I bought 3 of the OG Nitecore lights after your praise. I've been super happy with them and everyone is impressed with how bright they are, plus they dont get warm or easily turned on in your pocket. Thanks BigC

Hi Clive, yet another informative video, please don't stop. Thanks for bringing back the Big Clive mellow voice. It's the kind of voice I could listen to all day. I don't know if you saw my comment on the voice quality of the Fake Hakko FG-100 a few days ago, it is still there if you didn't. Waiting for the next video, the first thing I check for every day when I switch on my laptop. Keep them coming Clive, pleeeease. Trevor.

Great Video Clive & Very Cool Light. Keep up the great work. Nick.

I like it when eBay sellers send a product not branded as advertised, just open an eBay claim or PayPal claim and a refund will wing its way to you. If everyone did this, the sellers would soon buck up their ideas and buyers would get what they actually expected to get when they placed the order.

I switched to Nitecore products as my sole purchased type for all my tactical and combat use equipment about 2 years ago. I have never had a failure of any Nitecore product purchased. Whether one of their awesome battery chargers or any of their tactical lights, including the ones mounted on my weapons. I also use Nitecore tactical IR lights on my night vision devices, the 850nm IR increasing the range of even the basic night vision units I have to the point they almost rival the expensive gear I have as well. I will continue to buy and highly recommend Nitecore products as long as they retain their excellent quality.

i appreciate you taking time to do this i think i might order a nitecore

Clive , have you seen an infinity mirror table? sounds like it could be a great project, leds, have some usb outputs for charging gadgets, they look amazing plus seeing you build the circuit with your own proper quality design, plus a bit of woodwork, which we havnt seen you do! be great to see the big clive logo in the middle too, would make an amazing thumbnail and a giveaway to a patreon or viewer too.

Interesting the layout and quality of the PC board seems to be better on the clone. Too bad the battery is only half the capacity, or it would be the winner for me.

Keep doing what you do Clive big luvs from Australia

Clive, you should probably take a look at the Nitecore Tip. I got me one, it´s still pretty compact, but super bright.

Another interesting, informative and insightful video! -that bit about the backup lighting feature very nuanced awesome. Hard to say if this clone would benefit from the installation of a 5mm slow color changing LED in place of the white one, but it's difficult not to suggest it purely out of habit on this channel! :) Cloud lamps, solar charged camping lamps - all seem to benefit from show color changers or warm white LEDS. The clover lamps took most likely but mine haven't shown as of yet...

My oh my, I'm actually quite surprised at how messy that PCB the original's PCB is. Great content as always +bigclivedotcom - thanks!

Bigclive i did notive with the pink one, when you plugged in the usb lead, the light went as you know but i noticed a damn blue light when the lead was plugged

I bought two "Tubes" after watching your review and am glad I did. The only problem with them is the wimpy USB covers. The first time I pepped them in my pocket, the teacher broke. I retrieved the cover from my pocket, but now they're both gone. Other than that, they're great.

you seem very impressed with the nitecore light, how about doing a teardown on their battery chargers?

What Microscope do you use for your photos, Clive? Pretty impressed with the clarity!

I've got a wee thrunite Ti3 on my keyring, it's tiny, uses a single AAA (I use eneloop rechargeables), has multiple brightness settings, feels nice and solid and outputs 120 Lumens at max brightness, you should check them out

I got the original Nitecore after your video, and I agree it's very good. I only wish the one-click low power mode turned off after a while, because it has turned on in my pocket a few times. It seems that keys sometimes easily hit the button. Shame about the clone's flickery PWM mode. I'm fundamentally opposed to PWM'ing LEDs as a form of brightness control, but it's not too bad on the Nitecore. But I wonder why it flickers at all in low power mode, when the adjustable brightness modes don't flicker even in the dim end. Maybe it helps to conserve power, putting the controller to sleep between blinks?

I got a little rechargeable light just like this as a free handout at a military exhibition once. It was from a military-grade lighting company. They were cool cause they were pretty much the only company there giving away something that they actually made, rather than some common product that everyone buys just to print their logo on.

It'd be nice if these had some sort of mains/USB bypass as well. So, even if the internal battery is dead, you could still run it off of external power (like that battery pack).

My genuine Nitecore lamp failed, ordered a fake one a few weeks ago. Happy to see that it's not that bad :) Maybe I swap the batteries.

People say that updating their phone causes problems, but what's actually going on is that the bugs you've gotten used to dealing with have been fixed and now there are different bugs to get used to.

What should I search to find equivalent leds in warm white. Large heatsink pins and same brightness. I want to make a warm white version.

You can diy mini flashlights from e waste "sticks". also this pcb fits very good, as the usb charge pcbs do (into the flat oval ones). You need basic items for that. My nc tube has leaking cell, so its garbage. the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (bfr german): "In the aerosols of e-cigarettes, among other things, harmful carbonyl compounds have been detected, which are formed by the thermal decomposition of the liquid base (propylene glycol and glycerol). However, under normal operating conditions of the e-cigarettes, very low concentrations were found compared to conventional tobacco cigarettes of carbonyl compounds."

