Klarus Mini One Review
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Hey folks today we will be reviewing the Klarus mini one. This is a truly compact EDC option. The Mini One is an all in key chain flashlight with an inbuilt USB charger. The mini one makes a great gift for everyone with its ease of use and simplicity and size.
The Klarus mini one was sent to me by Gearbest so I will leave a purchase link below. Its a super cheap flashlight coming in at around 15USD without any discount.
Purchase link
Story time skip this if you only want the review. When I was younger I started working a proper job and had my own cash i started to collect lights then. After a few years when i was 15 I bought my first proper EDC flashlight being a Maglite key chain light. I kind of forgot about owning this light. My cousin had one and I thought it was really cool.
I went to a tobacco store and coughed up a whopping 40 AUD on sale! For a tiny flashlight with hardly any output. They where maybe 6 lumens I think? Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. So lights like this are nostalgic in some way. The Maglite was a blue colour blue being my favorite colour.
These two lights share the similarity of being a key chain flashlight and that’s it. Technology has come so far now days that I can not compare these two, The Maglite and the mini one.
The Maglite died an undignified death when the incandescent bulb blew and I never replaced it.
Around this time is when LEDs where starting to pop up.
Even more nostalgic is when I was this age I built my first PC and used neon lights in the case which was amazing for the time. Now days every thing has an included LED. Motherboards and graphics and even ram use LEDs now days.
Life story over!
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What is included?
- Kalrus Mini One
- 10180 Batery
- USB Cable
- Two spare O-rings
- Key chain attachment
- Instructions
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Build
Great place to start seeing as the build quality is great on the Klarus Mini One. From the factory the Mini One looks awesome and every thing is really good its build well and without errors. Actually better quality then my other Klarus flashlights.
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I find the anodizing is not the best on Klarus flashlights after a bit of use you get scratches. My Mini One is a green/olive color so they could be using a different anodizing then other Klarus lights. The Mini One is still using cough cough military grade hard anodizing type 3.
Being a key chain flashlight you would hope its got good anodizing as it will be hitting against your keys all day long.
No matter what the Mini One will no doubt get scratched, Look at my Nitecore TIP its thrashed! That’s what she said!
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The Mini One is made out of Aerospace aluminum alloy fancy fancy! Unlike the CooYoo we are comparing it to which is made out of stainless steel.
The Threads are very well cut on the Mini one but they are UN-anodized not such an issues seeing as the Mini One is a twist to activate style flashlight. The threads did come lubricated from what I can see well at least the front thread lol. They are cut very square threads so you can not notice on the back plus I think Klarus assume you will not need to open the Mini One.
Also being UN-anodized the lube wears out quicker that could also be the issue.
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You have to untwist the head to access the mini USB port for charging which is great this will help keep out dirt and water. The head on the Mini One does not come the whole way off! Like It does on the CooYoo Quantum. So you charge the Mini with the head on. I love this feature! It appears to have two sets of threads. So for maintenance the Mini One can be pulled apart but it will not just loosen like the CooYoo and get lost. I see this as a pro because the heads is so small its super easy to lose if it became unscrewed by accident.
This is probably why the Mini One is a few MM bigger than the CooYoo Quantum. Only way to remove the battery is to undo the tail cap or cut it open?.
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Klarus write here that the Mini One is using a reflector system but it sure as hell looks like an optics system to me? Yea defiantly an TIR optics system that has an added diffuser it looks really cool from the front. It will make for some good photos!
Durability specs
- IPX8 (2 meters underwater)
- 1.5m drop resistance
Nitecore should take note here and add a USB port cover on the TIP or hide it some where safe. Them fighting words! lol
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Sizing
- Head diameter: 14.9mm
- Body length: 13.5mm
- Overall length: 44mm
- Weight: 13g
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The Klarus Mini One is a super small and compact flashlight as you can see from the size specs. Its not the smallest key chain flashlight on the market nor is it the biggest. The Mini One sits fairly well on the smaller side overall. I do own a Cooyoo Quantum SS and that is a tad shorter by a few MM. I don’t think the size will be an issue for any one unless its to small. Yep! That’s what she said!
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Design
The Mini One steps away from the traditional key chain looking flashlight. I have seen many many clones of the CooYoo that look the same or similar. Shout out to Mecarmy lol.
On this occasion Klarus went with there own design and it stands out in a good way! The Mini One can be bought in a bunch of different colors and my Mini One is green/olive. Looks like military green? Not in the photos it looks gold lol.
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I would describe the Mini One as sleek it has no button and a hidden USB port. This mean nothing is going to get caught in your pockets or on your keys. The Mini One connects to your keys in the standard Kalrus fashion by a loop hole on the tail cap.
