Acebeam EC65 impressions (219C version)

Keitho

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For submission in the Reviews forum. I didn't see a much better review by maukka before I posted mine; I definitely recommend reading this one: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...am-EC65-review-(21700-4x-XHP35-HI-cool-white). Up to the mods: I can re-post this as a reply to maukka's review if that is more appropriate than 2 review threads.

Here is a quick review of the EC65 based on my first impressions. I received the Nichia 219C version with the orange peel TIR; my first time using Andrew and Amanda, very satisfied with them (arrived 3 business days after order). See the Acebeam manufacturer's thread here: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?444484-ACEBEAM-New-Product-EC65

Why
did I get it? My wife and I both commute on bicycles year-round in Denver, CO, but I'm the only flashaholic in the family. I use flashlights as bike lights, and run a flood light on my handlebar. The wide flood of a SC600Fc Mk IV Plus 18650 XHP50 Floody 4000K allows me to see the area for the 15' or so in front of my bike for about 80-90 minutes on "H2a" level (about 1000 lumens). I like the wide flood because there is no tunnel vision effect, and the wide flood allows me to be seen from many angles. (I pair a flood handlebar light with a flood/throw SC64c on my helmet.) My non-flashaholic wife uses a $20 Chinese rechargeable unit with an atrocious purplish-colored, artifact-strewn beam. She wants something that never requires her to take batteries out of lights, something with a dead-simple UI, and something with a predictable runtime of 2.5 hours minimum. So, I thought that the EC65 might be a way to feed my addiction, using her "need" for a new handlebar flood light.

EC65 (Nichia 219C) first impressions:
- Not too big, but probably just a bit too big (specifically, fat and long) for me to EDC in a front pocket using the removeable pocket clip (cargo pocket, holster, or other carry method is probably required).
- Wow, that beam is pure flood. With the optics out, as a mule, it looks about the same.
- Where is the button? Hard to find by feel.
- Wow, that beam is white (looks pretty close to my 5700K HDS High Noon; pic for comparison
IMG_20180615_053103666.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

UI: single click on/off, hold down to cycle between L/M/H, double-click to turbo, triple-click to strobe. Last mode memory for low/med/high (no memory for turbo or strobe). Easy to hand to anyone.

First ride: I fully charged it via USB, clicked it on "high" (Acebeam spec. "1400 - 700 lms, 4 mins + 149 mins"), then rode home from work. No problems on the way home in the sun on a warm afternoon (around 92F, 33C, direct sun). Ended at about 3.7V after 50 minutes or so. I didn't charge it, and put it back on high going in to work the next morning (about 60F, 15.5C, no sun). It started blinking at about 83 minutes of total runtime; cell was at about 3.1V. I guess the moving air cooled it off, and it didn't ramp down much through my morning ride. Recharging is easy via USB; the LED turns from red to green when charging is complete--nice and intuitive/simple.

Note on efficiency. As a cyclist, I can't help myself: I value efficiency as defined (just my me) as lumen-hours per oz when producing "enough" brightness. My benchmark are my ZL (no affiliation, but I've bought enough of them that I cannot deny being a fan). My ZL handlebar floodlight produces about 1035 lumens for 80 minutes, and weighs 3.84 oz with the cell, making the efficiency 359 lumen-hours per oz for a 4000K flood beam at over 90 CRI. The larger EC 65 weighs 5.36 oz, and produces what I'll estimate to be an average of 1300 cool white lumens (not very much ramp-down from 1400 with air moving on my bike) for about 83 minutes, making it about 336 lumen-hours per oz. These are rough estimates, specific to my particular use case; and, they are using two different cells, with different specific energy, at different power levels; and, the EC65 has some heavy accessories that reduce efficiency (the USB charging and indicator LED have additional circiutry and take up space, making the host larger/heavier). But, given how famous ZL is for efficiency, the pretty close efficiency numbers seems very promising for this cell, and means to me that Acebeam at least isn't squandering the cell's efficiency by using grossly inefficient driver, LED, host, etc. So yes, the ZL is more efficient for my use case; but, it is close enough that I might be able to use the additional features of the EC65 to rationalize the difference.

