Lumintop OD10

Lumintop OD10 flashlight review: 680 Lumens

Introduction:

Before I start this review, I just need to get something out of my system.

SQUEEEE OH THIS IS JUST SO CUTE LOOK AT YOU SO SMOL

Ahem. I’m better now. Anyway:

The Lumintop OD10 – a nice and small 18350 light that’s just dying to be clipped in tight and carried everywhere. I’ve been curious to play with one of these since I saw it; my Olight S Mini Cu died in a tragic accident some time ago, so something to fill that hole would be nice. Does it fill those shoes? Read on.

A very big note to make here before I go any further – none of the documentation nor the sales pages that I can find mention that this light requires a button-top 18350. It does – there’s an isolation ring at the driver that will stop a flat top from making contact.

What you’ll get:

The OD10 was packaged in the packaging that I’ve come to love from Lumintop – a fairly basic cardboard box, with their insignia upon it. Interestingly though, compared to their larger lights, it doesn’t have an image of the light on it. I’ve also got the usual Banggood sticker on it. Inside the box, I find:

  • The OD10
  • A deep-carry clip
  • User manual
  • Spare o-rings
  • A lanyard

All the things (sans battery) that I need to get up and running. The clip was seated in a somewhat odd fashion, but it helps keep the packaging size down.

Manufacturer specs:

Brand / ModelLumintop OD10
LEDCree XP-L HD 6500K
Lumens680 lm
Beam intensity3520cd
Battery config.1*18350
MaterialAluminum
Modes4 (Moonlight, L, M, H)
BlinkiesStrobe, SOS, Beacon
ReflectorOP reflector
WaterproofRated IP68; 2m underwater.
Review dateMay 2020

Handling of the light

There’s only really one way to hold this light, and that’s in the traditional flashlight grip. You could hold it in a “pointer” kind of way if that’s really your thing, but I’ll just be over here quietly judging you.

The tailcap is magnetic which is fantastic to see. This kind of small light can be kept in a pocket very easily, so popping it onto something ferrous to attach to put some light where you need it.

The included clip only fits one way, and slips into the groove just under the head. It’s quite snug, as it was a bit of a pain to put on, but still rotates very slightly. If the groove was a little smaller (less “around” the light), then it’d sit neatly. That’d make it feel a bit more solid.

There’s a small hole in the tailcap to fit a lanyard. The included lanyard is the same kind I’ve complained about for some time – a basic lanyard, and a little small to fit around my hand. I suppose it’s something I should stop complaining about; at 6’3, I am on the larger side, but it’d be nice to have even 1-2” more lanyard.

Tail-standing: A nice and flat tail means tailstanding is no problem at all. The included magnet even gives inverted tail standing! (on ferrous metallic surfaces only)

Build Quality, knurling, threads, and anodization

For a small light, the OD10 feels remarkably solid. There’s not that much weight behind it, but it doesn’t feel in any way flimsy. There’s no real sharp surfaces; even the right-angle heatsink fins on the head do little more than grab onto my fingers – this is always nice! For something that’d probably be used in the fingertips, it’s very welcome.

The threads on the tailcap are nice and smooth – I’ve had no problems changing the battery out during testing. There’s a decent amount of lubrication without being overly generous with it. The o-rings seem plenty sufficient to keep water out; the light is rated IP68, but I’m still hesitant to intentionally put a light into a vat of water due to the potential for catastrophic failure if the battery shorts in water.

Anodisation is great all around, with no flaws that I can detect.

LEDs, Lens, Bezel, and Reflector

The emitter Lumintop has chosen for the OD10 is the Cree XP-L HD in 6500K – while personally not my first choice for colour temperature, it does lend itself to giving more light out, and in something compact like this, that can help.

There’s a definite “green” tinge around the corona which is common in the XP-L HD – while noticeable, it doesn’t overly detract from the beam unless you’re white-wall hunting. It’s perfectly serviceable if used outdoors.

Looking directly at the orange-peel reflector, it doesn’t seem like the emitter is centered correctly. I opened the bezel to check, and sure enough there’s a centering ring around the emitter, but the reflector wasn’t sitting quite right in it. I reseated it and put the bezel back on, but it still shifts very slightly.

The reason for this is that there is a “lip” in the bottom of the reflector for the ring to sit in which is 6mm ID (inner diameter), but the centering ring is 5.6mm OD (outer diameter) – this is causing the emitter to potentially be slightly off-center. It won’t impact the beam much if at all, and I do realise that I’m being overly pedantic here, but I see it as a QC issue.

The bezel was very gritty to put back on – there’s lubrication, but there must just be some dirt or something in there. After a quick clean, it feels smooth again.

Lumintop have put an AR lens on this light, which is good to have for that extra bit of light transfer.

Comparison shot shows: Lumintop FW3A (Nichia 219B sw45k 4500K), Lumintop OD10 (XP-L HD 6500K), and Sofirn SP36 (LH351D 5000K

Dimensions:

  • Length: 69.1mm (2.72”)
  • Head diameter:  23.4mm (0.92”)
  • Body diameter: 21mm (0.83”) around knurling

Weight

  • Empty: 31g (1.09 oz)
  • With Vapcell 18350: 55g (1.94 oz)

To put it in perspective – it’s not that much larger than a 18650 battery in height and weight.

