# Acebeam h50 VS Nitecore HC65??



## SSANDERS (Nov 22, 2019)

I ordered a Nitecore HC65 a few days ago (haven't received it yet). At the time it looked like one of the more solid 18650 headlamp choices. 

Well... I just stumbled across the Acebeam H50. The emitter options and host of lighting options is intriguing. If the specs are right, it's fairly efficient too. 
So, could this have been a better choice than the HC65??


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## Bazar (Nov 22, 2019)

I have no comments on the Nitecore. I do have 2 Acebeam headlamps, the H30 and H15, and although some grounding problems have happened with charging making turbo flash with full battery, overall they have been excellent products for me. they have gone through drops and water, and, the H30 with 4k lumens is ridiculously bright.


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## SSANDERS (Nov 22, 2019)

Bazar said:


> I have no comments on the Nitecore. I do have 2 Acebeam headlamps, the H30 and H15, and although some grounding problems have happened with charging making turbo flash with full battery, overall they have been excellent products for me. they have gone through drops and water, and, the H30 with 4k lumens is ridiculously bright.



Thanks for the input. 
I'm more wondering if the triple emitter setup on the H50 isn't a better option for a headlamp? Per a review I found it seems to have a wider spill. I wish someone had some good runtime graphs on the H50. Also, a small detail, but I like that the Acebeam headband has the antislip silicon.


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## LittleBill (Nov 23, 2019)

i have the hc65 and the hl60r. the flood is decent, they both are identical in terms of flood, the hc65 cri led is even higher flood at the cost of only 1 light output. i have to be honest i like the hl60r more, significantly simpler to operate. im waiting for a review to post and i can link my review

my hp30R has even more flood, but it uses 2 leds, i will be honest both have so much power i personally don't think it matters much.


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## SSANDERS (Nov 23, 2019)

LittleBill said:


> i have the hc65 and the hl60r. the flood is decent, they both are identical in terms of flood, the hc65 cri led is even higher flood at the cost of only 1 light output. i have to be honest i like the hl60r more, significantly simpler to operate. im waiting for a review to post and i can link my review
> 
> my hp30R has even more flood, but it uses 2 leds, i will be honest both have so much power i personally don't think it matters much.



Now you tell me! Ha. 

I went back and forth on those two for a while. Ultimately, the 280 lumen (300 tested in a review) setting for almost 5 hours won me over. 

That seems like a very useable setting for my uses.


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## LittleBill (Nov 23, 2019)

SSANDERS said:


> Now you tell me! Ha.
> 
> I went back and forth on those two for a while. Ultimately, the 280 lumen (300 tested in a review) setting for almost 5 hours won me over.
> 
> That seems like a very useable setting for my uses.



i literally got the hl60r this week, there are too many controls sequences for the nitecore 65, the headlamp was originally for my wife, after going into strobe mode 3 times on our walk, i ordered the hl60r. its dead simple and has a lot of pro's over the nitecore. i do love my hp30r, but the cord is a pain in the ***,and the wire hold design on the head part needs to be redesigned it constantly falls out, but the run time is what i cared about, i actually put a set of 3600 orbtronics in my hp30r


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## SSANDERS (Nov 23, 2019)

LittleBill said:


> i literally got the hl60r this week, there are too many controls sequences for the nitecore 65, the headlamp was originally for my wife, after going into strobe mode 3 times on our walk, i ordered the hl60r. its dead simple and has a lot of pro's over the nitecore. i do love my hp30r, but the cord is a pain in the ***,and the wire hold design on the head part needs to be redesigned it constantly falls out, but the run time is what i cared about, i actually put a set of 3600 orbtronics in my hp30r



I think I’m ok with the main LED Ui on the HC65. Click to memory, and half click to cycle I’m ok with. Always coming on to low would be neat in a headlamp... but memory is ok. And yes, my wife is a runner, and only wants a single mode headlamp. So I understand that. 

