Review: Imalent DT70 FloodKing (XHP70 Dedomed, 13K+ Lumens)

I received the DT70 from Imalent for the review.

The Imalent DT70 is named by Imalent "Flood King", and for correct reason. With a compact form factor, the 4 dedomed XHP70 emitters are in 4 partially fused reflector and gave a claimed max output of 16000 lumens. The emitters are powered by 4 18650 batteries, provided with the light, and they can be recharged with the micro USB port. The DT70 features a digital display, with a couple of electronic switch to control the light.

The specs for the DT70:

• Utilizes the latest CREE XHP70 LEDs, with a lifespan up to 50000 hours with maximum output of 16000 lumens. Includes a built-in USB charging interface
• The OLED display can show various parameters
• Product size: 146(length)*70 (head diameter) *50 (diameter) mm
• Net weight:427g
• High efficiency constant power circuit will maintain constant brightness
• Anti-reverse battery protection
• Built-in thermal control module will automatically adjust the brightness output
• according to the working state and outer temperature
• Combination of toughened ultra-clear mineral and anti-reflective coating glass
• Aluminum OP reflector
• Aerospace-grade aluminum alloy body, wear-resistant Type III hard-anodized surface
• treatment
• IPX-8 standard waterproof (2 meters submersible)
• 1.5m impact resistant
• Tail stand function

The DT70 comes in this nice box.






There's this adhesive to ensure you buy a new, factory sealed box. It's the first time I see it on a light. I like it.




Almost a pity to have to cut it to open the box. The DT70 is secured in precut dense foam.





In the box there's also a cordura sheat, o-ring and micro USB cable.



The 4 batteries that came inside the light (the battery carrier is mine, I used it to avoid cells rolling around while taking the pic). They are 3000mAh IMR Protected with a max rated current of 15Amps.




The DT70





In hand





Size and weight






Roundup



The dedomed emitters are in 4 partially fused OP reflectors, under a AR treated glass.






The bezel is anodized and without any threadlocker



The head has very little cooling fins, a lot of nice looking milling. It hosts 2 electronic switches, a OLED display and the micro USB port for charging. The 2 switches are big but being flush with the light can be hard to find, especially with the gloves. They are kind of stiff, requiring some pressure to be operated.




The display is almost invisible when off




The micro USB port is covered by a very big rubber port





The body has some light knurling on it.



The tailcap is flat with the Brand and model engraved in white. It's the only lettering that is present on the light. Note that there's no lanyard hole



The threads are square cut, anodized (so physical lockout is possible) and well lubed.



Inside the head there's a plastic insulator that prevents the light to be turned on when the light is inside the box, since the batteries come inside the light.



The inside of the head



At the tailcap the contact points are not springs but gold bent metal pieces



The sheath has a big plastic D-ring and is MOLLE compatible




UI

• When you insert the battery and twist the head on the body, the display briefly turns on with the IMALENT word, before shutting down. When you change levels, the output will appear briefly on the display.
• Press the Right switch to turn the light on at the last used mode between: Low (80 lumens), medium (1000 lumens), High (8000 lumens).
• To cycle between these 4 modes, press once the right switch.
• The turbo (16000 lumens) mode can be activated either with a momentary on (keeping pressed the left switch), or constant on (keep pressed the left switch for 2 seconds). If you release the left switch within 2 seconds, the light will return to the previous mode.
• In turbo mode, once the internal temperature reaches 50°, the OVERHEAT word will appear on the display, blinking, and shortly after, the output will be automatically lowered.
• When the constant on turbo is activated, click once the right switch to return to the previous mode.
• A double click of the left switch activates strobe, another double click a SOS, another one for the Beacon.
• If you press once the left switch, the display will tell you the voltage of the cells (works when the light is either on or off)
• 
• When charging the light, the display will remain on and show the level of the charge
• 
• and you can always press the left switch to get a read of the voltage.

Output and runtime
Tested with the provided 3000mAh batteries.







Just a curiosity: a set of 4.20 volts charged cells, after the stepdown, will measure 4.00 volts.
The stepdown is not temporized: I tried to re-start the turbo mode after a stepdown, and I got barely few seconds of turbo output, before the light stepping down again.



