[Review] MHVAST TS70 (Cree XHP70.2, 1x26650) - Outdoor Beamshots Added

The flashlight was sent to me by MHVAST for review.
Here's the product's link for more info: MHVAST TS70

The flashlight comes in one of the most luxurious packages I have ever gotten to unbox.



The flashlight is seated into laser cut foam along with the rest of the accessories.



The accessories list includes a USB Type C charging cable, 2 x replacement o-rings, a replacement charging plug,
an adjustable wrist strap and a carrying pouch.



As with most flashlight sheaths, it's made out of nylon and is secured via a velcro flap.



The fitment is good. The flashlight can only be mounted with the head facing upwards.



The back side has a plastic ring as well as a belt loop.
Overall, a pretty standard and proven design.



The TS70 comes with matte black anodization and is e-switch operated.
Its body is infused with rectangular regions that are meant to increase grip.



Opposite to the e-switch, one finds the USB Type-C charging port.
A rubber flap is used to seal it from dust and water.




The e-switch is located on the head and is protruding slightly.



An indicator LED is integrated into the e-switch and turns on while using the flashlight.
Green: 4.2V - 3.3V, Orange: 3.3V - 2.8V, Blinking Red: < 2.8V



The indicator is also used during charging.
Red: charging, Green: full



The head houses the XHP70.2 emitter that is perfectly centered as well as a mild OP reflector.



The AR coated glass lens is protected by a very nice, sandblasted, metal bezel.



The body and tail of the flashlight is a unibody piece.



The tail has two protrusions which allow the flashlight to tail stand and can also be used to install a lanyard.



The head houses the red driver board which seems to be press fit (and probably glued) into place.
To minimize the system's resistance, a brass tab is used on the positive contact.



The threads are cleanly cut and arrive anodized and lubricated.



The flashlight weights 150gr excluding the battery.



With the included battery, the total weight jumps to 248gr.



Battery

The TS70 comes with a protected MHVAST 5000mAh 26650 cell.



The cell is flat top, though the positive contact it protruding.



In order to get its actual capacity, I run the battery through a full charge/discharge cycle.
I discharged it at 1000mA and cutoff set at 3.2V and got 5.433mAh of legit capacity.
The cell seems to be underrated, which is a great thing :)



Charging

As said, the TS70 comes with built-in charging and thankfully it uses a TypeC connector.
I measured the included cable's resistance to be 0.21Ω which is quite big, especially for its length.
I would definitely recommend using a better quality cable if you want to get full charging speed.



After switching to a better quality cable, I was able to get the advertised charging speed (5V, 2A)



After fully discharging the included 26650 cell, it took 3:17h to charge it back up.



User Interface

The MHVAST TS70 uses a pretty straightforward e-switch firmware.

Here's all the supported actions:
Turn on/off: Single press.
Mode cycle: Long press (Low > Mid > High > Ultrahigh > Low > ...)
Turbo: Double press from anywhere.
Firefly: Long press while off.
Tactical: 4 sec long press while off. Once activated, the e-switch will act as momentary. Three extra fast clicks to revert to regular mode.
Blinky Modes: Double press while on Turbo ( Fast Strobe > SOS > 1Hz Strobe)

All the regular modes are memorized.
Low voltage warning turns on at 3.3V and the cutoff is set at 2.8V.

Performance

In order to get my measurements, I used the included 26650 cell.
Here's the current draw for each level along with my output measurements.
(Please note that my measurements are taken at turn on).



It seems that the TS70 is honoring the manufacturer's ratings and indeed delivering the expected performance.
I also went and measured the parasitic drain, which turned out to be 66μΑ.

Here's Turbo compared to some of my other flashlights:


Another thing that I liked is the ultra low output of Firefly, which probably is less that 1lm.
You can actually look directly at the emitter die without getting half-blinded by the brightness.



Regulation

According to what I was told, a lot of time has been spent on the design of the driver.
Let's see how well the output is regulated.

Starting with Turbo, I got some very good results.
Here's a A/V graph I created.



And a W/A one.



So what does the graph tell us?
The flashlight seems to regulate the full output down to 3.8V.
After that threshold, the output is limited to ~5.6A until 3.3V and afterwards the output drops to Low until 2.8V where the cutoff is set.

I am pretty sure that the decision to settle the current draw after 3.8V is done in order to maximize the power delivery of the battery.
It would be pretty counter productive for a cell to deliver 40W of power while e.g being at 3.5V.

I also tested regulation for all the available modes.
A/V Graph for Low, Mid, High, Ultrahigh



And the respective W/V Graph.



As you can see, all the levels seems to be well regulated.
UltraHigh will stay in regulation until 3.1V and will then jump to Low.
The rest of output modes cat stay in regulation down to 2.9V.

