ET D25A XM-L2 lights performed as well as their XP-G2 counterparts.

On AA, Nitecore advertises 1/17/48/95/170 lumens. I'm estimating 1/16/53/120 for 147min/205 lumens for 4 minutes with a gradual ramp down to 140 lumens and then stays there until the battery runs out.

I could not do a run time test with 14500 because of what I presume is PWM and my light meter picks that up and so I see nothing but noise on the graph. It definitely is brighter with a 14500 running on high and turbo.

That's a nice light but for the money I'd rather have the MH20 which I got from auction on ebay for the same price the MT10A is selling for on Amazon and the MH20 takes 18650 and is much brighter. Maybe I'll look around ebay and see if I can find one of these on auction , if I can find one for around $30-$40 I might bite. Great review though, thanks for the info.

On your MT10A, do you visually notice a difference between high and turbo on an Eneloop? On the one I received, I only see 4 levels on an Eneloop. There may be the slightest visually detectable difference on an Eneloop battery right off the charger, but it doesn't last very long at all. After a few seconds, there doesn't seem to be any visual difference between high and turbo. There is definitely a clear difference between high and turbo on a 14500 though.

Thanks for the analysis. I have an MT10A in the mail, and one of my main reasons for getting it was to boost runtime over my Klarus XT1A. I knew it would outperform that light, but it's good to know that it's at the front of the pack against newer lights as well.

I don't think Nitecore has very strict consistency on these lights. I just received one and the levels are not the same as hiuintahs saw. There is no difference on an Eneloop between turbo and high on my sample. And on an Eneloop, it is drawing almost 2 amps at the high level (and close to that much at the third level too)!! There is no way it will run for 150 mins on an Eneloop drawing close to 2 amps! I'll probably be returning it. Beware of the variation between batches - they may have highly differing run times.

jimahi said:

On your MT10A, do you visually notice a difference between high and turbo on an Eneloop? On the one I received, I only see 4 levels on an Eneloop. There may be the slightest visually detectable difference on an Eneloop battery right off the charger, but it doesn't last very long at all. After a few seconds, there doesn't seem to be any visual difference between high and turbo. There is definitely a clear difference between high and turbo on a 14500 though.

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Sorry to hear about your troubles. There might be something wrong with yours. I have 5 distinct levels. Turbo only lasts about 4 minutes and then it drops down to a level just slightly higher than the 4th highest level. I then replaced with a somewhat depleted battery (at 1.25v) and I was still able to get the 5 levels. With a battery that had a resting voltage of 1.35V, I measure current at 25mA/136mA/340mA/808mA/2.50A for the 5 different levels. The 2.50 amp level of course starts to drop right after seeing this high of a load. The 800mA load on the 4th highest level matches what I saw for run time of about 150 minutes. (2000mAh/800mA=2.5hrs or 150 minutes)

To prove your point on variability between units, get a freshly charged Eneloop (somewhere around the same resting voltage as mine) and see if you get the same current as I did.

jimahi said:

I don't think Nitecore has very strict consistency on these lights. I just received one and the levels are not the same as hiuintahs saw. There is no difference on an Eneloop between turbo and high on my sample. And on an Eneloop, it is drawing almost 2 amps at the high level (and close to that much at the third level too)!! There is no way it will run for 150 mins on an Eneloop drawing close to 2 amps! I'll probably be returning it. Beware of the variation between batches - they may have highly differing run times.

Click to expand...

I'll test mine out on a visual compare with white eneloops and ion core duracell both only a few cycles on them and 2000mah.
If I remember correctly there is a very distinct difference on high vs turbo. I got mine from A&A for 37 each free ship. They were featured as daily specials back to back...

Another note...the A version with an olight 14500 is brighter than my C version with olight rcr123. I'll top a fresh set off and try that again, one may have been at 4.0 vs 4.2.

I tried it again with a freshly charged Eneloop at a 1.35 resting voltage and the current draw was similar to the lower resting voltage of 1.25. I still didn't see any difference between turbo and high. I bought mine from the same place as you, so I guess I was just unlucky. I returned it since there is clearly something wrong with it. I may buy another since I do like the UI.

jimahi said:

I tried it again with a freshly charged Eneloop at a 1.35 resting voltage and the current draw was similar to the lower resting voltage of 1.25. I still didn't see any difference between turbo and high. I bought mine from the same place as you, so I guess I was just unlucky. I returned it since there is clearly something wrong with it. I may buy another since I do like the UI.

