Ah the EC1. It has been my EDC for a while now, and I don’t see anything coming along to knock it off. I have had a few contenders but nothing beats the size/output/throw/options ratio.
Left to right - ITP A3 EOS, Eagletac D25A XPG, Eagletac D25C clicky XML, Nitecore EC1, Trustfire Mini-01, Zebralight SC600
As you can see the EC1 is as short as the ITP, shorter than all but the clipless Mini-01. I do carry a BLF Mini-01 on my keychain, but I really like clip lights. The ITP is too low output for me now. The D25A is nice for AA, xpg for a little throw out of a ni-mh. The Zebralight is too big. The D25C clicky is brighter than the EC1, and it is about the same size and carry. It just doesn’t have the throw… or the red light! I keep it by the bedside because that’s when you need moonlight mode, not when you are out and about.
Here it is my the pocket. The flat part with the switches rests against your leg so it is not noticable. Notice how there is a little fraying where it clips on the pocket.
There are two little screws the clip rests on, so if you take it in and out of your pocket a lot it might tear up your pocket a little eventually. Also you may notice the grooves or “fins” get a lot of dirt/lint in them. Also you can see chips at the head. I have dropped it onto concrete more than once. Still works like the day I got it.
You gotta love that red light. It blinks all the time, but if you want you can lock it out. It makes it easy to find at night. You can turn the light constant on. It puts out just enough light to navigate in the dark. I haven’t done a runtime test, but from what I have read don’t expect the red light mode to run a really long time as you would expect from a true moonlight mode.
Also, when you lock the light out (two second hold of on/off switch while on) the light will tell you the current battery voltage. The red light will flash to give you a reading. For example if the battery is 3.9v it will flash three times, short pause, then flash 9 times. Mine will give 4 flashes on a completely full battery (4.2v) and usually 3.9 when the battery is good. Around 3.7 and it is running low and I charge it. The reason it reads voltage low is because it measures it under load.
The light has five output modes, but they are fairly high. It has a decent low on cr123 primaries, and it’s pretty bright and throwy but I don’t have a good source for cheap primaries. The 16340 batteries are brighter, but the modes are not very spaced out. I mainly use low because it’s bright enough for most anything, and high for good throw. It puts out about 400 lumens and 7kcd, but I’d love to see an xp-g2 version!!
It has only two parts, the body and the tailcap. From what I understand it is very hard to mod.
It only has one not so big oring, so I wouldn’t trust it swimming or anything… The clip does not touch when screwing/unscrewing the tailcap.
The front bezel is far from a weapon, but it does have big enough gaps to be able to tell if you have left the light on.
The red light is plenty bright enough to see with. I took a shot of it on in a sunlit room just to show that it is bright enough to be seen in the daytime.
Once again… too bad they haven’t made an xp-g2 version yet… The xpg performs very well though.
Not the most stable, but it is able to stand on the clip if you need the beam off the ground.
It is too small to fit an 18350, but it should fit any size 16340.
It fits any battery due to the tailcap spring. I wonder how many sales putting the web address in the tailcap is going to generate….
I would use button top batteries due to all the electronics in the head. That doesn’t look too healthy to me.
Speaking of the web address, it is also prominently displayed on the front as well. I guess if you let your buddy use your light they think he will see that and visit their webpage.
Anyways, it might be a little dirty and dinged up, but it still performs and looks good after months of carry. I’m not recommending this light because I just bought it and it’s the newest favorite thing, but because it is a performer with some unique options. You can also get the light in AA, 2xAA and 18650 varieties (EA1, EA2, EC2), but they use the exact same clip in all of them. Same length clip with a longer body means it no longer is pocket carry, which is a big reason I like the EC1.
This looks kinda reviewy. I guess I’ll throw my lumen/lux numbers in here also.
lux: 7,210
Lumens:
Turbo 408
High 384
Med 257
Low 134
Lower 32
new EDC, a Niteye Eye10 from Fasttech for ca $50 with BLF coupon, XM-L U2 with an op-reflector, 260lm on cr123 and about 660lm on imr16340 or 18350, not recommended by Niteye but they have said that a couple of minutes on high should be ok…