Besides UI, what do you consider the other advantages over the the HC65?


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## LittleBill (Nov 23, 2019)

SSANDERS said:


> I think I’m ok with the main LED Ui on the HC65. Click to memory, and half click to cycle I’m ok with. Always coming on to low would be neat in a headlamp... but memory is ok. And yes, my wife is a runner, and only wants a single mode headlamp. So I understand that.
> 
> Besides UI, what do you consider the other advantages over the the HC65?



have you used it? getting into strobe is pretty easy. maybe im too use to my fenix lights.

below is the review, lmk if you have other questions, this was for a fenix website, so i can't make the nitecore look better, but i honestly don't think it is better.

_________________________

I bought my wife a NiteCore HC65. No you’re not reading the wrong review, this is actually a review for the Fenix HL60R. The first night out with the NiteCore I had already come to realize that the flashlight was vastly too complicated for my wife to use. The NiteCore tries to do too many things, with too many button presses. After accidentally putting the flashlight into strobe mode three times during our walk, I came to the conclusion I probably need to get a simpler flashlight.

Enter the HL60R by Fenix. I have owned a ton of headlights by Fenix in the past, specifically the HP – 11. My wife struggled with this headlamp, with her thick hair and me not being able to adjust the headband correctly(I’ve now learned how to properly adjust the headbands) this headlamp constantly fell off. So I decided to get her a single cell 18650 rechargeable headlamp that was lightweight and had no battery pack on the back of her head.

Compared to the NiteCore HC65, the Fenix is dropdead simple to operate. It’s hold to turn on, half press to change light levels, and hold to turn off. That’s it, and that’s perfect. I don’t need strobe, I don’t need beacon, I don’t need SOS mode, I don’t need jump to Turbo mode, I don’t need any of it. I don’t need to spend 15 minutes trying to figure out which button press sequence I need to get to the light mode that I want. The NiteCore actually has four different LEDs with four different sequences to operate all of them.

The tilt adjustment is also vastly superior to the NiteCore. The NiteCore relies on friction to hold it in place and/or change position. The Fenix has a notching system that clicks into place easily and firmly. The NiteCore actually required a bit of dry lube to get it to be not so binding.

I’m a big fan of battery charge indicators built into these headlights. Most of my lights now all have some form of battery charge indicator. If you know anything about lithium-ion you know that you should not always charged 100% if you don’t need it. Also because these lights are regulated you never know if the light is five minutes away from dropping down to the next lower light level (like all of my Fenix AA flashlights and headlamps) . Fenix has a basic system for battery charge level, in the case of the HL60R the main light flashes for above 70%, flashes the red and main light for below 70%, and flashes the red below 30%. A simple tap of the button will give you the battery voltage level with the light off. NiteCore in their infinite wisdom decides that I need to know the exact battery voltage, this means that it actually counts out the exact voltage in LED blinks. There’s no need for this and it takes a ridiculous amount of time and you have to keep track of how many blinks it actually counted. Give me full, give me medium, give me empty. Fenix does this perfectly. And with the NiteCore and the only way to see this is actually to loosen the battery compartment, press the light button to discharge the capacitors, and then screw the cap back on to get the light sequence for the battery charge level, vastly more complicated than it needs to be.

The light output on the Fenix is perfect, the steps between low to Turbo are perfectly spaced. On the NiteCore the lowest to the next low has a huge jump, which can be brutal to the light-sensitive eyes. The NiteCore does have a high CRI flood which seems to fill this gap. Both lights seem to have the same amount of coverage considering they both have the same emitter there’s no real surprise here. The Fenix is rated 950 lm and the NiteCore is rated 1000 lm. To be honest in my testing even with swapping the batteries the Fenix actually seems to be brighter than the NiteCore. The Fenix main emitter seems to have a more neutral white light which the box does indicate. The NiteCore seems to have a slightly more bluish tint but to be honest in any real-world usage, 90% of people are not going to notice the color difference. The NiteCore’s emitter is actually off-center, seems to be a manufacturing defect. The Fenix is dead on like all my other Fenix lights.

