Night Provision TX8 First Impressions

I won a Night Provision TX 8 in the giveaway here on BLF! Thanks @TurboBB!

It came with a Night Provision branded buttontop, protected 18650, labeled (but not tested by me) for 2600 mAh. It has a micro-USB charging port that works fine. Its chemistry isn’t on the label. It also came with a nice wrist lanyard and a couple of spare o-rings.

My sample looks and feels very well made, with anodizing, lettering, and knurling all crisply executed. The knurling is pretty smooth and feels nice, but I’d want part of my grip to be on the more aggressive serrations/fins around the head to keep a grip in slippery conditions.

The tailcap’s guards for the button aren’t very deep but don’t need to be, seeming to me to strike a good balance between protecting the button from accidental activation and not being a pain to use. The button feels like a rubber-booted e-switch, with a fairly high-pitched click and what feels like about 1mm of travel. There’s no option for a press that doesn’t latch, like with a forward clicky. It will tailstand with the lanyard attached.

The UI has a “tactical” mode and an “illumination” mode. Using the latter, the mode spacing works well for me. Moonlight mode isn’t accessible except from off, but I sure do like having it accessible directly from off. It’s a long-press to turn off (in this mode group) which I’m not used to. There’s no direct access to Turbo from off, but a double click at any time starts the disco modes, always beginning with strobe.

I’m no expert on tint, so keep that in mind. At lower levels it seems on the warmer side, becoming a bit more neutral to my eyes on Turbo. The hotspot is on the larger side and not well-defined, with good spill. It’s a good beam with a decent balance for indoor use. I have no reason to doubt the claimed lumens or runtime.

The pocket clip looks well made but is a dark grey rather than the black of the flashlight body. It doesn’t grip my pocket very tightly. Without the pocket clip the light rolls easily.

It’s not much longer than an FW3A and feels like it’s on the thinner side, slightly larger in diameter than a Klarus E1.

For $25 including the battery, I’m very impressed!

Just got one on Amazon. Nichia 219D emitter @ 5000K looks very nice to my eyes. UI a bit overdone but 7 clicks gets you to a simple mode that is press-and-hold on / release-off OR click on / click off.

This seems like clone of Folomov 18650S but the “blue on hi” complaints i read about I do not see with this light. Nice neutral slightly warm.

Comes with 2600 mah cell.

Seems like a good deal for $21.

Yeah I bought one from a member here and like the fact it's a very short 18650 light . I like the moon mode and ease of getting to it . I like the electronic feel of the tail switch . Good mode spacing .Downside is the yellow in the beam . My first thought was it had to be an XPG 3.Could nichia even ever make an emitter this bad?. I immediately put dc-fix on it and it cleaned the beam up a bunch . But recently I took off the film and now I realize why I had it on the light ..Next time I'm going to put a 1/8 th minus green filter on it and put the diffuser film back on to totally smooth out the beam . The light is a pretty bright little light too . I have to admit I really didn't expect to like it as much as I do .The two filters make it a much much better light .

Yes with the 219D it is a nice light.

I am liking Illumination mode. Easy to go Moon or Turbo and avoid all the others. Tactical mode “Turbo or Nothing” is good too.