Pic heavy!!! Review Dual beam Lumintop EDC05c, an all-round compact edc light

jjp888

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 31, 2015
Messages
161
Hi everyone, today I would like to share my experience on my new Lumintop edc05 c.I was in search for a slightly bigger edc flashlight than my lumintop geek, which have a main light with decent throw and a floody side light.Found this one to meet most of my need so bought it last month along with a Lumintop 750 mah battery.So here are my thoughts so far using this light.

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It is a beautifully crafted unibody construction ,which fulfills most of my daily edc needs.After carrying it for more than 2 weeks, I really liked its versatility albeit being such a compact sized light.
It is a compact pocket carry light with a good beam profile for edc use.With added benefits of side flood light, tail magnet and usb
rechargeablility , this sure is a complete package for every edc needs.
Here are some manufacturer's specs

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The light came in the usual Lumintop box, well packaged with all the accessories.The accessories includes the spare oring for tailcap,a good quality pocket clip ,a usb cable and the special tool to remove the tailcap.
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The light is made of aircraft grade aluminum with type iii anodization.As with all Lumintop lights the anodization is of top notch quality.It has a matt black finish which really looks good.
The light body has groved heat fins to keep the light cool.I personally never found it hot during prolonged usages.The flashlight has enough chunk to effectively carryout the heat produced at 500lumens.


This flashlight can take only 14500 lithium batteries.Inoder to make the flashlight more compact, the tail cap is designed differently.The design is in such a way that,you should treat the light as a light with inbuilt battery, which needs to be opened only when the batteries fail.

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Here we cannot open the tailcap ,like other lights.We need to use a special tool which is supplied with the light.The tail cap is slotted at the centre for the special tool attachment.With the special tool ,its fairly easy to remove the tail cap.I could also open it using minus screw driver and even with small coins .

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Ofcourse , there is no option for mechanical lockout due to this design(like all other mini lights with inbuilt battery flashlights)..The tailcap( or as I would say tail screw?), contains an oring to prevent any water ingress.
A powerful magnet is pre installed inside the tail cap.It is removable, if you need to.

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The battery positive contact point and the tailcap spring are all gold plated and have a robust feel and look to it.
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The light charges at around 0.4 A at begining and then at ~.37 A and will take somewhere around 2.5 hrs to fully charge the light.The charging indicator is located inside the power switch.It turns on red while charging and goes out when the light is fully charged.

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The light allows to use all its modes even while charging.
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I use a Lumintop protected 14500 750mah battery inside the light,which so far has provided good performance.
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The pocket clip is of great quality as the rest of the flashlight.

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The usb , cover is very tight and secure.It will not come undone in daily use, as the cover sits completely flush with the light with no protrusions.

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Talking about the main led.This uses Cree XHP35 HI LED in a high quality orange peel reflector. The led is perfectly centered.The blue bezel,gives it a premium look.This setup provides adequate throw with a bright spill.The led tint is towards cool white.But I don't mind this as this makes the beam really bright even though its only 500 lumens.

.The hotspot is really tight at closer distances but provides a wider bright beam at a distance.
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The side led beam is warm in tint with good cri.The beam is purely flood with no artifacts.
With the tailcap magnet ,I find this beam very useful, during my edc scenarios.

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The side led cover is not a hard plastic, its like a silicon material with GITD feature.It is kind of. the same material used on my lumintop geek,which to my experience has held up really well so far.The only problem I faced was,it can easily get pen marks,while carrying in pocket or bag,but then it too can be easily removed using a rubber eraser.I personally stiil would have prefered the hard plastic for the side light like in the geek side light cover which is more transparent.I guess,may be they thought otherwise because the hard plastic can get scratched easily and asthetically the GITD silicone cover is perfectly complimenting the flashlight overall design.

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The GITD side light cover is very useful to find your light at pitch dark situations.It stays bright for only few minutes but in really dark rooms, you can still find the light easily by this.

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The tail cap magnet is really strong and can easily support the flashlight weight.
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Some night shots
The field is around 45- 50 feet below my apartment.The beam profile is really great and the xhp 35 hi really helps with the throw .

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The user interface is similar to other Lumintop flashlights.Single click from off to turn on into memorized mode, subsequent clicks cycles the output in low medium high.Double click from off or on state to turn the side light on.
From off press and hold for 2 sec for direct access to moonlight,double click to access side moonlight.From off press and hold for 5 sec for electronic lockout.From lockout you can still get momentary at low.Pressing and holding while light on turns strobe on,single clicks gets you to sos and beacon
To sum it up ,I would like to point out its pros and cons
1.Beautiful design with sturdy build.
2.Great beam profile for edc use.
3.Very useful side light feature.
4.Strong tail cap magnet ,with option to remove if not required.
5.Good quality battery contact point and tail spring.
6.micro USB rechargeability with a snug usb cover.
7.Good quality pocket clip.
8.Good water proofing ability.
9.Flat tailcap design to use it in candle mode.
10.Side light with good cri .

