Acebeam W30

Handling of the light

Playing with the W30 is fun, although it's not a toy. Far from that. The W30 is designed for professionals and the design and quality clearly resembles that. There is only switch, at the rear, for power.

It uses a forward clicky that let's you use it for signaling and momentary-on.

The body feels quite slippery but with all the machining marks and pistol grip ring, it hold very nicely in your hands. You don't need to be afraid for it to slip.

Pocket clip feel sturdy and if you don't like it, you can simple take it off without too much hassle. Acebeam also included a lanyard in case you prefer carrying it that way. The red filter is great for hunting at night, but I don't have any use for that. It seems to be made of high quality materials though.

Build Quality, knurling, threads, and anodization

The anodization is matte and looks very good. Much better than the shiny black used by other manufactures. 2 O-rings seal off the battery tube. According to its specs it is supposed to be usable underwater as well, up to 100 meters. That is pretty amazing.

Machining is well done and I got my copy as a second hand. So mine had a few little spots but nothing extreme.

Driver & User Interface:

A simpler UI is impossible. Click on, Click off. No modes.

From OFF:

• Half-press: Momentary-on
• Single-click: Full Power

From ON:

• Half-press: nothing
• Single click: Off

Low battery warning:

• There is a battery level indicator at the side of the light.
• Green= 3Volts+
• Red=below 3Volts

Lock-out mode:

• No, just unscrew the tailcap

PWM:

• Not visible

Batteries and charging:

Acebeam provides a 5100mAh 21700 battery. Its product code is IMR21700NP-510A. On the top of the battery is also a tiny battery indicator. It's always on, albei extremely dim. I suppose that is normal. It has a Micro USB port to charge. When charging: red=charging, green=full.

Unprotected, flat tops, like the Samsung 21700 40T also work fine, but they do rattle a bit when you shake the flashlight. I tested the flashlight with both batteries and both produce the same output numbers in throw.

You can still use 18650 batteries with the included metal battery adapter (not plastic). However, short flat tops have trouble with keeping contact on both ends. When you shake the light, the beam will flicker. Protected 18650 batteries like the Acebeam ARC18650H-310A work perfectly, without losing contact when shaking the flashlight.

Performance:

My readings were taken from the included Acebeam 21700 battery and a Fluke 77III DMM .

Amp measurement:

• On:  3.10 A

Lumen measurements:

All output numbers are relative for my home-made Integrating Sphere. It is now 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. The base measurement is done with a Convoy S2+ that is tested at 137 lumens.

• Turbo: 490 lm

That's pretty close to the claimed 500 lumens. It must be a finetuning thing that my sample slightly underperformed.

Runtime:

The runtime test was done with the integrating sphere, including the Kenko Pro1D ND-16 filter and Extech SDL400 data logging Lux Meter.

From the runtime graph we can see that it reduces output slowly over the first 1 hour and 45 minutes and then drops to roughly 38 lumens. When I checked the output I actually saw the light was flickering, not blinking. So I would suggest to stop using the light when it initially drops in output! When I took the battery out it measured 2.6V. The battery protection should activate at 2.5V. So no much reason to wait till the last drop unless your life depends on it. Then you can still have a few minute to replace your battery.

Throw measurement:

Measurements were taken outdoors with a professional Hagner E4-X Lux Meter. After several readings and 2 different batteries the maximum I could get was: 

• 20meters:  1,312,000cd =  2291m / 1.42 miles / 7515.92 feet

Acebeam claims 1,450,000 and 2405 meters. I couldn't replicate. But keep in mind this is still one of the most extreme throw flashlights!

Beamshots

For the following beamshots I use the following settings and gear:

Canon 5d mk2, 100mm, F4, .5sec, ISO1600, 5000K. The first tower is approximately 650 meters away (710 yards).

The second tower is about 450 meters away ( 492 yards).