Nitecore TM15 (3xXM-L U2, 4x18650, 8xCR123A/RCR) Review: RUNTIME, BEAMSHOTS, VIDEO +

[selfbuilt]

Lanyard question. How does this thing work? It just goes into a piece of plastic with nothing to push unlike others I have. Not sure how it's to be used.:thinking:

Ah yes, it's not immediately intuitive. You use the small thin wire to thread a loop of the larger lanyard through the light, then pass pass the lanyard through itself to hold on.

Varuscelli posted some pics in my TM11 thread on how to do it. Please see his post #6 in that thread.

 

[ZRXBILL]

Ah yes, it's not immediately intuitive. You use the small thin wire to thread a loop of the larger lanyard through the light, then pass pass the lanyard through itself to hold on.

Varuscelli posted some pics in my TM11 thread on how to do it. Please see his post #6 in that thread.

Thanks. I was thinking you had to cut it, sure glade I didn't. Also glad I didn't throw the small thin string away.

 

[ZRXBILL]

Looks like mine's going back. When I hard press the the switch I get turbo but when I release it goes off. The only way I get constant turbo is to soft press after I'm in a lower mode.

 

[selfbuilt]

Looks like mine's going back. When I hard press the the switch I get turbo but when I release it goes off. The only way I get constant turbo is to soft press after I'm in a lower mode.

Hmmm, is it a question of timing? You need to do a quick press-release for it to register as a click. Otherwise, it behaves as momentary, and shuts off upon a slow press-release.

 

[ZRXBILL]

Hmmm, is it a question of timing? You need to do a quick press-release for it to register as a click. Otherwise, it behaves as momentary, and shuts off upon a slow press-release.

What would we, or at least me, do without you here. That's it, I was holding it too long. Works fine with a quick full press. Once again thanks.

 

[levelflight]

Selfbuilt,
I can hear a sound / tone coming from the switch of the TM15 on your video. Is this just the way your mic picked it up, or does the button actually emit that pinging sound?

 

[sidecross]

What would we, or at least me, do without you here. That's it, I was holding it too long. Works fine with a quick full press. Once again thanks.

I agree selfbuilt is one of a few people that keep me checking this web site everyday. :thumbsup:

 

[selfbuilt]

What would we, or at least me, do without you here. That's it, I was holding it too long. Works fine with a quick full press. Once again thanks.

No worries, just glad I was able to help clear that up. All electronic switches (that offer both momentary and locked on) will take some getting used to. Some seem to have more intuitive "muscle motor timings" to start with, but each really does require some conditioning of the user's responses.

I can hear a sound / tone coming from the switch of the TM15 on your video. Is this just the way your mic picked it up, or does the button actually emit that pinging sound?

There is a subtle sound when pressing the switch, hadn't really thought much of it. The camera may be accentuating it a bit.

 

[levelflight]

OK, thank you Selfbuilt....I guess I'll find out in a week or so......looking forward to it.

I was just thinking, if you keep one of every light you test (just guessing here) then you are probably looking at a significant cost in shelving as well as batteries.....maybe you need two funds.

And it must be very tough for you to decide which light to take out for a walk!

 

[SRB]

Warning: pic heavy, as usual.

The TM15 shows excellent efficiency for this class, in keeping with the current-controlled circuit. Output is flat-regulated at all levels, very similar to the TM11.

First off, thanks for another highly informative review. Your reviews have cost me tremendous hours of sleeplessness; to say nothing of the financial aspects of being so well informed. I usually lurk but the CR123 runtime chart has me puzzled. The graph seem to indicate that the T60CS has a lesser halflife than the TM15; but the legend would suggest a nearly hour and a half to half power on high with CR123s. I may be misinterpreting the graph, and hate to even mention it. My Tiny Monster is on order and I have another sleepless night to your credit. I thought this sickness would end once I had the ARC LSH-P and LSL-P. Keep up the awesome work and I will go to the grave broke, but happy.

Sincere Thanks,
SRB

 

[selfbuilt]

The graph seem to indicate that the T60CS has a lesser halflife than the TM15; but the legend would suggest a nearly hour and a half to half power on high with CR123s. I may be misinterpreting the graph, and hate to even mention it.

