Nitecore Chameleon CI6
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★★
Summary:
| Battery: | 1x18650 or 2xCR123A |
| Switch: | 3 Switches Switch 1 (mechanical) - Tailcap switch for on/off Switch 2 (electronic) - Main white mode change Switch 3 (electronic) - Main Color/auxiliary color mode change |
| Modes: | A lot!! XD |
| LED Type: | 3 Different LEDs. Main White = xp-g 2 Main IR = xp-e Aunxiliary RGB = generic 5mm |
| Lens: | Coated glass lens |
| Tailstands: | Yes but not stable |
| Price Paid: | 65$ |
| From: | Banggood |
| Date Ordered: | May 2016 |
Pros:
- A lot of different modes/colors
- Excellent output of the main white LED
- Low battery warning
- Excellent machinning, finish and overall construction. Robust as a rock!
Cons:
- Tailstand is not very stable due to the "protuding" tailcap button rubber cover
- Threads are not square
- No voltage reading when inserting batteries as other Nitecore models
- A bit expensive
Video review splitted into 3 parts.
1) Unboxing and included items video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmdUhP1BCLo
2) Hands on video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nKx3YBaE5o
3) Beamshots/white wall test of all functions/modes/colors video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q0zA5vvH1k
Features / Value: ★★★★★
What to say? If you are flashaholic, I am sure that you have a Nitecore and you know how is the quality, finish and the usual characteristics of them. It is a high quality, well designed flashlight.
This time, the Chameleon series of Nitecore, are flashlights that have 3 different LED types offering different choices of "type" of light and color output.
All the Chameleon variant have 2 main high power LED´s. One is WHITE. The other can be INFRARED, ULTRAVIOLET, RED, GREEN or BLUE.
And all of them have "auxiliary" RGB color (low power) from two 5mm leds located in the outer part of the reflector.Includes a holster, a spare rubber button, orings, pocket clip, tactical ring and lanyard. Also English/chinese user manual.
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★★
The flashlight can be "splitted" into 3 parts: head, battery tube, tailcap.
In the head there are located the 2 mode change buttons. One for the main WHITE, the other, for the MAIN color and auxiliary RGB leds.
Not much to say. Nitecore quality. It has polarity protection in the + contact for the battery. Also a big spring on the + side of the driver board... I think it is for impact resistance.
Threads: They are NOT square. This is not good for my liking.... but they are not bad. They are well machined. Lubed from factory. Smooth.
It includes a pocket clip (removable) but I dont know if it can be reversed... I will have to check...
The main impression is it´s robustness. Solid as a rock.
Battery Life: ★★★★★
Haven´t done my own runtime tests, but taking into account that the xp-g2 is not a power hungry like XM-L or XP-L, you can guess that it will last very long when using 18650.
It can be powered with 2xCR123A
Light Output: ★★★★★
Talking about the main white color... not bad for a xp-g2. 440 lumens is a good output with good runtime, as the xp-g is not as power hungry as the XM-L or XP-L...
It does not produce any artifacts/rings despite having such a rare configuration of LED/reflectors. Reflector is not 100% round, but the shape of the beam seems "normal"... I mean.... typical beam as any other flashlight with round reflector.
Talking about Infrared.... The only way to "see" it is through a digital camera/phone. And I dont know what to say... There is no info available on how many lumens produce the IR led... but they told us that the power is 1500mW....
As you can see in the beamshots video... the beam... is... "rare"? It is the first time I see the light produced by an IR light, so I dont know if that is normal...
Talking about the RGB auxiliary colors... they are.... "ok". In my opinion, they are too bright and they disturb night vision... specially the RED color. It should have any option to reduce brightness.. But it is ok as the way it is...
Summary: ★★★★★
Important. I would recommend the chameleon series to people who have the need of a WHITE/IR/RED/BLUE/GREEN/ULTRAVIOLET flashlight. If you dont need such functionality... there are other choices...
But.... they are so versatile that if you want a "normal" white flashlight and you think that you will need a "color" flashlight in the future... you may consider purchasing this one.
It is a.... "all in one" flashlight XD
Video review splitted into 3 parts.
1) Unboxing and included items video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmdUhP1BCLo
2) Hands on video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nKx3YBaE5o
3) Beamshots/white wall test of all functions/modes/colors video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q0zA5vvH1k