Nebo MYCRO: a 400 lumen powerhouse the size of a quarter!

Ok, maybe not the size of a quarter, but close. Anyone seen this in stores? It's a rechargeable keychain light, wicked bright.

href="https://www.nebotools.com/p/MYCRO/595">

An interesting feature is, from their ad on amazon (apologies about the all caps): "SIMPLE TWO BUTTON OPERATION THAT WONT CYCLE IN YOUR POCKET DUE THE STIFFNESS OF THE BUTTONS"

If it is true that the buttons are stiff enough to avoid accidental turn-ons, and remain stiff through hundreds of uses, then for me it's a much better UI than, e.g. Nitecore's approach of having you press and hold for 2s. I am not pressing and holding for 2s just to get my dang light to turn on. It's the reason I haven't bought a light in this form factor yet, despite the fact that I love the form factor. It will be interesting to hear if Nebo (whom I've never heard of) got the right balance between "doesn't turn on in your pocket" and "still comfortable for easy one-hand use"

Looks good. Hoping it comes to amazon UK

Agree with everything said so far. I own a Nitecore Tini and hate waiting for it to turn on.

Also, why must we have colors? I cannot think of a single use for a colored led that wouldn't be better served by a firefly mode.

-G

GeoBruin said:

Agree with everything said so far. I own a Nitecore Tini and hate waiting for it to turn on.

Also, why must we have colors? I cannot think of a single use for a colored led that wouldn't be better served by a firefly mode.

-G

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Red at night is good for preserving night-vision when getting up in the middle of the night. I have a secondary red led on my BOSS flashlight and find it very useful for that purpose.

easilyled said:

Red at night is good for preserving night-vision when getting up in the middle of the night. I have a secondary red led on my BOSS flashlight and find it very useful for that purpose.

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Red might be better in theory, but as a practical matter, I find firefly mode just as vision-preserving, plus firefly mode has uses outside of night vision but where I'd otherwise strongly prefer white light. That said, for me it's a quibble, and as long as I can get directly to either firefly or red (provided that the red is not too bright -- bright red DOES kill night vision!), I'm vaguely happy. And in this case, I am fine with 2s turn-on for direct firefly, as opposed to the tini's 2s turn-on for any mode.

Joe Talmadge said:

Red might be better in theory, but as a practical matter, I find firefly mode just as vision-preserving, plus firefly mode has uses outside of night vision but where I'd otherwise strongly prefer white light. That said, for me it's a quibble, and as long as I can get directly to either firefly or red (provided that the red is not too bright -- bright red DOES kill night vision!), I'm vaguely happy. And in this case, I am fine with 2s turn-on for direct firefly, as opposed to the tini's 2s turn-on for any mode.

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Yes, there's not a one-fit solution for us all. We all have different requirements.

This little light does seem to be armed with quite a few different options though, which seem well thought out. :thumbsup:

Like most here on CPF, I have read that red light helps preserve night vision. I have also read a number of counterarguments in favor of simply using dimmer white light. The only really detailed thread I recall on the subject is here. The thread eventually devolved into an argument about the merits of science but before that, there was some good information shared. What I think I took from it is that, because of the (in)sensitivity of either cones or rods to red light, red light of the same output is less destructive to night vision than white light. However, because our eyes rely on all visible colors of light to see detail, more red light (higher output) is required to see as well as with a given amount of white light. Therefor, increasing the level of red light to allow one to see "as well" as with white light cancels out any benefit in the reduction of impact to night vision.

For all this to really matter, the relative outputs and wavelengths would need to be very specific and I'm guessing all the light levels in the experiments in the linked thread were conducted at much lower outputs than we're talking about here with this light. To that end, I'm not sure the impact of white or red light on night vision in the context of normal use of this light would really be perceptible. Whether that is true or not, I don't think the extra size, complexity, and need to click through two additional color modes in the sequence are worth it. Having watched the video, I see that the interface permits the user to jump directly to the low red output (which is nice) but it requires holding down the button which I just said above is not ideal. In addition, it looks like the interface uses an on-timer which I have never liked. All of this said, it appears the red LED functions as a battery indicator which is one of my favorite functions in newer lights. So maybe it is worth having the red light for that reason alone. That green though...


Edit: Just an edit to say that Joe and Easily both replied in the time it took me to type out my drawn out response which now looks even more drawn out since they essentially discussed and moved on.

