[Review] Nitecore EC23 ( XHP-35 E2, E-Switch, 18650) - An awesome EDC

bilakos10 · 2018-09-15T15:47:17.000Z

The flashlight was gracefully provided to me by GearVita.com for review.
Here's the product's page: Nitecore EC23

The flashlight comes in a typical Nitecore themed box.

The sides of the box show a sneak peak of the light's features - 1800Lm, 16.2Kcd of throw and a maximum of 330h runtime.

The accessories includes are two replacement o-rings, a lanyard and an instruction manual.

Looking at the flashlight itself, it's easy to see that Nitecore has gone for a tactical look.
Matte black anodization, light knurling and anti-roll grooves and of course an e-switch.

Nothing exciting on the other half of the light.

An side mounted e-switch is used to control the operation of the flashlight.
The plastic boot of the switch is textured, while there's also an indicator LED integrated into it.

The tail is raised quite a bit, which allows the EC23 to tail stand.
There is also a couple of lanyard holes drilled into the raised portion.

The threads are square cut and arrived lubricated.
Due to them being anodized, the flashlight can be locked out by a slight twist of the tail cap.

The tail's spring is very thick in order to be able to cope with the high current requirements of the driver.

The driver is housed under a plastic protector.
The positive terminal is made out of a solid copper button.

The XHP35 CW emitter is housed inside a quite deep smooth reflector.
The alignment is perfect.

Along with the flashlight, there is also a Nitecore branded 18650 cell included in the package.

The cell is rated for 20A of continuous discharge (35A pulse) and 2500mAh of capacity.

According to my MiBoxer C4-12 charger, the IR of the battery is 39mΩ

// A Little Mod \\

Most of my EDC flashlights have a pocket clip installed to them.
Since the EC23 didn't come with one, I decided to utilize one I had available from my Rofis R3.

Its fitment is excellent, it matches with the color of the body and it even is a deep pocket carry one!

User Interface

The EC23 comes with a pretty straightforward firmware for an e-switch light.
Here's all the actions supported by the user interface.

Turn on/off: Single press.
Mode Cycle: Long press withing 3 seconds from turning on the light. The modes cycle in 1 second interval ( Ultralow > Low > Mid > High > Turbo )
Momentary Turbo: Long press after 3 seconds from turning on the light. After releasing the button, the light goes back to previous mode.
Ultralow: 0.5 second long press while off.
Turbo: >0.5 second long press while off.
Strobe: Triple press.
Blinkies: While in strobe, long press to cycle through SOS > Location Beacon > Strobe

The blue indicator LED that's integrated to the switch is used for monitoring the battery's status.
Once a battery is inserted, the indicator will blink several times. E.g for a voltage of 4.1V you would get the following blinks: 4 blinks - 1 second pause - 1 blink.
Also, the indicator shines once the flashlight is powered on: No Blink: Battery > 50%, Blink every 2 secs: < 50%, Quick blinking: Time to charge :)

Performance

Here's my measurements using the included 2500mAh 25A rated cell at full charge.

And here's Turbo compared to my other lights:

As seen, the EC23 should be pushing more than 1700 OTF Lumens, which is super impressive for a pocket carried light.
Of course the output is heat regulated, which means that it will decrease in order to keep the head 'cool'.

I believe that the EC23 is an excellent EDC and it will be entering my daily rotation!

Lightbringer · 2018-09-16T05:54:02.000Z

Urg…

I’ve been getting into Nitecores lately (got 2, 3rd on the way), and this looks too good to pass up.

I just shudder to think how much it co$ts.

(Hmm, about 60bux shipped. Okay, not that big of a bite.)

bilakos10 · 2018-09-16T10:45:18.000Z

Lightbringer:

Urg…

I’ve been getting into Nitecores lately (got 2, 3rd on the way), and this looks too good to pass up.

I just shudder to think how much it co$ts.

(Hmm, about 60bux shipped. Okay, not that big of a bite.)

Omg, you are on a purchase rampage once again
Which Nitecores have you gotten so far?

Lightbringer · 2018-09-16T18:00:50.000Z

P30 and MH20GT, regular ’20 on the way.

Funny how the ’20 is the exact same size as the Wuben i332, but it takes an 18650 while the Woob only takes a 16340 (not even an 18350). So there’s a lot of oomf packed into that ’20!

bilakos10 · 2018-09-17T08:25:25.000Z

Lightbringer:

P30 and MH20GT, regular '20 on the way.

Funny how the '20 is the exact same size as the Wuben i332, but it takes an 18650 while the Woob only takes a 16340 (not even an 18350). So there’s a lot of oomf packed into that '20!

All of them look very good - the MH20GT (or even better an MH23) seems like an excellent EDC option.
The Wuben i332 is built a bit chunkier and the built-in charger is what's conquering the majority of the lost space.

bilakos10 · 2018-09-17T18:51:01.000Z

ledstadium:

Thanks for the review it is very informative and amazing too…

You are welcome mate
I will also be including some outdoor shots once I get to visit the place where I take my beamshots!

Lightbringer · 2018-09-17T22:37:46.000Z

bilakos10:

All of them look very good - the MH20GT (or even better an MH23) seems like an excellent EDC option.

The Wuben i332 is built a bit chunkier and the built-in charger is what’s conquering the majority of the lost space.

The ’20 has usb charging, too. 2-stage side-clicky, usb charging, the works. Only that the i332 has a tail-clicky for on/off and side-switch for modes, whereas the ’20 has the 2-stage switch for everything. So that might add a little bit, but…

The i332 is a good general-purpose EDC if you mostly leave it on its brightest setting, but really like momentary-on for a quick flash’n’dash. I rarely if ever step it down when I’m using it (around the house). No memory, resets to high. Which is the exact opposite of, say, a Jet-II, which also has nomem but defaults to low, for when you don’t want to get blinded late at night when you’re not sure what mode you last left it.

Frankly, I really like the style of the i332 (it’s all Star-Tracky!), but I was wowed by the compactness of the ’20. And I think the regular ’20 is even a bit shorter, too! I’ll see soon enough…