Lumintop PK25

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Lumintop PK25 specs

Brand & Model	Lumintop PK25
Flashlight category	EDC / Long-Range
LED	OSRAM NM1
Max. output	350 lumens
Max. beam distance	490 meters
Max. beam intensity	60100 cd
Battery config.	2* AA (No 14500)
Onboard charging	No
Modes	4
Blinkies	Strobe
Waterproof	IP68
Review publication date	March 2023

When given the opportunity to review the Lumintop PK25, the first thoughts in my head were, ‘I wonder how this compares to a AA Maglite Mini that I used to have’. Secondly, this is a departure for me in what I have come to know from Lumintop. Well, use at least. I have used a Thor 3 LEP and an FW1AA and this is nothing like either of those. Throwers yes, but a completely different form factor. Now Lumintop is no stranger to small throwers, as they have released the Ant Man, GT Nano Pro and their entire lineup of Thor LEPs, this is another in their arsenal that can throw the distance as well as keep a small profile if the claims are to be believed. Let’s find out if the PK25 has what it takes to walk the walk with the other Lumintop throwers or if it is relegated to a wannabe. So, let’s insert some batteries (not included) and fire this puppy up!

Package quality.

The packaging, while more than sufficient, is quite sparse. The light is not inherently heavy so it does not need an exorbitant amount of padding or protection. Lumintop does well in this category and it reminds me of all of my other Lumintop lights. A very thick cardboard box with a microcell foam insert that keeps the PK25 firmly secured. No extras needed here. All in, the entire contents were made up of:

• Lumintop PK25
• 2* Spare O-Rings
• Manual

The PK25, after picking it up out of the box, makes me think differently than my initial assessment of comparing it to the Maglite Mini. This feels completely different. Instead of the shiny metal, you have a very matte black anodizing that seems to give it less friction and as a result a more slippery feel, at least in my opinion. There is quite a bit of machine work, but the body is completely void of all of it. The head is much larger than the rest of the body and it does fit in a pocket, but the business end is quite noticeable. 

With a reverse clicky switch on the tail cap, you can change modes after it is already on. This clicky switch also includes the Lumintop logo, with the bunny in all of its glory. I wouldn’t say it adds too much to the grip of it, but it is a nice touch. It also sits recessed under two ridges that are saddle cut in the tailcap that give you a lanyard attachment point, but also allow it to tail stand. The saddles aren’t the widest though (there isn’t a lot of space on an AA light) so it may seem a little unstable while tail-standing. Unfortunately there is no pocket clip, or even a provision for one.

This is a relatively long range general purpose throw light, so it could be used for quite a few things. If you need throw over flood, this may be a good choice. It is lightweight and could be carried without it weighing you down. The first thing I thought of is if you are looking for a lost animal and want to cover a longer distance without the need to carry a huge LEP or purpose built, dedicated search light.

Every Lumintop I have owned or even used has been of amazing quality and finish. The PK25 on the other hand… Nah, I am just kidding. The details in the machining and evenness of the Type III HA coating over the 6061- AL body. This anodization is a smooth, even and matte black. From what I could tell, no other colors were available.

The only eyesore, and I hate to say this, is the Lumintop logo and identifying info on the battery tube. It takes up over 20% of the entire length of the light (I measured) and should have been toned down a bit. The tailcap looks like it may have been pulled from a tactical light and I rather like it, and if it would have contained a forward clicky switch, I may have just believed it was a parts bin pull.

The switch does have the common Lumintop rabbit on the button, but does not light up like some of their other models. When you remove either the tail or the head to swap in some batteries, you’ll see the threads have an absolute abundance of lubrication. The body of the light looked greasy very quickly. Over cautious, or did it slip by quality control? Either way, I don’t fear a short life for these o-rings due to being run dry.

