Review: Fitorch ER16 (pic heavy)

ImA4Wheelr · 2018-07-22T15:04:41.000Z

I received this light through the "GEARBEST 2018 Mid-Year Giveaway". I have a few details to fill in below. I'll update them once I have them..

Pros:

Bright little light with a useful general purpose beam profile
- Good balance of throw and flood.
Good looking light with very nice flat black finish
Well-executed machining with square-cut threads. Arrived properly lubricated.
Attractive reflector and A/R lens.
Good mode separation
- Measured 90lm (L), , 340lm (M), 1200lm (H). Moon was too low to register in my integrated tube. 3lm spec looks about in real life.
Well-machined, thick Retainer rings for both the Driver
Tail stands well
- Has passages to prevent lanyard from interfering with tail standing.
Nice deep-carry pocket clip
Strong Tail Magnet. Holds light well in all positions.
UI has lots of great features such as voltage feedback via the switch, lockout functionality, hidden but rapidly accessible strobe mode.
No detectable PWM or whining sounds

Cons:

High output to low output mode order
- This is mitigated somewhat with last-mode memory
Anodized finish tends to scratch off against metal hard edges.

Built-in Charger:
Charges at 1amp rate and terminates at 4.20v. Didn't test for proper charging algorithm.

Output:
I recently made some changes to my integrating tube and have not had a chance to calibrate yet. So take my measurements with a grain of salt. Using an INR18650-20R (all my 18350's are a bit tired), I measured "tailcap" amps of 3.7 at start up. The amperage drifted to 3.6 amps at about 30 seconds. Lumens measured 1200-1300 at startup and drifted down to about 1100-1200 at 30 seconds. I saw not indications of thermal sag.

Throw measured at __kcd.

Tailcap draw at Med, Low, and Moon were about .9-1amp, .22amp, and .006amp, respectively.

Driver and Testing Results:

The manual says the head is sealed. There is white glue holding the driver in place and the bezel wouldn't unscrew by hand. Normally, I like to open up a light so that I can measure both input and output. At this moment, I don't have time to break open the head and test. I also really like the light and don't want to risk hurting it at this time too. I connected the driver input to a variable cv/cc power supply and got some weird results. Amperage draws very low and the switch slowly led flashed red during the process. Like with cells, power consumption dropped as voltage dropped.

The light appears to be some type of direct drive type driver. I could not detect any PWM (visually or with phone camera). Also could not hear any whining. Due to the power supply issue, I didn't test low voltage protection.

UI:
Excluding the high output to low output mode order, the UI is great. The last mode memory makes the mode order tolerable, but it would be much perfumed to have low to high order.

Some Photos:

The product box is very attractive and which contributes to making this a great gift light. The packing in the box protects the contents well.

Battery tube and tailcap are one piece. Driver is held in place by a white glue.

Square-cut threads also on the top end of the battery tube.

Nice looking reflector and A/R coated lens.

USB port cover is nice and snug.

Beam Shots

High, Medium, Low, Moon modes. Both sets below appear slightly brighter than reality:

Another part of driveway with same mode order:

I tried a slightly different camera setting for this closer range shot. Pictures seem darker than reality. Sorry for the blur on the high mode pic.

Conclusion:

This light is very nice. All kinds of nifty features all in one package. I tend to just EDC triple A lights, but I light tempts me to give it a shot. Wish is was winter. It's a winner all the way around.

ImA4Wheelr · 2018-07-22T15:11:51.000Z

Since my 18350's were a bit tired, I used an 18650 for the beam shots and tailcap measurements.

duramax · 2018-07-22T15:29:28.000Z

Is that a regular Convoy S2+ battery tube and tailcap? They fit?!

Awesome review, many thanks.

ImA4Wheelr · 2018-07-22T23:25:18.000Z

It is. Wondered if anyone would figure out what tube it is. Good work. Yes, it works fine without any mods. Thanks for the feedback duramax.