TM28 4X XHP35 HI, Tiny Monster Review Video. New From Nightcore

TM28, the latest of Nitecore's Tiny Monster line has been released and features 3x XHP35 HI in a 4x 18650 "oversized popcan" form factor. While it is not as small as true popcan sized lights it is still reasonably small enough to be considered such and this latest light is able to produce 6,000 lumens with 650 meters of throw. I did test the light in my lightbox setup and got 6,240 lumens with fresh Samsung IMR 30q. After about 20 minutes of use in turbo I still showed identical 6,240 lumen reading.

The TM28 is a performer for sure and features a couple of upgrades from its predecessor beyond the obvious swapping of XM-l2 for XHP35 HI and the respective boost in lumens and throw. I try to cover as much ground as I can in the video when it comes to discussing the features of the light. The second half of the video is purely beam shots as usual.

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

what's that?



Is it included in the TM28 retail box?

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

Yes. You get 1x that thing in box. Flattop adapter, lol. It's for using non-buttontop batteries. Most IMR 18650s out there are flattops so it can really be convenient.

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

Great video thanks!!

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

kreisl said:

Great video thanks!!

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Absolutely. Cute squirrel avatar you got.

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

Is it just me or would it make a lot more sense to have the cells in 4s for the design? It would be more efficient to buck the voltage down to 12v from 14+ than boost from 3.7 to 12

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

vicv said:

Is it just me or would it make a lot more sense to have the cells in 4s for the design? It would be more efficient to buck the voltage down to 12v from 14+ than boost from 3.7 to 12

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I honestly don't know an exact answer. However, each LED is only being driven to 1,500 lumens on XHP35 HI. This is not driving the LED very hard so it is likely easier on the cell when boosting the voltage if no extra amps are going towards driving the LED up to around 2,000 lumens. This is just an observation though. I really don't know the science behind it. I know that the built in charging definitely benefits from 4p though.

Impossible lumens said:

I did test the light in my lightbox setup and got 6,240 lumens with fresh Samsung IMR 30q. After about 20 minutes of use in turbo I still showed identical 6,240 lumen reading.

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Wait, isn't this a huge deal?! I know my TM26-3800 overheats/steps down in short order (2-3min?). Also, are there any other 6000Lm lights out there that can pull this off?

Beckler said:

Wait, isn't this a huge deal?! I know my TM26-3800 overheats/steps down in short order (2-3min?). Also, are there any other 6000Lm lights out there that can pull this off?

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I didn't mean to imply 20 minutes of turbo non-stop use, but rather 20 minutes of accumulated use. 2-3 minutes at a time. Still, after 20 minutes it shows no diminished output whatsoever. With high output lights this is not always the case.

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

Impossible lumens said:

I honestly don't know an exact answer. However, each LED is only being driven to 1,500 lumens on XHP35 HI. This is not driving the LED very hard so it is likely easier on the cell when boosting the voltage if no extra amps are going towards driving the LED up to around 2,000 lumens. This is just an observation though. I really don't know the science behind it. I know that the built in charging definitely benefits from 4p though.

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But you wouldn't need to drive the emitters harder if the cells were in series. With a buck driver you couldmake the emitters make 200 Lumen each. The voltage still needs to be more than tripled to run the light. Boosting is always less efficient than bucking. Just an observation. Nice review btw. The screen showing all the info is neat

Impossible lumens said:

I didn't mean to imply 20 minutes of turbo non-stop use, but rather 20 minutes of accumulated use. 2-3 minutes at a time. Still, after 20 minutes it shows no diminished output whatsoever. With high output lights this is not always the case.

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Understood, thanks! That's actually a detail I rarely hear mentioned. Reviews have runtime graphs but don't show off/on or off/rest/on behavior. And of course manufacturer specs never mention anything.