Both lights have a red LED in the case of the Fenix, it has two LEDs. The NiteCore is rated 11 lm, the Fenix is rated one. Using both lights with the red LED I come to find that the NiteCore red LED is too harsh for other people when looking at you it’s actually quite blinding. Most people that use a red light at least with the people that I hang out with are astronomers. The NiteCore would be considered vastly too bright. Fenix really has nailed the lumen output here as well with it being one lumen, your night adjusted eyes will thank you.

The Fenix uses a dust cover to protect the micro USB plug that is used to charge the unit. The NiteCore requires that you unscrew the one side to access the micro USB. Both have cons here, the Fenix dust cover can eventually wear out and get lost. The NiteCore can eventually have the threads worn out from constantly unscrewing the cover which is not captive by the way so you can lose it. The Fenix also uses the standard square threads while NiteCore uses regular threads. The NiteCore is significantly easier to cross thread than the Fenix.

To summarize I probably should’ve just stuck with the Fenix. If I hadn’t had the NiteCore for quite a while at this point I probably would’ve returned it and bought two Fenix HL60Rs. The light outputs are perfect, the operation is dead simple, and honestly at the end of the day this is pretty much all that matters (at least to me).


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## LittleBill (Nov 23, 2019)

that ace beam is interesting for sure, not sure i would need 3 stages of light levels on top of light power levels. my thought process is generally, is it bright enough, yes or no. thats about the extent, unless im trying to go for spot, which is less then 10% of my usage

i bought the nitecore because it seemed versatile, and i wanted to try one of these hi cri leds, so far its not blowing me away (the high cri, i don't have a ton of use for accurate color rendering), but i haven't used it long enough.


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## SSANDERS (Nov 23, 2019)

Thanks for the review.

I haven’t used it, but if it jumps to strobe easier than it’s supposed to, I can see how that would be annoying (strobe is just silly). 
And I do like the Fenix desert color. 

I think if it had a 300ish lumen setting with a 4+ hour runtime It could sway me.


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## LittleBill (Nov 23, 2019)

SSANDERS said:


> Thanks for the review.
> 
> I haven’t used it, but if it jumps to strobe easier than it’s supposed to, I can see how that would be annoying (strobe is just silly).
> And I do like the Fenix desert color.
> ...



maybe you haven't picked up on this, but the nitecore comes with a 3400ma, the fenix comes with a 2600ma battery, you can buy a 3600ma battery and get 1/3 more runtime. 

this is also why the runtime on the nitecore is better.


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## SSANDERS (Nov 23, 2019)

LittleBill said:


> maybe you haven't picked up on this, but the nitecore comes with a 3400ma, the fenix comes with a 2600ma battery, you can buy a 3600ma battery and get 1/3 more runtime.
> 
> this is also why the runtime on the nitecore is better.



True. 

I wonder what real runtime on 400 setting the Fenix would get on a NCR18650GA. Maybe 3.75 hrs? I don’t know that you’d get a true 1/3 improvement.
But still, I like the sound of that better. 

Now I may have to order a desert colored fenix just for “scientific” purposes. 

I’d been eyeing a Skilhunt h04 tir too... for when I need a good flood. 

*sigh*
Why do I feel like I’m going to end up with 3 headlamps now. 🤦*♂️


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## LittleBill (Nov 23, 2019)

the skill looks like the same led with a diffuser on it? i would try the other headlamp first, see if you REALLY need it, i have to be honest i don't think it needs to be more diffused, maybe try a piece of scotch tape and see if that will work too...


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## SSANDERS (Nov 23, 2019)

Sent you a PM.


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## SSANDERS (Nov 24, 2019)

I think I’ve moved on from the Acebeam. The UI is ridiculous with all the options. 

