In this review I would like to introduce you to the Acebeam PT40 Multipurpose Work Flashlight.
The lamp is currently on sale directly at the manufacturers website and available for around 60$.
I kindly got it for free from Acebeam for testing.
The PT40 is available with three different LED’s:
6*SAMSUNG LH351D CRI≥90 6000K
6*Luminus SST-20 4000K CRI 95
6*NICHIA 219C CRI ≥90
The one I have is the Samsung version.
Technical data (given by manufacturer)
table(table#posts).
|Model|Acebeam PT40|
|LED|6 x SAMSUNG LH351D|
|Color temperature|6000K|
|Battery|18650 Li-Ion (protected)|
|Driver|constant current driver without PWM|
|Material|Aluminum (not specified)|
|Reflector|6 x TIR lens (frosted)|
|Glass|Mineral glass (tempered)|
|Light levels|4 + Hidden Ultra Low, Turbo and SOS|
|Brightness Max|3000 lumens|
|Brightness Min|15 lumens|
|Range|121m (3,680cd)|
|Runtime|Max 80 hours (15 lm) - Min 1.5 hours (3000 lm with stepdown)|
|Mode Memory|Yes|
|Switch|Headswitch (electronic)|
|Lockout|Yes, tailcap release|
|Charging function|No, for an additional charge available battery but with USB C|
|Shockproof|Yes, 1.0 m|
|Waterproof|Yes, IPX-68 (2m)|
|Diameter|32.8 mm head, 24.0 mm battery tube|
|Length|126.8 mm|
|Weight|95 g without battery, 145g with original battery|
Packaging and scope of delivery
The lamp comes in a fancy cardboard box and is stored in a plastic slipcase. The accessories are in a small extra box.
The scope of delivery includes the following:
- Lamp incl. screwed clip
- Acebeam ARC18650H-310A USB-C battery (optional)
- USB A to USB C charging cable (with additional USB A port for powerbank function)
- Headband (with over-head strap)
- User manual (English and Mandarin)
- Instruction card for start-up
- Warranty card
- 2x replacement O-rings
Finishing
The PT40 is my first Acebeam lamp. The brand has a very good reputation, also in terms of quality. I can now absolutely confirm this. The workmanship of the lamp is really excellent. The matte black anodizing was flawless upon delivery, there are no sharp edges and the tailcap thread was well greased. It looks overall high quality and classy.
Unfortunately, the wall thickness is very thin. Especially in the area of the head strap mount. The battery tube has an inner diameter of 19.1 mm, the head strap mount (= thinnest part) an outer diameter of 20.05 mm. This results in a wall thickness of only 0.475 mm. At the thickest point (knurling), the outer diameter is 21.95 mm, resulting in a wall thickness of 1.425 mm.
For comparison, other self-measured wall thicknesses at the thinnest point: Sofirn SP40 and Wurkkos HD20 each 0.975 mm, Sofirn TK70 2.9 mm.
Nevertheless, the PT40 feels stable and robust. However, a bit more material wouldn’t have hurt for a lamp that is supposed to withstand tough everyday use in the workshop.
The knurling and the cooling fins are relatively rough and angular. This not only looks chic, but also provides a good grip.
The PT40 can be easily disassembled into just two parts. The thread between the battery tube and the lamp head seems to be glued. The black painted or powder coated clip is attached with two small allen screws.
However, the clip is not very comfortable to use, as it is attached just above the cooling fins and thus always gets stuck when attached to, for example, a pants pocket or backpack.
There is no dedicated attachment option for a lanyard. However, since the clip has several cutouts, a lanyard could be attached there. Because the clip is screwed in, you also don’t have to worry about it falling off.
The large unlit button is an e-switch mounted on top of the lamp head with a very short stroke but a clearly noticeable haptic feedback and a perfect resistance for me. It is very easy to find at the position and is slightly recessed, making it more difficult to accidentally turn on.
Instead of a reflector, the lamp uses a TIR lens for each LED. Since these are made of plastic and therefore scratch-sensitive, they are protected by a slightly purple coated glass pane, which is enclosed in a wide aluminum bezel. The bezel is fixed with four Torx TR screws.
On the driver side as well as in the tailcap there is a rather thick gold-plated spring. As mentioned above, these ensure length compensation for batteries of different lengths.
