Acebeam has a new dual purpose tactical weapon light that can also double as an EDC with the new P15. It’s designed to easily transition between the two uses and features a number of optimizations to work for both uses. It’s available in 4 colors with a variety of accessories too. Thanks to Acebeam for sending this to me to look at and review.
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Versions & Packaging & Accessories
The P15 comes in 4 colors, Black, Orange, Green, and Dark Green which is what I have here. The colors are really nice, Packaging is well done, with a full color magnetic closure box but not much info on the outside. Inside on my standard edition light I received an Acebeam Lanyard, 2 extra orings, allen key, 2 extra screws, the dual contact (proprietary) 18650 battery, and a proprietary charging cable.
Construction & Design
Let’s talk about the design elements and construction on the Acebeam P15. Construction wise this feels and looks like a nicely built light in my opinion. Everything is nicely machined and finished. Edges are chamfered and the anodizing is flawless. This Dark Green color that I have here is my favorite, I wish more lights were finished this way. There is a good amount of laser engravings on the light, something is visible from almost every angle.
Let’s start at the tail, the light does tail stand, the switch is electronic, metal and flush. It’s hard to feel with gloves on but you can stab blindly and it generally works. There is a rotating locking ring in the rear as well to lock in your various accessories like the charging cable, tactical ring, or remote pressure switch on the side of the light.
The body tube is smooth except for ribbing in the middle that adds a bit of grip and style. Threads are square cut and raw (but with grease). Internally there are springs on both sides. The head is pretty minimal in design with some basic milling for style mainly. The front bezel has some crunulations that allow light to escape when head down. Inside you have that double AR glass, and a smooth reflector.
Retention
Retention is one of the main differences on this light with it’s dual purpose design ethos of being weapon mountable and quickly converted to EDC. Starting first with EDC, there is the large pocket clip that dominates the light. It’s not a traditional pocket clip at all, it stands proud of the light quite a bit more then what we are used to seeing, that’s because it’s mounted on a “Scout” mount. As a result it’s not deep carry, but fairly secure. Given that I think it’s a better fit on a vest than in jeans pocket. The included lanyard can be attached at the rear of the clip or in the middle. The scout mount can be removed by taking the hex screws off the clip and then using your own smaller allen keys to remove it from the light if you wish. Acebeam sells a tactical ring that can be used in place of the clip if you wish too.
To convert to a weapon mount, you simply remove the two clip screws to reveal the standard scout mount you can then slide into any compatible mount. While easy to convert it’s not a tooless design.
Size & Weight
I measured the length at 129.7mm, maximum diameter at the at the tail near the clip 34.5mm, minimum diameter on the body at 21.7mm. With the battery and clip installed the light comes in at 5.26oz, or 149.2g. The light is IPX8 water rated.
LED & Beam
The P15 is using the Luminus SFT40 HI LED in an advertised 6500k tint with an advertised maximum 1700 lumens resulting in 330 meters of throw. On my unscientific Opple meter I recorded 6000K in turbo with a Ra (CRI) of about 65 and no measurable flicker. The beam is what you would expect, from a flat top LED, very throwy with a focused hot spot in the center and minimal spill. The crenulated bezel’s edges are visible in the spill but just a little.
Official Outputs
- Turbo 1700 Lumens - 27,225 Candela
- High 600 Lumens
- Mid 200 Lumens
- Low 45 Lumens
- Ultra Low 2 Lumens
Heat & Runtime
Let’s talk about the runtimes of the P15. Rubo lasts for 2 minutes before stepping down to 40% of relative output. It then continues on like this for 2 more hours till it takes a sharp decline for a total runtime of 2:18:00. During this time peak temp was 50C which is pretty controlled. I also ran a medium mode output and it’s very stable for 2:50:00 and then declines and shuts off for a total output of 3:12:00.
UI
UI is simple on my version here without any of the accessories. From off, long press to turn on in firefly, long press to go into low, and the light will keep cycling up to medium and high. Double click to go to Turbo while on, and triple press to go to strobe. You can’t mechanically lock the light out due to those anodized threads but it does have electronic lockout that works pretty well. The quick function switch and pressures sensitive switch add other UI elements, but since I don’t have those I won’t comment on them directly.
Recharging
Let’s talk about the battery in the Acebeam P15. It’s a 3100mAh 18650 that’s dual polarity on the one end with the plastic separator ring. We have seen other manufactures use these same type of cells usually on larger lights. I think Acebeam is doing it here to facilitate charging and the remote pressure switch without a dual tube light design to keep things slim. The bad news is it’s semi proprietary.
So charging is accomplished via the pogo pins style connectors in the rear of the light. It comes with a special cable that plugs in via USB. It slides in from the rear and is a tight fit. It definitely takes some effort to get it there since the connector is a softer rubber/plastic. Once in place you can lock it in by turning the mechanical switch on the rear switch. This is also used for the other accessories.
Charging took 2:27:00 to charge from LVP at 2.945V to full at 4.215v, so right where Acebeam claims. Fastest charging rate I saw was about 1.4V. The light will not turn on while charging.
Final Thoughts
I like the P15 EDC Tactical and the concept that Acebeam was trying to achieve with it. I like that they brought out multiple colors of the light from the beginning instead of dribbling them out over time. That said the light does make concessions in it’s design to do both tasks. Mainly the clip for me isn’t deep carry enough to create a light that I want to EDC in my front pockets, for me it’s more of a jacket light or something to go on a bag, that’s ok. As a weapon light I think this would do pretty well, they seem to have thought of most things, and it’s probably a little better as a weapon light than an EDC in my opinion.
This is the first light I have tried with the Luminis SFT40 HI LED. It’s pretty great for being cool white, without any major tint shift at lower outputs and creates a nice tight beam to throw well for its size. Hopefully we see this in future lights and from other manufactures.
The numerous different accessories with this light are nice as well, something for everyone aimed at both the tactical side if you wish, the P15 Defender kit will be the model you want to pick up, or the P15 EDC Tactical for more EDC uses but still have the ability to mount if you wish. With the P15 the choice is up to you and I can recommend it with those reservations about EDC use.
