Lumintop ODL20C USB Type-C Rechargeable Thrower [New]

Thank you!!!

Ha! I can understand this. But I simply unscrew head and screw again looking for OLED - in that way I can find buttons in complete darkness :) And I always unscrew heads if it makes sense (if threads are covered) to take care of parasitic drain. But we differ from the topic of this thread :(

Yes. concerning ODL20C, the button of a power is well groped, and here a rubber stub, clings to a finger permanently, and it causes inconveniences. Therefore a rubber tip of a stub, I cut off an edge…

I didn’t care for the UI so I rebuilt the light to use an XP-L HI and TK’s Anduril firmware. I also used some Sugru to fill in the diamond checkering and give a rubbery grip to the battery tube. Mine now makes 212Kcd and has a dependable lockout with ramping and candlelight and lightning modes. :slight_smile:

6.12A draw at the tail last time I checked, after that test it had 6.06A at the emitter, but again this is the XP-L HI making over 1500 lumens (I saw it do 1700+ on one particular cell) [mine didn’t make the claimed 2000 lumens out of the box. Mine was also a prototype, an unbranded sample, so that could be why.]

I don’t use built in chargers so I plugged the Type C charger port with Sugru. Pretty sure I completely removed the driver assembly and used a different PCB for cell contact.

The light is very well made, really like it a lot… much classier than the Utorch UT02 even though overall it’s essentially the same light.

Edit: Pics…

In hand, the unbranded Lumintop ODL20C

Side by side with an Utorch UT02, virtually the same light with some design changes externally…

Side by side beam shot comparison, the Lumintop now has an XP-L HI V3 3A so it’s the warmer tint and smaller hot spot, this one is in a lower mode

And this with both lights in Turbo…

Shots taken with the iPhone 8, manual control of aperture and exposure as well as ISO to show hot spots.

The host is basically the same as the UT02 with different styling. The main differences seem to be the replacement of the Micro-USB port with Type C, and a much, much more capable driver (there’s been several reviews that have tested it to ~1900 lumens, compared to like 1000 for the UT02). If there was a neutral white option, and the UI was slightly better (not a fan of long press for off) this would be even better than the Thrunite Catapult V6. As it stands, it’s kind of a toss-up, with the Thrunite having neutral white, better UI, and more compact size, while the Lumintop has a better charging port and better performance.

I reviewed the Manker U21 and Utorch UT02 in a side by side comparison HERE sometime back. They both made less than 1100 lumens with the Utorch being the brighter of the two.

And a quote of myself to the friend that gifted this sample light to me…

“DB Custom wrote: So now, after it’s been here about 2 hours, it’s making 1414.5 lumens from a sliced XHP-35 V6 3A E4 (5700K), nice white tint, for the most part. Removed R050 sense resistor and replaced it with an R025 for 4.83A at the tail. Replaced 24-26 ga wire with 22ga Turnigy. 101Kcd for 635.61M throw with no modification to the emitter/reflector relationship.
I measured 890 lumens before the change. Cell is a new LiitoKala 26650 5000mAh black and gold. (literally hasn’t been in a light til now but was charged a few days ago.)”

890 lumens from the sample light, doesn’t seem like they were trying to get anyone excited about it with the samples.

Wait, that 890 lumens was from the Lumintop? Or one of the Manker/Utorch?

If it’s the former, that definitely sounds like a pre-production issue. I think I’ve seen three reviews that all tested it’s intensity to be in the 170-190 kcd range. That wouldn’t be possible unless they’re pushing 1700+ lumens, and at least one of the reviews tested the output at ~1900 lumens.

It looks very similar to the Utorch UT02 or the Manker and I’m sure that’s no coincidence. The host design is near identical with more fins and a couple mm longer head. The UI is quite different and in my opinion better. Output is noticeably brighter with a ever so slightly tighter beam. I really like mine! I’ve had it for about three weeks now and have been using it as my favorite mid sized light.
In comparison to it’s twin brothers (the UT02 and the Manker) it well outperforms both.

Intensity has less to do with lumens than you might think. Many a light has had some intense candela readings from de-domed XP-E or XP-G2 emitters with only 500 lumens. :wink: Pretty sure it was in the 83Kcd range , will have to see if I can find notes on it.

Yes, the Lumintop I got made 890 lumens.
The Manker was 1164 and the UT-02 was 1193 if I recall it correctly, Initially the Manker came out making bigger numbers with higher pull on the cell but it had some driver reliability issues at those levels so they toned it down.

I got an outstanding 1745 lumens with a black LiitoKala 26650 when I first tested it with the new driver and emitter modded in, tail current at 6.49A. Obviously I did that due to it’s very low performance level in stock trim. Assuming that they got some reviews back from the sample lights and made some adjustments…

Edit: a quote from the review I did of the Manker and Utorch side by side… “The surprise here is that it’s the Utorch UT02 that’s brightest! That 3170 on my meter is 1093.65 lumens, The Manker made 3100 on the meter for 1069.5. On lux, the UT02 makes 97.75Kcd for 625.3M while the U21 makes 95.75Kcd for 618.87M. I’m using MNKE 26650’s, same batch, fresh off the charger at the same voltage of 4.19V to start.” The Utorch pulled 2.3A at the tail and the Manker pulled 2.24A. Same drivers, same emitters.

