Review: Lumintop SD Mini II XPL

LUMINTOP SD MINI II XPL

Notice!
The Lumintop SD Mini II is provided free by Banggood for my honest and unbiased review no other payments are received other then the flashlight provided.

Product Link on Banggood: Lumintop SD Mini II (not affiliate link, this is just tracking link. I am not making money out of this link)
Discount code: 39d58c to get the price lower to $41.5

Intro:
This is actually my first ever Lumintop light, i thought that BLF GT would be my first Lumintop :smiley: i have only heard good thing about Lumintop products being an solidly build quality lights. Which i found to be quite true.

Pro:
Small, the absent of tail clicky and the use of spring that compressed flat also help in this regards
Built in charging circuit, beside its short length they managed to fit charging circuit inside.
Side Light! With Option for NW, Red, Green, Blue.
Excellent finish on the outside and on the inside, everything feels smooth.
Thread is buttery smooth on both ends, Note that both ends of the battery tube are anodized.
Excellent quality clip, much better than most even from brand like Nitecore.
Side switch has good tactile feedback with only slight mushy feeling when press and holding the switch cover, they probably use a thinner rubber in order for the charging light to shine through.
Charging cover fits tightly without overly hard to push back in.
It feels like a true 920 Lumens light or more.
Throws is quite good without being useless for anything else, spill is bright enough.
Side light has 2 modes, the Low mode is sufficient in pitch black for close up range while the High mode is plenty enough to light up a path 5 meters ahead at night.
Able to tail-stand
Body clip and the protuding side light are making this light unable to roll on the flat surface.
Emitter is centered.
Nice Smooth beam no dark spot with slight green color shift toward the center nothing too ugly. Unlike Nitecore Concept One that i have.
UI is actually quite Good.

Cons:
Clip cannot be reversed to mount on your baseball cap without making it scraping on the tail cap while unscrewing.

The relatif:
I wished that the front bezel is stainless for more durability.

Data From Manufacturer:

Mode: High,Mid,Low,Moonlight + Strobe,SOS,Beacon
Lumens: 920LM,270LM,85LM,1LM+920LM
Runtime: 2h30min,6h15min,21h45min,775h+/
Battery Configurations: 1*18650 / 2*CR123A battery (not included)
Working Voltage: 2.8-8.4V
Switch Type: Clicky
Switch Location: Body side of the flashlight
Peak Beam Intensity: 26082cd
Impact Resistant 1.5m
Max Output: 920lumens
Range: 320m
Waterproof: IPX-8 waterproof up to 2meters
Color: Black
Weight: 94.6g (excluding battery)
Size: 109*33*25.4mm (Length*head diameter*tube diameter)

This is the box as it came from China. i do like the paper sleve so no messy glue to remove and damaged the box. :+1:

The Box in close up

Specification on the back.

As it was when opened.

The manual is placed at the back.

The manual is jammed inside the box, The manual is slightly larger than the box, could be a mistake.

Everything that came inside the box.

Came with Lanyard, Holster and clip that already attached. Lumintop gave 3 options on how to carry your light awesome.

Warranty card

A peek at the manual, operating mode is shown here. Kind of confusing at first but not really when you tried it.

Spare O-rings and Replacement rubber cover for the charging port.

Side light is staring at you, the lens is made of glass (i think) not sure how shatter proof it is but it is protruding droping the light might shatter the side lens.

Another view of the Side emitter.

Charging port

Under the charging cover

Disassembled into 3 parts

Both end is anodized

View of the head, the driver is pressed fit or glued no retaining ring is used.

Emitter shot, XPL HI and Smooth reflector. No dust visible inside the reflector.

Compared to other EDC Light. Left to right: Convoy C8, SD Mini II, Nitecore Concept One, BLF A6, Convoy S2+, Nitecore EC23, Astrolux S41

Reflector diameter, Left to right: Convoy C8, SD Mini II, Nitecore Concept One, BLF A6, Convoy S2+, Nitecore EC23, Astrolux S41

Compared to Emisar D4.

Summary:
I quite like the SD Mini II because of the short size, and the built in charger which make traveling with flashlight so much easier since you dont have to carry separate charger, not sure how useful the side light is but this is the feature that attract me most but the main emitter has a really nice beam, throws is good and the spill is still bright enough. The side light beam is similar to Zoom light with the focus in its widest position with even illumination from edge to edge so no hotspot like a typical reflector based lights. For how the sidelight and the throws look like you can see on of the videos below.

Beamshots dont mind the tint, my wall is green :smiley: The Convoy S2+ tint is 4C and the Convoy C8 is 3A

Videos:

Side emitter and the main emitter beam.

Compared to BLF A6 and Convoy C8.

Any idea how much effort it would take to mod the front and side LEDs?

I put a new led in my SD mini (first gen.), can not remember if there was any glue, but in any case it was not hard to open up.

Thanks for the review!

This would be the ideal pocket light if they can take out the charging port and make it 1cm shorter.

Nice open box review and the video presented, well done.
I have the SDmini, the first gen from Amazon, well built and performs still good!

Anybody else have one of these? How does the UI work for controlling both emitters?