So I received the new TM28 by Nitecore the other day and went ahead on making a review video for YouTube. At first I was going to submit a written review along with posting this video on BLF. Since the video is already available to post, and the written portion will take several days to put together with the desired substance, I’m posting the video now. I will either submit a subsequent thread in coming days with a more in depth written review or just add the written portion to this thread by way of edit. Probably the latter.
A few tidbits though…
TM28 is latest in Nitecore’s line of Tiny Monster flashlights as of 12/21/2016. It is a redesign of the popular TM26 and TM26GT lights featuring all new XHP35 HI LED in cool white flavor with a boost driver as befit XHP30 HI with 4x 18650 parallel. As of now there is no NW option for TM28. Max Lumens 6,000. Max Throw 650M.
Lumen Ratings:
Turbo 6,000 My test = 6,240
High 2,300 Not yet tested
medium 1,000, Not yet tested
Low 230 Not yet tested
Firfly 2.0 Looks like more than 2 lumens, possibly 10.
Three Blink Modes: Strobe, SOS, Beacon
Comes With an Adapter For 3rd Party Flat Top Cells. Perfect fit for Your IMR/INR like 30Q, HG2, VTC6 etc. (Thanks NC)
In Standby TM28 will Allow You to See the Current Battery Voltage with Press of Small Button without Turning Light on.
I try to offer as thorough and honest a view of the new TM28 in my video so in the meantime please enjoy and view full screen 1080p.
Hey man, thanks a lot for the video! Expeeeensive light isn’t it? But you can’t deny it’s a very special and unique little light… Can you do me a favour? Can you check out the output of the light at around 3.5V charge on the 30Q? Hopefully the boost driver is still able to pump out 6K lumens… Thanks!
I’ll get back to you before tomorrow. I checked it at 3.9V after my walk and it was still over 6k lumen. You are so right though, and now that you mention this, I need to find out too. Thanks for the question.
When it’s at 3.6 resting and 3.45 while running in turbo I get 5980 lumens ANSI standard. Yeah, This light is noooooo cheap. It’s a pretty cool little light. There’s not another one out like it right now. Then again, one could argue, all that Nitecore did was swap for XHP35, swap a boost driver and update the firmware for the display. Easier said than done though. I like it. I’ll say that much. At over $300. do I still like it? Yeah, not as much though.
Very nice video papaslightsaber, as a matter of fact, I like all your video`s The TM 28 is indeed a great light, but like you Said, it is not cheap. My choice will be the imalent DT35, it is cheaper with the code from M4D M4X. But I wait with the purchase until I saw a review of the DT35
Thanks Gerrit. If Imalent can pull it off at that price then more power to them. I know that I have a DDT40 2016 version and it barely gets about 3,200 lumens turbo even though it’s supposed to be rated 4,200. Other than the obvious shortfall with the max turbo, it is still a nice light with the dual xp-l side lights that can be controlled individually or together. The main output on that light however, at least mine, was severely lacking. That said, at probably a buck fifty M4D M4X assisted purchase, I would certainly expect the DT35 to be worth the cost. IDK though. Time will tell. Looking forward to finding out more about that light too. Thanks.
Thanks a lot for the measurement; it’s definitely better than its predecessor. When it comes to “At over $300. do I still like it? Yeah, not as much though”, this might be the reason I’m not enjoying my TM26GT. Even though I paid $160, I still see this as a $400 MSRP light, and I feel this light is just not for me… It’s just unnecessary expensive…
Ok I checked it again but this time with the light cooled off, duh. So with 30Q @ 3.45V resting and 3.2v working, I got 6,075 lumens ANSI standard. I’ll take it down to 3V resting, see what that gives us.
So turbo cuts off at 3.25v. Hard pressing from off would go to turbo but it just blinks and off. Then if you soft press again, as you normally would to go to high mode, it still goes into high mode for about 2,500 lumens. So the light can reliably be used in turbo with the 30Q down to 3.25V, after which high and lower mode is still good to make your way back to the charger.
Charging from 3.2V to full charge cutoff took 5 hour 10 minutes.
Not at all. Thanks for your comment. I agree, this light is 100% expensive. However, it wasn’t to hard to find it on sale immediately on release. I don’t think it was as much the case with the previous TM26 iterations. I think Nitecore has been forced to take a softer stance as more people become educated about LED flashlights. Or maybe I’m just getting better at finding the sale prices.
Well, the output is top notch. The M43 with 30Q steps down at 3.41V resting voltage from turbo FYI (just some data for your pleasure perhaps).
It happens not too often, but still regularly that the light actually comes back on immediately after a full press to switch it off on my TM26GT. Secondly, it also happens that the light cycles to the next higher output when switching the light off. The light does go off, but next time you switch it back on it is at a higher output. Highly annoying, as the light is only capable of going to a lower output by cycling it through all higher outputs. Do you experience these two issues as well?
