Klarus Mi7 Review (Short and sweet) Great price!!!

Klarus Mi7 EDC flashlight Review
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Hey lads today I will be making this a short and quick review because there is like already 100 other reviews of the Klarus Mi7 plus I broke my computer chair. Funny story actually I put some new screws into it to hold it better and that broke it hahahaha. I will go past Ikea and get the parts I need to fix it. Or my birthday is Christmas day so maybe some one on here will get me a chair for my birthday Cough Cough! No pressure its just a gesture.

I got this klarus Mi7 from Gearbest I have a discount coupon. The price is really good but I can not post it here because of MAP. I can post it in my video description. I can say its around the same price as a 22 year old. Or its the same price as some thing that is 22? How much are 22 years olds going for now days? If you know what i mean Hahahaha. Actually message me here because I am going fishing up the coast so I am not sure when the video will be up! My house drives me mad! Plus I now have a Convoy L6 I can play with and a new fishing rod that is yet to be wet. Ohhh and I bought some Diawa fishing line for 5 USD from online so I want to try it. Any ways for this price its an amazing buy! The best price to performance in a small EDC flashlight.
Purchase Link Here:
Klarus Mi7

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The Klarus Mi7 is an EDC style flashlight with a twist its not so much a conventional style EDC because it is missing a few of the normal goodies. I can see why they did not bother adding them because the Mi7 is tiny I mean real small. The Mi7 is smaller then my then my wiener! I would hope so I tell ya! So the Mi7 is missing a magnet and a clip but I think you actually put the Mi7 on your key chain and not have any issues. (apparently it comes with a clip but I can not find mine weird) The Klarus Mi7 weights 26 grams without the battery and is 87.2mm (8.72cm) long and the head diameter is 19mm (1.9cm) and the body is really thin coming in at 17.6mm (1.76mm) in width. Size wise its just a tad longer then my Jetbeam Jet-1 Mk but the Mi7 is thinner every where and it feels lighter or I could just be tripping out. But I did add magnets to my Jet-1 MK. Okay Google made me look like a goof the Jet-1 stock weights less must be the magnets lol! performance wise the Mi7 is years ahead of the Jet-1 MK.

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What the Mi7 is missing in extras it makes up for in features by giving us outstanding output at 700 lumens. Plus I feel like it hits the mark with this output. Its the perfect output for a small flashlight without it getting to hot to quick. To me this 700 lumens is awesome its probably the most thought out output. Its high enough but not to high as where the Mi7 has to step down after 15 seconds. I can use the Mi7 for a good amount of time and not get the flashlight stepping down this already is a great reason to buy one over other flashlights. I am the same as every one here what is point of crazy output if it doesn’t last long enough? That is my problem with the S1R great flashlight no doubt but more of a gimmick to me personally no offense to you Olight fans.

Klarus tell us what we want! We get 5 modes but the UI is cool. The Mi7 only has 2 normal modes they are just High and low modes. I love this because I do not use moonlight mode to often except maybe when I am on sand. My yard right now is like 30% sand because I cut the grass to short and its been hot I am so damn lazy so it died. Moonlight is hidden and Strobe and SOS are hidden which is great. Although moonlight mode is hidden its so easy to access. All as you have to do is simply push and hold the side switch from standby to activate moonlight. Now for all you peeps that like moonlight mode this is good because this means you can not accidentally blind your self. Strobe and SOS are activated by double clicking the side switch. I said it before in the G20 review I love the lockout system on these lights. You push and hold the side switch for 5 seconds to activate it will blink to let you know it worked. Then when you want to unlock the Mi7 you have push the side switch 3 times fast. This is great because what are the chances of the you accidentally doing this?