Not at all, thanks for the catch. That's an error in the figure legend - the T60CS gave me 1hr 1min time to 50% on CR123A, not 1hr 29min. I've updated the graph in the review with the correct legend.

Cheers!

 

[Bwolcott]

Warning: pic heavy, as usual.

The TM15 shows excellent efficiency for this class, in keeping with the current-controlled circuit. Output is flat-regulated at all levels, very similar to the TM11.

First off, thanks for another highly informative review. Your reviews have cost me tremendous hours of sleeplessness; to say nothing of the financial aspects of being so well informed. I usually lurk but the CR123 runtime chart has me puzzled. The graph seem to indicate that the T60CS has a lesser halflife than the TM15; but the legend would suggest a nearly hour and a half to half power on high with CR123s. I may be misinterpreting the graph, and hate to even mention it. My Tiny Monster is on order and I have another sleepless night to your credit. I thought this sickness would end once I had the ARC LSH-P and LSL-P. Keep up the awesome work and I will go to the grave broke, but happy.

Sincere Thanks,
SRB

I agree it looks like they are switched

 

[selfbuilt]

... then you are probably looking at a significant cost in shelving as well as batteries.....maybe you need two funds.

Well, I did ask Santa for some new closet organizers for Christmas. :laughing:

I agree it looks like they are switched

No, the figure legend was in error. It's been corrected in the review.

 

[drsgbriggs]

I have two of both the 11 and 15's, and don't find the extra weight at all objectionable. The 15's benefits much outweigh the relatively small increase in cost and size, IMHO. But both are excellent quality torches, and likely to last a long time, with minimal size for brightness. I think I'll use the TM-11's on the bicycles (BTW, glamenz in Germany has a 3D printer and makes and excellent handlebar mount that will work equally well with 11 or 15, see https://www.youtube.com/user/glamenz?feature=results_main) and the 15's for everything else. Both these lights will illuminate the interior of a tent trailer or tent extremely well. One last thing, my TM-15's came from China, and the charger had the two cylindrical AC plugs. I had to get the north american adaptor, but this did work just fine.

 

[gravitysux]

Does anyone know if the car charger for the nitecore i4 will fit the TM15's charging port?

If it fits, or any other 12v car charger for that matter, I would assume that it would work because the rated output on the wall chargers seems to also be 12v.

Any thoughts?

It should be just a matter of having the right plug and polarity. Any 12v source should do as long as it can supply sufficient current.

I can test the other way around, I have the i4 and the charger that came with the TM15, but I've not tried to plug it in. As far as I can remember the TM15 charging plug is a smaller diameter than the i4 12V, but I'll try to measure tonight to be sure.

 

[gravitysux]

Originally Posted by dailydR1ver
Does anyone know if the car charger for the nitecore i4 will fit the TM15's charging port?

If it fits, or any other 12v car charger for that matter, I would assume that it would work because the rated output on the wall chargers seems to also be 12v.

Any thoughts?

The i4 and TM15 12V charger plugs are not compatible. The i4 charger has a much larger 12V socket. The TM15 uses a small 4mm diameter plug and will not fit. See pics. The TM15 charger plug needs to be as long as 13,5mm to make contact in the light socket as it's a bit recessed.

You will need either two different car chargers, or one with interchangeable tips.

The TM15 charger plug is 13,5mm long and 4mm outer diameter. Specs on the charger are 12V switchmode, 1000mA, positive center.

i4 + TM15 charger

TM15 charger

 

[davpet]

Just for comparison, here are my estimated lumen calculations, based on my ceiling bounce measurements. Originally I assumed, that the TM15 would output 2450 lumens on turbo, after 1 minute.

Mode	TM11	TM15
Low	250	325
Medium	625	575
High	1250	1300
Turbo	2450 (1 min)	2450 (1 min)

 

[shelm]

tm15 has 5 brightness levels. not 4.
nice try tho

 

[Landshark99]

Now that I own both, I like both, great lights

 

[davpet]

tm15 has 5 brightness levels. not 4.
nice try tho

Since the lowest setting on the TM15 is so low that it wouldn't register on my lux meter in a ceiling bounce test, I couldn't include it. I think everybody knows that the TM15 has 5 brightness levels, mr wise guy.