Beamshots
The tint on my sample is very close to a NW.
The three is at 100 meters.


In this pic I move few meters ahead to show the distance between me and the spill.


The beamshot don't make justice for this light.
Imalent called the DT70 the Flood King, and that name is correct. As you can see, the spill is wide and incredibly homogeneous. Probably thanks to the dedomed emitters and the "deep" and partially fused reflectors, the light gets more than the usual "100 meter of throw".
You saw in the first couple of pics: while the camera sensor gets a lot of light in the spill, and I need to reduce the shutter speed, to not get a "burned" image, the trees in the distance are well lit.

The spill is wide and almost reaches the feet of the user, but it doesn't begin being "blindingly" bright: the brightness of the spill increases as the distance increases.



Reflective element at 130 meters



House on the left at 285 meters





My thoughts
Many lights nowadays have thousands of lumens, but this is obtained using emitters with high output and big dies, that lead to overall poor throw. Furthermore, the small lights are favored in design because they are easier to carry, but this can cause (either or both): overheating/stepdowns – poor throw.
The DT70 is a compact light that has very little to none heatsinks, and uses the "saved space" to implement a bigger reflector than other lights. This, IMHO pays off, because the DT70 has a great beam that is composed by a vivid and homogeneous spill, as well as a superior throw to many competitors. I'd like more manufacturers to adopt bigger and partially fused reflectors to get superior throw.

Now, some details:

• The light is well built and finished.
• This is the brightest flashlight I ever had, and I believe is the brightest LED flashlight currently produced on an industrial manufacturer base.
• The significantly high output obviously causes, in a small light, a big amount of heat, that causes short runtimes at turbo mode. The stepdown at 20° on a table, happens in less than 2 minutes, and even a big fan doesn't delay too much the stepdown. Even in the outdoor, at 8°C, the light shortly becomes a really hot hand warmer.
• The interface is fine, with direct access to turbo and a lower output.
• The display is like the one with the DN11: negative and with a "frosted" appearance. It is easy to read in the dark but less easier to read in full light (not really a problem, since I don't tent to use the light in well lit spaces; overall the digits of the display are kind of small.
• The levels are kind of well spaced, for a 13000+ lumens light.
• I like the integrated charge with a universal port (micro USB). This means I don't need to carry a proprietary cable and I can charge the light in the car or everywhere else.The charging current and speed will depend on the output of the charger used. I used a 2A to give at least a 500mA current for each cell.
• Unfortunately, on my sample the batteries voltage often gets misread, and the display shows 4.20 V even when the batteries are not at that point

• I'd like the light requiring a shorter press than 2 seconds to constantly activate the turbo mode: often I released the switch and the light returned to the previous, much less bright, mode.
• It wouldn't hurt if the display and the digits were bigger.
• The display is only used to display the output mode and the voltage, it would be nice to show also the internal temperature.
• I'd like to have another level, around 4000 lumen.
• The sheath could be built with higher denier cordura.
• The light should have a lanyard hole and protruding switches.
• On my sample there were some tiny spots of dried glue from the box constructing process on the tailcap. I used my fingernail to scratch all of them off within a minute.

Thanks to AntoLed for the camera advices and the luxmeter.

New plots

Thanks for doing all that work. It looks like an awesome flashlight. Many flashlights only give you about 30 seconds or so on turbo. This one seems to have a longer run time on turbo, that's pretty nice.

I'm sort of new to LED flashlights, is the difference in actual lumens compared to advertised lumens on par with other flashlights you've tested? It Doesn't seem too far off to me but I'm not sure.
Also, are you allowed to say how much the light costs?

Thanks again for taking the time to do all that, it was very interesting.

TomZ

I heard from a friend that it can be found under 200$ with some offers and coupons

Thanks for the lengthy reviews and pics as well as graphics!I just ordered one with price less than $200.

I've had mine for going on a month and love it. I'm carrying it at work as a security officer everyday now. 13k+ OTF lumens in their face at night is guaranteed to stun an opponent! And it's heavy enough to do some damage if you hit someone with it. Nice beam tint too.

I do think they should have included a power level in between 1000 and 8000 lumens and the beam was a tad more focused, but everything's a compromise. Overall I'm very happy with it so far. It really does turn night into day.