Specs:
- LED: 3x SFN 55.3 6500k (CRI: 70)
- Battery: 1x 21700 (not included, recommended by order of performance: Lishen LR2170HP (listed with light for rated performance of 17.5k Lumens), 30T, P45B, P42A;
- Driver: Nightwatch (unknown specs)
- UI: 4 Mode plus Turbo and strobe (6 modes), Single mechanical tail switch
First impressions:
This flashlight is the embodiment of "function over form". A completely no-frills flashlight that is very unassuming.
Old School reverse clicky mechanical tailswitch.
It has quite a bit of heft to it for its small size thanks to its heatsinking design on the head and large stainless steel bezel. The finish is matte black (although on mine the tailcap has the more glossy finish from the V1) and looks decent. I can't fault it for how solid it feels, but it is not the prettiest light by far.
Build:
No complaints about the smoothness of the threads.
I do wish there was more threading on the head end to assist with durability and heat transfer.
The most impressive thing about this light (besides the brightness) has got to be the design of the "circuit". There are no traditional springs on either end. Instead we have a thick, flat post on the driver side, and what looks like a thick flat folded piece of metal and there is a spring under the folded metal piece.
All of this to get the lowest resistance possible to allow for such high currents (50 to 60 amps with the LR2170HP!)
Usage notes:
This isn't the most usable light, mode spacing is terrible for general use. "Moonlight" is very usable 53 lumens (haha, "Moonlight", hahaha).
"Low" is a massive step up to 1775 lumens (Measured). Something like 300 would be more reasonable, but 1700 is already brighter than 99% of flashlights...
"Medium" measured 3,163 lumens, which doesn't seem substaintially brighter to the eye but its technically almost 2x as bright.
"High" is another "not very noticable" 2x bump to 6,626 lumens (Measured).
Turbo can instantly smoke dark paper and burns it easily.
There is temperature regulation, but it doesn't kick in fast enough for my liking and gets too hot to hold bare handed very quick. I measured a max of 147F (63.8C) running on turbo and the specs say the thermal limit is set to 55C.
Because of its vast power demands, it will kill your batteries very quickly. Thankfully it does have working LVP so you will know when you need to charge the battery.
I sometimes fail to get to the Turbo mode and end up clicking it off instead, a consequence of doing double half presses using a reverse clicky instead of an e-switch, but with this light, you don't want to accidentally go into turbo, so its more of a safety feature lol.
Remember everyone, for good mode spacing, you need 4x the lumens for it to appear 2x as bright.
My personally Suggested mode spacing would be more like:
- 17 (~0.1% of output)
- 170 (~1% of output)
- 750 (~5% of output)
- 2500 (~25% of output)
- Turbo (100% of output)
No need for any modes higher than 2500L (except for turbo) because it won't be able to sustain higher than 2500L anyways...
Battery:
Get it with a Lishen LR2170HP for max 17.5k output.
Get a 30T if you can't get the Lishen (multiple users report very slightly lower output).
Get a P45B (can't find any as this is brand new but much better than the P42A)
The P42A is the minimum safe battery I would recommend for this light, but don't expect 17.5k lumens, you get 14.5k at best.
Brightness Perf:
- Moonlight (LOL): 53 Lumens
- Low: 1775 Lumens
- Med: 3163 Lumens
- High:6626 Lumens
- Turbo: 17,405 Lumens (updated test with P45B)
- Max Lumens @30s: 11446 Lumens
- Max Sustained Lumens: 733-1088 (Dropped to 733 initially, then stabilized at 1088)
(Note that these lower results are consequences of not using the recommended LR2170HP)
Verdict:
Another must have for enthusiasts, not very practical, but very simple to use, and will blow anyones socks off guaranteed!
Nightwatch Incredible NS73V2 (Link to Nealsgadgets)
Pros:
- Heckin bright
- Simple UI
- Great heatsinking
- Best circuit design in a flashlight period
- Best lumen per dollar ratio I've ever seen.
- Impressive even with a P42A
Cons:
- Mode spacing is ridiculous
- Some may find that its not very pretty (subjective)
- Need special battery for advertised output (Unless better 21700 batteries come out in the future)
This item was purchased by myself
