Nitenumen NE01

Gets good reviews for build quality and performance, but lacks a few of the MH20's user interface features.


(image courtesy of gangstead at BudgetLightForum.com)

Neat.

I'm starting to move away from the 'big names' and buying some of the peer reviewed budget lights, like Convoy.

No sense throwing away $50.

There's always a gamble of buying one of these lights and having it go tits up, requiring a trip back to China/Hong Kong for a refund, but that's a gamble I'm willing to take.

Chris

Edited-joker581

Well, after playing with both lights for a while, I gotta say that the NE01 is a VERY nice flashlight for the money - and is virtually indistinguishable from the $80 Nitecore in build quality, maximum light output, LED tint or beam shape.

It includes all the same accessories as the Nitecore, all of which appear to be identical to the Nitecore's.

Several minor beefs:

1. It doesn't memorize your last brightness setting - You have to start at the lowest brightness setting every time you turn the light on. However, after that, it only takes a quick double-click to switch to the full "1000 lumen" output.

2. The lowest setting is MUCH brighter than the advertised "2 lumen" output. It's too bright to use as a night light in most situations - and the battery life probably suffers as a consequence.

3. There is a "fast strobe" function (and a "SOS" function), but no equivalent to Nitecore's nifty "beacon" function (1000 lumen momentary flash every several seconds).

BOTTOM LINE: If both lights were priced at 20 bucks, I'd still pick the Nitecore. However, with the the NE01 selling for around 1/4 the cost of the Nitecore, choosing it is a no-brainer.

We need a "highly rated, inexpensive" flash light thread.  I love my Fenix E21 I purchased for $35.  I wish I could order 5 more, but sadly they don't make them anymore.  So I'm looking for the next light I can buy several of.

It's the golden age for flashlights now.  Your Fenix E21 is a 2xAA two mode twisty, with a somewhat dated Cree XP-E emitter.  I have two newer lights, from 2012, the Klarus P2A and the Jetbeam BA20, which are both 2 mode 2xAA lights with low and highs of 20/245 and 30/270 respectively.  They are almost identical in appearance and functioning and while I don't carry them, they are both in a little flashlight box in my bug-out-bag.

They're simple and easily used and at $40/$45 back then, you can still find them for $40, or less.

If you like that format, there are lights from 4Sevens, Nitecore, EagleTac, Olight and many others.

All these lights work well with Panasonic Eneloops, so buy a decent smart charger and a dozen Eneloops and you should be fine for years down the road.

Chris

I like those, I'll have to check them out.  Thank you!

This site can get a fella in big trouble with spending money on all these cool gadgets!

BIG Thank you to OP Skibane.

I took the plunge and ordered one.
I had no prior knowledge of gearbest.com

I opened a account on 9/5/16 and ordered the Nitenumen NE01 for 19.99 with shipping included.
My Flashlight arrived today [9/27/16].  It is really well made and the link that the OP provides for the review is pretty spot on.

Thank again Skibane!

Some photos of my new arrival. [I hope they show up]






e5i5o

Damn it... Ordered one

 

Ordered one on Wednesday or Thursday. Did expedited shipping. It shipped on Thursday or Friday. Hopefully I'll get it by next week. Can't wait to try it out.

I got mine yesterday and it's pretty nice. But it took 20 days to get here with the expedited shipping. I'm happy with the light but unhappy with the shipping time.


 

I suppose it's just one of those compromises. Want a kick ass flashlight cheap? It'll cost you in wait time. It does suck though because I want everything NOW!



 

 
well I upgraded the shipping and it said 7-10 days I thought. So I was a little annoyed that it took 20.

If by "expedited shipping" you mean that you ordered from the Los Angeles warehouse instead of the China warehouse, it'll ship via FedEx SmartPost.

The good news is that you'll have a FedEx tracking number. The bad news is that it'll ship via SmartPost.