Summary

Pros:
+ If you love flood, high CRI, and pure white, you'll love this beam
+ USB-C charging is fast and convenient
+ UI is dead-simple
+ Multi-fuel is nice: 21700, 18650, or 2xCR123 (you know, for the apocalypse)
+ On "medium", 500 lumens of high-CRI light for over 3 hours is a pretty awesome runtime (for example, 29% more lumen-hours than the SC600Fd Mk III Plus at 429 lumens)

Cons:
- I'd love to choose a ~1000-lumen output, but I can't (only 2500, 1400, 500, 250, or 20 lumens). If I cared about moonlight modes, I'd be crying like a baby about the 20-lumen "low" level as well.
- I'd love to set the light to always turn on to a chosen mode, not the last mode used.
- The 500-lumen "medium" is not quite bright enough for my application; the 1400-lumen "high" gives me a too-short of a runtime on my bike handlebar (at most 83 minutes in warm weather, less in cold weather)
- Acebeam doesn't advertise the CCT of the LED, and my personal preference is much warmer (I probably wouldn't have purchased if I knew the actual CCT)
- The side button is pretty hard to find without looking; if I were keeping this light, I'd epoxy an o-ring to the button to help

Bottom line: a $120 light is priced for flashaholics, and should have premium features: ramping and programmable UI, user-defined temperature for regulation, multiple UI groups, and a side button you can find by feel. I'd start to call it a "good value" if they priced it as-is below $100 including a great cell; or, if they kept the price the same but added flashaholic features (programmability, more mode choices).

Is it useful to me? Unfortunately, no. I hate sending such a nice, high CRI light with some well-thought-out features (USB-C charging, the latest cell, beautiful beam) back to a vendor that treated me really well, but I just don't have a use for an expensive cool white light with no programmability that makes me choose between ~80 minutes of 1400 lumens (not enough runtime) and 500 lumens for 3.2 hours (too dim).



 
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maukka

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Re: Acebeam EC65 impressions

Interesting decision to choose cool white for both emitter versions. On the product page the Nichia one looks much warmer.
 

Zak

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Re: Acebeam EC65 impressions

What is it with flashlight manufacturers snatching defeat from the clutches of victory?

There's absolutely a correlation between a preference for higher CRI and a preference for warmer tints. Every poll of flashlight enthusiasts regarding tint I've seen, regardless of voting method and specific audience, has had a winner between 4000K and 5000K, usually with a sharp dropoff above 5000K. Acebeam seems to have made an Emisar D4 with better efficiency and USB-C charging, but worse everything else for 3.5x the price.
 

ven

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Re: Acebeam EC65 impressions

Thanks for the review keitho, interesting ! Jury has been out since i read about this light. It's not for me, for the amount I would want a nicer temp for sure. As Zak mentions, 4000-5000k would have been ideal, certainly with having the cool xhp35 HI version as well,don't really understand why the xhp35 , with no ground breaking output(could have achieved it with xpl HI instead). Not sure on the mode levels either , maybe a 250/350 and around 1000lm level. As mentioned, the little D4 is still a better option at a 1/3 the cost. No usb and larger cell, but I don't really care for either anyway.
 

toobadorz

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Re: Acebeam EC65 impressions

Interesting decision to choose cool white for both emitter versions. On the product page the Nichia one looks much warmer.

One possible reason is that the EC65 he got is actually a XHP35 HI one. I just bought a Nichia EC65 and its brightness is simply the same as my XHP35 HI EC65, with cool white tint. Since a Nichia one is definitely not that powerful, I'm asking ACEBEAM what's wrong...
 

