Review:Nitefighter L1A first impressions (serious problem)

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights
1

Took me a while to decide on a headlamp until ChibiM recommended me this light and having djozz disassemble his unit is what convinced me to get myself a unit

I asked here and ChibiM linked me to this post

Just some notes:
I am not sure if this comes from banggood or gearbest as I believe I cancelled my order from gearbest but this package arrived without indication from banggood. I usually get some form of notification it’s from banggood on the package but I am not sure.

Anyway here is the light.



Box arrived in an abused state with plastic getting dinged up by the light itself.
Light is safe with no scratches though


Pretty deep textured reflector revealing actual XPE and not some fake chinese copies


I really liked the threads. They are triangular but they feel butter smooth as compared to my Fenix LD12 grainy square threads. They come mildly lubed.

Tool marks from the factory on the head side. Not something I’m happy but it’s okay

Decent magnet. Not as strong as Olight S15 but it gets the job done

Headband is pretty nice I gotta say. It is a tad small but having it on my head with sweaty forehead doesn’t get me sores or annoyance.
The headband clip is on the hard side. Less flex on the plastic but mine doesn’t feel like it is going to break from use as it slides in and out with ease but grips firmly. Most importantly I don’t have to remove the pocket clip to use the headband.

But I don’t like the pocket clip. It comes off the light too easily.

Nasty ringy beam like everyone said. But the tint is okay. It is similar to my Convoy C8 XML2 U2 1A tint.
It comes with 4 modes via electronic switch.
High, Low, Fast strobe, SOS. No memory. Leave any mode on for more than 3-4 seconds and you can click it to turn off immediately.

No PWM so that’s good.


From left to right
Convoy C8 XML2 U2 1A, Nitefighter L1A unknown XPE, Fenix LD12 XPG2 R5, Ultrafire with Nichia 219B

The tint is more on the 1A color with more purple blue rather than greenish tint like the Fenix LD12.
It is in a cool range but not the nasty UV colors that appear in cheapo chinese lights.
It is obviously not warm at all so it could get annoying at night with that cool blast.


dismantling the light from the driver side shows something different in reflector construction.
I saw the pics from djozz and he had some conical reflector but mine had a hybrid cone + cylinder shape.

Still can’t get the lens out even though prying it from inside or out.
I gotta mod this bad boy to use the XML2 T6 3B I had laying around.
Too much throw but it sure is a nice little light for close up soldering work
Still waiting for nighttime to try things out

2

Well in less than a day receiving it, it caused problems

using it under rain just somehow cause the O-Ring to suck itself in and fell into the reflector.

Still can’t get the plastic lens out so I’m wondering is there any better methods to push it out?

3

Well… I literally drilled the lens out if mine. But now I can’t find a replacement.

4

The plastic on my headlamp failed soon after I got mine
I put 3m removable tape over the lens on mine to smooth out the beam

5

I have one of these too, bought hoping it would be moddable.
Yeah, on mine also, the plastic C-shape thing meant to hold the light onto the headlamp broke off within a few minutes of use.

> using it under rain

Maybe you heated it up, drove some moisture out, then it cooled down and actually pulled a vacuum?

Not the first time a flashlight has literally sucked.

6

Sad to hear it failed on you. Hopefully there will be more brands offering these kind of lights for the price.

But reading your review and Djozz`s earlier impressions defnitely show that its not a mod friendly light!

thanks for the time to review it!

7

Mine is still in parts after I did manage to get the lens out in one piece. It is going to modded with a XP-L one day...

8

I have all the parts to reassemble mine, except the lens. I bought some glass lenses from KD that should’ve worked, but they were slightly too big and cracked wayyy too easily when I tried to sand them down. Flashlightlens never responded to my request for the tiny size. So I might be SOL

9

Have you tried thin Lexan sheets? Or maybe even some cassette case filed to circular shape?

I believe some CD cases even had matte surfaces that contributes to diffusing as well if you need it.

Anyway an update to what happened with my light

I eventually tried Fichtenelch method by prying the LED star.

lols

This guy is tough man

Got the whole thing out eventually with a strong POP shooting the lens and reflector far
Did manage to get everything to work even when I cracked the star AND the LED itself. One corner of the XPE was chipped off but it didn’t harm the die itself other than some EXTRA CLEAN DEDOME

Well this is the first time I manage to dedome an xpe sized LED cleanly leaving no residue or pulling too much phosphor.

I got this

Assembling it all back and give it a shine with the slight warmish neutral tint (of course the infamous green tint is there)
There seems to be less rings after a dedome. But it is still there.
(Pic shows the dedome on the left versus the Convoy C8 with XML2 U2 1A tint)

I am overall impressed with my failures despite scratching a lot of its beauty.
All I need was just some scotch tape to cover the leftover rings.

I do suggest filing the stock lens to a smaller diameter if you plan to reuse it. I filed mine and it is still a tight fit but enough to pop it with a small plier

I wanna ask something. Is the SOS mode on your unit blinks on low power or is it that way since factory? Mine blinks on low.
Plus the SOS isn’t SOS but rather SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOS

10

So the XPE decided to flicker and break

So here is the XML2 T6 3B in the nitefighter

Had to remove the o ring to make a proper fit even after filing the reflector for the XML2
the hole is a perfect fit


gotta say I don’t like it’s tint with this reflector. Not too sure why it looked odd. Maybe the lack of amps causing different tint? I don’t know.

It sure is more floody and brighter than the xpe

11

Thanks for review, finally someone made proper review :D!

12

I was about to buy this flashlight, thanks God I didn’t!

13

Thanks for sharing the details of this light with us. I’ve been looking at it and considered if I was gonna buy one… but if a light is very difficult to be disassembled it is a no-go to me. :frowning:

But considering its price point I think it is still quite a handy light to have, especially using it around the house or make it as one of your backup lights at outdoor.

14

I wouldn’t consider this a good light just from how the O ring sank into the light from mere rain.

Maybe I got a dud but this light caused multiple problems when I try to mod it.

It is a reasonably good light if you keep it stock. Modding the light requires creative hands as I have just killed my xml2 t6 3b thanks to the light.

The light kinda pulled my xml2 LED into pieces. It dedomed my light somehow snapping the bond wires.

I gave up modding this light as it has killed 2 of my xml2’s physically.

15

Yet another observation in the wild of a self-reviewing “so-so” flashlight. I’ve seen it on this one, and found mentions elsewhere of that pattern in other lights going back a few years.

16

Maybe if you don’t use it in the rain then it is an OK light haha.

17

unless you don’t mind o ring inside your reflector :wink:

18

Mind you it has so far happened to one light?
Only because its cheap it gets bad attitude :D? Thats not budget friendly attitude :D!
Cant dissemble for easy modding? Well, its not meant to, like most of lights, so its your fault, not the lights :)!

19

I thought you mean the o-ring only scrambled inside the reflector after using it in the rain?

20

I think I got my lens problem figured out, so I will continue working on this little guy.

For anyone who is interested in modding this light, I made a driver for it.