There is also a magnet in the tailcap. This is strong enough to attach the lamp to a vertical, bare and flat metal surface. However, it is not strong enough for much more. It is too weak for round surfaces.
This was the only place on the bike where the light held. It also didn’t want to stick strongly enough to the various steel parts on the saddle.
Even solid steel isn’t strong enough to hold the light once it’s bent a bit. Shortly after the picture was taken, a gust of wind blew the PT40 away. I was fortunately able to catch it just in time.
At least the magnet sticks to flat steel surfaces.
The magnet is also strong enough for smooth steel sheets in cars. An engine compartment can be perfectly illuminated with it.
On a heater it can only hang overhead. On the round vertical surfaces it falls off.
Thus, the magnet is unfortunately wasted potential, as it is not strong enough for many applications. Many competitors can do that better. However, a practical feature is that the spring in the tailcap can be easily removed and then the magnet can be taken out. This is especially handy if you are doing any metal machining, as otherwise the magnet will cause chips and metal dust to stick to the tailcap.
The included head harness with over-the-head strap has a very high quality finish. It has a rubberized strip on the inside to be more non-slip and the Acebeam lettering and decorative stripes reflect in the light. The strap is also completely perforated which makes it airier and you don’t sweat quite as much underneath. The lamp is attached at the front using rubber eyelets.
Power supply
The Acebeam PT40 is powered by a 18650 Li-Ion battery and does not have its own charging port.
From the manufacturer itself, the Acebeam ARC18650H-310A battery with 3100mAh, max 20A discharge current and charging port can be ordered as an option. According to my Vapcell S4 Plus, however, only a charge of 2851 mAh can be taken from it at 1A discharge current. With 92% of the manufacturer’s stated achieved charge, it is thus my current most deviating brand battery. Since it is still new, the situation should improve a bit after a few charge cycles, though.
The Acebeam battery is protected, 69 mm long and can be charged via USB-C (also via USB-C to USB-C cable). This is done with 5.1V at 1A. The current charge level can be estimated with an LED located next to the positive terminal.
The powerbank function via the included adapter is also very practical. For example, the battery of a smartphone can be charged with 4.92V 1.4A at the USB A port.
Gold-plated springs are found in the tailcap as well as on the driver side. Thus, even a 65 mm long Molicel INR18650-M35A battery can be used without any problems. It should be mentioned, however, that the Acebeam battery is quite thick and thus other batteries have some play to the side and rattle a bit in the battery tube during strong shaking. However, this is not a big deal and can otherwise be solved very easily with a sheet of paper wrapped around the battery.
The Acebeam ARC18650H-310A costs about 20$ more. Who is willing to pay this, however, gets a very useful system for me. There is no USB charging port on the Acebeam PT40, which is hidden under a rubber cap and can open unintentionally in your pocket, and also no proprietary magnetic charging port to which you usually don’t have a suitable charging cable anyway. Thus, the lamp is absolutely waterproof and can still be charged with any conventional smartphone charger.
The only criticism here is that the beginning of the thread is quite finely executed and already shows the first signs of wear after screwing on and off about 10 times.
Also, I would have preferred a 21700 battery instead of the 18650. This would have increased the runtime significantly with not much larger dimensions.
Size comparison
The PT40 is a fairly long but very slim light, which makes it super pocketable.
From left to right:
Acebeam PT40 (18650), Wurkkos HD20 (21700), Sofirn SP40(A).
Usage (UI)
The operation of the lamp is very simple and intuitive:
Lamp OFF -> press Switch -> ON (last used mode)
Lamp OFF -> hold Switch -> Moon
Lamp OFF -> hold Switch >3s -> Lockout
Lamp OFF -> double click -> Turbo
Lamp OFF -> triple click -> SOS
Lamp ON -> press Switch -> OFF
Lamp ON -> hold Switch -> switch through brightness levels forward
Lamp ON -> double click -> Turbo
Lamp ON -> triple click -> SOS
SOS, Turbo and Moon are not saved.
Blinkies are therefore mostly omitted. Only an SOS mode exists, which is quite justified in a workshop lamp especially compared to strobe.
Unfortunately, there is no battery charge indicator. The lamp only starts blinking as soon as the battery is almost empty. Here, for example, I would have liked an illuminated switch that reflects the charge level with its color. This would allow you to estimate earlier when the battery will be discharged.
