# Flashlight Review: The Lumintact G700. An honest look at the flashlight with jokes.



## mhanlen (Mar 13, 2016)

Review: Lumintac G700
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No, this was not commissioned by the manufacturer. It's an honest look at the light you see ads for everywhere on the net. I compare it to a cheap clone, and find there's not much difference. I go over runtimes, operation, and test the output levels. Spoiler alert, it's only about 300 lumens. There's a bit of language in it, and I don't take the review that seriously- so make sure you know that before you go in. 



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## richbuff (Mar 13, 2016)

Thanks for the great review! Looks like a great little light! 

I was gonna buy a M43 Vinh Driver VNX2 Meteor, to complement my other Vinh M43 stock driver light, but it will have to wait until I land this handy monster! 

Well, back to my film school studies; I have an exam in the morning.


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## mhanlen (Mar 13, 2016)

Ha ha! 300 lumitac lumens is like 10000 actual lumens. That's what I read anyway!


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## Tre_Asay (Mar 13, 2016)

Fake, the shadowhawk my co worker got (after a month of waiting) clearly had a bright purple tint, not a blue one! Clearly those misadvertised > 300 lumen lights are knockoffs and the real ones are over 9000 lumens. They use pictures of other flashlights in their advertising because the sheer brightness of a real shadowhawk flashlight would overexpose and damage the camera... even when off. (The reason why they often show elzetta flashlights for marketing).


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## Impossible lumens (Mar 14, 2016)

The flashlight for believers. Funny review.


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## ven (Mar 14, 2016)

:laughing: 

Best bit about the light.................7 mins of entertainment :twothumbs


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## mhanlen (Mar 14, 2016)

Tre_Asay said:


> Fake, the shadowhawk my co worker got (after a month of waiting) clearly had a bright purple tint, not a blue one! Clearly those misadvertised > 300 lumen lights are knockoffs and the real ones are over 9000 lumens. They use pictures of other flashlights in their advertising because the sheer brightness of a real shadowhawk flashlight would overexpose and damage the camera... even when off. (The reason why they often show elzetta flashlights for marketing).



Ahh... your coworker must have the rare hyperviolet edition. Yes, the only reason I didn't damage the camera is because it was a FAKE. Don't tell anyone though. 



Impossible lumens said:


> The flashlight for believers. Funny review.



It's nearly a miracle!



ven said:


> :laughing:
> 
> Best bit about the light.................7 mins of entertainment :twothumbs



Thanks! I tried to keep it fast and funny. Hope it worked!


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## Poppy (Mar 14, 2016)

mhanlen said:


> Review: Lumintac G700
> ​
> 
> No, this was not commissioned by the manufacturer. It's an honest look at the light you see ads for everywhere on the net. I compare it to a cheap clone, and find there's not much difference.


Mark,
Thanks for a great and *entertaining *review. :thumbsup:

It seems that just two weeks ago, my son showed me one of the ads. He thought that it was interesting, but wondered if it was real.

Last week, I was gifted one, from a friend, who knew that I liked flashlights. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I thought he was scammed. I didn't ask what he paid for it. I found it interesting that there are many ebay-ers who advertise their version "as good as the G700" or "3x brighter than the G700". It's like the G700 set the standard. Like a real quality light like Maglite, and Surefire set the standard years ago.

At any rate, my impressions of the G700 was that the zoom function worked pretty smoothly, and that it was an OK light. I wondered if there was any difference between it and the others, but wasn't about to buy any more of them to find out. Therefore, I really appreciate your efforts, and willingness to do so. :thumbsup:

I sent my friend an 18650 protected cell, and charger, and ordered a pair of Cree XM-L2 emitters on 20mm stars, so that we can swap them in. My light was pulling 1400 ma, or there abouts, and an XM-L2 T6-3B @ 1400 ma should do about 500 lumens with a nice neutral tint. It looks like the driver is just a press fit, so I am not going to fool with that.


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## mhanlen (Mar 14, 2016)

How they'd get it 3 times as bright I don't know! All your statements are accurate. This is a loaner light, so I didn't fully disassemble the pill... But I noticed the meco clone has a hollow pill. The g700 and meco both have press for drivers. The zooming action was fairly smooth on the G700, less so on the meco. Since I have no way of knowing lumitacs QC, and their reputation for shady business practices- I didn't comment on fit and finish much. 

The most important thing to remember though when buying common designs like this... Is they can vary in quality and even build parts... From one batch to another. Who knows if the blue tint in my light will be there in every other version. Maybe some version have hollow pills and some don't.


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## Poppy (Mar 14, 2016)

mhanlen said:


> <SNIP>
> 
> The most important thing to remember though when buying common designs like this... Is they can vary in quality and even build parts... From one batch to another. *Who knows if the blue tint in my light will be there in every other version*. Maybe some version have hollow pills and some don't.


Looking at your video, mine has the same blue tint. I wondered if it was the optic lens, so I removed it, and the blue tint was definitely from the LED.

I have a cheap zoomie headlamp that has multiple rings in the beam when zoomed out, (wide beam). So I was pleased when I noticed that my G700 had a nicer beam, and even when -wide-, there wasn't the doughnut hole that you might see in a maglite, nor were there multiple rings. Yeah, it does hollow out some, a little bit, in the middle, but not so badly to be disturbing for casual use. You'd really only see it if you were giving the beam a critical review. It was definitely better than my cheap zoomie headlamp. In your video comparison, the beam of the G700 compares well to the nebo. As you say, quality may vary even within the same brand, I wonder if their optics are typically better? OR is it just the luck of the draw, and I got lucky?

