Unbranded clone of the Nitecore Tube

The newer model of Nitecore Tube has no ramping, but has lockout

I was going to buy one from eBay to compare, because in the listing it said 99¢. Of course it was a trick to get people to click. The real price was around $4.50 and the 99¢ item was buried in the color/size options, one of those freebie type twisties running on button cells (I get those free at almost any festival I go to). Since I just made an order for the authentic Tube for $6 during the recent sale, I thought it better not to.

The two clones I have, have the ramping up and down feature. No lockdown.

Bought some original Nitecore Tubes , for 2.5-4$ during flash sales etc . No need to get a clone :wink:

For sure, the original ones are the best. I just wanted to see if those clones were 100% the same or not. Now we know :+1:

The new Tube still has ramping, but you can only activate it quickly after switch ON on low mode (press and hold). After a few second, any click (short or long) will switch off the light.

Just received clone. I can confirm all of OP's observations.

Haha! Good find lol

Fake Nitecore Tube test and teardown (and comparison to the real one) by Bigclivedotcom

Nitecore has a long history dating back to the original hotly debated forum topics/sales involving genuine innovation, copying in general and countries of origin (ie. when lights such as the Cree Q5 driven “Spear” were rally yanking people’s chains).
Ironically, very few were recognizing that China would soon surpass the rest of the world in delivering innovative portable lighting products easily recognized/copied on their own soil.

Although the original company is probably unrecognizable today, the attraction of “Nitecore” for me has always been that the name stuck and how the former company eventually pissed off so many (angrily) expressing that the(ir) world was flat and our’s should be as well.

(…sorry to briefly answer off-topic). :wink:

Interesting, I’ll be looking forward to some updates on the overall quality or differences (if any). Also, isn’t NiteCore based out of Asia?

You can find this 2 posts above yours in the video comparison and teardown.

Hi guys,

I got a noname tube yesterday and a nitecore tube the day before, so I took a couple pics of them side by side.

I’m not a good photographer and my LG G3 with cyanogenmod camera is not the best camera, so sorry for the bad quality, but I guess it is good enough to compare the two tubes.
only on the last pictures the noname seems much worse in comparison as it was in reality (or maybe my monitor sucks in daylight, last night it looked closer to the real perfomance).

There are by far better reviews and discriptions above, so just quick thoughts:

the noname tube seems just a little darker, a little narrower and a little colder.
But without the nitecore tube next to it, I would be happy with the performance. It is totally useable to find the way on a dark driveway or the keyhole at the frontdoor or for whatever scenario you use a light like this. the nitecore just does so a little better and shows a little better colors.
Biggest difference for me is the doubleclick for high brightness on the nitecore, which I like much more than the high - off - low - off mode.

So, here are the pics:
noename on the left, nitecore on the right.

If the pics don’t show, please let me know.

Thanks for the comparison mate! The fake looks okay but the normal tube is so cheap is it really worth it?

I got the nitecore for about $7US and the noname for $3,30US on ebay. so depending on your standpoint it is just a couple $ more fore the nitecore or twice the price.

As an everyday flashlight (at my keyring) I’d buy the nitecore just for the better UI.
The noname will find its place in my car or my toolbox or maybe with the key to my bikelock to have something ‘just in case’ (hoping the battery won’t run empty in the meantime) because I have it already.
So as a small keychain light, saving a few dollars buying the cheaper one isn’t worth it in my opinion because the nitecore tube is easyly worth the few more dollars.

You can get the Tube for 5 USD on sale at Gearbest at times so it makes the decision harder.

Actually for 5 USD there is no question which one to buy. buy the nitecore.

The fake Tube is less than four dollars. Search for 45lm keychain light.

@Legan710 : wow nice extensive review you did :+1:

Also, Big Clive has found another (the “worst so far”) clone :

a piece of crap even the original, so dissapointed in that light, after like 2 weeks the light started to flicker on high mode… junk.