NITECORE EC4S - Pico-review

Hi Collective,

There seems only to be a thread on what I see as a key addition to Nitecore's line-up, for the 'pre-release' version, with a few qualms expressed there.

Feeding back here to allay most if not all fears.

I'm from the UK, and bought the light recently (mid-October). So far my go-to EDC has been the Nitecore P12 - preferring the pre-2015 neutral white version for home use, and the cooler 2015 edition for when out and about/security.

So my main concern had been around whether it behaved on Turbo as though on direct-drive - so simply losing brightness from the outset.

However - it seems that it is genuinely temperature-regulated, as it maintained full brightness for more than 12minutes, where it was borderline too hot to hold - and I didn't let it go on beyond to whatever temperature might trigger ramp-down to the next-lower brightness level.

Batteries were Nitecore's 3100maH jobbies.

Also - there were concerns about parasitic drain, etc. In the instructions, is mention of an electronic lock-out, whereby the light can be stored for a year without worrying about drained batteries. So it seems that they've addressed this concern specifically too.

Finishing is as perfect as ever, which is my experience of Nitecore so far.

Also - it's a perfect walking-light, as is indeed nice and floody.

Lights like this are going to make those like my TM26 redundant, as they start to favourably skew the equation regarding brightness versus size.

Further - it's 'moonlight' mode is really usefully low - supposed to be 2 Lumens, but actually seemed a tad dimmer than my P12's moonlight, which is supposed to be 1 Lumen. But this means that it's good for middle-of-night use, as well as flooding the back garden!

Certainly not as EDC'able as the P12, which I still think is the perfect EDC light.

I do miss though that it's voltage-indicator system no longer indicates exact battery voltage (as it does say on the P12) - but just wide thresholds of >50%, <50%, or 'Depleted'.

So all-in-all - they've addressed the issues that I was most concerned would make the light not worth buying (for me) - namely the indication in the pre-release version of non-regulated drive.

Hope this helps some others decide either way!


Arif

Your salutation makes me question if maybe we are members of the Borg. Guess I'll be 2 of 7.

A question for you is if you have been able to ascertain whether the state of charge indicator is substantially (usefully) accurate.

Another question: What is the preocedure for initiating an electronic lockout. How does one disable lockout? Are you able to accurately measure the battery drain? Would you please?

KITROBASKIN said:

Another question: What is the preocedure for initiating an electronic lockout. How does one disable lockout? Are you able to accurately measure the battery drain? Would you please?

Click to expand...

+1 to this.
markr6 measures the voltage of his batteries inside his production version of EC4S after a few days of non-usage and he still found the voltage drop, although I believed he did not use electronic lockout.
Unless someone measures the voltage after a period of time, in electronic lockout mode, the instructions mght just be there for shows only.

KITROBASKIN said:

Your salutation makes me question if maybe we are members of the Borg. Guess I'll be 2 of 7.

A question for you is if you have been able to ascertain whether the state of charge indicator is substantially (usefully) accurate.

Another question: What is the preocedure for initiating an electronic lockout. How does one disable lockout? Are you able to accurately measure the battery drain? Would you please?

Click to expand...

Well indeed - we are all denizens of this fixed, delimited albeit spheroid domain, floating in space, generally seeking to assimilate everything into the democro-capital ideology, and against which resistance is historically and empiricially futile!

1) I haven't yet had it long enough to discern if its take on '50%' depleted is meaningful or not. However, as soon as I see it indicate that, I will try to remember to whip the batteries out and measure their voltages

2) Lock-out is effected via a simulataneous long-press of both its buttons; de-locking is a repeat of that action. Lock-out deactivates the buttons as 'individual' buttons. The instructions state that in lock-out mode, the light can be stored usefully/usable for over 12months.

akhyar said:

+1 to this.
markr6 measures the voltage of his batteries inside his production version of EC4S after a few days of non-usage and he still found the voltage drop, although I believed he did not use electronic lockout.
Unless someone measures the voltage after a period of time, in electronic lockout mode, the instructions mght just be there for shows only.

Click to expand...

I'm actually using mine day-to-day, so the required hiatus in its use isn't likely to happen for a while.

Well matey you have not convinced me,will need more reports so I can get an average consumer mark out of 10.

mcnair55 said:

Well matey you have not convinced me,will need more reports so I can get an average consumer mark out of 10.

Click to expand...

McNair,
Where have you been? Did you fall off the edge of the Earth?

Many Thanks, fellow denizen of futility

NoNotAgain said:

McNair,
Where have you been? Did you fall off the edge of the Earth?

Click to expand...

Thought I would give the hobby a rest for a bit as the forum was getting clogged up with the same questions every day,seemed many could not be bothered to do a search.But ready to start buying again,should be some new stuff around I hope.