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Almost everything about Xiaomi fascinates me. A huge part of this “almost” is flashlights. I have two of them — and I’m not happy with both. Let me tell you about the third one. A lot of laudatory reviews have already been devoted to him, it’s time to add your own — objective.
Declared characteristics
● Declared brightness 2000 lm
● Brightness levels: 2000-560-200-25 lum
● Powered by 26650 battery
● Claimed range 380m, maximum battery life 140 hours.
● 5 light modes
● Direct Type-C charging
● Charge level indication
● IPX7 waterproof
● Aluminum body.
● Dimensions: 164x34x59mm
● Fall protection height: 1m.
● Charging time: 4 hours.
Packaging and appearance
Excellent, no doubt very good gift packaging. Thick black cardboard, good design. Feel free to donate.
Everything you need is inside: a flashlight, type-c charging cable, 5000mah 26650 battery, silicone (what?) lanyard, manual.
Here in the photo on the + contact the magnet is absurd.
In fact, the battery is flat-top. In simple terms, for the audience, Nexttool is flat-headed
And here is the flashlight itself.
This is far, far from being a compact model. To be honest, I haven’t seen anything like this in a long time. Not in the sense that the flashlight is large (although, of course, it is not small). It’s just that I haven’t seen models with a 26650 battery and a fairly large head for a long time. Offhand, something similar fell into my hands a year ago, it wasAstrolux FT02s
For comparison, next to the most popular budget long-range flashlight Sofirn C8G And Wurkkos TS21which finally settled in my pocket as a regular EDC
And here is the Nexttool flashlight itself. The design is quite simple, but the flashlight looks quite nice. For me personally, largely due to the fact that the head and body are different in color.
The knurling is frankly smooth and I did not feel that it adds anything to the reliability of the grip.
The latter, however, is quite convenient.
There are springs both on the tail side and on the head side.
The carving is fine enough and perfectly, perfectly dry
There is also a thread on the side of the head. If you unscrew it a little, then the Type-C charging connector and its simplest 4-segment indicator are exposed. In terms of moisture protection, this is a fairly good solution, and it is strange that it is designated here at the IPX7 level, and not IPX8. But the fact that any rubbish will be stuffed into this connector and the open thread can no longer be called good.
The button is big and very tight. It is quite contrasting and I do not see any problems in order to grope it blindly.
The head is quite massive, with excellent deep ribbing.
The bezel is smooth and wide. Glass without visible anti-reflective layer. Under it is a fairly deep textured reflector. Usually, when a manufacturer does not designate an LED in any way or calls it some loud name that does not tell anything to anyone, then nothing good can be expected from this.
Right there, apparently, we have the well-known Cree XHP50.2. An excellent moderately bright LED, remarkably manifesting itself in medium fights. Why wasn’t it listed in the specification? They probably just considered it a minor detail.
At this stage, we have good packaging and a fairly good appearance. I would categorically avoid using the built-in charger, which recharges the battery. It would be wise to buy Liitokala Lii100, proven by thousands of buyers
Control
This is just a litmus test, which perfectly shows whether it is worth dealing with the manufacturer at all.
For example, 9 out of 10 of any extra-budgetary rubbish has a completely unnecessary strobe pump in the general line. Up to the point that it is molded even into camping lanterns, where it is needed like a fifth wheel for a dog. For example, see this review good, in general, inexpensive camping lantern.
Here, fortunately, the strobe is hidden by 3 clicks, which is good. The bad thing is that the manufacturer chose a different way to make the user want to smash the flashlight against the wall.
So, every time you start the flashlight starts with maximum brightness. So if you decide to turn it on in the middle of the night, you are guaranteed to go blind.
Of course, you can press the flashlight to yourself and rewind 2-3 clicks to the desired mode. But this is a very crooked ersatz.
Once again — there is no mode memory. There is a start from the maximum and a descending order of brightness.
This already definitely puts an end to the use of this flashlight for me.