I use original nitecore tube for about two years and its one of the most useful flashlights I ever had.

Well clive I have a question isn't it really easy to get rid of the flickering of pwm LED's? I heared you just need a resistor and a ceramic capacitator. I can't quite remeber it but I think it was called a low-pass filter. Could you make a video about it?

Do they use PWM through the NPN to reduce the battery consumption? Or is it to adjust the brightness?

I bought the clone ( exact same body colour, same circuitry, same battery ) some days ago, and I´m totally satisfied with it. It´s half the price of the original over here. I won´t use the emergency light feature at all. The way of activating high/low is *different* from the original, but OK for me. All in all, thanks for pointing me at the clone. It´s sufficient for my needs, and still a bright little bugger.

is there an orange one?

hi uncle Clive could you do a vid on led drivers and y they are needed

I have the genuine Nitecore and I've ordered a clone five weeks ago, but I'm still waiting for it to arrive. My genuine Nitecore stopped working and I've had to take it apart and re-solder the the led lead with the heat sink back onto the pcb. I don't know if the original solder joint was bad, or if it got so hot it melted the solder out of the joint.

i think there are only two modes working like this off -> bright -> off -> fade so if you press it two times it starts the fading mode and you release the button instantly it will stay in the lowest brightness

Been away for a while but glad to have your vids to keep my happy!! Thanks as always Clive.

Thanks Clive

The original looked like it was emitting IR light when you started charging it. Interesting..

Could a slow color changing LED be swapped out for the white LED?

How about teardown a Nitecore Tip? I bought one and I pretty like it.

Finally, one of my mysteries is solved. We have public transport buses that use led for their displays here and I always see a nasty flicker when they drive by. If white LEDs are used, I see them split in red, green, and blue for a smidge of a second. Nobody could tell we why, but now I am quite certain it might be the low PWM freqency.

My Nitecore Tube developed a broken case from being on a keychain. The circuitry continues to works fine. It would be nice to find a clone at the pound store to replace the body. However not that sick green color!

How do we find the Original?

Reverse-engineer the pinout, find a pin-compatible micro-controller, buy one and write your own software! Of course, buying controllers in one-off quantities may be more expensive than buying a light that already has the features you want built-in..

For some reason this got me thinking. I wonder how good an all red led flashlight would be. In theory it should be better because red done not activate your day vision so you can still see off on the distance.

I didn't know about the Nitecore Tube and just ordered one after seeing this. Any recommendations from anyone for a keychain mini-multitool?

If you like Tube, then you will love Tip.

any links to get the fake Nitecore Tube?

I have an original. Thought of buying another @ around $6 AU from EBAY. But instinctively knew it was suspect -

Where did you buy the original Nitecore from?

Hi! Can the built in battery be replaced with CR1225 for example?

How much cheaper were these?

My nitecore died and would not charge -a little blue light came on inside the unit but never turned on again

One thing I noticed with China is the factorys there that produce an item can sell parts of that product to other companys,whom use them to make clones. I fly RC Planes and have noticed several companys that sell the same type or model but have different components on them. The cheaper ones always short change the electronics but in the event you wanted to up grade the unit, you can order the better quality parts and install them on the cheap mode. I have done this on several Planes and saved myself some money and still ended up with a better quality item. This applies to other products out there as well. You pretty much proved to me this happends a lot more than people know.

3:22 did the nighcore give out IR? It turned purple but you didn't say anything about it.

Clive, how can we get in touch with you please?

Hi bigclive can I send something to you. I have two mp3 players including 1 after charging the battery has been completely swollen. These were € 0.75 each.

Nightcore makes my 18650 charger, i didn't know they made other electronics, neat!

I want to buy one o.o But i already have the Energizer X-Focus... it uses a 0.5W LED.... its cute :3 but I will keep an eye on the nitecore Tube

@Clive - How do you test the capacity of a battery

Nitecore makes awesome products, I have a cobra that has been dropped on cement repeatedly, dropped in boiling hot coolant and run over, still works fine after 3 years.

DQG makes single-AAA flashlights that are only slightly bigger than the battery and put out a good amount of light, plus they have high and low settings (and high switches to low after about 90 minutes). I've had one on my keychain for years. Highly recommended. Their size makes them far better as a keychain EDC than larger ones. Google DQG AAA and I predict you'll be impressed!

Life changing experience, but I though we were going to do some builds... How about a Fake TV Security Build that makes people think you're watching TV and electrify the door knobs while the sprinkler comes on or something good like that?

the ability to charge a device while being able to use it still is something i prefer myself...be it a light or my headphones i dont want to have to wait for it to fill before i can again be mobile...

Useful for investigating scotch then?

+Bigclivedotcom i saw your Arch lighter vid u posted a good while back, andi was wondering if u could do a vid on the "fancier" dual arc lighter :) (theyre on Ebay, look it up :P) as always, love ur vids, keep it up ^^

Nice!!!

What printer do you use that allows refills?

you should measure the volume of the batteries by lowering them into a full glass of water and the weighing the overflow of water.

