A keychain is a perfect gift option. It’s small, inexpensive, and always on your keychain, ready for use when needed. Acebeam Keylite 500 turned out to be surprisingly affordable for a model by big brand. I liked it so much that I bought three of them just to keep as gifts.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Model Name: Acebeam Keylite 500
- Body Material: Aluminum alloy
- LEDs: 2 LEDs of unspecified model and color temperature
- Battery: Li-Po, ~150mAh, USB-C
- Brightness and Range: 1-10-60-200-500 lumens, 70m (1225 cd)
- Size and Weight: 60x16x10.5mm \ 2.38x0.63x0.41 in, 19g\0.67oz
- Other: IP66, impact resistance: 1.5m
PACKAGE AND DESIGN
Currently, Acebeam Keylite 500 is the most affordable flashlight Acebeam has ever produced. Package is the same as some other compact models (Acebeam K1 for example) have- cardboard box with the flashlight visible through a transparent plastic.
The package includes everything you’d expect: a flashlight , a short USB-C charging cable, a manual, and a keyring. The latter is a small detail, but apparently not so small. I`ve bought three Keylite 500, and two of them came with a spring hook, and one with a small lanyard (both are pictured). Perhaps the first batch came with a lanyard, but it turned out to be unreliable.
You’ll most likely receive the version with a spring hook; that’s what’s currently listed on the manufacturer’s website.
And here’s Acebeam Keylite 500 itself. It’s a small metal block. Not tiny, but rather small, about the size of an AA battery (an AAA is right next to it for comparison). It’s solid, tightly built, and free of any visible defects of build quality or design.
It`s size and weight are completely usual for a keychain flashlight; just look at how small it is. And right here, since the angle is right, I’ll point out the only thing I didn’t like about the design. See how the upper left and lower right corners are chamfered? And if you look closely, you can also see a small chamfer right above the LEDs.
And in the other photos below, you’ll see that the short edges at the end have been chamfered. That’s good and right. What’s wrong is that there’s no chamfer under the LEDs or at the top of the opposite end of the flashlight; those corners are pretty sharp. I strongly suspect that this will sooner or later become apparent when carrying the flashlight in a tight pants pocket.
I took a fair number of photos, and, frankly, I like them so much that I haven’t decided which ones to get rid of and which ones to include in the review. So, take a look at everything we have. By the way, in addition to the three colors in these photos, there’s also a “moose” color, which, however, costs half the price of a regular color flashlight.
A keychain flashlight is meant to be attached to a keychain. There are two options. The first (or, I repeat, the second) is the aforementioned lanyard. If that doesn’t work, you can use a spring hook.
The flashlight is controlled by a small oval button with the expected red-green indicator in the center. The button, made of thick plastic, protrudes about a millimeter and is easy to find. Yes, there’s certainly a slight risk of accidentally pressing it in your pocket, but fortunately, the interface has a lock mode that eliminates this issue.
By the way, this photo clearly shows how the chamfers should have been designed around all corners and sides of the flashlight, not just near the button.
I honestly didn’t expect any unusual engineering solutions in such a typical keychain flashlight. But no, instead of the usual rubber plug for the charging port, I see an unexpected solution - flat metal cover.
The battery capacity is approximately 150 mAh (not specified anywhere in the specifications, so based on what I saw on the tester). It takes an hour and a half to fully charge.
The optics use a pair of different TIR lenses. The combination of flood and throw lenses is, frankly, a surprising solution for me. Unfortunately, Acebeam don`t disclosure models of LED used here.
Be that as it may, this combination allows the flashlight to simultaneously produce a wide near beam and a more penetrating far beam at the same time, providing versatile illumination.
USER INTERFACE
Nothing unusual, except for the brightness adjustment sequence - from High to Low. However, that may be unacceptable for a typical EDC flashlight (IMO), but is unlikely to be a problem in case of keylight.
In OFF mode. ~1 sec button hold- moonlight mode , 3-second hold- lock mode
In ON - button hold switches brightness levels in order “High-Mid-Low”
2 clicks - instant turbo
3 clicks - strobe, a rare feature for a keylight
HOW ACEBEAM KEYLITE 500 ILLUMINATES
In my opinion, a keylight is the kind of flashlight where high light quality isn’t necessarily essential. The purpose here is simple: to illuminate the path beneath your feet, a driveway, a keyhole, or the inside of a car for a relatively short time. And I’m quite willing to admit that in such scenarios, the quantity of light is more important than its quality.
