Acebeam X80GT

Acebeam X80GT gen 1 review

Acebeam X80-GT Specifications

Brand / Model	Acebeam X80-GT
LED	18*XHP50.2
Lumens	32,500 Lm
Beam intensity	34,700cd
Battery config.	4*18650
Material	Aluminum
Modes	7
Blinkies	Strobe
Reflector	Smooth, shallow
Waterproof	n/a
Review date	March 2020

Introduction:

The Acebeam X80-GT has been on my wish list for quite some time. Although, not the newest flashlight in Acebeam’s lineup, it’s still a worthy competitor to other high-power flashlights. The X80GT is the successor of the X80 that was able to produce 25000 Lumens.

It’s able to pump out approximately 32,500 Lumens from 18* XHP50.2 LEDs. Given the size, this must be the brightest flashlight currently available that fits your pockets!

Edit: the Acebeam X80-GT has been replaced by the Acebeam X80-GT2.

What you’ll get:

• Acebeam X80-GT flashlight
• Carry handle
• 4*3100mAh 18650 batteries
• O-rings
• Holster
• Warranty card
• Lanyard
• Manual

Handling of the light

I was amazed at the size of this beast. It’s a soda can-sized flashlight that can fit your pockets.

The switch is located in a convenient place and on the opposite side of the tripod hole. This is pretty important because this type of switch is pretty hard to find in the dark since they don’t protrude a lot.

Since the light gets extremely hot, very fast, you better use the carry handle! If you don’t, you’ll soon burn your hands because this thing gets really hot! I mean, really hot!

If you like using a holster or lanyard, the Acebeam X80GT got you covered!

Tail standing: Yup, without a doubt!

Build Quality, knurling, threads, and anodization

There is nothing to complain about the build quality, nor the anodization or threads.
Threads came lubed, and knurling looks genuinely good!

Let’s quickly continue to the more exciting parts of the review!

LEDs, Lens, Bezel, and Reflector

How about a soup can-sized flashlight with 18*CREE XHP50.2 LEDs?

Since the X80GT is so short, the reflectors just have to be really shallow. All LEDs are centered well. With this kind of brightness, the 6000K LEDs will blind anybody without knowing if it was Neutral White or Cool White, lol.

The bezel doesn’t look like stainless steel, but the manual says it’s SS… So there you go!

Dimensions:

• Length:117.9 mm (  4.64”)
• Bezel diameter: 65mm (  2.56”)
• Body diameter: 49.2mm ( 1.94”)

Weight: 

• With 4*18650 batteries: 525.4 g (  18.53oz)

Powerful flashlightS

Size compared to the most powerful flashlights on planet earth. From left to right: Acebeam X80-GT, Acebeam X45-II, Imalent MS12, Imalent MS18 and Acebeam X70

It’s really that tiny. It’s a soupcan sized flashlight. But in performance, it’s doing a very great job!

Bottom pictures: left to right: Acebeam X80-GT, Lumintop GT3, BLF Q8, Olight Marauder 2, Acebeam X45 II.

Driver & User Interface:

The Acebeam X80GT has a rather simple UI.

Modes: 7

• Low, Medium1, Medium2, Medium3, High, Turbo and Turbo Max

From OFF:

• Single-click:  to last used mode: mode memory (except for Low, Turbo and Turbo Max.)
• Double click: Turbo, do another double click for Turbo Max
• Triple-click: Strobe
• Press and hold 1sec: Low
• Press and hold 5sec: Lock Out

From ON:

• Press and hold: Cycle through the menu from Med1 to High (skipping Low, Turbo and Turbo Max)
• Single-click:  The light turns OFF
• Double click: Turbo, another double click for Turbo Max
• Triple-click: Strobe (press and hold to go back to normal mode cycle, or single click for OFF)

Blinky modes menu:

• There is only 1 blinky mode, being Strobe. Strobe is accessible from both, On and Off by doing a triple-click.