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If you like the UI, I'd give it another try. I personally like that up/dn switch, a tail cap forward clicky (ie: momentary function). It's a little big for AA but if it wasn't for the fact that its an efficient well regulated driver on Eneloops, I would have sold it by now like so many that I have done in the past. For the 14500, it does use PWM for all modes except the lowest. It must switch into a different mode of operation with the higher battery voltage. If Nitecore had stayed on PWM with an Eneloop, I would have sold it by now. I'm not really a fan of PWM, but its not that it can't have its usefulness and represent current regulation. I just can't measure it with my light meter because of the constant on and off of the light, I can't get an average reading.

SVT-ROY said:

I'll test mine out on a visual compare with white eneloops and ion core duracell both only a few cycles on them and 2000mah.
If I remember correctly there is a very distinct difference on high vs turbo. I got mine from A&A for 37 each free ship. They were featured as daily specials back to back...

Another note...the A version with an olight 14500 is brighter than my C version with olight rcr123. I'll top a fresh set off and try that again, one may have been at 4.0 vs 4.2.

Click to expand...

I saw a difference in brightness using the 18350 on the MT10C. With a CR123A, the output was back to current regulated like the MT10A is with an Eneloop.......only the values are higher. I only wished the MT10C would have come with a battery magazine for the CR123A and 16340. I think that light is geared for 18350.

I just tried a fresh off the charger Duracell ion @1.48 and a very rested eneloop @1.25
Both are very noticeable from high to turbo. I did notice the M10A led is not perfectly centered, the beam is not affected at all. I also noticed the Hotspot and spill are a tiny bit larger with the M10A vs the M10C both with there respected lithiums fresh @4.2.

I have 2 AW keeppower protected 18350s on the way for further testing.

High...


Turbo...


Any guess on the movie ppl?

Think my run time issues are because my light is brighter than they advertise.


On NiMH. 170 really 200, 95 really 118, 48 really 55. 17 really 19. 1 really 1.9.


On , NiMH I have 1 hour turbo, 2 hour High, 4.5 hour Med, No time for Lo.

ON IMR it is more than 1000 lumens by all.

ON IMR I get something odd when voltage gets low. About 3.4-3.5 volts I have red moon and then a MAX for all the other white levels.

Runaway Max--- Looks like the ending runtime on Selfbuilts MH20 test.

chadvone said:

Think my run time issues are because my light is brighter than they advertise.

On NiMH. 170 really 200, 95 really 118, 48 really 55. 17 really 19. 1 really 1.9.

On , NiMH I have 1 hour turbo, 2 hour High, 4.5 hour Med, No time for Lo.

ON IMR it is more than 1000 lumens by all.

ON IMR I get something odd when voltage gets low. About 3.4-3.5 volts I have red moon and then a MAX for all the other white levels.

Runaway Max--- Looks like the ending runtime on Selfbuilts MH20 test.

Click to expand...

OK. So here is the run time test I got on level 3 (medium). I got 5 hours, 15 minutes on level 3 output. I'm estimating 1.3/16/53/120/205.....similar to yours. My light meter gives Lux and I have come up with a calculation to convert to lumens based on the many lights I have tested and compared to their stated lumens. I still could be off a little. The Turbo only lasts a few minutes before dropping down to about 140 lumens. The run times are proportionate to the output levels. I don't know where Nitecore gets 7h 15m for level 3. Even if using a 2500mAh battery adds 25% to the time which would be 6.5 hours.

If you have a voltmeter, I'd take a current reading when on medium and see if its the same as mine. Also note the voltage of the battery at that time. Based on the capacity of the battery, that should also correlate to run time.

Run time on Eneloop 2000mAh battery:

tried to take current measurement, meter all over the place. will look for better meter this weekend.

There is nothing wrong with my MT10a. My manual is the problem. Understated lumen claims and Overstated runtimes.

Compared to other AA lights its just fine..

I ran four tests (2 cells) with 700mAh IMR 14500 on High (one down from turbo). I got 25 minutes runtime all four tests (factory package and after full charge).

I am super interested in doing a 70 lumen test on IMR to see if NC claims are accurate. I'll post here if I complete the test.

I just ran a 800mAh Li-ion Fenix 14500 in the MT10A at 70 lumens (low)... runtime was 3.5 hours (NC claims 5 hours!). I halted the test when the built-in volt meter registered 3.5v. After 15 minutes it had rebounded to ~3.60v. I charged the battery immediately after and there was no issues. The charger registered 20% capacity when I inserted it... so it appears there's a little wiggle room.

I am still impressed at the amount of light this unit puts out on turbo/high. The spill is also nice for walking / camping where you want some peripheral illumination.