 
Ya I wish I'd ordered from the LA warehouse. It's like 4 bucks more but I bet you get it in less then a week.

I got the updated ver for $4 more.  It has 7 modes (other is 5) and does have the memory of last brightness level. It only ships from China for right now.  I'm really liking this light.  Thanks for the heads-up!

Link to the new version with memory?
you need to buy a battery separately for these lights?

There's a lmk to the new version on the original version's page.

Batteries are not included - you can use either 2 CR123 non-rechargeable lithium batteries, or 1  18650 rechargeable battery.

Can anyone recommend a good source for the 16850?  I read reviews on Amazon and people say the batteries are not what they are labeled to be and don't perform well and other people seem to be just as happy as can be with the same battery.

Guidance please

AFAIK The protected Panasonic cells are supposed to be some of the best. That's what I got. The off brands can be hit or miss.

First question to ask is 'do I want protected 18650s, or naked?'

Protected cells have a circuit usually on the bottom negative side, which adds length to a cell (18mm wide, 65mm long) and some of them can be too long at 68mm-70mm to fit some lights.

This circuit, usually made by Seiko, helps protect against overcharging (4.30v) undercharging (2.4v-2.5v) and over-current discharge usually set for 6A-10A thresholds.  They aren't perfect, but they do add an additional layer of protection.

Naked cells lack the PCB and are the way they come from the manufacturers.  Rebranders take the bare cells and add the circuit and rewrap them for sale.

Depending on the current demands of most single cell lights, having a 6A-7A drain is fine for the PCBs, but some monster lights can draw upwards of 10A and some PCBs might trip at that point and will need to be reset.

For single cell lights, modern ones at least, the light will step down to the next lowest mode as the cell drains and you'll have an indication that it's time to recharge the cell.  Some lights, like ZebraLights, will have a low voltage cutoff at say 2.8v and the light will turn off entirely.

The rule of thumb is that naked cells in single cell lights, or even multi-cell lights that operate in parallel, are fine if you pay attention to what's going on.  For multi-cell lights that run in series (cells placed one after the other, or are just wired positive to negative to positive etc.) protected cells are the way to go because while in series, one cell might be weaker than the other 2, 3 in series and actually start to be reversed charged by the other stronger cells and this is bad, as we now have mismatched cells.

So it depends on what you're doing and what you're using.

Three top 'naked' cells are the LG MJ1 (10A discharge/3500mAh capacity,) the Samsung 30Q (15A discharge/3000mAh capacity) and the Sanyo-Panasonic NCR18650GA (10A discharge/3500mAh capacity.)  These are high drain 18650s with very good capacity.  Whether you look for rebranders who add PCB circuits, is up to you.

https://www.imrbatteries.com/18650-batteries/

http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=59_88

http://www.illumn.com/batteries-chargers-and-powerpax-carriers/batteries.html?___store=default&battery_size=292

http://www.rtdvapor.com/batteries/

https://liionwholesale.com/collections/batteries/18650

All are good vendors selling legitimate cells and not fakes.  Keeppower and Orbtronic are two other vendors that you can Google.

Finally, another thing to ponder is whether you need cells with flat tops, or button tops (nipple,) as bare cells from the manufacturers come as flat tops only and some lights need the button tops, which as with the PCBs, are added by third party vendors, like the above.

Most single cell lights, short of custom blasters, will operate at under 5A-6A, so you really don't need 10A capability, but you always want some wiggle room and don't usually want to operate at the red line for any particular model.

Chris

Thank you very much for the education!

So I gather from the review that the NE01 needs the button.

Questions:
How do you know if a light will take the battery with protection since the battery is longer?
Is there any practical difference between the 18650 and the 18650B ?

Thanks

Generally, if a light has what is called a reverse polarity protection feature, the flat top batteries won't make contact at the positive end and a button top cell/battery is needed.  There are two raised portions on opposite sides of the positive contact point, that keep flat top cells/batteries from making contact, so if you turn the battery/cell around, you won't close the circuit and damage the 'driver board' (guts of the electronics.)

