Acebeam E70 mini

Acebeam E70 Mini specifications

The Acebeam E70 was considered an EDC flashlight, but to be honest, it may be a bit too large or too heavy for many people. Especially considering the E70 stainless steel we reviewed was 290 grams / 10.20 oz. So the 120grams for the aluminum E70 Mini is much better. And on top of that, the E70 Mini is quite a bit shorter at 111mm vs 128mm for the E70.

Package quality.

The E70 Mini is shipped in a simple cardboard box, with the Acebeam logo on the front, a plastic window to showcase the flashlight, and the model name at the bottom: E70 MINI. Inside the box, you can find the following:

• The flashlight: Acebeam E70 Mini
• Lanyard
• O-rings
• 18650 battery with USB-C port (loaded inside the light)
• Charging cable
• Manual
• Warranty card

That’s all you need to get up and running. The battery arrived at 3.64 Volts so you should charge it before actually running the light.

Let me say this first, this little E70 looks very, very nice. But I was a little afraid it could have some sharp edges and a sharp pointy bezel. Fortunately, I was wrong. The bezel isn’t very aggressive, and there are no real sharp edges. So, carrying it in your pocket shouldn’t be a problem, even though it may look like a tactical style light instead of an EDC.

The E70 mini uses a single e-switch which is located at the rear. It copied this from the larger E70, with a similar design, and is easy to use. The flat rear also makes it quite stable to tail stand.

You don’t need to worry about having your E70 mini roll off the table because of the pocket clip. And talking about the pocket clip, it does look a little different from your average clip. And if you don’t like using the clip, you’re not stuck, because it’s removable with a Torx screwdriver.

Not having a clip will make it feel a bit less grippy, but even without the clip, it’s not slippery. That is due to all the machining as well as the black matte anodization.

If you want, you can try to attach the lanyard, but you probably need some sort of picking tool to help you out. I believe there are 2 holes on the side, specifically to loop the lanyard in, but it’s kind of impossible to do that, by hand.

But, maybe you have more luck than me.

The E70 mini looks really good. I hope they will also make a stainless steel version of this model because that would look pretty slick.

And to increase the prettiness, you can add your own tritium vials or glow tubes. The latter option is much cheaper and easier to find. That way you can make the E70 mini look like a UFO, lol. But you’d need 12 of them, so make sure you save up for that, if you want to buy the former option. Trits are hard to find, and usually cost about $6-$8 per tube, so do the math.

You can only unscrew the head from the body, because the tailcap isn’t removable without tools. The battery needs to be inserted from the front, with the positive terminal towards the head.

The coating on the flashlights has a nice matte finish, which is a little sensitive to dirt, but I haven’t seen any chips or damage yet.

I would normally copy and past the warranty info from the company’s website, but since there’s so much info, just have a look at it yourself: https://www.acebeam.com/acebeam-warranty

But in short, you get 5 years warranty, where the dealer will repair or replace your flashlight with the same/similar model. After those 5 years, Acebeam (or the dealer) will attempt to repair your light at the cost of spare parts and shipping.

Okay, for some flashoholics, this is one of the most interesting parts of the review. Becauase the E70 mini uses the Nichia 519A LEDs that less than a handful of manufacturers use in their lights. They are High CRI emitters with a neutral white beam (5000K) according to the specifications (although some people may consider 5000K already a bit on the cool side). If there is 1 LED many people are talking about in the flashlight community, it’s this one!

There are a total of 3 LEDs, sitting behind a TIR optic, and with a max combined output of 2,000 lumens. There seems to be a protective glass lens in front of the TIR, because I can see some purplish hue when reflecting light. This is normal for lenses with anti-reflective coatings.

The TIR optics produce a clear hotspot, but without the sharp edges, you would normally see on a flashlight with a reflector.

I measured the beam at a distance of about 80cm-100cm in Low and Turbo mode. Both measured soon after turn on.

Here are the numbers in Low:

• CCT: 4682K
• CRI (Ra): 98.3

Here are the numbers in Turbo, at the same distance. I just took them about 10? seconds after turn on, so the light had already heated up.

