Lumintop IYP25 Flashlight Review

Lumintop IYP25 Flashlight Review

The Lumintop IYP25 represents the “In Your Pocket” flashlight line well but is a 2xAA cell flashlight. Read on for testing!


Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Lumintop IYP25 Flashlight product page.

Versions

Unlike the IYP07 and many of the other IYPs, this one looks to be available in black only (for now?).  There’s a Cree XP-G3 (for better throw and output) and a Nichia 219c version (seen here; better for color rendering).

Price and Coupon

20% Discount code: LON20JA
Usability: Each order amount is over or equal to $19
End day: 2019/10/31

Short Review

I’m not sure I needed an AAx2 version of this light, but it’s a good addition.  My favorite will be the IYP07, which is fantastic, and the IYP25 is basically a bigger longer version of it, with a mode or 2 added.  All are fine lights, and I like that there are enough options that it’s possible to get the format you’d like.

Long Review

The Big Table

Lumintop IYP25
Emitter: Nichia 219c
Price in USD at publication time: $19.16
Cell: 2xAA
High Runtime Medium Runtime
LVP? No
Switch Type: Mechanical
On-Board Charging? No
Claimed Lumens (lm) 500
Measured Lumens (at 30s) 339 (67.8% of claim)^
Claimed Throw (m) 91
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) 154lux @ 3.835m = 2265cd
Throw (Calculated) (m) 95.2 (104.6% of claim)^
All my Lumintop reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.

I’m fairly sure the 500-lumen output and 91m throw are based on the XP-G3 version.  So the Nichia should be lower on both counts.

What’s Included

  • Lumintop IYP25 Flashlight
  • Spare o-rings (2)
  • Diffuser
  • Manual

Package and Manual

Standard Lumintop box.  The Manual is filled with four languages.

Build Quality and Disassembly

If you’ve had any other IYP series lights, the build quality will be no surprise.  It’s good, it’s fine.  Zero complaints.

The driver side (the head) has a brass ring that serves as reverse polarity protection, and also excludes the use of flat-top cells.  The tail end has a spring.

The threads are appropriately lubed, square-cut, and anodized.  Thus, mechanical lockout is possible.

The brass (or brass coated) ring is not secured except with whatever the o-ring does.  That’ll keep it in place, but it will come off if you wish.

The tailcap unscrews fairly easily, allowing removal of the pocket clip.

The whole tail assembly disassembles easily, too.

Size and Comps

Officially 138.5mm long and 18.5mm in diameter at the thickest.

Here’s the family!

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+.  Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple.  A very nice 18650 light.

And here’s the light beside my custom engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light.  I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.

Retention and Carry

The only thing included for carry of this light is a pocket clip.  It’s a collar-type clip, so very secure.  There’s a nice balance with it too.  It’s not deep carry, but it’s not that far off.  The clip removes very easily, and the light works fine without it there.  The gap where it goes, remains, though.

Power and Runtime

I tested the IYP25 with IKEA AA cells, the LADDA NiMH AA.  Primary AA cells will work fine.  Lithium-ion 14500 cells will not work, and will almost certainly kill the light.  The outputs are rated with alkaline cells, and I tested with only NiMH.  However, the output seems to be at least close enough to claimed output.

After the initial drop, which takes a couple of minutes, the stepdown is heavy.  But then the output is very steady at 160ish (High) lumens for almost 2 hours.

Medium output is very stable for essentially the full runtime.  Neither runtime (nor bench power) indicate the light has LVP.  In fact, in this Medium runtime output finally stopped when one of the NiMH cells was essentially zero voltage.  That’s not good for the cells for sure, but for NiMH it’s not the worst thing in the world.

Modes and Currents

Mode Mode Claimed Output (lm) Claimed Runtime Measured Lumens Tailcap Amps
Turbo 500 1h 339 1.42
High 280 1h5m 172 0.54
Medium 70 6h35m 0.14
Low 12 45h 0.04

Pulse Width Modulation

The low two modes have PWM, but I don’t find it to be angry PWM.

