[4K Review] IMALENT MS03 - 13000 lumens, World's Brightest EDC

I think that there may be variation between samples. There are a lot of people on the German forum that have not reported any issues with the MS03. I purchased two of them, and after cleaning up the glue from in between the tube and the head, and tightening the head and the tube down very tightly, I have no issues with the factory battery. I have this issue with the very large solder blob 40T cells, but I do not have this issue with the factory batteries.

My historical perspective: Before the R90TS was released, I was interested in Imalent high power flashlights, but I was advised to wait for Imalent to improve its QC. That happened when the R90TS and MS18 were released. I got both, and they are the Kings of Flood and Search.

This light is speced at 9,500 lumens by Vinh, but to my eyes, it tops the TM9K and the FW21Pro and the NSX53. My only disappointment with this exciting light is that it is factory rated at 13,000 lumens, and Vinh rated at only 9500. However, to my eyes, it is a little bit more visibly brighter than the other three that I just mentioned above. Someone in the German forum said that unprotected cells yield another thousand lumens, but I have the red light issue with large solder blob unprotected cells. Also, there are a few people in the international community who do report lumens close to 13,000. To my eyes, Vinhs’ rating may be 2000 lumens too low.

Vinh’s ratings are fine, he doesn’t use a shitty tube, his measurements are usually close to mine (as are Maukka’s) and I got approx 10000 twice at turn on.

I suspect you will get the red light sooner or later with the stock cell as I could use Turbo quite a while before the first red light.

When does the red light issue appear?

Does it never activate Turbo again once it appeared? (So its useless and just a 2000Lm light?)

Or After switching to turbo for several times?

The red light can come on after a second on turbo or after a few activations. There’s no pattern.

Twisting the tailcap off and on resets the light so you can use Turbo/High again.

When I reviewed the light in the Dangerous Place I only had one hand free so resetting was impossible. So avoid the MS03 if you’re planning on holding a dog lead, camera, gun or umbrella etc in your other hand.

Wow was my first reaction as I saw how bright it was. Considering its size it’s amazing.

Excellent review. Thanks for posting it.

Hello KG,

Your second video was posted in the German forum yesterday, and that has renewed discussion about how a few German posters report the red light turbo issue. It was reported that Imalent reported on Monday that the issue is caused by melting glue; remove and clean it up and tighten very tight, but some still have the issue, and others have difficulty removing the head from the tube to attempt this fix, and a few have, but issue remains, and majority(?) have no issue.

It was also on the German forum reported that Imalent reported that all MS03 after June 20 no longer have this issue.

Instead of sleeping uninterruptedly, I got up in the middle of the night and charged all of my cells and did yet another small white room ceiling bounce check with: Two MS03, TM9K, FW21Pro, NSX53, MT07 vn W2, and MMU-X3 vn triple 50.2. To my subjective eyes, MS03 ranked a little bit brighter than the TM9K, which in turn ranked a little bit brighter than the FW21Pro, followed closely by the NSX53 and then the MT07 W2 and lastly the MMU-X3 triple 50.2.

I think the issue is caused by variation in contact cleanliness and tightness and anode white plastic collar interfering. Manufacturers ship defective product, but in this case, Imalent shipped a corrected test specimen to you that was not corrected!

Now if I can only get my big solder blob top 40T's to not have this issue. For me, this light and TM9K tie for King of edc, followed by FW21Pro and NSX53 tying for Queen. Smaller edc fans, and fans of various manufacturers have a wide variety of so many great lights to choose from.

They maybe sending me a MS03W for review which will be interesting.

A 3rd? I really want this one to work. I want to get one so bad.

Hi everyone,

I have received my replacement unit of MS03 and i am happy to announce that it’s working as intended now.
Happy with it and just be careful that it gets really hot on the tip and the heatsink fins area when it’s on turbo.

Good to hear, keep playing with it, a few people have had replacement MS03’s play up after quite a few uses.

Mine is working as intended. Took it for a week camping and turbo worked as intended the whole time.

Strange, I have the “new and improved” MS03W and I still get the red light…

Very weird. Is that your third now? I don’t know if it’s just chance, Imalent trolling you or something different you’re doing. You don’t live n the North Pole do you?

Regarding the MS03W, what’s the lumens and tint like? Imalent advertise it as 5000K and still the same 13000lm but AFAIK warmer LEDs are always less efficient.

I am still using it without problems. Also tried what you showed on video for several times and it’s still working as intended.

Did you use the original cell ?

Yes, on all 3

As far as i know the only difference is the tint with the ‘W’ version

The tailcap has reworded text and revised spring, and apparently the turbo issue is fixed, which they still claim is glue residue.

Looking at your MS03W video, the 5000K tint looks so much better than the 6500K+ tint of the MS03. I’d gladly sacrifice a couple of thousand lumens for that. Thanks for all the comparison shots.

Same output, I think the 5000 K was slightly higher at turn on