EDC Flashlights

Size comparison with other Lumintop Flashlights:

1st picture: from left to right: Lumintop GT Mini, Lumintop OD10 and Lumintop FW3A

Size comparison with other EDC Flashlights:

2nd picture: From left to right: Convoy S2+, Lumintop OD10, Emisar D4v2

Driver & User Interface:

Notable feature:

There’s a nice smooth “fade” between modes when you change, although it’s somewhat inconsistent – from moonlight to low jumps suddenly rather than the fade in the L/M/H cycle, and fading from H to L is a lot slower than the fade upwards from L-M-H. I like the fade, but wish it were consistent.

Modes:

  • Moonlight, L, M, H – plus Strobe, Beacon, SOS.

From OFF:

  • Click: Last memory mode (L/M/H)
  • Hold click: Moonlight

From ON:

  • Click: Next mode (L/M/H cycle)
  • Hold click: Off

From MOONLIGHT:

  • Click: Low mode
  • Double-click: “Blinkies” mode

From BLINKIES:

  • Click: Next mode (Strobe, SOS, Beacon)
  • Double-click: Return to Moonlight

Holding down the button from any mode will turn the light off.

There’s also a lockout mode which is good for if you’re carrying it in a pocket; it’s activated by holding down the button for 4 seconds from off – the light will go into moonlight mode, and then flash twice to indicate lockout. To unlock, do the same, or loosen the tailcap to disconnect the battery.

You can check the battery level by clicking six times – this shows flashes for your battery level:

  • 1 flash: < 30%
  • 2 flashes: 30-69%
  • 3 flashes: 70-90%
  • 4 flashes: 100% 

UI Diagram is below.

No further information for the driver available – it’s nicely hidden, and would probably be quite painful to remove (if not impossible without permanently damaging).

PWM is noticeable via camera on Moonlight, Low, and when changing modes, but isn’t visible on Medium or High.

Batteries and charging:

This light uses 18350 cells, but as I’ve pointed out before, it requires button-top cells. This isn’t mentioned anywhere, which I think is quite a large oversight.

There’s no onboard charging, so you’ll need to pop the battery out to charge.

Performance:

All of my readings were taken from a fully-charged Vapcell INR18350 1100mAh – I recharged it between each test to ensure maximum output. I tested current with a Fluke 87 and short 14AWG wires, to eliminate losses over wire.

Amp measurement  

  •  Standby current: 20µA
  •  Moonlight: 1.7mA
  • Low: 11.07mA
  • Med: 178mA
  • High: 1.65A

Runtime graph

As seen, high lasts for a few minutes at most, then drops over time until about the 85 minute mark. At that point, it drops off quite low until around 110mins, then is effectively on moonlight for another 4h 20m, at which point the light turned itself off. Quite impressive! After that, I was able to turn it on in High again (not on the chart), but it very quickly faded down to moonlight.

Lumen measurements (for each mode)

  • ML: Too low to read – I really need to work on a new system that can read low lumens.
  • Low: 5 lm
  • Med: 90 lm
  • High: 609 lm

Lumintop have their figures for L/M/H as 8/110/680 lumens, so I’m at 59/81/90 % of advertised in those modes. It’s possible my calibration is out, but I would have thought that it would remain constant. Something for me to work on before my next review (as well as low lumen reading!).

Throw numbers: 

Measurement was taken indoors with the Uni-T UT383S. Given that this light is more meant for close-up work, I’ve skipped the usual outdoor measurement.

I’ve taken three measurements and then averaged to give a good representation of the throw.

High mode: 4150cd (128.84m)

This is higher than the advertised throw (3520cd), yet I measured lower lumens… Don’t know! But it’s a pleasant result, to be sure.

Definitely an up-close and personal light.

Disclaimer: This flashlight was bought from our own money. I have not been paid to review, nor have I been holding back on problems or defects.

Overall conclusion

Pros:

  1. Good size/weight
  2. Bright enough for intended use
  3. Doesn’t heat up excessively on high

Cons

  1. The UI…
  2. Requires button top battery
  3. Inconsistent 
  4. Emitter is cool white (personal preference, though)
Reviewer Owen
Author: Owen

Rating: 3 stars ★★★

This is probably the hardest light I’ve had to score so far – on one hand, I want to give great marks for packing this all into a small package, and other nice features such as the bezel unscrewing to give easy access to reflector and emitter – but on the other, the UI and emitter leave me with a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth.I can’t deny it fills its function well, but hold-to-off just leaves me confused with a light that’s still on when I intuitively expect it to be off. I know that this may be a decision borne from wanting people to discover the other modes, but this can be done with sufficient instruction. With those things in mind, I give the light three stars – there’s good points, but the bad just pushes back a bit too hard.

Lumintop OD10 for sale

The Lumintop OD10 is discontinued, and no longer available at Banggood.com. Instead, we recommend to check out one of the buyers guides we made, so you can get the best possible flashlight:

  1. Best EDC flashlight