This is a review of the Lumintop ODF30 light. My model is the second version which has the spring on the driver. This is basically my review from their Amazon store where I gave it a 4 out of 5 star review. I decided to post it here a long with a few more details. This is my very first review so it’s not as extensive as others. Check out Locks review for more pictures and details.
When I first opened the box I was actually surprised at how small it is. This light is borderline cute, but still packs a mean punch. I do have a light smaller than this called the DQG Tiny 7X (tan light in pics), but I feel that light is actually too small because it doesn’t fit in my hand well. I only get 3 fingers around it and two fingers hang off the end. The ODF30 is similar in diameter, but longer so that I can get a nicer grip on it (4 finger grip). The finish is a velvety black anodization which I think feels really good in the hand. It also seems very slip resistant. Overall the ergodynamics feel really good, there are no sharp edges and the raised button is easy to find in complete darkness. The fit and finish seems superb and it has nice square cut threads on the tail cap.
It uses a Cree xhp70.2 emitter and a single 26650 battery along with a boost driver to give it 5 brightness levels. The user interface is pretty good, but there is room for improvement. Eco, low and medium all seem pretty well spaced but in my opinion the high level of 1800 lumens is a little too high. I wish they could drop it down a bit to maybe 1100 lumen. This is just my opinion which may not be an issue for anybody else, so take this with a grain of salt. The other thing I didn’t like about the user interface is having to press and hold the button for one second to turn it off (yes, one second, not two as stated in the manual). I personally like to turn lights on and off with a single click. Again this may not be an issue for most people. Turn on is a fast click and you can cycle through low medium and high very quickly with a single click as well. Eco is only accessible from the off position using a press and hold. From the on position a double click goes to Turbo and then another single click goes back to your previous level. This light also has an electronic lock out only accessible from off. You just press and hold for about 4 seconds and you will get three or four very fast flashes. Now whenever the button is pressed you get temporary low mode for as long as you hold down the button. This is a unique lockout mode. The only way to unlock the light is to give the tail cap a half turn to break the connection and then turn it back to normal. Due to the anodized threads on the tail cap, you can give it half a turn to mechanically lock it out, which is what I prefer.
The reflector size and beam pattern seem to give a really nice distribution of light for walking around at night. Although this is a cool white emitter, there are no signs of a blue or green tint. I also don’t see much yellow, so it’s a pretty pleasant white.
As far as output on turbo is concerned, I measured a tail cap amp draw (UNI-T UT210E clamp meter) of 9 amps using a blue Liitokala 5000mAh unprotected battery at 4 volts.
Here is a list of all amp draws.
At 4v, turbo to eco:
9.0 (at 4.2v I got 8.7A, compress the spring more = 8.35A)
3.84
1.0
0.214
0.015
At 3.6v:
10 for a few seconds then steps down to 6.4
4.6
1.26
0.250
0.025
I also used a JoshK sphere as well as a Texas Ace Lumen Tube with a .70 correction factor. So even though it’s difficult for an amateur like myself to give an exact lumen output for turbo, I think it’s safe to say it is in the 3100 to 3200 2700 to 2800 range. This is below the rated 3500 lumen, but should be more than bright enough for normal use. The sad fact is that very few lights realistically live up to there rated outputs. So I’m not taking a star off for that.
Brightness levels are roughly:
Turbo 3150 2660
High 1500 1330
Med 500 425
Low 140 120
Eco 5 2
(I updated the lumen levels based on my TA Lumen Tube calibrated with one of Maukka’s calibration lights)
For the most part I would give this light a 5 out of 5 star review, but it does have a couple of weaknesses that I have to take a star off. The fact the light doesn’t have any reverse polarity protection is a bit of an oversight. Most people should know that the battery always goes into the tube positive first so that the tail cap screws onto the negative end of the battery. The instruction sheet for the light even shows a picture of the correct battery polarity, even though it could be a bit clearer. If you accidentally put the battery in backwards, you will end up damaging the light.
A second issue is it doesn’t fit certain protected 26650 batteries. I’m told a 68.5mm long cell will fit, but I tried a 70.5mm and it did not. So even though lumintop recommends a protected battery for this light, only certain protected batteries will actually fit. All unprotected 26650 should work just fine. Just make sure the tab on the tail cap is not compressed down too far.
So these two reasons (and maybe the user interface things I mentioned earlier) are why I’m giving it four stars instead of five. All of these issues are capable of being fixed by Lumintop in a later version so I’m hoping they will be corrected.
Overall, I’m very impressed.
I also want to make it clear that Lumintop sent me this light and asked for my honest review whether it be good or bad. I honestly feel this is a good light, but not a perfect one. There is still room to improve it.
EDIT: Here is the Turbo runtime info. This is before I calibrated my Lumen Tube with Maukka’s light.
My battery is not fully charged, but is still over 4 volts.
Start was 3000 lumen and held steady for 1m 10s then slowly dropped to 1870 at the 1m 45s mark. It stabilized shortly then went down to 1700 at 2m. Then dropped to 1680 at 2m 15s. It held steady for a while then dropped to 1600 at the 3m mark. I turned it off as it was really hot.
So I got full Turbo for 1m 10s, then I got a series of smooth ramp downs.
Locks review showed the light staying above 2600 lumen (my lumen number, not his) for about 3 minutes before steeply dropping in output. Mine drooped to that level in half the time.
His test says it was a 22°C room with no cooling.
Mine was a 23°C with no cooling except my 2 fingers holding the light.
My light was probably started off a bit warmer since it had just cooled down from another run on turbo about 10 mins earlier. Still, this is a pretty big difference in turbo stepdown times.
EDIT 2:
I got 1m 37s of turbo before it ramped down. See here.