If your light has a spring at the 'head,' or positive end of the light, then flat tops can be used.

18650 is the dimension of a particular cell.  18mm diameter, 65mm length.  What you're referring to, when you write "18650B" actually refers to a Panasonic 18650 cell that's a few generations removed from where we are now.  A specific model and a good one in most circumstances.

It's not a catch-all phrase that we use, like 18650.  The Panasonic NCR18650B is a ~3400mAh cell that has a discharge capacity of about 5A-6A rating, but is best at below 5A.  It's a classic cell that is now a bit dated.

Chris

OK, so looking at the dimensions of a protected vs unprotected battery the protected version of the Panasonic is 2.2 mm longer.  I'm guessing that the spring would generally accommodate that extra length.  Correct?

Last question, and thanks for hanging in there with me!  I must have spent at least 30 minutes trying to find a listing of versions of the Panasonic to see what the latest and greatest is.  Finally gave up.  Another guess, for my flashlight use it's not too important.

Generally, we add anywhere from 3-5mm with the button tops included.  Some brands of PCBs can be a tad thicker, than others.  Unless you have a protected cell approaching 70mm, you should be fine with dual springs, or even a longer rear spring in the tail cap; however that's not always the case.

ZebraLight's new SC600 Mk III cannot accept a protected cell of any type.  Some of the Malkoffs have trouble fitting a protected cell and some even have a narrower battery tube, so when the rebrander adds the PCB and BT, then adds an additional wrapper, the cells get thicker than the 18mm they're originally measured at.

Mostly, it's not 'trial and error' and most cells will fit most lights, protected, or not, but there are enough caveats out there to be aware of the problem.  Back around 2012, a lot of the chargers wouldn't accept cells at 70mm, or even 69mm and manufacturers had to adapt, same thing with the light makers, but they're not 100%

Read this guy's site.  Henrik is the #1 guy on Planet Earth for testing this consumer grade stuff out:

http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers%20UK.html

You have different battery categories, with lots of measurements, charge/discharge groups, chargers, power banks, wall adapters, you name it.

Go to his battery comparator, choose two cells from the same family, tick off what current draw you need for your own light's current draw and compare.  There are individual tests, dimensional charts, pictures, everything.

It should keep you busy for a month.

Chris

Thanks for your help!  

I'm at last thru playing pick up sticks in the yard so that link will keep me occupied. I came across a link earlier that was giving the best 18650's dated about six months ago so I'll add that to the reading list also.

same light with battery?

amazon link

Gotta love the Chinese, making a knockoff of a knockoff.

Be careful, though, with some of these cheaper lights that recharge cells internally.  The first thing I'd want to do is measure the charged cell's voltage to see if it's within spec.

Chris

Thank you for this piece of information.  I loaded up on these protected panasonics when I picked up a Convoy M1 and C8.

There's also the issue of current drain with the ZL SC600 Mk III, as it's upwards of 6A-7A IIRC and you would prefer a cell in the 10A range, which is why ZL is suggesting the naked Sanyo-Panasonic NCR18650GA, which is a 10A continuous drain cell with a capacity of ~3500mAh.  The LG MJ1, Sony VTC6 and Samsung 30Q are also great alternatives.

That is the cell that ZL was originally giving away with the light.

Chris

Got my light yesterday (Tuesday) but I didn't realize it didn't come with a battery until reading the thread on Monday. I placed order for 2 protected Panasonic batteries on Amazon and they should be here tomorrow. Seems like a pretty cool light. The tiny rechargeable I ordered was DOA though. :(

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Someone is making clones of Chinese budget lights?

Yep.  It's more prevalent than you'd think.

People are knockin' off Convoy lights, for instance.  Same with chargers and cells.

Chris

That advice is spot-on!

Here's a thread on BLF where at least NE01 owner has discovered that problem.


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