Acebeam recently introduced the E75, a floody 21700 flashlight with reflector, side switch and four Nichia 519A LEDs.
For this review, Acebeam gave me a small discount on the initial retail price. Thank you very much for that.
Overview
Delivery condition and scope:
Unfortunately, the lamp and accessories are tightly crammed into a plastic insert. I like pure cardboard packaging much better.
The accessories include the usual USB cable, spare O-rings, a lanyard, and the necessary documents. Inserted in the lamp is an Acebeam 5000 mAh 21700 battery, …
… who first wants an insulating cardboard cap being removed.
As usual with Acebeam, the AR-coated front glass has a protective film that needs to be removed.
LEDs and reflector: Four Nichia 519A (CCT 5000K, Day 9080) LEDs share a smooth reflector. The construction behind the stainless steel bezel and glass is sparkling clean.
After Acebeam’s E70 MINI boasted a really fantastic TIR optic (three LEDs), this decision came as a surprise, especially since it doesn’t seem to bring any advantages concerning throw. The CW version of the lamp reaches only 260 m at 4500 lm. For comparison: Olight’s Seeker 3 Pro reaches 250 m with 4200 lm. The difference is insignificant. At close range, the reflector unit gives us a nice flower image. But that is not of practical importance.
Clip: I’m not a fan of bi-directional clips, but at least it’s screwed on so that the lamp doesn’t come loose from it if it get caught somewhere. That’s a very good compromise, I think, and it proved its worth during the test period.
Switch: As with the E70 MINI and other Acebeam lamps, the stainless steel button is somewhat stiff and gives a buttery haptic feedback. The button is always easy to find thanks to the clip attached to the back, and the not overly elegant plastic ring over the green indicator LEDs provides another clue.
Capacity indicator: Four LEDs around the button show the remaining capacity of the battery live. Unfortunately, the LEDs also shine in moon mode, and quite brightly. In fact, that’s my only criticism of the lamp. If you want to operate the E75 in this mode, you better have a broad thumb, which you can rest on the light guide ring.
Some other manufacturers go without additional light sources at low light levels. But that’s irrelevant to me, since I’ve never used a caliber like the E75 in such a way that it even needed a moon mode.
The LEDs light up green until there is more than 20% remaining capacity in the battery, then red. Below 10% they flash red.
Beamshot
Correction: The GIF says “Acebeam E70”. That must be called “Acebeam E70 MINI”.
UI
A click on the side button switches the lamp on or off. A long click from off leads to moon mode and a double click always leads to turbo, and back to saved mode. Holding the button during operation switches through the modes (Low - Med1 - Med2 - High - da capo), Moon and Turbo are not included in the normal switching sequence. A triple click always activates the strobe mode.
The spreading of the light levels is very even. Someone criticized a too high a low mode. In the Nichia variant of the E75, I can’t share this opinion. With 30 lm, this mode can be used universally indoors and represents an energy-saving mode outdoors, which enables orientation. Walks/walking the dog is more likely to be done with Med1 mode.
The autolock known from the E70 (MINI) is (unfortunately) not available, instead the end cap can be loosened a little or the button can be held in moon mode for three seconds to secure the lamp.
regulation
The driver is power-regulated and does not require PWM. The performance curve over time is dead straight.
As usual, Acebeam relies on temperature-controlled stepdowns. Above 51 °C it regulates smoothly down to 1000 lm, the area of the button it is then at approx. 46 °C. So the lamp gets hot, but it is continuously operational at around 1000 HCRI-Lumens!
After the step down, the lamp maintains a body temperature at 37 °C.
The thermal image shows that head and battery tube are one unit. I couldn’t see any seams, at least with a strong magnifying glass. That means, superficially, that the driver was mounted through the battery tube. I can’t see a retaining ring, but the driver is covered by a film. In any case, such a design serves to (significantly) improve heat dissipation.
An energy management regulates the lamp towards the end of the battery life a secondjust so that the user is not left unwarned in the dark.
The first eight minutes:
After approx. 92 minutes, the lamp falls below 10% of its output after 30 s. After three hours there is a further stepdown to 30 lm (low). After a good 200 minutes I ended the recording, the battery had a voltage of about 2.9V.
tl;dr and conclusion
The Nichia Acebeam E75 boasts the outstanding light quality of the neutral white 519A 5000K. A reflector instead of a TIR optic surprised me a bit, but outdoors, the lamp can convince with its classic light rendering. The spill opens wide enough to have a sufficiently large field of view for walks and the like.
The bi-directional clip screwed to the head is an unusual quality feature and works very well.
The permanently glowing LEDs around the side switchcan be annoying, it’s straight diabolical when using the moon mode, because the status LEDs are quite bright. But a man’s thumb can cover them up.
Fortunately, the E75 comes with a battery included and can be charged through a USB-C port in the head of the lamp.
The HCRI version discussed here is largely unrivalled, the more powerful variant competes with lamps such as an Armytek Prime Pro or an Olight Seeker 3 Pro. Compared to the latter, the Acebeam is significantly cheaper, even if it has to do without the control ring. The E75 can score against the Prime with a larger battery format with at least 5 Ah and thus significantly more endurance, but has a simpler UI.
I like the new Acebeam much. The status LEDs are not disturbing in my usage profile as a dog handler. On the contrary, they give live feedback about the remaining capacity of the battery that can’t impossibly be ignored. The light matches my application perfectly, the quality is outstanding in every respect, and the long-term performance is opulent. All in all, the lamp with the included battery is inexpensive and currently a hot tip for applications like mine.