Now I’m comparing the Fenix HL60r and HL55. I hadn’t really looked at the 55, but if external charging and red lighting isn’t important... I don’t see the advantage to the 60r.


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## LittleBill (Nov 25, 2019)

SSANDERS said:


> I think I’ve moved on from the Acebeam. The UI is ridiculous with all the options.
> 
> Now I’m comparing the Fenix HL60r and HL55. I hadn’t really looked at the 55, but if external charging and red lighting isn’t important... I don’t see the advantage to the 60r.




doesn't come with a battery and the runtime chart is based on the 3400 cell which is almost 20 dollars, which puts you right back into the same price point.

for a guy who has a mc3000 charger, i still now only buy usb rechargable, i guess its personal decision, but i have usb cords everywhere, so does everyone else, how many people have a 18650 charger floating around on the off chance you need it?

i even buy the fenix battery with the usb charger built into the battery, that way i realistically just need to carry 1 extra battery and can charge both of them with a single power bank if it goes to crap.

but running these out would take a lot of high power use, generally not something i do. and if i plan on it, i would just take extra cells, even with a hot charger its going to take a couple hours to charge, which gains me nothing over bringing more cells..

your call hl55 is not remotely worth the small decrease in price. and if its for your wife, she will know how to charge it, my wife doesn't even know how to plug my mc3000 in, let alone know how to program it.

also has no battery charge indicator from what i can see, that is a complete deal breaker for me, i've grown very reliant on that feature, since i use to get burned on my old double aa lights which would run at the power level i needed for about 30 seconds, then drop down because the cells were actually exhausted.

not changing battery's is better the you think.

i would give the hc65 a week or 2 of playing before u make a decision.


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## SSANDERS (Nov 26, 2019)

I received the NC HC65 today. 
Very compact, very sturdy light. Headband seems good quality. 

However, 
My emitter isn't centered, and to be honest, the beam quality is terrible. the hot spot is not round or even, and the spill seems to have more "rings" in it than I'm used too. For sure not a nice smooth beam I'd want in a headlamp. 
Aside from that, even though the light is telling me I'm at about 3.8V, I seem to only have access to 3 modes, and the highest one sure doesn't seem like 1000 lumens. Not sure what that's about. I'm giving it a full charge and I'll play with it some more.


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## SSANDERS (Nov 26, 2019)

Also, Littlebill, you are correct. 
It's definitely too easy to slip into strobe.


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## SSANDERS (Nov 26, 2019)

After a full charge all the modes are now usable. 

But if the voltage indicator is accurate, I didn’t have high or turbo at 3.8V. Hmm.


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## LittleBill (Nov 26, 2019)

SSANDERS said:


> After a full charge all the modes are now usable.
> 
> But if the voltage indicator is accurate, I didn’t have high or turbo at 3.8V. Hmm.



yes you loose turbo offly quick, need to be close to 4v, the fenix does not have this issue, even when using the nitecore battery, so its not a battery issue. but yes even with it being 1k compared to the fenix it does seem dimmer.

im not a big wall hunter, but even with an offset emitter as well, i only have 2 rings the hot spot and the outer ring i can't complain. i can take a picture if you want.


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## SSANDERS (Nov 26, 2019)

LittleBill said:


> yes you loose turbo offly quick, need to be close to 4v, the fenix does not have this issue, even when using the nitecore battery, so its not a battery issue. but yes even with it being 1k compared to the fenix it does seem dimmer.
> 
> im not a big wall hunter, but even with an offset emitter as well, i only have 2 rings the hot spot and the outer ring i can't complain. i can take a picture if you want.



Same, I have no use for shining lights at a wall, ha. 
But the hot spot being uneven/blotchy/not round was immediately obvious. 