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The Mi7 gives us all the good gear we want on a premium flashlight. You get Aerospace grade Aluminum Alloy body and Military grade Hard Anodizing (HAIII). Plus AR (Anti-Reflective) coated Mineral Lens. You also get a stainless steel switch, Reverse Polarity Protection, Over discharge protection, constant current driver with no PWM. I am not sure how amazing this feature is but we will run with it. As for EDC use the Mi7 comes with a 1 meter drop resistance which isn’t the best but it is to be expected because of the driver it is using. Also the Mi7 is IPX8 with a waterproof rating of 2 meters so this good. Either dropping or getting your flashlight wet will probably be the two biggest killers of EDC flashlights.

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The Mi7 uses the Cree XPL-HI V3 to get its 700 lumens. I am starting to see this emitter used a lot in EDC flashlights. Even thought the Mi7 uses a XPLHI the throw isn’t amazing seeing as the head is so small this is to be expected. You get a total throw distance of 110 meters which is still good for a super tiny EDC flashlight the Mi7 is using an orange peel style reflector you would expect the beam to be more flood orientated.
Where the Mi7 stands out is the fact that is a friendly flashlight for all. The Mi7 uses a wide voltage driver so basically it can run standard AA cells and not just run them this flashlight is a monster with a standard AA cell.

Outputs 14500 ANSI rated times and outputs.

  • High mode: 700 lumens @ 53 minutes
  • Low mode: 90 lumens @ 3 hours and 47 minutes
  • Moon light mode: 5 lumens @ 67 hours
  • Strobe mode: 700 lumens @ 1 hour and 46 minutes
  • SOS mode: 90 lumens @ 11 hours and 21 minutes

Outputs AA ANSI rated run times and outputs

  • High mode: 330 lumens @ 55 minutes ( so good)
  • Low mode: 90 luemns @ 1 hour and 55 minutes
  • Moon light mode: 5 lumens @ 40 hours
  • Strobe mode: 300 lumens @ 1 hour and 50 minutes
  • SOS mode: 90 lumens @ 5 hours and 30 minutes

The output from a single disposable AA battery is amazing at 330 lumens this is easily my brightest single AA flashlight. It is brighter then my old LED Lenser P7 which uses 4 AA batteries to run. Great option for a gift for a flashlight noob! They can go and pick up of the shelf batteries and get amazing output or buy them some cheap NiMH batteries and cheap charger and they are set for life. The Mi7 even has an amazing over- discharge protection sydtem it can tell them difference between cells it will cut 14500 cells of at 3 volts and standard AA batteries at 0.8 volts and the Mi7 even comes with a battery indicator function so this flashlight is very fool proof.

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As for the build quality on the Mi7 its great every thing looks very well matched and made. The knurling is diamond shape and the finish of the Mi7 is dark shiny black even though this isn’t my favorite finish. You can get the MI7 in all different colors which makes up for this issue. The Mi7 has the stainless steel side switch button.

What is included in the package?

  • Klarus Mi7 flashlights
  • Lanyard
  • Spare O-ring
  • AA battery
  • key-ring attachment

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As you can see the Mi7 doesn’t come with a clip even though the Klarus website said it does which is weird and no magnet but there is plenty of room to add a magnet at the back of he flashlight it has a cut out space which is perfect for a magnet.

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Pros

  • Small and lite weight
  • Good output with 14500 and standard AA batteries
  • Can be used with AA cells
  • Uses newer emitter XPLHI
  • Good tint
  • IPX8 to a proper 2 meter tested
  • Cheap with Coupon

Cons

  • No clip (not a deal breaker for me)
  • No magnet (can be added easily)
  • Drop resistance low for a EDC flashlight. (boost drivers fault)

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Overall the klarus Mi7 is great it has all you need from a super small EDC I would like to see a magnet I do not use clips so I do not mind that but a magnet would be great. The output is amazing using either a standard AA or a 14500. The Mi7 is a hard to beat flashlight at the going price you would be crazy to pass up the Mi7 almost the same output as an S2+ at around the same price but in a much smaller package that is EDC friendly.

