NITENUMEN X8 XM-L2 U3 1800LM Rechargeable LED Bike Light
This light is provided by Banggood for review and it can be found here : https://goo.gl/5Tj5eH
Coupon code to lower price onto $39.95 is : NNMX8
Basic product features, that are taken from the user’s manuals :
Size : 102 mm ( length ) x 45 mm ( width ) x 27.5 mm ( height )
Weight : 243g
2 x Cree XM-L2 U3
2 x 18650 3400mAh
Max output : 1800 lumen
Max luminous flux : 5500 cd
Max beam distance : 148 m
2 x mode groups with mode memory :
- low - mid - high - ultra bright - strobe - SOS
- low - mid - high
Brightest and runtime :
Low : 15 lumen = 76:20 h
Mid : 180 lumen = 16:50 h
High : 850 lumen = 6:20 h
Ultra : 1800 = 4:15 h
No brightness or runtime for strobe and SOS.
1 m inpact resistant
IPX-68 waterproof ( rain-proof )
Power indicator :
Light on, green and red light to indicate the power
100% - 60% green LED on
60% - 30% red LED on
below 30% red LED trinkle
Notice that there is no info about colour temperature of the light, but as I can see it is cool white.
It came out in very hard cardboard packaging with high quality that will prevent possible damages in transport.
In package are included :
1 x Light
1 x Mount
1 x Usb cable ( for charging )
1 x Spare charging port cover
1 x Manual in English and Chinese
1 x Warranty card
The light is a little bit heavy but it has 2x 18650 that are built inside and very well made housing of this lamp with thick layer of aluminum and high quality military grade anodization, so when you take it in hands it give a impression of extremely quality light and that is resistant to falls more than 1 m, so I would not be afraid eaven if someone fall down from the bike that this light will be seriously damaged from that hit.
Topside of the light has two buttons. First one is a power and second is a mode button. To turn on the light you need to press power button and hold finger on it for 1 sec, so it is not momentarily turn on, but when you want to turn it off there is no need to hold 1 sec on it, since it will be off when you press the button. In order to change modes you just need to press mode button and no need to wait, so it is just 1 sec delay to turn the light on, all other simple operations are end with simple press on the desired button.
Remember modes from manual that I earlier mention ? 1. low - mid - high - ultra bright - strobe - SOS and 2. low - mid - high, first is ok, but second is not low - mid - high, it is low, high, ultra bright, don’t know why they are wrong here, but there is mode memory so there will not be problems. To change mode groups, simple press mode button 1.5 sec when light is turn on to move from one group to other. Buttons are very well corresponding on the press.
From the bottom side of the light there is standard micro usb port that you can charge you light ( with usb cable that is provided in package ), so you can charge it on usb ports on your computer or put it on some adapter if you have it, of course on better adapters that can provide higher current the charge process will be faster than on standard USB port on computer, the power button will blink red when charging is in process and it will be remain on green light when charge is done 100 %. There is charging port cover which fits very well on that hole.
On the other side it is located a mounting system for the bike, which is I must admit not the best designed. I don’t have any complain for this part that is made from the plastic, it is really strong and solid so it is good made and can handle this light with no problems, but my main complaint is on this part from the rubber that need to fix lamp to the bike. There is 4 holes for different customizable thicknes, that rubber is pretty solid but it is elastic, I wan’t to say, will not be easily tear but it is elastic. And that is main problem which I notice while driving, you must to fix lamp extremely hard and in one more hole so that lamp will not have judder. Better explanation is that there is no chance that light can fall off or to be move, but light beam will be unstable and it will judder so it is very annoying, it can be tolerable on the road with no holes and bumps but if you plan it for off road then you must to tighten it very very hard that you avoid this.
NOTICE : In time when I write this there is new mounting system for this light on Banggood, so I think that Nitenumen catch this problem and do a version with updated mount system which it seems to be better than old one.
Old one.
Tear down went quite easily. I use one T4 x40mm and one ordinary screwdriver. You must to remove multiple screw in order to complete disamble this light. So as you can see on the pictures, the reflectors are SMO and with no AR coating on lenses, there is 5 pin connector that connect power and mode button with board, Cree leds are genuine but from some reason I don’t know why it is write ‘’solarstorm x8’’ on the board.
Batteries are made by LG, and as you can see the mark on it is LGABF1L118650, all is good soldered and remain hard without fear that something will desolder or drop off while driving and shaking. Batteries look like they are LG genuine, and I do a test for a battery runtime.
Tested it on ultra bright mode while driving my bike in night at temperature of 14 degrees.
The light was able to hold exactly 2:24 min, and then colour on indicator was changed from green to red, after that I continue to use it but I was not drivig my bike any more, and next step down on indicator happen on 3:28 min, when light indicator changes from steady red to blinking red, from that point I turn off the lamp and I do not go to the end.
Today I put light on the 1A charger and to fully charge it need 6:45 min, for faster charging it need to be an charger that can put more current.
While testing this light in driving I touch lamp many times to check how much hot it is and I can say that light was not eaven a warm. Yes it was a lot of wind and only about 14 degrees, but in that conditions lamp was remain with very very low heat.
Reflector and lens size.
Driver and led board ( I don’t want to desolder a wires so that I can remove led board that driver can been seen completely ).
The light that this one will be compared is my old one bike light and it is Ultrafire 501B with Cree XP-L V5 in it with 5 modes, hi, mid, low, strobe and sos.
Beamshot section is on 3 different locations X8 vs UF 501b.
First one is in building which is dimension 21m to the opposite wall and width is 7.5m to the big pillar on the left side from right. It is almost complete darkness, couple of windows in the distance…
Control shot with some light inside building that are arranged on the side.
Ultrafire 501b XP-L V5 LOW
Nitenumen x8 LOW
Ultrafire 501b XP-L V5 MID
Nitenumen x8 MID
Ultrafire 501b XP-L V5 HIG
Nitenumen x8 HIG
Nitenumen x8 ULTRA
Beamshots location two. Distance to the tree at the midway is 75m and width of the road is 4m, no moonlight, pretty dark.
Control shot at the day.
Ultrafire 501b XP-L V5 LOW
Nitenumen x8 LOW
Ultrafire 501b XP-L V5 MID
Nitenumen x8 MID
Ultrafire 501b XP-L V5 HIG
Nitenumen x8 HIG
Nitenumen x8 ULTRA
Beamshots third location is in the middle of the forest with absolutely complete darkness and you can’t see a man standing 10m away from you. Distance to the tree in the middle is 80m and width of the road is 3.5m.
Control shot at the day.
Ultrafire 501b XP-L V5 LOW
Nitenumen x8 LOW
Ultrafire 501b XP-L V5 MID
Nitenumen x8 MID
Ultrafire 501b XP-L V5 HIG
Nitenumen x8 HIG
Nitenumen x8 ULTRA
For the references a Nitecore p30 on the same location on max.
Short video with Nitenumen x8 on same location :
Overall impressions.
For :
-Extremely bright light with wide angle of coverage both in front and to the side off the road.
-Very good quality of the light, solid construction.
-Strobe and SOS can be cut from the loop.
-Mode memory, charging port, power indicator.
-Easy and fast removal.
Against :
-Badly designed mount problems in off road ( new version of mount is available )
Neither for nor against :
-Weight, I thought weight is problem but just in case for reminder that there are inside 2x 18650 which have almost 100 gr so the lamp itself is not so heavy.
All in all I am very satisfied for this money what I get, and I hope new mount is even better so that problem with mounting can be solved.