I bought the Nitecore TIP XP-G2 Cool White just after Christmas (2016) as I was told this vir had the lock out fix and went to use it when I come to going down some dark steps and nothing no power so the fix has not been sorted yet, such a shame as they are a great little light when they do work, just rang NC united kingdom to ask for a refund, its not good to me if it don’t work when you need it.
can anyone recommend a good key light that’s nearly as good maybe that works please?. Thanks
You might want to check out the Manker LAD, if you don’t mind the advanced UI.
Hi ‘sealover1’, welcome to BLF. 
Sorry for your trouble. 
Did you have it in Lock Out Mode previously to using it? Just curious.
Yes I was always putting it into lock out mode so I never ran it down, I have since rang nitecore uk and they have said that the power drain had been fixed in this model and it may just be a faulty light so he said could I send it back for a replacement which I’m going to do, wish I had used paypal now to be honest instead of ringing them and paying cuz I now have to pay for return postage which I will be complaining about when I send it back.
the surefire sidekick 300 lumen keychain looks nice with a bit longer battery life but there £100 in the UK which is a $125 I like it but I don’t think a key chain torch is worth that much they can be bought far cheaper in the usa, seen them for around $75 which is only £60
OK, thanks for the info. I hope it works out well for you cause these TIP’s are cool little lights. I am loving mine. 
yea they are lovely little lights I,m hoping mine was a one off faulty one, I’m starting to get into my touches lately
Is the charging port micro-usb waterproof as in photo`s i have seen it does not have a cover and is covered in water spray in some photo`s
John.
it might be ok in a bit of very light rain as long as it never went into the charging port but if I’m honest I agree with you on that, cant see how they can claim this
that light has very obvious PWM, imo the TIP or LAD are possibly better options (they do not have obvious PWM)
I have a Manker LAD with Nichia 219c. I like it and would buy it again. Im testing before giving to a college student that is not into flashlights or battery managemet. The LAD is IMPOSSIBLE to activate by accident, no lockout needed. It starts on a useful first mode with a single click.
The red light mode works fine for a trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I set red as a mode memory at bedtime.
LAD has strobe modes if you can figure out how to double click fast enough, (I find it almost impossible).
The LAD works great as a simple keychain light, and comes with the charging cord (Tip does not)
here is a video about the LAD (not mine). the link goes to the discussion about accidental activation… something the TIP has a problem with (requiring the use of lockout)
LAD, no Accidental Activation
imo, the TIP 2 button interface is more complex than the 1 button LAD
I chose not to buy the TIP due to the 2 protruding buttons that are notorious for false activation. There are even reports of accidental unlocking. imo the TIP has a lot of nice features, its just not a good match for a pocket full of keys…
The LAD has a charging port cover, it is flimsy and I broke it in the first hour, which left a large hole, in addition to the charging port, that would surely let water in if I was to drop the light in a glass of water. I have no plans to use the lad under water.
The LAD is way more compact, and much less noticeable in the watch pocket of my jeans, than my AAA light
sorry whats PWM??
thanks for the info will check them out
don’t seem to be for sale in the uk?
PWM means the light is turning on and off really quickly. Most people dont notice, some people are sensitive to it (its a kind of strobe).
here is an example in video (the vertical “scan” lines)
https://youtu.be/ffSm8NnOf38
another much more obvious example:
waving the light shows dots on a PWM source
oh right I never knew that cheers
How hard would it be to swap the LAD’s red tophat emitters for a different color?
I’m a big fan of amber/orange, which ought to take the same voltage/current as red emitters.
Anyone got a disassembly discussion for that?
Sorry for digging up an older thread, but am I reading it correctly that this excessive parasitic drain in lock-out mode has been fixed in the current crop of Nitecore Tip lights being sold by GearBest and the like?
The short answer is yes.
I have the Nitecore TIP CRI 2017 edition (Nichia). It doesn’t appear to have a lockout mode.
When I arrived the package a few days ago, it was totally dead, won’t power on. I thought it was a DoA, but then I charged it and it appears to work. I notice that it seems to drain quite fast. So I did a more controlled test.
Yesterday morning, I fully charged it (took about 2 hours to full charge). Tested the battery-check mode, and it has 3 flashes. It can light up in Turbo. Didn’t use it the whole time (except did a few battery checks) About 12 hours later, in the evening, the battery check mode now comes up with 2 flashes. And another few hours later, I notice the TIP CR 2017 was flashing once by itself — doing a battery check mode indicates 1 flash. I left it at that prior to sleeping. On waking up this morning, I checked it and it’s totally dead, won’t turn on at all.
That’s some severe parasitic drain… Not sure how to go about reporting this to Gearbest. (send pictures? videos? how does one send a short meaningful video of a parasitic drain issue?)
At least report the problem ASAP to Gearbest because of DOA warranty period. I would consult with them how to show the problem.
‘oogle “nitecore parasitic drain’ and you’ll find it much discussed, including here at BLF in the past
Interesting: NITECORE TIP Parasitic Drain Thread …
budgetlightforum.com ’ Forums ’ LED Flashlights ’ LED Flashlights – General Info
Sep 17, 2016 - 31 posts - 9 authors
That was the initial batch of TIP lights that had bad parasitic drain. The problem was solved long time ago, and it’s the first time I read about parasitic drain issues with the 2017 TIP (with clip).
