Here is a little review about the Nitenumen E01 updated Version. Gearbest send me this light from their testing warehouse and thats why it lacks any laser engravings and it also came in the "old package" from its predecessor, however the final batch will have all the logos etc..
I never used the old version of that light but i read alot of negative things about it. Since i dont own the predecessor i can only compare it a bit with the Nitecore MH20 CW, they look pretty much alike and i think its fair to say that the Nitenumen was influenced by the successful MH20.
Edit : the coupon LIG18OFF will save you some bucks
First i will give you some measurements
Obviously the light arrived in the old package, a standard cardboard box.
This is what you get when you buy the light. A standard USB to micro USB cable, a lanyard, a clip, spare USB port rubber cover, a Nitenumen labeled holster and a manual. Maybe the final version you can order now is a bit different.
Here is a little 360° overview of the light itself, it looks a bit strange without the laser engravings. The updated NE01 has grown compared to its predecessor. More specifically the area between the electronical switch and the bezel.
Looks still pretty much like the old one, there still is the red anodized ring around the switch. I guess the electronical switch is still the same as well. The switch is very easy to press and it feels almost like clicking a mouse button to me. Thats probably why the light has a lock out function now. The nitecore MH20 has a two way switch like a camera shutter button, the NE01 doesnt have that feature.
The machining is not Nitecore MH20 level, the NE01 surface looks also a bit more glossy to me but the light is a lot cheaper than a MH20, its a budgetlight.
Lets compare the light to the nitecore MH20. Like i said the original version was closer to the MH20, now the head has grown a bit as you can see. You may see the slightly more glossy look of the NE01.
The MH20 has also thicker walls as you can see and the threads are a bit smoother. I have to grease the NE01 a bit.
Here you can see the light next to the nitecore.
You can even play lego and create a "LumenCore", it will work.
They look very similar from the inside as well, both use blue circuit boards.
The tailcaps are also very similar, the nitecore has a little hole, both have no magnets. Nitecore MH20 on the right.
Here is a group picture with some other smaller 18650 lights for comparision. I know what you may think. :)
The updated NE01 has the XPL V5 LED with 1060 lumen, the old one had a XM-L2. I couldnt realize any coating on the lens, others than that it still has a smooth reflector. The light has 5 brightness levels + Strobe and SOS. According to the manual the light has 1060 lumen on turbo, 680 on high, 330 on medium, 85 on low and 3 on ultra low, they call it "shimmery". It has 236m beam distance and 14000cd peak beam intensity, the manual says peak bean :)
I tested some 18650's as usual and the protected ones all work with the light, even the thicker ones. The unprotected LG HG2 flat top cell will not work with the light.
Lets talk about the USB port and the internal charging function because that was one flaw of the old version. Some people had problems with overcharging and i have to say it still does that. My copy finished charging at 4.23V.
The charging current is 0.5A as you can see and it will stop charging after 4.23V. Now i have to say that some old version NE01's charged the cell without that problem, i dont know why some copies have that bug. Your copy may charge without any problems. I dont know why this problem isnt solved yet.
Other problems are solved, the indicator light is working like it should now. The switch serves as a battery indicator when the light is switched on. The battery indicator is on all the time which i like. For example Klarus has a similar indicator but you can see the battery status only in the first 5 sec. after you switched the light on.
There are 4 battery status levels:
solid blue = full or nearly full battery
blinking blue = i measured this status with 3,9V
solid red = i measured a battery right after the light went solid red with 3,7V
blinking red = i measured a battery right after that status with 3.4V
mind you, those measurements are not under load, so i dont know the real voltage limits. The blinking red and the solid blue signal is used as a charging indicator signal as well. The light will blink red during charging and it will go solid blue when the charging is finished. The manual also tells you about an abnormal condition or error during charging, then you will get a fast blinking red light, i never experienced that.
The light will also show those blinking signals everytime you insert a battery for some seconds before you even switched the light on, similar to the nitecore MH20 but of course it wont show the exact voltage like the Nitecore.
To the UI:
There are 5 brightness levels and 2 hidden functions. You can switch the light on by a longer press (>0,5sec) and change modes with short presses. If you press longer than 0,5 seconds you will get into the strobe mode SOS. Strobe works from on and off. The mode sequence is a loop moon>low>medium>high>turbo and so on. There is also a lock out function. You can activate it with a double click from off. The main LED will blink everytime you click the switch from now on to show you that the lock out mode is active. Double klick from on will do nothing except fast mode changes. I didnt detected any shortcut for turbo or ultra low, it does have mode memory.
I also did a little runtime test with the light but i called it a day after 8 hours, the light has some serious step downs pretty early which results in a ultra long runtime on a very low mode. After the test the light still had 3.17V with a 2600mah Battery.
the first 20 minutes
Im sure somebody will ask that question, yes the light has PWM in the lower modes as you can see
A LED color bin comparision, its a cool white LED similar to the nitecore MH20 orginal version.
Some indoor beamshots against the MH20
Nitenumen NE01
Nitecore MH20
outdoor shots
the white table was 51 yards away
GIF
I was a bit disappointed because of the overcharging problem, others than that the light performed pretty good against the MH20, yes the overall quality not as good as the nitecore but for 20 bucks its still a good light. Maybe they ironed out the bug in the official version, who knows.
In a real life situation you can always reset the step down, something you can hardly do in a runtime test, so the light isnt really bad. If you dont care about the potential charging bug i will post a coupon code here for you for getting it a few bucks cheaper. I'm sure i forgot something, so feel free to ask.