I also tested the thermal regulation of the flashlight.

Timestamp Lumens
0s 4040
30s 3850
1m 3745
70s - 3m 2500 (Stepdown)
3m - 10min

1820

It worth noting that the timestamp of the initial stepdown (at 70s) is variable, depending on the flashlight's actual temperature.
At 3min10s the flashlight stepped down to ~1800 lumen and stayed there until the end of my test. The flashlight's temperate was pretty consistent.
In all cases, the body's temperature stayed within the comfort zone :)

Beamshots

Here's a few outdoor beamshots.

Turbo is too bright for 10m distance :)


@30m



@75m



A true pocketable, flood monster :D

Conclusion

Overall an excellent flashlight for all around usage.
The driver seems to really stand up to the expectations, the UI is simple yet effective and the output is massive

I really enjoyed it thanks! I wonder just two things

Would it pull higher output on a better battery?

Is there parasitic drain when off and how much, most likely due to the e-switch?

Well I only have two other cells available and the current draw seems to stay quite consistent among all the cells I tried.
You probably missed it, but I did include the parasitic measurement I captured (66μΑ).
The included cell would need more than 9 years to completely get drained from parasitic drain :slight_smile:

What about beamshots? Is your light neutral or cold white? Does it have ugly corona green tint as is usual for xhp50/xhp70 emitters?

I did. Thank you so much for that! That’s very impressive for this company that I didn’t know anything about. You have put them on the map!

I feel like this torch can compare to the Emisar D4S, no aux LED of course, but way more muggle friendly! I am buying one this week.

The flashlight I was sent is using a CW emitter.
Beamshots should follow up soon :slight_smile:

Thanks for your kind words!
I am more than sure that you will like your TS70!

How does the overall quality of this light compare to others like the TC20 or ODF30C? Any beamshots of this light?

Thanks for the review!



I don't have any of these lights, but the overall quality is definitely up to par with all the well-known flashlight brands.

Today I also tested the thermal regulation of the flashlight as I got a couple of requests through PM.

Timestamp Lumens
0s 4040
30s 3850
1m 3745
70s - 3m 2500 (Stepdown)
3m - 10min

1820

It worth noting that the timestamp of the initial stepdown (at 70s) is variable, depending on the flashlight's actual temperature.
At 3min10s the flashlight stepped down to ~1800 lumen and stayed there until the end of my test. The flashlight's temperate was pretty consistent.
In all cases, the body's temperature stayed within the comfort zone :)

Here's a few outdoor beamshots.

Turbo is too bright for 10m distance :)


@30m


@75m


A true pocketable, flood monster :D

Finally, an honestly specced flashlight with a very useful UI. From their website you have choice of cool or natural white emitters - albeit unknown how you specify which one (no dropdown sub menu). Orange peel reflector is stated as “glossy” - no other choice. But may matter as the new 70.2 has no “quad” artifact. Price a bit steep, if had coupon may just sweeten the offer.

Sidney: There is a coupon [M4D deal ACTIVE] MHVAST TS70

The TS70 is 59USD on BG through the 15th, no coupon needed, and they list both cool and neutral white. I have given a few similar UI to family so this will go well with them.

…and about the reflector, it’s a “Digital car system and vacuum plating high performance aluminum alloy glossy reflector” lol. I hope it’s a BOSE or B&O system; those are my favorite factory car systems. What a deal lol

@ mihlit & nokoff:

Thanks, just looking onto and considering …

Hi bilakos10

Great test. I’m definitely interested in this light. One concern however… The test show that at 3.8v the turbo drops out of regulation. What is the resting voltage of the cell once turbo cannot be engaged anymore? The 3.8v you measured was obviously tested under load, thus voltage sag conditions, right?

So how many turbo runs can one expect from a fully charged cell?



Hello KevinZA1988,
I finally got some time and took a few measurements on 5 Turbo runs.

The measurements were taken with the included 26650 Cell.
After each Turbo run, I gave the flashlight a few minutes in order to cool-down, which also allowed the battery's Voltage to rebound.



Judging by my results, I believe 5-6 is the maximum amount of full-power Turbo runs that one can squeeze out of the cell.

Thank you so much for the tests! This seems to be a decent boost driver in this light. I am waiting to see how the Astrolux MF01 Mini turns out, then I’ll decide. This looks like a good light for extended walks at night.

Cheers man

This might relate to the last few posts, but I noticed that after using this flashlight for a bit anytime I try to use turbo it immediately steps down…is this because the battery is below 3.8 volts?

Yeap, the battery’s low voltage is probably why Turbo won’t engage.
(or it could be thermals).

How does this compare to a D4S?