CCT: 4831K
CRI (Ra): 97

Dimensions: rounded numbers in millimeters

Weight: 

Flashlight comparison

Size compared to other EDC and 18650 flashlights

Image 1, from left to right: Samsung INR18650 30Q, Acebeam E70 Mini, Acebeam E70.

Image 2, from left to right: Olight Baton S2R II, Acebeam E70 Mini, Olight Warrior Mini 2, Convoy S2+, Mateminco FW2, Weltool M2-BF UV.

Available modes:

• Ultra-Low, Low, Mid1, Mid2, High, Turbo

From OFF:

• Single-click: nothing
• Double click: turn on in last used mode
• Triple-click: strobe
• Press and hold 1sec: Ultra-Low mode
• Press and hold 5sec: Lockout mode

From ON:

• Single-click: Turn off
• Double click: Turbo, repeat to return to last mode
• Triple-click: Strobe
• Press and hold: changing modes from Ultralow to High

Shortcuts:

• To Turbo: double click from on / 2*double clicks from off
• To Moon: long press from off
• To Strobe: triple-click

Mode memory:

• Yes, but not UltraLow and Turbo. But both of them are accessible anyway with shortcuts.

Blinky modes menu:

• Yes, triple-click for Strobe

Low battery warning:

• The output reduces drastically in the higher modes to notify your battery is running low.

Lock-out mode:

• Yes, by pressing the button for 5 seconds. Another 5 seconds to unlock.

PWM:

• Not visible by eye.

Firmware / UI Conclusion:

I understand the UI, although I’m not a big fan of the double click for turn on… Still, I think that’s safer than a single click. However, a long press does turn the light on, and then if you long-press again, it will be able to cycle from low to high… so it’s safer, but not extremely.

Instead of using a 21700 battery, like the larger E70, the E70 mini uses 18650 batteries. Acebeam even included one that is reachargeable via the built-in USB-C port, and was shipped at 3.64V. The battery is named Acebeam ARC18650H-310A Type-C. Acebeam has the same code for the same battery, but without the Type C (for USB-C charging). Before using the flashlight, you have to remove the plastic insulator.

If you have those (without the USB-C port) you can use those as well.

Flat top, unprotected batteries are too short, and won’t work!

The charge current for this battery is around 1,000mA (1A) and takes about 3+ hours for a full charge.

During charge, there is a red indicator LED near the positive terminal, that turns green when the battery is fully charged. I also saw a blue light, and not sure what that means, but I thought it was a powerbank feature. But that didn’t work with a normal USB-C to USB-C cable, trying to charge my phone.

Lumen measurements:

All output numbers are relative to my homemade Integrating Sphere. It is set up with an Extech SDL400 Lux Meter for measurements including a Kenko PRO1D ND-16 filter. The base measurement is done with a Convoy S2+ that has been tested at 255 lumens.

All of my readings were taken with a fully-charged Acebeam 18650 battery, with 3100mAh. (Acebeam ARC18650H-310A).

The measurements at turn on, and after 30 seconds were manually taken. The 10minutes measurement is taken from the runtime graph.

Runtime: Battery life

The runtime test was done with the 50cm integrating sphere, including the Kenko Pro1D ND-16 filter and Extech SDL400 data logging Lux Meter.

I didn’t test Ultralow, because it’s supposed to run for 56 hours.

ANSI FL1 standards: The runtime is measured until the light drops to 10% of its initial output (30 seconds after turn on). This does not mean that the flashlight is not usable anymore. The last column shows how long the light actually works till it shuts off. If there is a + symbol, it means that the test was stopped at that particular point, but the light was actually still running. This happens on certain occasions, with certain drivers, firmware, or batteries.

Throw Measurement: Peak beam intensity and beam distance

Measurements were taken indoors with a Hagner E4-X Lux Meter, at 5 meters. Taken after 30 seconds.

Extra info: Peak beam distance according to ANSI FL1 standards: The calculated value of distance in meters at which the flashlight produce a light intensity of 0.25 lux. (0.25 lux is about the brightness of a full moon shining on an object).

For the following beamshots, I used a Canon EOS 5D Mk2 and a 50mm lens. manual settings: ISO1600, 1/4sec , F4, 5000K

The shed is about 65 meters / 71 yards away, and the reflective fence is about 200 meters.

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