Hi everyone, today I would like to share my experience on my new Lumintop edc05 c.I was in search for a slightly bigger edc flashlight than my lumintop geek, which have a main light with decent throw and a floody side light.Found this one to meet most of my need so bought it last month along with a Lumintop 750 mah battery.So here are my thoughts so far using this light.
It is a beautifully crafted unibody construction ,which fulfills most of my daily edc needs.After carrying it for more than 2 weeks, I really liked its versatility albeit being such a compact sized light.
It is a compact pocket carry light with a good beam profile for edc use.With added benefits of side flood light, tail magnet and usb
rechargeablility , this sure is a complete package for every edc needs.
Here are some manufacturer's specs
The light came in the usual Lumintop box, well packaged with all the accessories.The accessories includes the spare oring for tailcap,a good quality pocket clip ,a usb cable and the special tool to remove the tailcap.
The light is made of aircraft grade aluminum with type iii anodization.As with all Lumintop lights the anodization is of top notch quality.It has a matt black finish which really looks good.
The light body has groved heat fins to keep the light cool.I personally never found it hot during prolonged usages.The flashlight has enough chunk to effectively carryout the heat produced at 500lumens.
This flashlight can take only 14500 lithium batteries.Inoder to make the flashlight more compact, the tail cap is designed differently.The design is in such a way that,you should treat the light as a light with inbuilt battery, which needs to be opened only when the batteries fail.
Here we cannot open the tailcap ,like other lights.We need to use a special tool which is supplied with the light.The tail cap is slotted at the centre for the special tool attachment.With the special tool ,its fairly easy to remove the tail cap.I could also open it using minus screw driver and even with small coins .
Ofcourse , there is no option for mechanical lockout due to this design(like all other mini lights with inbuilt battery flashlights)..The tailcap( or as I would say tail screw?), contains an oring to prevent any water ingress.
A powerful magnet is pre installed inside the tail cap.It is removable, if you need to.
The battery positive contact point and the tailcap spring are all gold plated and have a robust feel and look to it.
The light charges at around 0.4 A at begining and then at ~.37 A and will take somewhere around 2.5 hrs to fully charge the light.The charging indicator is located inside the power switch.It turns on red while charging and goes out when the light is fully charged.
The light allows to use all its modes even while charging.
I use a Lumintop protected 14500 750mah battery inside the light,which so far has provided good performance.
The pocket clip is of great quality as the rest of the flashlight.
The usb , cover is very tight and secure.It will not come undone in daily use, as the cover sits completely flush with the light with no protrusions.
Talking about the main led.This uses Cree XHP35 HI LED in a high quality orange peel reflector. The led is perfectly centered.The blue bezel,gives it a premium look.This setup provides adequate throw with a bright spill.The led tint is towards cool white.But I don't mind this as this makes the beam really bright even though its only 500 lumens.
.The hotspot is really tight at closer distances but provides a wider bright beam at a distance.
The side led beam is warm in tint with good cri.The beam is purely flood with no artifacts.
With the tailcap magnet ,I find this beam very useful, during my edc scenarios.
The side led cover is not a hard plastic, its like a silicon material with GITD feature.It is kind of. the same material used on my lumintop geek,which to my experience has held up really well so far.The only problem I faced was,it can easily get pen marks,while carrying in pocket or bag,but then it too can be easily removed using a rubber eraser.I personally stiil would have prefered the hard plastic for the side light like in the geek side light cover which is more transparent.I guess,may be they thought otherwise because the hard plastic can get scratched easily and asthetically the GITD silicone cover is perfectly complimenting the flashlight overall design.
The GITD side light cover is very useful to find your light at pitch dark situations.It stays bright for only few minutes but in really dark rooms, you can still find the light easily by this.
The tail cap magnet is really strong and can easily support the flashlight weight.
Some night shots
The field is around 45- 50 feet below my apartment.The beam profile is really great and the xhp 35 hi really helps with the throw .
The user interface is similar to other Lumintop flashlights.Single click from off to turn on into memorized mode, subsequent clicks cycles the output in low medium high.Double click from off or on state to turn the side light on.
From off press and hold for 2 sec for direct access to moonlight,double click to access side moonlight.From off press and hold for 5 sec for electronic lockout.From lockout you can still get momentary at low.Pressing and holding while light on turns strobe on,single clicks gets you to sos and beacon
To sum it up ,I would like to point out its pros and cons
1.Beautiful design with sturdy build.
2.Great beam profile for edc use.
3.Very useful side light feature.
4.Strong tail cap magnet ,with option to remove if not required.
5.Good quality battery contact point and tail spring.
6.micro USB rechargeability with a snug usb cover.
7.Good quality pocket clip.
8.Good water proofing ability.
9.Flat tailcap design to use it in candle mode.
10.Side light with good cri .
11.Direct access to moonlight
- Con's
1.No battery status indicator.
2.No mechanical lockout.
3.Requires special tool for battery removal.
4.No direct acess to high.
5.No option to reverse th pocket clip.
5.Tail cap material is prone to scratches easily