GeoBruin said:

Edit: Just an edit to say that Joe and Easily both replied in the time it took me to type out my drawn out response which now looks even more drawn out since they essentially discussed and moved on.

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Don't worry ... I like your very articulate and considered response and can definitely agree with you about the green led.

GeoBruin said:

I see that the interface permits the user to jump directly to the low red output (which is nice) but it requires holding down the button which I just said above is not ideal.

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Agree, in general I don't like 2s hold-to-turn-on -- I simply won't buy a light that uses it. However, in this case, it's a compromise for just one mode -- you do have instant-on for turbo and for the main switch, it's just guaranteed-red you need 2s turn-on for, and I'm ok with that. In addition, unless I heard wrong in the video, there is mode memory for the main switch, so if you just used red (or are certain it was your last-used mode), you get instant-on via the main switch. I can totally live with that. Much better interface (to me) than "2s turnon for everything because we couldn't figure out how to design a switch that wouldn't get clicked accidentally".

Well, with the red you can pretend to be a spy or a cat-burglar. So there's that.

~ Chance

Another advantage of a red light is it will not disrupt sleep cycles like neutral or cool white. Blue light spectrum blocks melatonin production in the body.

I just got this light yesterday. Looks fairly well made. The rubber cover on the USB port came off, didn't fit well anyway. Low could be a bit lower for my taste.

The PWM on this thing is awful. I don't normally notice it but this one is almost disco strobe level. With the attention to details on the rest of the light, this is a letdown.

Pellidon said:

I just got this light yesterday. Looks fairly well made. The rubber cover on the USB port came off, didn't fit well anyway. Low could be a bit lower for my taste.

The PWM on this thing is awful. I don't normally notice it but this one is almost disco strobe level. With the attention to details on the rest of the light, this is a letdown.

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Oh dear! Thanks for the heads-up.

GeoBruin said:

Agree with everything said so far. I own a Nitecore Tini and hate waiting for it to turn on.

Also, why must we have colors? I cannot think of a single use for a colored led that wouldn't be better served by a firefly mode.

-G

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Single-color red or amber light lets you use more light for better seeing without destroying your night vision. Also, red through yellow-green LEDs are far more energy-efficient than their green, blue, or white counterparts.

Got my Nebo MYCRO today and being just a keychain light it is rather impressive. Ran it on high (not turbo) for 90 minutes beating its advertised time duration by 50% or 90 minutes total. Required 55 minutes to recharge instead of the 2 hours in the handbook.

The only light source inside a 60' X 40' hangar.


Hangar apron and gravel moonless night.


40' Afgan Pine


On the lower power settings did not see any PWM flicker as reported above. Either my eyes are too old or they stepped up the frequency.

It will light up the side of my neighbor's hangar which is 300'+ away.

For comparison these shots were lit by the 3000 lumen Big Bruiser.

Thanks for the beam shots.

Me thinks the Big Bruiser isn't really 3000 lumens.

Pellidon said:

I just got this light yesterday. Looks fairly well made. The rubber cover on the USB port came off, didn't fit well anyway. Low could be a bit lower for my taste. The PWM on this thing is awful. I don't normally notice it but this one is almost disco strobe level. With the attention to details on the rest of the light, this is a letdown.

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Always something, isn't it? Visible PWM is the sign of poor programming/design. I would have gotten this if the PWM wasn't noticeable. Also a shame they don't have a Hi-CRI version.

deckofficer said:

Got my Nebo MYCRO today and being just a keychain light it is rather impressive. Ran it on high (not turbo) for 90 minutes beating its advertised time duration by 50% or 90 minutes total. Required 55 minutes to recharge instead of the 2 hours in the handbook. On the lower power settings did not see any PWM flicker as reported above. Either my eyes are too old or they stepped up the frequency.

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Well that's a little encouraging. Hope to see more testimonies on this one.

EDITED for minor clarifications

After 3 days of usage it is my favorite light. Considering I'm an old fart that grew up on 2 D cell flashlights that produced 8 to 12 lumens in a form factor larger than my Big Bruiser, something this small and convenient cranking out 150 lumens for 90 minutes is perfect for me. As soon as a manufacture builds a light in the same size as the Mycro 400 and uses a single XHP35 HD for a 10 second burst of 1666 lumens, that would be my new favorite. So anyone in the industry, IMHO a keychain light with 150 lumens with 90 minute duration, 50 lumens for 3 hours, and 15 lumens for 7.5 hours and 1666 lumens for many 10 second bursts would get my vote.