One important thing at the start. This is NOT the typical inexpensive zooming flashlight seen everywhere under many different names. The E11Z doesn’t have a flood with ragged edges, a small square spot, a cold blue beam, or any of the other disappointments of the cheaply made lights. So, what is the E11Z? Read on. . .
Litesam offered an E11Z light and battery for review. I agreed with the caveat that I would report whatever I found. Many thanks to Litesam for giving me the opportunity to do this review. I prefer reviews with real life experience using the light to see its durability in actual EDC use. I carried the E11Z for almost two months before writing this review.
I ordered the E11Z through Amazon meaning the light I tested had no special preparation and should represent what anyone would receive. (Litesam is the brand used for online sales. The company also markets under the Fitorch label, with cosmetic differences between the two brands.) The packaging is very nice, using a full color sleeve over a tan box. The sleeve makes the package look like something that would be on a retail store shelf. The light and accessories were secure inside the box and there was no shipping damage. In addition to the typical lanyard and O-ring Litesam also provides a spare button cover and a holster. (Litesam photo)
The holster has a fine texture hook and loop fastener to close the flap. The flap and elastic sides hold the light securely. Shaking it upside down can’t dislodge the light. The back has two straps. One is sewn in place for a belt loop and over that is another strap with a snap and Velcro for a removable attachment. While smaller than a standard molle strap this snap allows placement on molle webbing or backpack straps.
The Light
The E11Z is the same general size as other single 18650 powered lights but the head is larger in diameter to accommodate the zoom assembly. The first two are Litesam photos and the other three are my photos after nearly 2 months of EDC use. The light is shown with the had retracted and extended.
Manufacturer Specifications:
The E11Z has a forward clicky switch. This means that with the light off, a partial press of the switch will turn on the light but not latch it on. This is useful to briefly shine the light if the button is held but have the light turn off when the switch is released. It also prevents accidentally changing the lighting mode by bumping the switch while the light is in use. The simple user interface cycles through high – medium – low modes and has hidden strobe and SOS functions. The alternating frequency strobe is accessible by a double-click. The SOS flasher is reached by either a double-click from strobe, or a triple-click from any other mode. The light has mode memory and low voltage indication. When the battery voltage is low, the E11Z will switch to low brightness.
The head has a custom optic under a glass lens. Rotating the head moves it in and out for flood to spot patterns. The movement is lubricated to move smoothly and it does not change from the desired setting in use. In the two photos note the yellow of the emitter showing around the edges of the optic in the spot position. The emitter is seen in the center of the optic in the flood position. The LED isn’t moving but the focus is changing. The head is reverse-threaded, turning it clockwise extends the head from the body.
The light emitted in the spot position is neutral to just cooler than neutral white. Colors are close to true but the light does not appear yellow. The throw is good with little spill close to the user. In the flood position the light is cooler, looking more like the color of the edges of the spot pattern. The flood is the most even, balanced pattern I have in a light and is perfect for close work. The light does not reach very far in this mode. Moving the head from flood to spot a white ring forms at the edges of the flood pattern, gradually shrinking in size and growing in intensity until the center of the beam is a white hotspot.
The beam photos are all from a tripod mounted camera with fixed settings and daylight white balance to accurately show what I saw during the test. The E11Z is mounted above the camera in the same position for all photos. Low mode on both spot and flood is too low to show in the photos using these settings, but it is useful for navigating a dark room without disturbing others. The PWM used for low and medium is not visible in real world use but can be seen on camera.
Control – E11Z Off
Medium Flood
High Flood
Medium Spot
High Spot - The fence is 200 feet away (red mark) and the white house is 535 feet away (yellow mark
Animated GIF - High Spot/Flood
Animated GIF - Off/Medium/High Spot
Animated GIF - OFf/Medium/High Flood
I used the Ceilingbounce app on an S5 cell phone along with a white box to get relative brightness measurements on the E11Z. Using the Litesam battery these are relative light levels showing both flood and spot beam patterns.
