Review: Niteye EYE25 (3 x XM-L | 2 x 18650)

The EYE25 is Niteye's follow up to their High-end series that launched with the EYE30, in which case both heads of these lights are identical. It is in essence the EYE30 in a different form factor, however, there is a key difference in output management between the two. I'll be covering that in-depth along with any other differences.


EYE25, I dub thee... Shorty Trident!


MFG SPECS
MSRP: $199 USD
- 3 x Cree XM-L U2 LED
- Battery: 2 x 18650's
- Magnetic Ring switch/dimmer
- Constant current curcuit / constant brightness
- Working voltage range: 6 - 12.6V
- Aircraft aluminum, Milatary Type III hard anodized, stainless steel guard rings




PACKAGING / CONTENTS
The EYE25 arrived disassembled, in a cardboard box w/ample foam cushioning:


A break-away lanyard ring, the lanyard and printed instructions were the only other items included with my sample. Not sure why the car charger wasn't included.


DESIGN / FEATURES
(Before jumping into this review, I'd recommend reading my EYE30 review if you haven't already. This will allow you to note the differences between the two in case you are x-shopping them.)

The EYE25 literally expands on the EYE30's form factor by incorporating an adapter and battery tube that accepts 2 x 18650's in series. There is also now a tailcap with a foward-clicky that functions as a master on/off switch:

The rubber tailcap cover features their newly designed logo.

Given the head is identical, it can accept the handle (not included) from the EYE30:


Since I have a full plate, I put together this quick video walk-thru of the EYE25 that should provide you with a good high-level summary until I can completely flesh out this review:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/qdW8LPSxGbc

Also, the cat is finally out of the bag. Niteye has issued a statement on their website proclaiming "All Niteye brand product are authorized by the designer who own all the patent and copyright of Jetbeam flashlight products.". That should finally put to rest why their lights bear such strong resemblance with one another.


SIZE / HANDLING

L to R: RL3100 | Niteye EY25 | Lighten7 MAX L2A | Klarus XT20 | ThruNite TN11 w/2x ext. | SureFire M3LT | Sunwayman T40CS


BEAMSHOTSBeam angle
[to come]

Indoors (5m)
Turbo


High


Med


Low

For details of the above indoor shots and comparo vs. many other lights, please check Epic Indoor Shots Trilogy

Whitewall Hunting
Exposure settings clockwise from top left: 1/25, 1/100, 1/800, 1/1600 @ f2.9 on AWB (light is ~.4m to wall / camera ~.59m):
[to come]


RUNTIME
The relevant battery stats are provided above each runtime graph along with:
- Voltage of the battery at the start and end of the test
- Current draw as taken right before the test
- Actual runtime using ANSI FL1 (first in HR and then in M so for the AW 16340 read this as .4hrs OR23min)
- Also for Turbo/High, captured the temperature: ambient, the head at start and the max it reached (fan was used for all bats)

As can be seen in the chart above, the EYE25 features three distinct step-down's (vs. one for the EYE30) as the batteries are depleted. It's also driven slightly less hard than the EYE30 in 2S configuration (3.3A vs. 3.5A) thus the output is also slightly lower (but still above the quoted 2K lms as measured on my PVC LMD). This combination helped it to achieve 1.7 hrs of runtime before the PCB on one of the cells kicked in.

The great news is that I didn't ecounter the ring freezing issue that I had with the EYE30.

Will test w/the other cells when time allows.


MORE TO COME...

Thx Jack! Video review now posted.

That is one wierd looking light...

Nice review but that is one fugly arse torch IMO.

This is the first flashlight designed by a committee and the result is FUGLY

Thank you for the review turbobb. This is indeed an ugly flashlight

Thank you for the review TurboBB.

And to all you other - dont call that flashlight ugly. You may hurt its feelings.

Although I agree it is cosmetically challenged. LOL

Thx guys! All I can say is beauty is in the eye of the beholder... ;) Personally I think it's a little funky but in a cool way.

@Ledsmoke, I love that phrase "cosmetically challenged". =)

The two halves are put together without much care for style but it sure is a great functioning light. Not really bad looking either, the head looks really nice. I like it.

I like it. Any U.S. dealers got it yet?