Unbranded clone of the Nitecore Tube

Other Types of Lights Keychain / Pocket Flashlights
1

Hi everybody!

New member here (but I did lurk the boards for some time before).

Just received these two (from ebay, they were not advertised as Nitecore Tube, but simply “Tube”) so I thought I could share :

Here are my observations so far, comparing to a genuine Tube from Nitecore :

(pic of a genuine Tube below for reference)

View post on imgur.com

  • the packaging looks very similar to the official Nitecore Tube, only there is no branding.
  • no branding on the light as well
  • the battery of the clones are different and appear a bit smaller
  • the tint of the LED appears the same on clones and genuine
  • runtime of the clones : approx ~45min (maybe less, still testing!) on high before the light starts dimming
  • no double click for high mode on the clones : only cycle from low, off, high, off…
  • also ramping up/down brightness feature
  • when charging, the charging LED is red, then dims when fully charged. (blue charging LED on genuine Tubes)
  • price : 50% cheaper on average than the original (paid less than 3.5€ per unit)

(maybe other differences, still need to do further tests)

All in all, not bad for the price, don’t know how long they will last though :stuck_out_tongue:

2

Well, € 3.50 at least sounds fair for a plastic 45 Lumen light. :slight_smile:

3

The recent deal on BG for 6$ was quite faire TBH.
Anyway, there will always be some chinese counterfeits of chinese brands :person_facepalming:

4

As long as they are not branding them as “nitecore”, I guess it’s ok :smiley:

5

What is it with people copying Nitecore so much?

I know it’s China and copying stuff is kinda their thing, but all this Nitecore rip-off/copying almost seems like a personal vendetta of someone that got laid off by Nitecore.

6

Maybe it’s from the same factory, only they didn’t put the brand name in the mould…

7

I just checked ebay for U.S. prices. Looks like the clone is cheaper but it doesn’t appear to have the variable brightness feature that the Nitecore has - the clones I looked at just have low or high.

8

The newer model of Nitecore Tube has no ramping, but has lockout

9

I was going to buy one from eBay to compare, because in the listing it said 99¢. Of course it was a trick to get people to click. The real price was around $4.50 and the 99¢ item was buried in the color/size options, one of those freebie type twisties running on button cells (I get those free at almost any festival I go to). Since I just made an order for the authentic Tube for $6 during the recent sale, I thought it better not to.

10

The two clones I have, have the ramping up and down feature. No lockdown.

11

Bought some original Nitecore Tubes , for 2.5-4$ during flash sales etc . No need to get a clone :wink:

12

For sure, the original ones are the best. I just wanted to see if those clones were 100% the same or not. Now we know :+1:

13

The new Tube still has ramping, but you can only activate it quickly after switch ON on low mode (press and hold). After a few second, any click (short or long) will switch off the light.

14

Just received clone. I can confirm all of OP's observations.

15

Haha! Good find lol

16

Fake Nitecore Tube test and teardown (and comparison to the real one) by Bigclivedotcom

17

Nitecore has a long history dating back to the original hotly debated forum topics/sales involving genuine innovation, copying in general and countries of origin (ie. when lights such as the Cree Q5 driven “Spear” were rally yanking people’s chains).
Ironically, very few were recognizing that China would soon surpass the rest of the world in delivering innovative portable lighting products easily recognized/copied on their own soil.

Although the original company is probably unrecognizable today, the attraction of “Nitecore” for me has always been that the name stuck and how the former company eventually pissed off so many (angrily) expressing that the(ir) world was flat and our’s should be as well.

(…sorry to briefly answer off-topic). :wink:

18

Interesting, I’ll be looking forward to some updates on the overall quality or differences (if any). Also, isn’t NiteCore based out of Asia?

19

You can find this 2 posts above yours in the video comparison and teardown.

20

Hi guys,

I got a noname tube yesterday and a nitecore tube the day before, so I took a couple pics of them side by side.

I’m not a good photographer and my LG G3 with cyanogenmod camera is not the best camera, so sorry for the bad quality, but I guess it is good enough to compare the two tubes.
only on the last pictures the noname seems much worse in comparison as it was in reality (or maybe my monitor sucks in daylight, last night it looked closer to the real perfomance).

There are by far better reviews and discriptions above, so just quick thoughts:

the noname tube seems just a little darker, a little narrower and a little colder.
But without the nitecore tube next to it, I would be happy with the performance. It is totally useable to find the way on a dark driveway or the keyhole at the frontdoor or for whatever scenario you use a light like this. the nitecore just does so a little better and shows a little better colors.
Biggest difference for me is the doubleclick for high brightness on the nitecore, which I like much more than the high - off - low - off mode.

So, here are the pics:
noename on the left, nitecore on the right.

If the pics don’t show, please let me know.