This design is a plus as the Mini One can be tail stood while some other key chain flashlights can not.
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Another design feature worth mentioning is that the Mini One has knurling on the body and the head. The Body of the Mini One has pineapple knurling and the head has some simple lines. If we compare the Mini One and the CooYoo Quantum. The Quantum has deeper lines in the head which feels more bighty but has no knurling on the body. The body of the Mini One offers much more grip compared to the Quantum. Either way the Mini One is easy to operate with one hand which is the aim here.
UI
The UI on the Klarus Mini One is super simple. Its a twist to activate flashlight with two modes and no memory so you can’t get it wrong. First mode up is low mode than you get high mode which makes sense.
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Performance
In this category the Mini One is on par with all the other key chain flashlights. Why I chose the Mini One to review is because of the chosen LED inside the Mini. The Mini One is using an upgraded LED when compared to the CooYoo and most other key chain flashlights.
The Mini One is using a Cree XPG3 which got me kind of excited seeing as all these other key chain light use a XPG2. The Mini One is rated at 130 lumens on high mode by Klarus. If I was to eyeball it, Which is a legit way to measure output? The Mini one is brighter than the Quantum but I will do some measurements.
I have hope it will outperform that figure of 130 lumens.
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The XPG3 is a cold white emitter the usual tint on a CW XPG3 not the worse I would say much better tint than the XPG2. Comparing the Mini One to the Quantum the Mini is much cooler the Quantum looks more like a neutral white. The XPG3 is a great fit for the Mini One because you need a small size LED to fit the head. Plus the flip chip design means the beam pattern is more linear while the XPG2 lights are more throw heavy.
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Driver wise the Mini one does have a few features like a low battery protection in a sense?. If the Mini Ones battery is under 50% it will not power the light at full power. The Klarus Mini One also features reverse polarity protection.
I have ran these key chain flashlight into the ground and after a few minutes they lose full brightness but they will keep on running for a while like 40+ minutes while dimming. The Mini One does appear to have a constant current driver. The driver is fairly good at maintaining output as the battery drains at least for a while. The driver does also incorporate USB charging.
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The battery itself is a tiny Klarus branded LiR 10180 which will not fit inside a standard charger. The battery does not have a capacity rating but does state it is 3.7v and 0.26 watt hours. I tried to measure the capacity to no avail the current drain is to small for my USB meter.
Output and modes
- Low: 8 lumens at 5h 12mins (very precise lol)
- High: 130 lumens at 24 mins
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For shits and giggles I done a tail cap current reading and it gave me these results. 280 milliamps at the tail cap this reading is with the stock leads on my UT139C. This works out to be around 1.15 watts which should be depending on the binning of the LED around 200 odd lumens.
- Low mode: 50 Milliamps
- High mode: 280 Milliamps
As said above the Mini One is using an optics system like all these smaller key chain flashlights. The Mini one is using a TIR optics system with a diffuser which gives it a different look. The beam pattern on the Mini one is very soft and wide. Throw on the Mini One is about average maybe a little worse because the beam pattern is so soft.
But hey these key chain flashlights are meant to be used in close up scenarios right? Might as well do one thing right.
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Klarus rate the Mini One as having a modest throw distance which I will list below.
Throw specs
- High mode: 217cd at 30m
- Low mode: 20cd at 9m
On high mode the throw is sufficient for my yard and my yard is a decent size. Although the other key chain lights rate there throw higher the beam distances are similar. I think giving a key chain light more throw makes it appear brighter overall.
For opening the front door or car door in the dark it more then sufficient.
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USB Charging
USB charging is fairly standard on the Mini One. The USB charging drain is so little current that my battery bank turned of hahaha.
The Mini One charges at 50ma so a full batter should take around 3 hours. The Mini One does have a red charging indicator that changes to green when the battery is full.
Also note that charging is much more stable on the Mini One when compared to the Quantum. Mini One was stable at 50ma charge current while the Quantum jumped around from 30ma to 100ma while charging. So much for CC/CV.
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Overall the klarus Mini one is a great key chain flashlight. Its built well and pack some useful features like having the extra knurling on the body making it super easy to operate one handed. It has a nice beam pattern and enough output for a key chain flashlight. The price is super appealing coming in under 15USD.
All these photos are taken at ISO800
Low mode 8 lumens 3 meters to the door
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Low mode 8 Lumens 5 meters to the door
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High mode 130 lumens the usual spot 15m to fence
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High mode 130 lumens Should be enough light to see the door?
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Mini One on the left and CooYoo Quantum on the right you can see a very different tint and beam pattern
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Mini One left and Jetbeam Jet-u on the right
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Mine One left and Helius Sigma Right once again different tints and beam pattern
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Thanks for taking the time to read
Regards Chris