Quick Nitecore Thumb Review

Bought this some time last year (can't recall when exactly), it's been living with my sling bag since. Initially thought this was just another brighter 5mm budget keychain light like the Nitecore Tube or Photon Micro with a gimmicky tiltable head and dim red light, but boy oh boy, it has glow on me over the past few months. I found myself using this Nitecore Thumb more and more, and having the Thumb clipped to my shirt collar or pocket or belt while tilting the head ~90° angle free both of my hands to work on things. Yes, I know headlamps does the same, but I never felt comfortable strapping something on my head. That's one main reason I keep the Zebralight H502/w around my work area. With Thumb, I can also easily adjust the angle of light to my liking.

Having just tested the runtime on High and Med, I'm happy to report that the High mode runs for 55 minutes before dimming down while the Med mode runs for 2:30 minutes before dimming. It's slightly better than what manufacture's claimed... well, at least for now since the battery is still fresh.

I also found myself using the Med mode of 30 lumens almost exclusively as it's plenty bright for what I need it for -- up close inspection, and only occasionally switch to 85 lumens for short blast, not to see more nor further, but just wanted to enjoy the brighter rosy white tint that came out of the 2 high performance LED. I have no idea if these are High-CRI LED or otherwise (which I doubt so), but it's so much better at rendering colour of objects than other more expensive lights, a lot more expensive light...

If you are still on those bluish/greenish tinted 5mm keychain light, do try this out.

A few quick shots of the Nitecore Thumb...

Comes with strong clip


and 2 high performance LEDs


4 modes White LED: High of 85 lumens, Med of 30 lumens, and Low of 2 lumens, an additional beacon flash mode available as the fourth mode.


2 modes Red LED: constant on and beacon flash


micro USB recharging port with cover


and finally, the tiltable head

one might concern about the tiltable head becoming loose, and honestly, me too when first handling it, but after a few months of usage, it hasn't happen yet, and don't think it will happen any time soon. :nana:

I'm another fan of the Thumb. Clipped to the front of my vest or jacket, let's me see to tie flies onto my fly fishing line as dusk settles in. Puts light right in my hands as I tie the knot.

This thing is junk. Would be pretty useful if it worked properly since it's a mini work light. But it's badly designed internally. It flickers as you tilt the head. It got so bad I took it apart and tried to fix it. There are 2 small metal studs in the head section that fit into corresponding recessed spots on the spring contacts in body. I cleaned it all including the factory grease. Internals are also bad with the PCB binding on the enclosure so had to file spots to get it to fit easily. It's hard to take apart/reassemble.

Don't pry up from the back of the PCB. The contacts lift their solder pads right off the board. So krazy glue and annoyance later, it's all back together and working better but still has bad contact and flickers. Add in the usual random UI design and you have something quite useless.

sorry to hear you got a dud unit and thanks for the heads-up on the disassembling/reassembling tips. :twothumbs

mine still works flawlessly and hope it continue to do so until the in-built battery wears out.

Yes and it's good thing banggood has nice policy for defective. So yours shows no flickering at all while moving the head thru full range? That surprises me. As I say mine is now much better but still flickering is definitely there.

Beckler said:

...So yours shows no flickering at all while moving the head thru full range? That surprises me. As I say mine is now much better but still flickering is definitely there.

Click to expand...

just checked both my units, no flickering at all.