REVIEW: Nitecore TINI Keychain Flashlight

[andygold]

Battery question. I realize the run times are theoretical...
With a fully charged battery, I can use Turbo. Will Turbo work when the battery is at less than 50% (2 blue blinks) or less that 10% (1 blue blink)? Basically, at what battery level does Turbo stop working? I'm just trying to figure usage time... Such as if I was on high for 50 minutes total time (not all at once) out of a theoretical 60 minutes max, then would Turbo still function, or would there not be enough juice left?

 

[D6859]

I've been away from this forum for years (venturing into woröd of knives and multitools). But when I came here and read your review I had to login again to thank you for it. Ordered one for myself based on your detailed review.

Thank you! This community is great!

 

[Vemice]

Both TINI & TIP are available in copper. Have had my TINI riding on me keychain for months with no significant scratches or dings. Don't care about the light quality (which I think is fine) as when I use it I just need light.

 

[fonaryk]

I've been off this forum and off the grid so to speak for quite awhile and have only recently started to dabble in lights once again.
i thank you for this in depth review but it has left me concerned that I have purchased two Tini's In copper with possible battery issues. Both were purchased through an authorized dealer at the exact same time and both suffer from the same issue;that being loss of charge when not in use for any length of time. For example, after being fully charged, I keep one on my nightstand and when I needed to use it after only a week or so of it sitting dormant,the light did not turn on at all.
as for the run time per your test, both lights, fully charged , on high lasted approximately 8-9 minutes before shutting off. Not dropping down in power-shutting down completely. The other light used to be on my car key chain but it is so unde-endable,it now sits in my junk drawer along with many other useless lights and bits cast off from everyday use.
It's not rocket science ,so I doubt I've done anything wrong but at this point, I'll stick to any one of my other pocket rockets which depend on AAA or other cells. A light which loses its charge without being used is useless.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bdm82]

I've been off this forum and off the grid so to speak for quite awhile and have only recently started to dabble in lights once again.
i thank you for this in depth review but it has left me concerned that I have purchased two Tini's In copper with possible battery issues. Both were purchased through an authorized dealer at the exact same time and both suffer from the same issue;that being loss of charge when not in use for any length of time. For example, after being fully charged, I keep one on my nightstand and when I needed to use it after only a week or so of it sitting dormant,the light did not turn on at all.
as for the run time per your test, both lights, fully charged , on high lasted approximately 8-9 minutes before shutting off. Not dropping down in power-shutting down completely. The other light used to be on my car key chain but it is so unde-endable,it now sits in my junk drawer along with many other useless lights and bits cast off from everyday use.
It's not rocket science ,so I doubt I've done anything wrong but at this point, I'll stick to any one of my other pocket rockets which depend on AAA or other cells. A light which loses its charge without being used is useless.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've been off the forum for several months myself; you never know when life is going to get in the way of forum time... Anyway, the TINI I have has gone months between uses without permanently dying. It is electronically-switched so some parasitic drain should be expected, but it certainly shouldn't die within a week. I noted in the review that Nitecore reports 1 year storage; I'm not sure if they still report that -- but sometimes I have seen specs change. It's like how i have 3 TUBEs and I think 2 of the 3 have lockout capability...maybe it's just 1...either way, you get what I mean.

 

[fonaryk]

Thanks BDM. I thought it strange;stranger still that both are experiencing the same issue. Also,thanks for bringing back to my mind the term I was seeking-parasitic drain. I know the issue is not form being accidentally switched on while in my pocket since it's happening while it's on a nightstand. Reckon I'll try and reach out to Nitecore.

 

[AVService]

I've been off the forum for several months myself; you never know when life is going to get in the way of forum time... Anyway, the TINI I have has gone months between uses without permanently dying. It is electronically-switched so some parasitic drain should be expected, but it certainly shouldn't die within a week. I noted in the review that Nitecore reports 1 year storage; I'm not sure if they still report that -- but sometimes I have seen specs change. It's like how i have 3 TUBEs and I think 2 of the 3 have lockout capability...maybe it's just 1...either way, you get what I mean.

Interesting as the TIP2 that I got Today says to charge every 3 months if not used AND they completely eliminated the Lockout feature in the new version as well though I had not seen that advertised or observed anywhere yet.

Mine is going back because of it too.

 

[Timothybil]

Reminds me of the original TIP. If you put it in lockout, the parasitic drain was ridiculous. I waited until the TIP 2017, which doesn't have that problem. I'm a little disappointed that the TIP 2 does not come in a high CRI version.

 

[Timothybil]

And to make something less expensive yet mostly effective, a certain small percentage of products will be defective because that is a part of how many manufacturers have been thriving for years.

Went back to look at my post and saw this.
From a manufacturing perspective there will always be duds, yes. They are usually caused by a phenomenon called 'stacking tolerances'. Basically, every part of every device has a design measurement, and a +/- tolerance around that measurement. Now, for the most part, those plus and minus variations tend to even out, and the final device is just fine. I think we have all had the experience where with two identical devices, one just works better than the other. That's the one where all the tolerances balanced each other. On the other hand, you have when all of the tolerances work against each other. If the device can even be assembled, it probably won't work very well, if at all. Usually, the 'no go' ones are found before they are shipped, but sometimes one gets away. And if the device does work, it doesn't work well. So, yeah, some duds get loose in the wild. Most manufacturers these day s use SPC [Statistical Process Control] to monitor things and correct process problems before things get out of tolerance. The only way to get no bad devices is 100% inspection, and that makes things way to expensive. That's one of the reasons parts and assemblies for planes and spacecraft are so expensive - it is cheaper to do that kind of inspection/testing than have something fail and lose the entire craft. A perfect example of this would be the 0-rings on the shuttle boosters. Somewhere in the design process the decision was made on a lower temperature performance bound, but that number never got to the people making the decision to launch that day, even though some of the engineers were telling them not to.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Reminds me of the original TIP. If you put it in lockout, the parasitic drain was ridiculous. I waited until the TIP 2017, which doesn't have that problem. I'm a little disappointed that the TIP 2 does not come in a high CRI version.

I was glad to have gotten the version 2 of the original TIP, that has a functional (for me) lockout that I use all the time, except when I forget...

The TIP 2 appears to have more heat sink but like the gentleman from Iowa, without emitters that make skin look insipid, it is a no-go for me. I have a copper and an aluminum TINI that sit around because of hohum tint and a propensity to be turned off while in use, among other factors with the UI.

 

[Burgess]

I bought a TINI (in copper),
and the charging socket BROKE
in less than a month ! ! !

And it was NEVER carried in my pocket,
or dropped, or Anything ! ! !

Never suffered a Moment of unkindness !

WTF !

Would NOT recommend this !

 

[Nichia!]

Nitecore doesn't care about quality products all they want is to sell lights to people! I don't recommend them either

 

[zespectre]

Unfortunately I have to agree. I really looked forward to this light and it has been a near total disappointment. Faulty battery, weird electronics behavior, some stark design issues in terms of it coming on in the pocket and so forth. Just not a great pocket light.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Agpp]

My Tini also died quickly. The switch failed.

 

[Beckler]

Nitecore doesn't care about quality products all they want is to sell lights to people! I don't recommend them either

Well in my experience they are quality products. Companies shouldn't make cheap stuff though, like the 'tini' and other plastic junk t-series. This just damages reputation for no reason. New Tip2 seems like the first quality nitecore keychain.