How’s your tint shift? Hotspot to spill, this one isn’t good. Fairly warm in the spot, to REALLY cool out in the spill. Just walked around outside some, and it makes it a bit odd looking around. It doesn’t have that “natural” even light feel that I like in a headlamp. Even though the reflector is small, I think orange peel would really help it. 

I’m ok with the UI now. Walking around and playing with modes, I had no issues. I actually think it’s pretty decent. 

The high CRI aux emitter is nice. It IS a nice, very even natural light. Not bright enough for anything but up close tasks, but it’s nice. 

Turbo doesn’t feel like 1000 lumens. Probably because so much spills out into barely useable light, but compared to 1000 lumen PD35 Tac, it seems like there’s noticeably less light out there. That being said, it’s plenty bright for a headlamp. 

Bottom line, if the beam was nice and even, with softer tint shift, I’d be really happy with the light.


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## SSANDERS (Nov 26, 2019)

Now that I look at it, on a wall, the spill is kind of square, and the hotspot looks kind of flowery (for lack of a better term).


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## SSANDERS (Nov 26, 2019)

I’ll add, that if this light looses high at 3.8V then that’s going to be disappointing. I can handle loosing turbo, but high needs to be usable.


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## ca pow (Nov 27, 2019)

I have the Acebeam H50 with the Nichia option, I find using one, two, or three emitters very enjoyable, there is only one button, and it is very easy to use, double clicking moves you from one to two to three emitters, very easy. Press and hold ramps you through four brightness modes regardless of which emitter option you choose. But really the most enjoyable thing about this is the Nichia option, the color rendering is beautiful, and the beam is always very even with a slight hot spot. I now have six various headlamps from this year's production and the H50 is my fav.


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## LittleBill (Nov 27, 2019)

SSANDERS said:


> I’ll add, that if this light looses high at 3.8V then that’s going to be disappointing. I can handle loosing turbo, but high needs to be usable.



this is not happening to me, i can still get to turbo although the shift is suttle, im definitely not loosing high at 3.8 i will do some tests and see how long before it drops out.

when you say loose you mean you can't even switch to it correct?

my spill is perfectly circular, sounds like your emitter is too far back, maybe send it back?

how do you feel about the red? i think its blinding.


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## SSANDERS (Dec 4, 2019)

As an update, I talked to Nitecore about the beam, and they pulled a few to compare. She noted that the others had somewhat of a squarish, uneven hot spot as well. Mine is squarish, and has some dark spots. That being said, outdoors, at night you can't really tell. 

Anyhow, 
I couldn't help myself, and ordered a Fenix HL60r to compare. After playing with them for a little while, these are my thoughts: 

Long story short, I like EVERYTHING about the Nitecore better... Other than the beam profile. The Nitecore is smaller, has a much nicer feeling headband, I like the lighting levels better, and the auxiliary Hi CRI emitter is very useful. I know Littlebill had some issues with it, but I actually like the Nitcores UI now too. The full click on/off, and half click to cycle levels works well. I'm not a fan of the hold for on/off on the Fenix. The Fenix headband feels cheap to me. It feels like it will lose it's elasticity quickly. 

That being said, the beam on the Fenix is nicer. It is a warmer light, and is much more even. I think a lot of this is due to the OP reflector on the Fenix, VS the smooth on the Nitecore. 

If I could put the Fenix emitter and reflector in the Nitecore, I'd have what I consider to be a perfect headlamp.


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## LittleBill (Dec 4, 2019)

SSANDERS said:


> As an update, I talked to Nitecore about the beam, and they pulled a few to compare. She noted that the others had somewhat of a squarish, uneven hot spot as well. Mine is squarish, and has some dark spots. That being said, outdoors, at night you can't really tell.
> 
> Anyhow,
> I couldn't help myself, and ordered a Fenix HL60r to compare. After playing with them for a little while, these are my thoughts:
> ...



interesting, i agree with the headband, although i find the fenix more secure with the larger back piece, i have worn out fenix headbands before. curious to see how the nitecore holds up, but i do think the light level jump from eco to low is too large, and i think the jump from high to turbo too small. how do you feel about the red on the nitecore?