11.Direct access to moonlight

Con's
1.No battery status indicator.
2.No mechanical lockout.
3.Requires special tool for battery removal.
4.No direct acess to high.
5.No option to reverse th pocket clip.
5.Tail cap material is prone to scratches easily
 

LightObsession

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 12, 2004
Messages
1,385
Thanks for your review.

I've been carrying mine clipped inside my back pocket for a couple weeks and have only charged it a few times, but the USB cover is cracked where it bends and will likely break off within a few more uses. I don't think that I've abused it.
 

staticaz

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Messages
68
Looks like a decent multi-use light so I ordered one form Neils gadgets on Feb 5th, nothing was said on their site about them being
off for vacation but on that same day, I received an email from them stating they would be off until Feb12th and that any orders would be shipped
on Feb13th. Having heard nothing from them, I sent a email wondering what effect the fact that Lumintop now says the EDC05C had been
discontinued and has been replaced with the E05C would have on my order on Feb 13th. No reply so I sent another on Feb 14th, again
no reply, on Feb 16th I sent the 3rd email to Neils Gadgets again trying to find out what it going on with my order and again, no reply.
Not sure what is going on there but if anyone is considering placing an order with Neils Gadgets, you may want to look elsewhere because
it appears they are not open and will not answer any emails you have concerning their products or any orders you may have placed.
 

archimedes

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
15,780
Location
CONUS, top left
Looks like a decent multi-use light so I ordered one form Neils gadgets on Feb 5th, nothing was said on their site about them being
off for vacation but on that same day, I received an email from them stating they would be off until Feb12th and that any orders would be shipped
on Feb13th. Having heard nothing from them, I sent a email wondering what effect the fact that Lumintop now says the EDC05C had been
discontinued and has been replaced with the E05C would have on my order on Feb 13th. No reply so I sent another on Feb 14th, again
no reply, on Feb 16th I sent the 3rd email to Neils Gadgets again trying to find out what it going on with my order and again, no reply.
Not sure what is going on there but if anyone is considering placing an order with Neils Gadgets, you may want to look elsewhere because
it appears they are not open and will not answer any emails you have concerning their products or any orders you may have placed.

I have not ordered from Nealsgadgets but their website currently appears to have a notice posted (dated 2/2/20) in bold red text stating " IMPORTANT NOTICE 02/02 2020 As the coronas virus epidemic still serious in china, we will extend the holiday to feb.12 sorry for the delay. "

In my experience, it is not unusual for a routine response to take longer than approximately two business days, especially from small shops. In the event of a serious global emergency, I would expect that might even take a little longer than normal.

If you feel the delay you have experienced is unreasonable, you may consider opening a thread in the Jeers forum, if it meets all of the additional criteria listed there.

One of the rules however, is to avoid negative advisement to others. Thank you.
 
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DayofReckoning

Enlightened
Joined
May 1, 2018
Messages
573
Location
USA
I was very interested in this light, until I seen that it won't run on a standard AA battery, which is an absolute tragedy in my opinion. I think the engineers really dropped the ball there, as the ability to run any standard AA battery (at a reduced output) would make this lights versatility much greater.
Had this light run on AA's, it would be on my to buy list.

Excellent review nonetheless.
 

Sos24

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
508
I recently picked up this light and am really liking it. I also wished it could run on AA primaries and think that would have it much better.

i can say that they have fixed a couple of the "cons" that you mention associated with the tailcap, specifically:
- the tail cap does not require a special tool, it has ridges on the side so it can just be turned by hand.
- the tailcap is black so scratches should not show up as much
 

18650

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 4, 2013
Messages
576
This thing is a couple of refinements away from being a great all rounder. Changing to common AA chemistries or 18650 and changing the main LED configuration to something more logical. Either more output or something that's not a XHP35. Maybe add a neutral option for the main LED and choice of optics. As it is it falls just a bit short.
 

Fireclaw18

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
2,408
I recently picked up this light and am really liking it. I also wished it could run on AA primaries and think that would have it much better.

i can say that they have fixed a couple of the "cons" that you mention associated with the tailcap, specifically:
- the tail cap does not require a special tool, it has ridges on the side so it can just be turned by hand.
- the tailcap is black so scratches should not show up as much

The original light is the EDC05C

The new version is the E05C

The new version has the black tailcap with ridges that can be unscrewed by hand. I think everything else is the same, except the output is rated at 550 lumens compared to 500 for the original. The older version has the stainless steel tailcap that requires a tool to unscrew.
 

Sos24

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
508
The original light is the EDC05C

The new version is the E05C

The new version has the black tailcap with ridges that can be unscrewed by hand. I think everything else is the same, except the output is rated at 550 lumens compared to 500 for the original. The older version has the stainless steel tailcap that requires a tool to unscrew.

Then mine is mislabeled. Mine is labeled EDC05C, but it has the black tailcap with ridges and rated at 550lumen.
 
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