The seven brightness levels (according to the manufacturer) are as follows:
- Turbo 3,000 lm - 1.5 h runtime (3,680 cd, 121 m)
- High 1,100 lm - 2.0 h runtime (1,460 cd, 76 m)
- Med2 580 lm - 2.5 h run time (810 cd, 57 m)
- Med1 220 lm - 6.25 h run time (289 cd, 34 m)
- Low 80 lm - 17 h runtime (158 cd, 25 m)
- Ultra-Low 15 lm - 80 h runtime (?? cd, ?? m)
- SOS 1500 lm - 2 h runtime (?? cd, ?? m)
The lamp is also explicitly advertised as a headlamp. For this, it has to be bounced into the eyelets of the headband. This is quite awkward, as the eyelets constantly twist when the lamp is pushed through. However, once this is done, the PT40 sits very firmly. It’s also good that this design allows you to replace the battery without having to disconnect the lamp from the head harness.
However, the highly asymmetrical mounting means that the lamp always hangs slightly askew and the light beam is not emitted centrally from the user’s head. In practice, however, this feels much less bad than it looks in pictures, as the lamp does not hang as crookedly on the head as one would expect.
Especially when working at close range, however, you notice that the light seems to come from the side and not from the line of sight, causing shadows to form on the opposite side.
The headlamp function is a nice extra. However, if you frequently need a light on your head, you’d be better off getting a specialized headlamp.
Provided you have a backpack on your back or wear a top with chest pockets, you can attach the PT40 using the clip and still have everything in front of you illuminated by the flood light.
Beam pattern and performance
The light pattern of the PT40 is super suitable for use as a workshop lamp. It is with 1.23 cd / lm (according to the manufacturer) very flooded and by the TIR lenses, the spill is very wide and soft and thus not as angular as it would be the case with a reflector lamp. With 6000K the light is slightly cold white. However, because it is free of any color cast despite the LH351D LED, it is very pleasant. Due to the high CRI of over 90, the light also reproduces natural colors.
At any brightness level, the light is free of PWM.
The power of 3000 lumens in turbo mode is huge. You can really illuminate every workshop with it! However, due to the high lumen output in the relatively small housing, the heat generation is also enormous. After about two minutes at room temperature, the turbo mode is visibly regulated down to about the level of the high mode. At this point, the casing has reached a temperature of 57°C. If you then let the lamp continue to run, it cools down to around 50°C, but the battery tube is still so hot that the lamp can no longer be held in the bare hand. So once you have attached the PT40 to a surface via magnet and left it running at full power, you can’t remove it without gloves.
All this speaks for a very good heat conduction and has been to be expected with the given performance data.
The PT40 does not have a moonlight mode with a lowest level of 15 lm. In my opinion, this is not a big deal for a worklight.
I did not notice the notorious green cast of the Samsung LH351D at low power levels. In all pictures, with the exception of the beamshot, the Acebeam shines in the low to medium brightness levels.
Now here is a beamshot from the forest path. All shots were taken with the same exposure settings in turbo mode of the respective lamp with a full battery.
Acebeam PT40:
Sofirn SP40A:
Wurkkos HD20 (Flood LED)
Wurkkos HD20 (Throw LED)
Wurkkos HD20 (Flood + Throw LED)
Now all beamshots in direct comparison as GIF. The PT40 is really bright!
Conclusion
Pros :heart_eyes: :
- Fancy case with great build quality
- Compact and very pocket friendly dimensions
- Nice evenly wide light image without tint shift
- High CRI light
- Choice of different emitters
- Magnet in tailcap (and is removable!)
- Constant current driver
- Free from PWM
- Good UI
- Powerbank function of the battery (if ordered)
Neutral:
- 21700 battery would have been nice for greater runtime
- No LED to indicate battery status
- Relatively low wall thickness
- Very high housing temperature after use in high power settings
Cons :cry: :
- Attachment to the head strap awkward and not quite optimal due to strong asymmetry
- Tailcap magnet too weak
- Attachment of the clip by cooling fins too hooky
The Acebeam PT40 is a great lamp for the workshop and will definitely be used a lot with me. It is superbly made, very bright, pocket friendly and can also be used as a headlamp if needed. Nevertheless, there is room for detail improvements.
For example, it is a pity that the magnet is quite weak and the cooling fins prevent a smooth use of the clip.