As far as the warranty is concerned, this is from Lumintop.com:

30-day free replacement: LUMINTOP will replace a new product within 30 days of purchase for any manufacturing defects if problems come into being in normal use; We will replace it with the same model. If the model has been discontinued, customers will receive a product with a similar or improved model. Five-years free repairs: LUMINTOP will offer free repair within 60 months for lights from the date of purchase if the problem develops with normal use. Lifetime warranty: If repair is required after the guarantee period, we’ll charge for parts accordingly. All LUMINTOP products are warranted for quality. Normal wear and tear are not covered, nor is damage resulting from misuse, abuse, neglect, battery damage, use of incorrect batteries or accessories, or altering these products from their original state. Parts and accessories for flashlights are not covered by this warranty.

The head of the Lumintop PK25 kind of reminds me of the Tardis from Doctor Who. It is bigger on the inside. For such a small profiled light, this has an immensely deep reflector. The smooth reflector is 30mm in length and sits beneath an AR coated glass lens. The emitter, in this case an OSRAM NM1 LED, is perfectly positioned at the bottom with a black centering gasket.

The combination of both the reflector and the LED gives you an incredibly focused hotspot and with a usable amount of spill. The cutoff on that spill, though, is exact. Someone got their medical degree and became a surgeon to cut this so exact. There is a spill and then it seems one mm aside there is no light at all.

It is like a widebeam LEP, but seems even more pronounced. The hotspot makes sense, considering you are supposed to get almost 500 meters of throw from 350 lumens. Close up, you’ll also see a corona around that hotspot but it is much less noticeable at a distance. This whole combination is ideal for throw, so if you’re looking for a floodlight, this definitely isn’t it.

What this isn’t ideal for, is color-accurate tint. Now, this isn’t a negative, since most throwy lights will appear on the cooler side anyway as this does. Using the Opple Lightmaster Pro at 5 meters, the PK25 in low starts out around 5700k and jumps up to over 6100k in turbo. And usually with these OSRAM emitters, that color rendering is on the lower side too. This light follows suit at between 70 and 72 CRI. Not wonderful, but at a distance, this is more than sufficient.

Dimensions: 

Lumintop PK25	Millimeters	Inches
Length	162 mm	6.4 in
Head diameter	37 mm	1.5 in
Body diameter	19 mm	.7 in

Dimensions are rounded to the nearest millimeter, and to the nearest tenth of an Inch.

Weight: 

Lumintop PK25	Weight in grams	Weight in oz
Without battery:	83 g	2.9 oz
With battery	121 g	4.3 oz

Weight is rounded to the nearest gram, and to the nearest tenth of an Oz.

Flashlight size comparison with its competition:

Group 1: Lumintop PK25, Convoy T4, Olight i3T Plus, Wurkkos WK02

There are no batteries shipped with this light so there is no lockout or insulating film to stop you from turning on the PK25. All you have to do is load up some fresh AA batteries (Alkaline or NI-MH) and follow the instructions below to navigate the UI on this particular Lumintop offering.

Available modes:

• Low, Medium, High, Turbo

Available blinky modes:

• Strobe

From OFF:

• Single Click: Turn on the PK25

From ON:

• 1 Click:  Turn off the PK25
• 1 Tap: Change modes (Low, Medium, High, then Turbo)
• 6 Taps: Activate Strobe

Mode memory:

• Yes, the light will go into the previous used mode you were in, with the exception of Strobe.

Shortcuts:

• N/A

Low voltage warning:

• The battery continues to decrease in output, but there is no battery indicator or flash sequence to let you know the battery is depleted.

Strobe/blinkies

• Tap tail cap 6 times from on

Lock-out mode: 

• No, but you can do a quarter-turn lockout with the tail cap since the threads are anodized.

PWM

• There is no PWM present.

Additional/summary info on the UI: 

• Unfortunately, there is no voltage check or battery check, but with the availability of AA batteries, I suppose it isn’t necessarily needed. All in all, the UI is very straightforward if you have used a reverse clicky before. The sweep of the modes seems evenly spaced for the light.

There is no onboard charging provided on the PK25, and as a matter of fact, there are no batteries at all. This trim did not ship with any batteries, but what it does accept is either 2* AA Alkaline cells with an operating voltage of 1.5V or 2*AA NI-MH cells running at 1.2V. Lumintop specifically says to not use 14500 Li-Ion cells as this would result in damage to the board and I believe them. Jumping from 3 volts to (up to) 8.4 volts could fry the driver in a second.