Acebeam seems to be the only one really large brand that gives choice of LEDs (thanx for this, btw) including HiCRI LEDs and usual LEDs with not cold white color temperature. So I’m confident that the Keylight 500’s perfectly ordinary light quality (cool light + low CRI) is a deliberate decision, based on the same logic I outlined above. Again, this isn’t a criticism; the light is simply very ordinary in its quality characteristics. If it were more refined, i.e. a wormer and HiCRI , the brightness would be significantly reduced. And I believe that the most important thing for keylight is brightness and runtime.
There’s no PWM-shimmering, which is to be expected from a big brand.
As a reminder, the stable maximum brightness of common AAA keychain lights is around 100 lumens. Our hero is the same size, but it maintains a High level of 200 lumens for about 3 minutes, then switches to 150 lumens. Yes, 15 minutes at this brightness may not be enough for a long walkaround, but let’s be objective. Keychain lights are almost always needed for short periods - to walk home from the bus stop or garage or parking lot, or to climb an unlit staircase in a building. And 15 minutes is more than enough for such purposes. And it’s not a necessary that you’ll need these 150 lumens at all. The medium mode, with its 60 lumens, illuminates the path underfoot quite well and provides you with almost half an hour of runtime - enough for even a short walk, not to mention typical search of keyhole.
I find the flashlight’s mode spacing quite convenient for both search-on-shelf applications (1 and 10 lumens) and for illuminating a keyhole, a room, a driveway, a garage, or the path underfoot.
20 seconds at 500 lumens turbo brightness (that’s the section with blue line on the graph) is more than enough for a keychain flashlight. This brightness and runtime are enough to illuminate something more or less far away. The brightness is also comparable to that consistently produced by much larger flashlights.
Do you want higher brightness and consistent performance at a distance of 15 meters or more? Then look for a flashlight with a different LED and a size that can handle this brightness. For example, Acebeam K1, which i`ve mentioned above, has additional green laser and UV LED.
And now, more clearly. The wall of the gazebo is about 7 meters away, so the MED mode is quite sufficient.
Now a little further, about 10 meters to the end of the garage. That’s the same imitation of walking home along a dark path, or going into that same unlit garage.
Here’s the distance a little further, about 20 meters to the barn wall. It’s clear that you have to turn on light mode to get a sufficient brightness. And, remember, you’ll have half an hour of runtime at this brightness.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
Bitter lessons of life have taught me to choose and buy gifts in advance. When I came across Acebeam Keylite 500, I splurged on three different colors and I think I made the right choice. A keychain flashlight, as a type of flashlight, is a surefire gift option. See for yourself:
PROs
- It’s significantly cheaper than a full-size flashlight. And surprisingly affordable for brand model
- Size. Not everyone will carry a full-size or even a compact 14500\AA powered flashlight in their pocket + constantly, but a keychain flashlight will immediately become a staple on their keychain.
- It’s a useful gift. Sure, it won’t be used often, but when it will be used, them you`ll remembered with thanx..
- A pleasant design with a choice of body colors.
- A metal charging port cover, which I feel is simpler and more reliable than a typical rubber plug.
- The ability to sustain significantly higher level of brightness, comparing to typical AAA keylights.
CONs
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Descending brightness order. I certainly would prefer usual ascending order. However, all the inconvenience of this “High-Low” order is largely offset by the normal UI with mode memory and instant access to moonlight, turbo, and even a strobe, which is extremely rare for a keychain flashlight. And given the considerable overall brightness, this strobe can be a lifesaver in a pinch.
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The front panel should have been chamfered and the edges made less sharp.
In short, I liked the flashlight. I’m not really a fan of flashlights with built-in batteries, but such a sort of keychain flashlight with built-in battery has served me faithfully well for for about 6-7 years. And in case of small lights like this, i don`t care about inability to replace a discharged battery, usual runtime of keylight is enough for situations when you turn them on.
The important thing is that a almost any keychain flashlight with an AAA battery typically turns on and changes brightness by twisting the head, which can be inconvenient when used one-handed. In the case of Keylight 500 I just press the button and that’s it…