Bought this some time last year (can’t recall when exactly), it’s been living with my sling bag since. Initially thought this was just another brighter 5mm budget keychain light like the Nitecore Tube or Photon Micro with a gimmicky tiltable head and dim red light, but boy oh boy, it has glow on me over the past few months. I found myself using this Nitecore Thumb more and more, and having the Thumb clipped on my shirt collar or pocket or belt while tilting the head ~90° angle free both of my hands to work on things. Yes, I know headlamps does the same, but I never felt comfortable strapping something on my head. That’s one main reason I keep the Zebralight H502/w around my work area. With Thumb, I can also easily adjust the angle of light to my liking.
Having just tested the runtime on High and Med, I’m happy to report that the High mode runs for 55 minutes before dimming down while the Med mode runs for 2:30 minutes before dimming. It’s slightly better than what manufacture’s claimed… well, at least for now since the battery is still fresh.
I also found myself using the Med mode of 30 lumens almost exclusively as it’s plenty bright for what I need it for — up close inspection, and only occasionally switch to 85 lumens for short blast, not to see more nor further, but just wanted to enjoy the brighter rosy white tint that came out of the 2 high performance LED. I have no idea if these are High-CRI LED or otherwise (which I doubt so), but it’s so much better at rendering colour of objects than other more expensive lights, a lot more expensive light…
If you are still on those bluish/greenish tinted 5mm keychain light, do try this out.
A few quick shots of the Nitecore Thumb…
strong clip.
2 x high performance LED.
red LED, constant on and blinking, 2 modes.
micro-usb recharging port with cover
and finally, the tiltable head