For my output measurements, I utilized a purpose built integrating sphere and an ExTech SDL400 datalogging light meter. These figures were compared to a tested, known light source. All tests were performed with both fresh alkaline and fully charged NI-MH batteries after a complete charge cycle. The exact batteries used in this case are Rayovac High Energy for the alkalines and Amazon Basics NI-MH for the rechargeables.

Lumen measurements (for each mode)

Mode (Alkaline)	Specs	@turn on	30 sec	10 minutes
Low	6.5lm	6lm	6lm	6lm
Med	45lm	34lm	34lm	34lm
High	175lm	151lm	151lm	151lm
Turbo	350lm	313lm	310lm	149lm

Mode (NI-MH)	Spec	@turn on	@30 sec	@10 minutes
Low	6.5lm	6lm	6lm	6lm
Medium	45lm	35lm	35lm	34lm
High	175lm	149lm	149lm	148lm
Turbo	350lm	319lm	316lm	151lm

The low mode output was relatively consistent with specifications, however, when you move higher up in the range, you can see there is between a 20 and 10 percent drop in performance compared to their specifications, with the gap closing slightly towards the top end. In turbo, the figures came out to be right at 10 percent low, which could fall on the batteries or a slight variance in my testing equipment. 

Battery Life: Runtime graphs

I ran through low, medium, high and Turbo with both Rayovac Alkaline AA and completely charged Amazon Basic Rechargeable Ni-MH batteries and performed all tests until the light shut off.

Mode (Alkaline)	Specified runtime	Measured runtime ANSI	Time till shut off
Low	15h	24h+	24h+
Med	7h 35min	8h 28min	8h 29min
High	1h 10min	1h 22min	1h 47min
Turbo	1h 2min	1h 18min	1h 37min

Mode (NI-MH)	Specified runtime	Measured runtime ANSI	Time till shut off
Low	20h 40min	24h+	24h+
Medium	9h 15min	9h 2min	9h 5min
High	2h 15min	2h 17min	2h 25min
Turbo	2h 12min	1h 56min	2h 1min

While the output may have been slightly under specification, the runtimes, at least in most regards outperformed what Lumintop has come to expect of these lights. Now, there are many variables in the types, construction and capacities of batteries that can be used, but these are the results I got. With alkalines, the low runtime bested specs by over 9 hours. I like this, but the manual for the PK25 says nothing about the capacities of the batteries used in testing.

About ANSI FL1 standards: The runtime is measured until the light drops to 10% of its initial output (30 seconds after turning 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.

Peak beam intensity and beam distance measurements

Throw information was gathered using an Opple Lightmaster Pro at 10m after 30 seconds using fresh alkalines and fully charged NI-MH cells.

Mode	Specs	Candela measured	Meters	Yards
Low	*	1,344 cd	73 m	80 yd
Medium	*	7,104 cd	169 m	185 yd
High	*	31,488 cd	355 m	388 yd
Turbo	60,100cd	64,832 cd	509 m	557 yd

One thing I have found to be unusual is the hands down win in the throw department, even though the output of the PK25 is on the lower side. I mean, it is quite focused, and as you can see from the beamshots the hotspot is still quite bright.

About peak beam intensity: Peak beam distance according to ANSI FL1 standards: The calculated value of distance in meters at which the flashlight produces a light intensity of 0.25 lux. (0.25 lux is about the brightness of a full moon shining on an object). The columns ‘Meters’ and ‘Yards’ use rounded numbers.

Camera settings and distance: Panasonic Lumix G7 with ISO 5000 and ev0.0 at 70y.

Beamshots of the following flashlights compared:

• Lumintop PK25
• Wurkkos FC12
• Convoy S21B

The following beamshots are done with NiMH batteries. Alkaline batteries

Disclaimer: This flashlight was sent to me for review at no cost by Flashlightbrand. I have not been paid to review, nor have I been holding back on problems or defects.