Meh, my pocket real estate is too valuable. Favorite inexpensive keychain light is still Olight I3E, got the last one on sale for $9 but usually $10 to $11 on Amazon. It doesn't come with a pocket clip, but you can put a standard AAA sized pocket clip from another light, or from a magic marker or tire gauge, and put on in both forward and reversed position for use as a headlamp on a ball cap. I called it a keychain light but I ground the keychain loop nub off the end and epoxied a rare earth magnet on so it would not only stick to ferrious objects but also just to flatten the end so it'll tail stand. Some people might like the USB charging of the Nitecore, but I wouldn't even want an Olight I3S with a mUSB port because it would have to be several millimeters longer to make it fit and add a charge controller.

Qok up the power is out and now my flashlight is dead because it turned on for no reason . I see no benefit in that option .

Is it just me, or does the color on that printout of the PCB look kind of grainy? did you have to do something weird with the resolution or brightness? It's not a problem, but it looks a bit like you got an impressionist painter to do that printout for you. XD

Hi, im happy with Fake "45LM 2 Modes Mini USB LED Flashlight Rechargeable", its thiny, bright and 3xcheaper. 2 MODES low-high: press: low - off - high - off - low - off - high ..... DIMM: switch in low, then longpress is dimming

I just want a torch that you switch on and it stays on, not multi clicking and a strobe coming on or a coblight on the side to blind you. just a single switch to turn it on. I've got a big old beast, 50 watt 6 volt halogen, 8amp battery, 6 inch reflector and it kicks out a monster white beam. But it lasts 30 mins max, goes dim and jumps straight to a standard torch bulb light, built into the reflector

Clive, take a look at the Nitecore Tip

The copy has a small red led near the USB socket to show that it is charging. Good enough for me at the price!

The knockoff seemed to be soldered much better.

11:42 - Just to add to the learning here for those that might not know, you can find a neat SMD resistor value calculator here: www.resistorguide.com/resistor-smd-code/ Also, there are 4 different ways to mark an SMD resistor for value: 3-digit, 4-digit, #R# and the EIA-96 standard. Read about them all at the link above or watch the video at this KZfaq link: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jt2gaK6FmKuZZWw.html

think foxy will go looking for one on the basis of your video

I can understand a knockoff skimping on components, but the reverse engineering of the firmware has me stumped. Would it really cost that much more to get it right? The only possibility I can think of is that they repurposed an existing chip, perhaps a manufacturing overrun, and slapped it in.

how is that not a caliper?

I bought 2 of the nitecore tubes from gearbest right after your review. Work flawlessly and just checked the emergency mode and thats the same as yours. Also, those poundland screwdrivers are so fucking handy! And cheap enough to buy in bulk to leave anywhere you may need them.

i cam here for dark edm but stayed for the pretty lights

22B? Without an ohm meter, one might easily confuse that a 8.2K...

Copy's brightness is substantualy less than the origional

Great. I was thinking of buying a clone.

Interesting Comparision Brother Regards from Europe from my Channel Bro's

I found one of the copies/clones on ebay for $3 or £2.45

Let me start with a disclaimer: I've been an LED flashlight geek for years, and have been modifying prfectly good incandescent flashlights with LEDs for years. Now that commercially available LED lights have caught up with and even surpassed most of the custom jobs, I simply look for the exact set of features I want among the hundreds (or thousands?) available. In the Nitecore lineup there are many excellent little lights, and the TUBE and TIP were the ones in my sights as possible every day carry pocket lights. For me the TIP won out easily over the TUBE because of it's features (even though it is much more expensive). Not only can it put out much more light if needed, the LED is shielded so that it does not glare in one's peripheral vision while in use. The two-button interface is also, for me, a plus. Have you looked at the TIP? I think you would really enjoy it.

Thought you were going to say "...I was so impressed, I bought the company"!

I always liked the tritium ones; no battery to run out.

I wish you would include a web site ,so we could order,the real one not the fake, one

the fake one is better, maybe i need to use it but i only had powerbank lying around.

That clone would be great for like dollar or two but if the prices are that close then it makes no sense.

just download a camera app that has the controls and features that you want and use that app instead of the bare bones camera app that the phone manufacturer vomits into the Phone's OS

Might be worth getting rechargable mp3 player and usint it own cell also making ur own + ducktape and usb recharge sercet with button for an LED from the cell it self simple and easy one side the sercet and u can add any switch i suggest PC buttons like the power one from desctop pc works good they cost also cheaper but they are silent af if we talk about waking up and powering it on u dont even hire the click loud enough @_@

Too bad that they don't make LEDs as big as the one in your blown-up picture.

what would be nice if someone made this with a miniature pen drive as well. i could then use it to transfer files and charge up at the same time. A torch and a pen drive. hmm now there's a thought

OMG the sound AND video are *_so much better now!!!_* :D The soldering on that original is shockingly bad. As far as the component choices in the 'new' one, I found it odd that they didn't use a MOSFET.

I'm quite surprised it costs more than 2 dollars.

Hmmm, never saw a fat legged LED like that .. off to ebay then ..

I STAND BEHIND NITECORE 100% and BigClive 100%

Gearbest has a flash sale on the nitecore tube right now, only for the black version. www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_109949.html