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!