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor.  Also, here’s the light with the worst PWM I could find.  I’m adding multiple timescales, so it’ll be easier to compare to the test light.  Unfortunately, the PWM on this light is so bad that it doesn’t even work with my normal scale, which is 50 microseconds (50us). 10ms5ms2ms1ms0.5ms0.2ms.  In a display faster than 0.2ms or so, the on/off cycle is more than one screen, so it’d just (very incorrectly) look like a flat line.  I wrote more about this Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight and explained a little about PWM too.

User Interface and Operation

This is a mechanical reverse clicky switch.  The cap is metal, and very clicky, with around 2mm of travel.  Mashing the edges won’t do it – you’ll need to cover the switch to get it actuated.

The switch is big enough to allow tailstanding, but overall the light is just a bit too long for that.

Here’s a UI table!

State Action Result
Off Click On (Mode Memory)
On Click Off
On Half Press Mode advance (LMHT)
On Press 6x Strobe
Strobe Press Previous Mode

The UI is very simple.

LED and Beam

In my review copy, Lumintop has a Nichia 219c.  It’s a good temperature, too – warm.  Stated as NW but quite warm NW.  It’s perfect for this light and this style light.

There’s a reflector, which is completely smooth.

The diffuser fits the head just fine.

These beamshots are always with the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Random Comparisons and Competitive Options….

Here’s a link to a relevantly filtered page on parametrek.com.  I use that site a lot!

Not another single light in this category!

Conclusion

What I like

  • Available in Nichia
  • Good build quality

What I don’t like

  • No LVP

Notes

  • This light was provided by Lumintop for review. I was not paid to write this review.
  • This content originally appeared at zeroair.org.  Please visit there for the best experience!
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7 thoughts on “Lumintop IYP25 Flashlight Review”

  1. John Souvestre

    I believe that much of the difference between the manufacturer’s claims and your observations is due to their using alkaline batteries, and you using NiMH batteries. Indeed, they say that Turbo won’t work with NiMH.

    Question: Other than the external surface, is there any difference between the IYP25 and the Tool25?

    I see that both are listed on lumintoplight.com now.

    1. I hear that about the NiMH (mentioned it too I think?) but why would it make any difference? The voltages are the same (close enough) and I don’t think voltage sag would matter…. I’ll see if I can scrounge up some alkies to test with.

      And basically yeah, the Tool25 looks the same, just with knurling! Looks nice, indeed.

  2. John Souvestre

    The difference in battery types has a larger effect that you might expect. Then there’s the non-rechargeable (1.5V) lithium. They generally do better that either of the others, but cost more than an alkaline AA, and aren’t rechargeable like the NiMH is. Even so, I prefer the lithium for an emergency light.

    >> I see that both are listed on lumintoplight.com now.
    I meant to say that they are now listed at lumintoponline.com also.

    I took a closer look at both models. Besides the outer surface, I did find one other significant difference: Only the Tool25 supports (and comes with) a lanyard. Also, I saw a comment that it was a bit more stable when tail standing. Everything else looked identical.

  3. John Souvestre

    Followup: I have a Tool25 now. I like it. Pretty much as I expected it to be with 2 minor problems.

    1) If you attach the lanyard you can’t tail stand (unless you loosen it and move it out of the way). I don’t understand why they used one oval-shaped hole instead of 2 round holes.. There is plenty of space. This seems like a design error. If you do want both, you could attach the lanyard to the pocket clip instead.

    2) The 2 second delay for memory doesn’t work properly. It’s more like 15 seconds. Anything between 5 and 10, for example, results in an erratic, unpredictable startup mode, even strobe sometimes. This needs to be fixed. It makes me wonder if there is a R/C timer and either the R or the C’s value is 10 times too large.

    Otherwise, I like very much.

  4. John Souvestre

    I learned two more things.

    1) The specs are wrong about the type of Cree LED. They are also wrong about both Cree and Nichia being available for both the IPY25 and the Tool25. The reality seems to be that the Tool25 always comes with a Cree XP-L HD, 6500K and the IPY25 always comes with the Nichia 219 CT, 4000K. The lumen ratings for the Nichia are lower than the ones shown, which are for the Cree.

    2) The switch for the Tool25 is rubber, and for the IYP25 is metal.

  5. Hi Zeroair,

    Are the Ladda AA you used for this test the 2,450 mAhwhite cells or the silver-green ones which are 2,000 mAh?

    Thanks,

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