These first pics are taken with a 14500 IMR AW cell inside the Mi7

High mode 700 lumen
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Low mode 90 lumen
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Moonlight mode 5 lumens
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Mi7 left and Jet-1 Mk right big difference in tint and output

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Mi7 left and S2+ modded with a NW emitter at 3 amps on the right

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Mi7 left and Orcatroch T11 right with a 14500 cell
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These pics are with a NiMH Eneloop pro

High mode 330 lumens
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Low mode 90 lumens seem lower then with the 14500
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Moonlight mode 5 lumens it seems dimmer then when using a 14500
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Thanks for taking the time to read.

Regards Chris

I read that Klarus now sell the Mi7 with a clip? Can some one confirm?

Yes, for the new colors (other than black, red, blue).

Thanks mate I thought I was going made. I was looking for the clip lol

I'm curious about your runtimes.

You list:

Outputs 14500 ANSI rated times and outputs.

  • High mode: 700 lumens @ 53 minutes
  • Low mode: 90 lumens @ 3 hours and 47 minutes

I read other reviews that said that on 14500, the high was 700 lumens for 3 minutes then it dropped to 300 lumens for 60 minutes. Does yours not drop off after 3 minutes?

Low on the other reviews was listed as 47 minutes, while you got 3 hours more. That's almost 5x the runtime others are reporting.

And on AA

You report:

High mode: 330 lumens @ 55 minutes ( so good)

  • Low mode: 90 luemns @ 1 hour and 55 minutes
  • Moon light mode: 5 lumens @ 40 hours

Other reviews report 330 lumens that drops after 3 minutes to anywhere between 220 to 250 lumens and then to moonlight after another 67 minutes.

On low, the other reviews only get about 50 minutes, while you got and extra hour and 5 minutes. That's almost 2.5x longer runtime.

How is it that your light does not drop brightness, and you get between 2½ and 5x the runtime on low?

I'm not trying to flame, just trying to figure out if you're doing something different, or have a different revision light, or mega quality batteries.

Lastly, do you find the lack of a mode between 90 lumens and 330/700 to be an issue?

Hey mate these times are rated by klarus. The light will stepdown of course but that’s normal for a run time test. I do not keep my EDC Flashlights on for that much time on high level they will get to hot.

In theory high could run for about 20 minutes straight before the battery will be flat. I would expect the Nimh to last maybe 10 minutes longer on high mode these times would be without stepdown. I haven’t had time to do my own run time test and I am not sure what batteries klarus use.

I am using AW IMR 600 mah

Eneloop pros 2450mah

Soo… On high using AA or 14500, you will only have 15 seconds than it’ll step down to low?

Step down with 14500 is at 3 mins and lowers the high mode brightness to just above 300 lumen.

If you buy the olight S1R that is how long you get. with the Mi7 it’s 3 minutes. But you can go back up to high mode again if you want.

Hey folks i added a video if your into that stuff :stuck_out_tongue:

The step is obligated. With 14500 after 3 minutes on Turbo the temperature over surface is 52º Celsius degrees and up, if there are not step down will be a danger light, and brands can not allow this situation for the consumer…

After this step to about 300 lumens, the light keep the temperature around 51-55ºC all the time.

Is one of the best regulation for a 14500 flashlight with less than 30 gr.

My test is 14500 Klarus 800 mA and NiMH Fujitsu 1900mA min.

Thanks for the review everydaysurvivalgear!!! (I love this light)

I had mine on high for about 10 minutes total. While making the video it wasn’t all one go but it handles heat well. Better then the S1R and jet-1. Either way the battery will drain at rate where I do not think the light would get damaged I used AW IMR cells. You will see performance losses from the star because of the small capacity. I think after 5 minutes the battery voltage would be about 4 volts flat.

Thanks for the nice review OP.

Also thanks to Trevi_lux for the chart

Thanks for the great video!! One of the few that reviews and compares the light on AA