I am looking forward to putting a better LED in there.


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## mhanlen (Mar 14, 2016)

The optics on the G700 are defintely better... I think the lens on the Meco is ill fitting. I have owned better zooming lights. I really like my Brinyte, after I put a new driver and better throwing emitter in it... which absolutely kills both of these lights... that's only a $30 light, but about $50 after parts.


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## Tre_Asay (Mar 15, 2016)

My grandfather bought two of them for $30 each. I didn't want to say that he got scammed but I didn't want to take one that I would never use. When he showed me the light zoomed out it was fairly impressive as a flood light but zooming it in was clearly loosing a huge ammount of light. I may have to try swapping the LED for him or otherwise try getting my hands on a higher quality zooming light for him.


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## mhanlen (Mar 15, 2016)

Tre_Asay said:


> My grandfather bought two of them for $30 each. I didn't want to say that he got scammed but I didn't want to take one that I would never use. When he showed me the light zoomed out it was fairly impressive as a flood light but zooming it in was clearly loosing a huge ammount of light. I may have to try swapping the LED for him or otherwise try getting my hands on a higher quality zooming light for him.





Yeah.... Zoomies are like that. You loose a lot of light, but it really improves the throw. I have a modded brinyte that outputs 184kcd when zoomed in.


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## Poppy (Mar 29, 2016)

My garage doors aren't pure white, they are a little grey-white. There is probably a little blue tint mixed into the paint (although I can't discern it). A gentleman once told me that "ceiling white" has a little blue tint mixed in it. That makes it appear whiter! 

At any rate, I got and swapped in a Cree XM-L2 T6-3B emitter today and took a couple of pictures.

Yes... the LatticeBright LED was blue white, but to my eyes it wasn't as blue as my cell phone camera picked up. The phone has ONLY an "auto white balance" setting, so I couldn't modify it.






LatticeBright above...

Cree XM-L2 T6-4B below


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## mhanlen (Apr 3, 2016)

Poppy said:


> My garage doors aren't pure white, they are a little grey-white. There is probably a little blue tint mixed into the paint (although I can't discern it). A gentleman once told me that "ceiling white" has a little blue tint mixed in it. That makes it appear whiter!
> 
> At any rate, I got and swapped in a Cree XM-L2 T6-3B emitter today and took a couple of pictures.
> 
> ...



The pictures aren't showing up. But the Latticebright isn't the bluest emiiter Ive seen... Its slightly exaggerated in one of the shots because i was using a 3200k white balance.


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## Poppy (Apr 3, 2016)

Are the pics showing up now?


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## mhanlen (Apr 3, 2016)

Poppy said:


> Are the pics showing up now?




Yep... wow, thats a big tint difference. Thanks for the share!


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## Poppy (Apr 3, 2016)

mhanlen said:


> Yep... wow, thats a big tint difference. Thanks for the share!


Yeah, it might be a little unfair to post that, because, it didn't look THAT BLUE by eye, although there was blue in the tint.


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## CLHC (Apr 3, 2016)

Humorously informative video review.


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## ronniepudding (Apr 3, 2016)

Awesome review... love that it ends with "please don't buy this light."


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## peter yetman (Jun 9, 2016)

Poppy said:


> Mark,
> 
> Last week, I was gifted one, from a friend, who knew that I liked flashlights. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I thought he was scammed. I didn't ask what he paid for it. I found it interesting that there are many ebay-ers who advertise their version "as good as the G700" or "3x brighter than the G700". It's like the G700 set the standard. Like a real quality light like Maglite, and Surefire set the standard years ago.


Isn't it a bummer when someone, for the best intentions, gives you a light because you are interested in them? 9 times out of 10 it's something that you wouldn't lend to the dog. Well done for saying thank you nicely. It's such a difficult moment.
P


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## Poppy (Jun 11, 2016)

We had a quick over nighter with the scouts last night.

I brought my G700 just to show it to the other dads, in case they saw the ads, and were tempted to get it. What was wild was one of the dads, said to me... I have a light that looks a lot like that. Sure enough, he did!

It was a UltraFire zoomie that he paid a whopping $10.99 for :thumbsup: 

He had his stoked with 3*AAA batteries in its carrier, and mine was powered with a 18650.

Mine was perhaps twice as bright.

I then threw an 18650 in his, and there was a tremendous improvement. Mine was still about 20% brighter, but I had swapped in a XM-L2 T6 NW emitter. SO not only was mine brighter, but I had the opportunity to show the difference in TINT.

His bluish beam made the grass look gray.
My NW beam made it look green.

I explained to him that a 3400 mah 18650 will run 3-4 times as long as the 3* set of AAA batteries.

We now have an 18650 convert. He remarked that it is funny that the batteries and charger will cost him more than the light.


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## peter yetman (Jun 11, 2016)

And they'll probably last longer than his light, too.
P


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## Offgridled (Jun 12, 2016)

Simply amazing these scams I believe all of us that are truly into flashlights have been shown this add.


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## mhanlen (Jun 12, 2016)

Poppy said:


> We had a quick over nighter with the scouts last night.
> 
> I brought my G700 just to show it to the other dads, in case they saw the ads, and were tempted to get it. What was wild was one of the dads, said to me... I have a light that looks a lot like that. Sure enough, he did!
> 
> ...



That's awesome! Glad he didn't pay more than that for it.


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