Keitho

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Re: Acebeam EC65 impressions

One possible reason is that the EC65 he got is actually a XHP35 HI one. I just bought a Nichia EC65 and its brightness is simply the same as my XHP35 HI EC65, with cool white tint. Since a Nichia one is definitely not that powerful, I'm asking ACEBEAM what's wrong...
That was my first thought when I got mine labeled with "219" on the box, but such a white beam. Fortunately, the XHP35HI and Nichia physically look much different; and, it takes a couple seconds to remove the bezel and optics. The beam shot above in the OP is definitely from a 219C with a dome, and not an XHP35HI with no dome.
 

toobadorz

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Re: Acebeam EC65 impressions

That was my first thought when I got mine labeled with "219" on the box, but such a white beam. Fortunately, the XHP35HI and Nichia physically look much different; and, it takes a couple seconds to remove the bezel and optics. The beam shot above in the OP is definitely from a 219C with a dome, and not an XHP35HI with no dome.

Thanks for your confirmation. Is the TIR optic lens on your Nichia EC65 frosted?

EC65-2.jpg


Mine is a clear one, exactly the same as the other XHP35 HI EC65 I bought.
 

ven

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I have been swapping around the optics on a few of mine Keitho, quite like the flood optic. Softens out the beam almost mule like(still more focused light OTF , but gets rid of the slight discrepancies from close up use with clear optics. I have the narrow in some, wide or frosted in others , just really to have a little difference in the beams.
 

Keitho

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I'm with you on that, ven, most applications I go floody. I really liked the optic on the ec65, just could have used an LED a couple thousand degrees cooler!
 

ven

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I'm with you on that, ven, most applications I go floody. I really liked the optic on the ec65, just could have used an LED a couple thousand degrees cooler!

Yes , shame really, but to look at it another way, you have your neutral and warmer flavours, now complimented with a cooler option. I like you prefer warmer, but its nice to have a few options still, some cools can be quite OK used at the right time of day/night(not in a warm lit house etc). It does look a nice clean type beam, no off tint or anything like that. Is the wife going to use this one? If so is she happy with it, or maybe a WTS and try again with something else.
 

Keitho

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Not enough runtime for my wife's commute, so it is on its way back to Andrew and Amanda. I'll hold out for the SC700c with 21700 cells...
 

hehaw77

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Way to picky ... this light is great for general use and for its size it fulfill what its designed for. Yes... I own one and I use mine on a daily basis... ... excellent little light....
 

markr6

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LOL "Firefly: 20 lumens"

Sheeit, some lights max out at 20 lumens. Yes, they're small keychain lights, but still, that's a decent amount of output.
 

Blackinfinity

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I have now been using Acebeam E65 CRI for about 1 week. My impressions so far.
Super good quality of this construction. the USB charging is very good and handy and I can see this being the standard in future, its very convenient. Battery life last me one working day as a security guard, of course I have to choose the right moments to use turbo mode and high mode, ideally I would want to have it in turbo mode all the time, but this might be possible in 2 years when the LEDs have been even more efficient and better battery capacity. It's kind of clear that the 21700 will replace the 18650 standard in flashlights its the perfect size for battery, the and battery life and power output is kind of impressive considering the small package of the EC65

The power button feels very premium and does its job good, it looks very stylish too, the only thing I could complain about is it might be hard feel with the finger if you have it over the power button. But compared to most other flashlight this power button feels more premium then most.

The clip was better then expected, its very firm so I can actually have in my belt in horizontal position and it stays in place kind of firmly.

Color temperature was more white then expected, I did expect a warmer color, I do not know if its the diffuse optic that might have that impact but It feels my manker E14 II is slightly warmer.
With that said it works, its defintily on the warmer sight but it is really on the other edges of warm white.
It feels like 4500K but would interesting to know actual measurements.

Power output in turbo mode is kind of satisfying, in high mode it does work to navigate around but it does not lit up rooms the way I prefer.

It would be nice to compare with the Regular version, but I definitely want CRI, as for 2019 we have to make a big sacrifice in lumens to get CRI but as for now I think it is worth it... its more comfortable for the eyes and CRI gives better a more comfortable space to be in in general.

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