Do you really think it makes any difference? I’m curious. We talking here about few cm don’t we? From my other hobby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfU21ZabQ-Y

dra00, depends on what kind of current you are trying to push. The difference in a flashlight between 26ga and 22ga can be pretty drastic. Maybe not in these low current 12V lights, but definitely so in the direct drive variants that pull high amperage. Especially multi-emitter lights or the new breed of quad die 6V emitters.

I mod lights for a hobby. Hundreds of lights. I eliminate resistance and go for ceiling performance in virtually every light I make, it’s just what I do. I take my time and try to apply all the tricks. I find it satisfying, like identifying stamps in a collection might be for a stamp collector. (I have a few boxes of those somewhere too, from my childhood. Some of those could be worth something if I ever started checking again as many of what I had were very old 45 years ago…)

Edit: Centimeters? Hardly! I always put the wires on the driver then put the driver in the light. I then cut the wires to fit the MCPCB using only the length that’s needed, no extra. If you want to check the driver in a light I made you’re going to have to de-solder the leads…

OK, I understand that :slight_smile: Thank you for clarification.

The highest tail current I’ve achieved to date in a flashlight was in one of my own build. 48.8A at the tail. Wasn’t expecting this much and fried a switch, literally melted the plastic housing! Had to resort to a $25 Tofty switch (not made anymore, older members will recall them)

FWIW, the ODL20C is one of my preferred thrower EDC style lights, I use it often giving it status over the many other lights I have. I think the styling cues are well played, the fins on the head well thought out (it’s relatives have none) and once again I am surprised at the delivery from Lumintop, they’re proving themselves to be a top player over and over again. Well done!

Yeah, with the same size reflector, an XHP35 HI will achieve less cd/lumen than an XP-L HI, which will have less cd/lumen than a de-dedomed XP-E or XP-G2.

My comment was made based on the XHP35 HI that the Lumintop comes with. Knowing the performance of XHP35 HI and XP-L HI lights with similar reflectors (Emisar D1S, Utorch UT02, Thrunite Catapult V6, etc.), the Lumintop isn’t going to hit 170+ kcd with an XHP35 HI without pushing at least 1700 lumens.

Possibly.
An emitter focus change can have surprising results. Sometimes the factory get’s it wrong. Sometimes the lens is a bottleneck. Sometimes the same reflector with a slight differenct in surface finish kills the result. Lumintop didn’t quite nail focus in the big GT, for example. :wink: In that case the centering ring was too thick…

But yes, you’re point is well observed. :wink:

I do remember getting the MaxToch SN6X-2S in the group buy, factory de-domed XM-L2 emitter with quite nice throw… like 335Kcd. A simple lens swap to an UCLp gained 27Kcd in throw…. as always, the Devil is in the details.

Delta… I’ll just continue to hope that Lumintop sourced some better components on that driver to enable it to run at those levels… the originals failed and it was a big mess which is why those other lights are now so underpowered. Boosting a single cell to supply the 12V emitter isn’t as easy as it might seem, proven out by the problems that have arisen… I cut the sense resistor to half what they had on my light and it still only pulled 4.83A at the tail, still very underpowering the XHP-35 emitter at the emitter. Which is why I rebuilt it.

Edit: What happens when the single cell gets down to 3.4V or so? To maintain the 12.6V (approx) that the emitter needs to make the lumens we require the boost circuit has to boost a whopping 370%! As the cell falls further, this continues to go up. Setting up the driver to fail by overheating, typically. With a fresh charged cell at 4.2V the boost isn’t so horrible, amperage draw is low at the tail and demand on the battery is reasonable… as the cell dies and the boost circuit tries to maintain it’s output the demands on the cell go up and up, a situation that I myself really don’t like. The cell is heating up, more demand than ever is placed on it, really tough on the cell. Even a top brand named cell has trouble with this, I hate to think what some of the cheap cells used go through… this is why many protected cells fail to work in a boost circuit light, or fail to work well.

whether the construction of the switch is the same as in the u21 / UT02, or switch to a new, improved?

Gerasalex, both type of my 26650 batteries fits - Imalent from DN70 & DN35 and KeepPower 6Ah. In case of Keeppower I needed to pull out these orange/red stickers from the tube.

And I am very happy with this light - pretty well build and a lot of throw BUT my last thrower was (and still IS :slight_smile: ) EagleTac M2XC4 :smiley: so no experience with the latest ones.

It is about ODL20C? In a turbo mode your accumulators work with ODL20C?

W/o problems. Keep in mind that KeepPower has no protection and Imalent has high current protection - DN70 works with XHP70 with much higher current.