Low battery warning:

• There is a small battery indicator on the side of the light. When the batteries reach a Voltage of 13V, the light will turn red. Ref flashlight means the batteries are at 11V-12V in total. When the batteries reach 10.8V, the light will Switch Off. 10.8V divided by 4=2.7V
• From testing, one of the batteries tripped the protection… which is supposed to be at 2.5V

Lock-out mode:

• Yes, there is a lock-out feature. This can be accessed from the OFF position. Press and hold the switch for about 3 seconds. To deactivate the Lock-out you have to press and hold the switch for about 7 seconds.

PWM:

• Not visible to the eye!

Firmware / UI Conclusion:

The UI is rather simple and straightforward, there are no hidden modes.

Batteries and charging:

The included batteries are Acebeam 3100mAh High Amp batteries with button tops and protection. It’s rather important to have protected batteries since one of the batteries can be discharged too deeply. This could result in a damaged cell. From testing, 1 of the batteries tripped the protection, which is supposed to be at 2.5V.

You can’t really use flat top unprotected batteries since they are likely too short. I also wouldn’t suggest using them in the X80-GT! There is not an internal charger, so you have to have a separate Lithium-Ion charger.

The battery indicator will show when the batteries are depleting, and the protection will likely trip before they are discharged too deeply. Always good to have that extra bit of protection since the flashlight doesn’t measure each battery individually!

Performance:

All of my readings were taken from fully-charged Acebeam 3100mAh 18650 batteries. I recharged it between each runtime test.

Lumen measurements:

All output numbers are relative for my home-made Integrating Sphere. It is set up with an Extech SDL400 Lux Meter for measurements. For extremely bright flashlights (above approx. 5000 lumens) I am adding an ND filter, either a Kenko PRO1D ND-16 filter or a Hakuba HG Wide 8x ND filter. The base measurement is done with a Convoy S2+ that is tested at 137 lumens.

Tested with 4*3100mAh 18650 Acebeam batteries

Mode	Specs	I measured:
Mode	Manufacturer	Measured
Low	200	176 Lm
Med1	1000	1,057 Lm
Med2	2000	2,078 Lm
Med3	4000	4,058 Lm
High	8000	7,958 Lm
Turbo	15000	15,210 Lm
TurboMax	32,500 lm	27,765 Lm

Runtime:

From the runtime graph, we can see that Turbo Max lasts for about 1 minute before it drops to 3600 Lumens and suddenly stops at 1 hour and 12 minutes.
Turbo lasts for 2.5 minutes before it drops to a very steady 3600 lumens and stops at 1 hour and 30 minutes.
High lasts for 6.5 minutes before it drops to a steady 3600 lumens and runs till it dies at 1 hour and 1 hour and 8 minutes.

I originally did 3 runtime checks only to learn that my Luxmeter didn’t record anything since the battery was low.. So I had to redo all runtime checks.

Throw measurement:

Measurements were taken both indoors and outdoors with a professional Hagner E4-X Lux Meter. I took measurements at 5m indoors.
Peak throw, using the following modes:

• High (5m): 10,500 cd =  205 meters / 672 ft throw
• Turbo (5m): 19,750 cd =  281 meters / 922 ft throw
• Turbo Max (5m):  36,750cd = 383 meters/  1257 ft throw

Turbo quickly dropped in output so this is the highest number I could measure!

Beamshots

For the following beam shots I used a Canon 5d mk2, set to 1/4sec f4, iso1600, 50mm. You can see that the beam is extremely wide. This is really an extreme flooder.

Disclaimer: I bought This flashlight with my own money, used. I have not been paid to review, nor have I been holding back on problems or defects.

Overall conclusion

Pros:

1. Extremely bright
2. Very small
3. Including a carry handle
4. No PWM!

Cons

1. Gets very hot

Rating: 5 stars ★★★★★

I can’t express enough how this light surprised me. I have brighter flashlights but this thing is crazy. It’s not much bigger than other flashlights and even smaller than the BLF Q8, but with almost 7 times its brightness.