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## SSANDERS (Dec 4, 2019)

To be honest I rarely, if ever, use the red. But, given its intended purpose, the red on the Nitecore is probably a little intense. 

So side by side on a wall, are the beams/hotspots on your lamps similar? Or is your Fenix smoother and more even? 
How about temp?


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## SSANDERS (Dec 4, 2019)

More thoughts....

The Fenix is MUCH warmer, and is pretty much consistent in color from center to spill. The Nitecore gets noticeably “colder” as you get out into the spill. 

The Nitecore has a good bit wider spill, which is nice on a headlamp, but the hotspot is very defined, which isn’t so good. There is always a “circle” of bright light in the center of your vision. 

The Fenix spill is noticeably more narrow (not good) but the hotspot blends into the spill seamlessly. You notice the center is brighter, but there is no hard “circle”. The Fenix is more intense in the center though, and throws a little further. 

I think the 1,80,280,550 spacing on the Nitecore is more useful than the 5,50,150,400 on the Fenix. Both are good (and similar) but outside in my backyard the Nitecore spacing seems more useable and the 1 lumen is better than the 5. 

I’ll say again, the high CRI aux emitter on the Nitecore is really nice. 26 lumens up-close pure flood. I’d miss it on the Fenix after using the NC for a while. 

The reds... well, the Fenix red is very dim. I could probably read a book with it, but that’s about it. The Nitecore red is opposite. I can see the ground in front of me fairly well, and it’s enough to walk around with. Honestly, somewhere between the two would be the winner.


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## LittleBill (Dec 5, 2019)

SSANDERS said:


> More thoughts....
> 
> The Fenix is MUCH warmer, and is pretty much consistent in color from center to spill. The Nitecore gets noticeably “colder” as you get out into the spill.
> 
> ...




i think your going to be surprised by my picture.....

https://i.imgur.com/LHh9z5B.jpg

take a guess, but the fenix is on the left, nitecore on the right, both on LOW 3 feet from a BLUE wall, so ignore the color unfortunately its the only wall i could do it on, and its off a camera phone.

based on the photo it appears my nitecore is much floodier, and much wider. color on the fenix is much warmer 100% agree. i used the nitecore about 4 hours yesterday ironcially hanging lighting in a garage, now i agree the high cri is good for dark adjusted eyes and perfect flood, but it was far too dim with other lighting on in the area.

i will be honest my fenix hp30r flood blows both of these away but it has a defused lense and 2 leds, but its like the cri on the nitecore with just a crap load of more power, the down side is the battery pack gets in the way much more then expected, unless wearing a jacket.

i did not notice wearing the nitecore after a couple hours which is rare, on my hp11 i always knew i was wearing it.

i will say this and idk, but i exhausted the battery on the nitecore last night, it was exhausted at 3.2v would only run on eco, no cri, and it went from med to eco in 1 shot, yet when i removed the battery and replaced it without charging, med came back,so idk if that was a fluke or what, i also wasn't expecting a drop from med to eco.

charge on the nitecore is slow 480ma to 500ma charge, and it took 8.3 hours to charge back up (i have a usb meter), your not charging that quickly etc, perfect for overnight though

lmk


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## SSANDERS (Dec 5, 2019)

LittleBill said:


> i think your going to be surprised by my picture.....
> 
> https://i.imgur.com/LHh9z5B.jpg
> 
> ...



Yes, as I noted, my Nitecore has a much wider spill. But in practical use, I notice the defined hot spot in the middle of my vision much for than the Fenix. 
Even thought the Fenix isn't as floody, and has a more intense center, I don't notice a defined hot spot "circle" when I'm outside in the dark. I'm pretty sure this is due to the OP reflector on the Fenix. I think a OP reflector would help the Nitecore a lot.


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