Review Lumintop/Massdrop AAA EDC (Pics of light apart also)

This is a new Lumintop EDC made for and sold by “Massdrop” (in conjunction with Lumintop). The samples I received were sent for my review and NO other compensation other than keeping the lights.
I have noticed there are a number of reviews up on this light already in the forum , so I don’t know if mine will cover anything that was not covered already , but I did manage to get the head and tailcap apart , to get pictures of those , IF that part was not covered.

Note: The Massdrop Brass AAA Pocket Flashlight will be available for $24.99 starting 1/31/17 at 6AM PST.
At checkout, you’ll have your choice between the CREE XP-G2 R5 LED and the Nichia 219 LED.

If you have the Lumintop Ti Tool , or have seen it , then you should be familiar with the styling of these EDC lights , as the body of the light is the same. Everything arrived very well packaged and the light themselves were even vacuum sealed in plastic to help protect them.
I have been carrying and using these lights for a couple of weeks now and both perform great. Both the Cree and the Nichia versions have the same modes , and are the same size etc. , although the output is slightly lower on the Nichia 219 emitter , but not by alot. The lights have a very robust feel to them and the small knurling is good and grippy. Both are made of solid brass with a Titanium switch button and Gold plated clip to go with the brass , making for a very elegant look. The tube threads , head threads and tailcap threads are all excellent on both lights and super smooth. The knurling is very well done and the machining is top notch.
The little pill inside is made from aluminum and has a SOLID shelf the MCPCB sits on (thermal paste under the board), with slots made into the sides of the pill for the tabs of the MCPCB to line up with , keeping everything in place when put together. The reflector is a nice little Orange Peel reflector and is held firmly in place with pressure from the MCPCB pushing it against the inside of the bezel. That all sits against the O-ring sealed AR lens and everything is securely in place once the head is tightened down. The result is a smooth wide beam with NO rings or artifacts in the 2 samples I received.
Although a fairly wide beam this little Gem still covers some distance for such a small light , as I am able to see pretty clearly out to at least 40 to 45 yards with them.

The lights can also be used in a number of ways , making them a little more versatile than many keychain sized lights. With the included chain that attaches to the tailcap of the light , which has a nice lever operated clip on the other end , they can be used as a keychain light that way. Then there is the included clip which will fit at either end of the light tube , allowing you to carry it head up or head down , depending on your preference. This same clip when used on the head end of the light pointing towards the tail end , then makes it where it can be used as a headlamp attached to the bill of a ball cap or a hat brim.

The switch itself is kind of unique (at least to my knowledge) as it has circuitry in the tiny switch , not only controlling the mode changes , but also with a feature that has to “power up” once the battery in inserted. I thought at first something was wrong with the lights , but then found out that after waiting about 30 to 45 seconds , one of the little capacitors is then powered up , as it needs a “charge” before normal operation. Once that happens the lights work flawlessly through the Medium / Low / High modes. The switch is also a very refined feeling switch , as there is no play or “slop” in it as with many of the rubber booted tail switch lights. It takes very little pressure or movement before the switch engages and turns the light on/off or changes modes.
With the NiMH cells I have been using (the new type “stay charged” Duracell) I am getting an average of around 30 minutes minutes on high mode with these lights. Not bad if you use them for short periods to get to the house or walking out to your car or something of that nature. If you use the medium or low modes run times will of course increase greatly , although I did not test the lower output runtimes.

Overall the fit , feel , and finish of these lights is exceptional , especially to be such a small little light, The best build quality little EDC I have had the pleasure of owning to date.

The ONLY negative I would have at all with either of these lights is as I also mentioned in the video portion. I would like to see the XP-G2 R5 replaced with maybe a XP-G2 S2 1D or even a S4 2B to get the tint a little better , (has greenish cast especially around the edges of the hotspot) and with that the output should have a slight increase also. This is my personal preference and yours may vary.

For those who do not want to watch the whole video the Teardown , Still shots and Beamshots of the light start at 6:46 in the timeline and the live footage outside shining starts at 10:27 of the timeline. I did compare the ThruNite T01 in some of the beamshots and in the live outside footage with these 2 lights also.
Again the video footage with my cheap video camera does not show nearly as true to life as the beamshot stills do in the slide portion of the video.

Video followed by listed specs………………

Specs

CREE XP-G2 R5 LED
•Material: Brass
•Titanium button piece
•LED: CREE XP-G2 R5
•Max beam intensity: 553 cd
•Max beam distance: 154 ft (47 m)
•Battery: 1 AAA
•Low mode: 5 lumens, 36 hrs
•Medium mode: 32 lumens, 4 hrs
•High mode: 110 lumens, 30 min
•Removable, reversible, gold-plated pocket clip
•IPX-8 waterproof
•1.5 m impact resistant
•Working voltage: 0.9 – 1.5V
•Dimensions: 2.9 x 0.6 in (7.4 x 1.5 cm)
•Weight (with battery): 1.5 oz (42.5 g)

Nichia 219 LED
•Material: Brass
•Titanium button piece
•LED: Nichia 219 LED
•Max beam intensity: 304 cd
•Max beam distance: 111 ft (34 m)
•Battery: 1 AAA
•Low mode: 3 lumens, 36 hrs
•Medium mode: 18 lumens, 4 hrs
•High mode: 80 lumens, 30 min
•Removable, reversible, gold-plated pocket clip
•IPX-8 waterproof
•1.5 m impact resistant
•Working voltage: 0.9 – 1.5V
•Dimensions: 2.9 x 0.6 in (7.4 x 1.5 cm)
•Weight (with battery): 1.5 oz (42.5 g)

Included (both models)
•Plastic case
•Spare O-rings

nice review, cool to see a video about it too!

Thanks ,

These really are some nice lights though.
My review is like the 5th one or so?

Nice light, nice reveiw (one of) :smiley:

Thanks Hunter.

Always glad to do the reviews for the forum/community here.