Average dude reviews - Nicron N7

Yes there is very visible PWM on low when you swing fast the flashlight. For battery I managed to work with flat 14500 maybe because the contact with battery was not very good. You are also lucky, my driver is very pitchty and I can hear it from 1m.

one good way to see PWM is to move your fingers in front of the light, quickly.

it is better than moving the light around, imho.

wle

Does this really output 600 lumen or are those internet lumen?

Thanks Wle, will try that. I’m sure it has more to do with me than the light.

It has PWM on low mode.

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Well, I’ve got no equipment to measure it, but to my eye I’d say yes or close to it using the 14500 battery. It’s significantly brighter than a couple other lights using AA’s. I did try comparing it to a Jetbeam 1 mk running an identical Jetbeam 14500 battery which says it puts out 480 lumens and they looked pretty similar, with the Nicron maybe having a slightly hotter hot spot, but also maybe the 1 MK had a very slightly brighter flood area.

It’s bright for this size light with the right battery and get’s a thumbs up from average dude, especially if you can get it on sale. Just remember to physically lock it out if you are going to throw it in a bag or something.

My protected KeepPower 14500 has too short a button to contact the positive electrode. Needed just a tiny drop of solder on it.

I like this light a lot. Just enough light in a small package with the selectable L shape and that plenty strong magnet make it my automotive repair light of choice.
I initially didn’t like the magnet for pocket carry, as it attracts things you don’t want it to attract, but almost by accident I have found many uses for the magnet and pocket carry.
For instance, it’s a bit of a hassle to put the keys in my pocket for a short trip from the car to the door, then get the keys back out…. Now I just place them near the magnet sticking out of my pocket for a short trip.
Then one day I was searching for a stud to hang an item on a wall, found that the light will stick to the screw if it isn’t too deep. Now I can stick it to the wall just about anywhere. It’s best to remove the tailcap and use it to find the screw, then put it back together.

It’s definitely in an early lead for this year’s gift list.

I find it a good light though. It has a nice light output and doesn’t heat much. I think it’s around a bit less 5000k color temp. Comfortable light for me. Also have decent throw but the fact that it handles heating well really amazed me. I can use it for around 15mins and still not that hot maybe because it’s samsung LED? IDK. Lol

Got one. Liked it so ordered 2 more. Under $13 on Amazon.

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Over here in Singapore, the Nicron N7 is called B74e. During the recent 7.7 Sale, I bought one more and got one free for just S$20 or about US$15 without battery.

Using a 14500 battery, the light is bright, as good as Sofirn SP40; and it doesn’t heat up much. But when using an AA battery, the light is rather dull.

The switch is sometimes difficult to operate. The magnet in the tail-cap is good and strong.

The adjustable head of the flashlight is a nice design, a good selling point.

For just arounds US$10, it is an excellent buy.

I just saw this review. Nice job. :white_check_mark:

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I’ve got both the B74 and B74e.

B74 uses XPL-HD,
B74e uses Samsung (LH351B?)

B74 has 3 brightness levels (Low-Med-High)
B74e has 2 brightness levels only (Low-High)

One thing noted for this light is that it appears to be designed to be used with longer protected 14500 batteries (when ordering the B74 with 14500 battery included, the included battery is a protected 14500 battery with a built-in micro-USB charging port, and this makes the 14500 battery quite long (it’s one of the longest, if the not the longest 14500 battery I’ve encountered).

Given the above, I’ve tried some shorter button-top 14500 batteries (and even some regular AA batteries) — when using these more regular batteries while the flashlight is ON, then try to stick the (turned-ON) flashlight on a magnetic surface, the light has a tendency to power off or flicker — my guess is that the shorter AA or 14500 battery will get “sucked” by the magnetic tailcap while it’s getting attached to the metal surface, and this makes the positive side of the battery temporarily lose contact with the driver head portion, thus turning off the light or flickering while getting magnetically attached.

I have 5 of these gems. They are very simple but highly utilitarian. Only 2 brightness levels plus a hidden strobe and SOS. These are truly handy to have on hand in a car or motorcycle. The magnetic base and swivel head are great for working under a car hood or changing a tire…plus they are very inexpensive, while not cheap feeling. I highly recommend this light.

I guess a spacer would fix that .

Oddly, this is probably my most-used light since I keep it at work and need it almost daily. I never noticed the whine until I saw it mentioned in another review, but it's there...can't hear it in normal use, though. I think I got mine for $8 on Amazon before it got wildly popular. The price now is ridiculous (I think I saw it for $18.99 on prime day...). It's a good little light and the emitter is wonderful but it's still a cheaply made light. That said, I've had no problems from mine and the tail thread anodizing is holding up fine (I lock it out every time for pockets or sitting on my monitor stand unattended), swivel hasn't become loose or sloppy. The magnet works great and even works great on thin wire rope or 1/2" emt conduit. These angle lights are great for sticking under the hood of the car because you can adjust the beam wherever you need it to be. Replacing fluorescent bulbs in cantankerous light troffers, installing keyboard trays beneath office desks, doing crap up inside suspended ceiling tiles...it's just so handy and plenty bright enough. I put a little disc of DC-Fix on it to smooth it out and it's even better but as-is the Samsung emitter is very good. My one complaint is that I'd like it to come on in low first, and a third mode would be great. A couple years ago they updated it but I don't know what they did exactly. The negative reviews on Amazon - after weeding out the irrelevant ones - are numerous enough to point out that they clearly have some QC issues, and that reinforces my opinion that it's priced way too high now.

I also got the Rofis R2 around the same time, for about $42 I think. It is a MUCH better made light but I actually like and use the Nicron more. The head on the Rofis is so incredibly stiff that I have to use two hands to adjust it and no amount of lube or working it back and forth has helped. That's probably a sign of great construction I guess, but I swear I worked it at least 2,000 times and it's as tight as it ever was...doesn't loosen up with heat from running the light, either. So the Nicron wins there...plus the squared head and hex tail on the Nicron help it not to roll away, moreso than a pocket clip does sometimes. The clip on the Rofis was better so I put it on the Nicron. Ignoring the external magnetic charging on the Rofis (and that they seem to have gone out of business?) it's better made in many ways but for the price and the function drawbacks and a weaker magnet, the little Nicron at 1/3 to 1/4 the price is a no-brainer. It's a shame that you can't get into the Nicron without destroying it. If Nicron would put a couple more bucks of engineering into this model it could be just perfect and I'd happily pay for that.

For $13 think I will get my money worth from mine.

No doubt. On the batteries, I haven't ever had it lose contact and flicker like that (my Convoy M3 certainly does, though, sans magnet). Mine is first generation, so maybe that matters. Generally run the gold Vapcell in it but I've used alkaline and eneloops in it, plus a usb-port Nitecore cell and they all fit fine. I put a flattop Vapcell H10 in it and it seemed to work fine but I didn't knock it around. It'd be easy enough to poke a little piece of foam down there under the spring.

First one from Amazon a week ago had no pwm or buzz. Two I got today had both and a different tint.

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I came here to say exactly this. So I’ll just say, yes, these are great utilitarian lights, and I just got a few more of them to gift to friends and family. They are currently on sale on Amazon for $10.99. Not for long, though. Should have found this forum earlier I guess.

I have 2 N7s. The strong magnet and swivel head are exactly what I needed when I was replacing the O2 sensors on my car, both are barely accessible with the O2 removal tool and ratchet and only visible by braille. The N7 is now my most used light.