Well well well, look what we have here! Another Massdrop Brass Lumintop AAA review! Yay!
This little light is indeed very impressive. Beautiful as well. A little odd perhaps, with it’s unique tail e-switch that requires a bit of capacitor charge time, but then that’s how the tail switch works so once done, it’s worth it! M-L-H interface is not necessarily the most popular, I’d rather see L-M-H myself for such a small light, but it’s still quite useful.
I think by now everyone has seen this little charmer. Massdrop commissioned it from Lumintop to appeal to their EDC community and as such, I do believe it’ll be a hit. From the gold plated clip to the titanium button in the tail, a lot of thought has gone into this one.
I received 2 versions, one a Cree XP-G2 R5 and the other a Nichia 219C in warm white. The R5 is of a lower tint that when in the lowest modes afforded this AAA style light appears quite on the green hue side, especially side by side with the warm Nichia. But the Cree is substantially brighter at the same or similar current draws so there is some merit to be found.
This brass light comes in a sealed package, with a nice little box, the clip, a couple of o-rings and an AAA alkaline cell sporting Amazon labeling. While a NiMH or a Lithium primary works equally well, better even, alas an 10440 Li-ion is not recommended.
I kept the Nichia variant in the sealed bag as long as I could to see if the exposed light darkened or tarnished perceptably, and while it did indeed turn a darker richer gold the difference afforded a week, week and a half, was negligible.
The titanium button that sits atop a rubber seal and activates the small e-switch inside is flush, enabling a good tail stand.
Threads are clean and well cut, springs are stout and really secure the cell inside for a no rattle carry.
Those that purchases Rey’s group buy special of the Tool Ti should be familiar with how the light works, the Ti version in Rey’s group buy has a copper pill that splits the head and has an exposed rib, other than that these are essentially the same except for metal choice.
I found the Cree variant to run brightest, with numbers measured below…
…………………Lithium Primary………………Eneloop Pro
0.142A ……….31.257 Lumens………….0.72A………31.2915 Lumens
0.026A………….3.9675 Lumens…………0.027A………3.588 Lumens
0.760A……….125.58 Lumens……………0.916A……125.58 Lumens
The Nichia variant gave me these numbers…
…………………Lithium Primary………………Eneloop Pro
0.144A………17.905 Lumens………….0.161A………18.078 Lumens
0.023A……….2.07 Lumens……………0.029A…………2.07 Lumens
0.755A………71.07 Lumens……………0.740A…………71.415 Lumens
But then, y’all have already seen all that. So let’s move on to what you Haven’t already seen…
These little beauties ride really well in a nice suit. 
They’re positively brilliant out in the sunshine…
They even look really nice at the bottom of a hole! (I dropped one down the rotten core of an old tree stump. Way down there, too small a hole for me to reach down in, my 9 yr old saved the day just barely, his arm was almost too short to reach the bottom but he did indeed snag it for me!
Side by side, Cree vs Nichia, of a 16x20 Canvas depicting said little varmint some years back.
Side by side, Cree vs Nichia, of a 24x36 Metallic print of my daughter. Metallic prints are extremely vibrant in color reproduction and very lifelike.
So now lets take a look on the other side of one of these lights, the INSIDE… tail cap first…
And the pill, aluminum with a tabbed driver and even a tabbed mcpcb, which is aluminum and quite thin…
That 20ga wire looks monstrous beside the 32 Ga ? leads provided, doesn’t it?
I, uh, well, gee, how’d that XP-L HI get on that 10mm copper SinkPAD?
Ok, so now my Cree variant has a nicer tint. Output is actually less than the XP-G2, but still just over 101 lumens on high at 0.905A draw, with medium at 0.17A for 23 lumens and low at 0.026A for 2.484 lumens. I used 24ga leads putting it back together and glued the DTP copper mcpcb to the aluminum pill.
So there ya go, I’m hoping my version of the review gave you something new to look at and think about. I have spoken with Mike at Massdrop fairly extensively about the possibility of offering different emitters and even maybe changing to a L-M-H UI, he’s proposed it to his manager and they’re looking into it. I will update as further information becomes available.
I will also be checking into a direct link, the link provided to me does not open the brass aaa page.
All in all, a very enjoyable little light with some unique features produced by a company we know to be high quality. Nicely done Massdrop!
Dale