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

vicv said:

But you wouldn't need to drive the emitters harder if the cells were in series. With a buck driver you couldmake the emitters make 200 Lumen each. The voltage still needs to be more than tripled to run the light. Boosting is always less efficient than bucking. Just an observation. Nice review btw. The screen showing all the info is neat

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Don't forget that the TM28GT is part of a family of Tiny monsters, all of whom can interchange battery cases, which doesn't mean much except for the TM36. The two TM36 internally rechargeable battery capsules can also be used on any of the other TM lights for extended run times. To have one of the TM family be 4S when all of the others are either 4P or 8P would definitely interfere with that swap-ability, and cause all kinds of problems the first time some clueless user tried using a TM36 battery capsule on the TM28GT, or tried to use the TM28GT battery capsule on any of the other lights (the first swap probably wouldn't do more than not work, but the other swap would definitely do some damage). So Nitecore took the smart way and kept the entire line at the same voltage and interoperability.

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

Didn't know that. Thanks

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

vicv said:

But you wouldn't need to drive the emitters harder if the cells were in series. With a buck driver you couldmake the emitters make 200 Lumen each. The voltage still needs to be more than tripled to run the light. Boosting is always less efficient than bucking. Just an observation. Nice review btw. The screen showing all the info is neat

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Thanks, I appreciate the feedback, and the information is very useful. I honestly didn't even think about the batteries in series making for a more efficient light. I still have to say that I prefer 4p for built in charging. Plug-in and go put my head on the pillow.

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

I agree parallel charging is much safer than series charging unless the light has on board balancing. Curious though what is the on board chargers charge rate? Basically you have a 12000 mah cell in there. If it uses the common 1A charge rate would take 13+ hours when dead

Thanks for the review.

Re: TM28 Tiny Monster Review Video. New 4x XHP35 HI From Nightcore

vicv said:

I agree parallel charging is much safer than series charging unless the light has on board balancing. Curious though what is the on board chargers charge rate? Basically you have a 12000 mah cell in there. If it uses the common 1A charge rate would take 13+ hours when dead

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So TM28 is able to kick out 6000 lumens consistently, using Samsung 30Q 3,000MAh high drains, all the way to 3.25V. at 3.25 turbo cuts out and high mode is available at 2,300 lumens +. So basically, you can use this light worry free until turbo cuts out then still have high mode available to make your way to a charger. I have it plugged in now and am timing the charge. I'll report back. My meter on the wall shows the charger is taking 10 watts. The charger is supposedly feeding 12V into the light. I assume of course that voltage is regulated within the charging module for 4.2 CC/CV and the 12 input is so cigarette lighters and other 12v sources can be used.

Mr. Tone said:

Thanks for the review.

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Not at all. Thanks for your comment.

Here is perhaps a dull question but here goes...

Did you find a major difference between 3500/4000 turbo and 6000 lumens turbo?

I am a long term fan of the TM 26 but when I go from 1700 to 3500, there is not a huge difference to the eye.

I am wondering if I should put mine up for sale and then buy the new model....I don't know why but me want!

SeamusORiley said:

Here is perhaps a dull question but here goes...

Did you find a major difference between 3500/4000 turbo and 6000 lumens turbo?

I am a long term fan of the TM 26 but when I go from 1700 to 3500, there is not a huge difference to the eye.

I am wondering if I should put mine up for sale and then buy the new model....I don't know why but me want!

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I personally think it would be worth it to sell the TM26 and chunk out the remaining change. I'm not trying to qualify the statement for everyone, just my own thinking. The TM28 is an additional 2,000 lumens for a total of 6,000 lumens. The light can sustain the full 6,000 lumens, when using IMR cells, all the way down to about 3.25 volts. So at 3.5V (assuming the light is not hot), you get the same 6,000 lumens as from 4.2 volts using, in my case, Samsung IMR 30Q.

Then there's throw. Tm26 is rated 450 meters and TM28 650 meters. With 2,000 extra lumens along with 200 more meters of throw you will notice a big punch over the TM26. However, I think you may lose some mileage when it comes to tint, subjectively speaking. The XML-2 u3 I think has more tint variations between 4 given CW samples to make for a more mixy beam as far as color. The XHP35 HI CW are all looking the same so it's a bit bland looking. That's kind of my only dislike about this light, other than Nitecores pricing of course. It's a fantastic light though. I'm loving it so far.

I did find mine on sale for 270 as an outright purchase. Weather you can do better I don't know. lol