How Xiaomi Nextool shines
After a stylish silicone lanyard, after a smooth and non-sticky knurling, after creative control, it would be naive to expect a stabilized brightness here. Of course, it will fall as it discharges.
The maximum brightness here falls on a timer and technically, if you wish, you can run it several times. This is both a plus in the form of the possibility, if necessary, to work longer at good brightness, and a minus in terms of the danger of overheating.
Cooling, as you can see, does not give any result. In principle, 2 minutes before the maximum brightness starts to drop to 30% is not bad.
And here is the average mode (here it is called High). The brightness also starts to decrease from the first second. I would prefer full stabilization. But such a smooth drop in brightness makes it possible for the flashlight to shine longer. There are both pluses and minuses.
The light here is surprisingly good. Honestly. I was 100% sure that the manufacturer would roll out a nasty bluish light. But no. Here and a good neutral color temperature (albeit with a rather strong blockage in the green), and a convenient medium-long-range light distribution. Yes, and the scatter of modes here is quite universal. Is that something completely dim is missing so as not to go blind by turning on the flashlight in the middle of the night.
On the other hand, the «wonderful» decision to run xiaomi nextool every time with maximum brightness reduces the issue of blinding to nothing — most likely, you will go blind.
But the rest, once again, everything is very pleasant.
A flashlight is quite convenient for working from a distance of about 10m and up to 70-100m. Although, with such and such a size, the flashlight should have added a level of about 1000 lumens, such a case would have easily removed the heat generated at this brightness.
I would estimate the maximum useful range at a couple of hundred meters, which is quite good. It turns out a sort of medium combat with a good long-range potential.
The same Sofirn C8L in all respects will be a much more interesting choice for working at a distance of more than a hundred meters.
General impressions
The flashlight has a decent packaging, design and complete set. So Xiaomi Nextool can be a worthy gift flashlight for an undemanding user. Ultimately, for all my dislike for it (flashlight), I met good reviews from those who used it.
Xiaomi Nextool Nato looks good, well packaged and bright and moderately far shines. This is where all the obvious pluses of the flashlight for me end. If we talk about bright medium-range flashlights on a 26650 battery, then for the price of Xiaomi Nextool you can buy the same Sofirn SP33S (or better, even more similar in distance Sofirn C8L), the packaging of which will be as worse as the flashlight will be better in everything else — convenient sizes , brightness stabilization, normal built-in charging, and — most importantly, extremely convenient control.
I have not yet met a single flashlight from Xiaomi Nextool, which I could call normal and I doubt that I will meet. Even large lamp brands, often, over and over again, sculpt outright monsters full of marketing game.
Therefore, when I see that a flashlight from a large brand has failed control, that is, just something that does not require (at this level) any serious constructive work at all and has nothing to do with an increase in price, I understand how much the manufacturer is generally aware of what is convenient when working with a flashlight and what is not. This is, how to say, a flashlight for hipsters, designed by them. Stylish, bright enough and does not cause me any desire to use it.
Once again, I’m not asking here for normal control with bookmarks for a firefly and a turbo. It would be naive to expect that the manager responsible for development so involved in the lantern theme. But to understand that the flashlight should not blind, starting every time with maximum brightness, any such manager can do it if he actually uses a flashlight, and not an LED in a smartphone.
Briefly speaking. If you don’t care about the packaging, then for this price you can choose a bright, good and convenient flashlight with built-in charging and a capacious battery for any distance.
Well, here are some examples:Wurkkos TS22 to work close Sofirn SP33S for medium-range operation (or more compact and long-range Sofirn SP35, Sofirn C8L for both medium-long-range. I consider each one of them a much more justified choice than Xiaomi Nextool Nato.
I’d be lying if I said I was disappointed with the flashlight. There was no disappointment, because I did not initially expect that I would like it. He didn’t like it.
Where to buy and how to save
If you are still interested in buying, then you can buy it on Aliexpress | Yandex Market | SberMegaMarket
You can also save on the purchase of this and other goods with coupons and promotional codes from my discount channel in telegram, see the link to it below in the “about the author” block
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