Using the app again, I compared the E11Z in flood mode to an Astrolux S1 with both lights using the HG2 18650 and with the E11Z using the Litesam battery. This S1 is generally considered to be 1200 lumens on its highest mode and 800 lumens when it steps down. The E11Z compares favorably to the 800 lumen level, running at or above its rated 750 lumens. Note that the Litesam 18650 and the unprotected HG2 provide the same brightness in the E11Z. The smooth flood makes this light more useful for close work (10 feet or less) than other lights with higher lumen ratings.
Another comparison, this time showing all three levels of the E11Z using the Litesam 18650 against the S1.
There is no mention of stepdown in the manual, but it appears there is throttling taking place. I ended this test after 12 minutes. This test used the Litesam battery.
Extended runtime in high mode makes the light warm but not too hot to hold. This series of thermal imager photos shows the heat moving through the head into the body tube. The test started at 4:36 and continued with the image times shown in the bottom right of each image. The final image after 15 minutes of runtime has the head extended (arrow). All temperatures are in degrees F with emissivity set to 0.85. The light is on an insulating pad in a 70F room.
I carried this light for nearly two months, using it at work and other activities. After this EDC use I took the light apart for photos. The O rings fit properly and did not pinch or move out of place when tightened down. The black color is smooth and even and it is highly resistant to scratches. The finish showed minimal scratches even after weeks of use and bouncing around in a work bag pocket with another flashlight. Only the clip showed minor chips. The body texture allows a good grip without being sharp.
The threads were well machined, turned smoothly, and arrived lightly lubricated.
The head has a gold-plated spring but no visible retaining ring for the driver. I was not able to disassemble the head without risking damage to the light.
The tail uses a retaining ring and a gold-plated spring. The switch circuit board appears to have space for some additional circuitry not used in this light.
With the light disassembled it was time for measurements. The head does not readily come apart so I did not take measurements at the emitter.
Using my DMM for low current levels and a DC clamp meter on a short wire shunt for the higher levels I recorded tailcap currents for both my HG2 cell and the Litesam 18650. The Litesam supplied 18650 allows the light to operate at its full potential as shown in both light and current readings.
The Battery
The Litesam provided protected battery is rated at 2600mAh. A 1A charge/discharge test cycle on my BT-C3400 charger confirmed the rated capacity. I compared the Litesam battery to my HG2 in a different light that uses direct drive circuitry with multiple emitters. This pushes the batteries to deliver high current. The HG2 provided 7.6A and the Litesam provided 5.8A. Remember that the Litesam is a protected cell which are generally not used in direct drive lights. The wrapper is durable, and does not allow any view of the cell color or markings underneath.
Summary and Opinion
PRO
• Light performs as advertised
• Battery performs as advertised
• Good construction, fit, and tough finish
• Smooth operation of zoom/spot control
• Good value with included battery
• Simple user interface
• Low voltage warning
• Very useful combination of spot and flood beams - best flood pattern I have seen so far
CON
• Not easily disassembled. I think this could be a good platform for modifications
• It rarely happened, but a few times a partial click would not change modes
• No low voltage shutdown in the light
I was excited to try this light because I am always searching for a night geocaching light. I want a wide, even flood beam without a hotspot to allow careful searching outdoors and this light meets that need. I have larger lights and brighter lights, but if I am doing close work the E11Z is often my choice. For close work I don’t need brighter and for hiking and caching I don’t want larger. I find myself using the spot setting less often, but if night caching looking for firetacks it would be perfect. With the review complete, this light is going in my caching bag. Recommended.
Test Equipment
• Ideal 61-768 clamp meter
• Protek 506 DMM
• Fluke Ti32 thermal imager (E=0.85)
• Zeiss Stemi 1000 microscope
• Pentax K50 camera
• BT-C3400 Opus charger