Lumintop EDC AAA Compact Flashlight Review

The Lumintop EDC AAA compact flashlight enters the scene following a history of popular AAA lights by Lumintop, like the Tool AAA.  This twisty light with a domed lens is great for pocket and backup uses.

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Lumintop EDC AAA compact flashlight product page.

Versions

Just this version for now.

Price

I can’t find the Lumintop EDC AAA compact flashlight for sale yet, but I expect the price to come in well under $20.

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Short Review

First off, the size of the Lumintop EDC AAA compact flashlight is great – it’s tiny.  If you like twisties, you’ll probably like this one.  The beam shape is great for close-at-hand tasks, which is where you should plan to use this light.  In this role, it’s great!

Long Review

The Big Table

Lumintop EDC AAA
Emitter:	Cree XP-G3
Price in USD at publication time:	?
Cell:	1xAAA
Turbo Runtime Graph	High Runtime Graph
LVP?	No
Switch Type:	Twisty
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	110
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	110 (100% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	2.2
Claimed Throw (m)	–
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	38lux @ 2.085m = 165cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	25.7^
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.

What’s Included

• Lumintop EDC AAA compact flashlight
• Glow in the dark diffusor
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Manual

Package and Manual

I think this is a standard printing on the box, and not all of the options seen below are available.

Build Quality and Disassembly

Note that domed lens.  That’s the big interesting part of this light, I think.  It makes an interesting beam shape, which you can see better later in the review.

The build quality is great, as you’d expect.  That golden (ish) ring there is not attached.

The tail end has a spring.

However, the head has only a little button for contact.

Like the other Lumintop AAA I just reviewed (the EDC02), the head can be disassembled easily.

Size and Comps

The dimensions are 61.5mm in length, and 14mm in diameter.  Without a cell, the light weighs 16.9g

If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo).  If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll show that here, too (usually the fourth photo).

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.

Here are a bunch of other AAA lights.  No, the body of the EDC AAA does not work on the GT Nano!

Retention and Carry

Only this pocket clip is included for carry.  It’s a nice clip – a very standard Lumintop clip.

I can’t really see how the clip pops out, though, so I’ll consider it “not removable.”  Seems to be press-fit in.  Thus the clip is not reversible, and this light (which would be perfect in the role) can not be used as a hat light.

Surprisingly there is no magnet in the tail.

Power and Runtime

The Lumintop EDC AAA compact flashlight is powered by a single 1.5V AAA-sized cell.  Either primary or rechargeable (NiMH) will work fine.  I tested only with this Eneloop AAA, which I recommend.

If you’re in the market, just buy this pack from amazon.

The cell is installed in the usual way – positive terminal toward the head.  The light does not support 10440 cells.

I have not observed low voltage protection in either test here – the Medium test shows 1.1V, but that’s after bouncing back for some number of hours.

Modes and Currents

The aspheric type lens really throws off my calibrated testing, so these are ‘taken at face value’ Measured Lumens.

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
High	110	40m	110	0.77
Medium	27	3h30m	27	0.17
Low	4.5	40h	?	0.04

Pulse Width Modulation

No PWM on any mode.

Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.

Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.

User Interface and Operation

The Lumintop EDC AAA compact flashlight operates by twisty action.

One-handed operation is easy because of smooth threads.

Here’s a user interface table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Tighten head	On (Mode Memory)
On	Loosen head	Off
On	Quickly loosen and tighten head (off then on)	Mode advance (HML direction)

This is the same user interface as the EDC02.

LED and Beam

Lumintop has put a Cree XP-G3 into this light.  What’s more interesting than the emitter is the domed lens, though.  And the massive glow area under that.

Lumintop provides a diffusor.

This photo below has the BLF-348 at the right, but I’ve included it just to show the beam shape.  It’s very squared, with specific (and greenish) edges, but a nice even center, which illuminates task-type scenarios very well.

These beamshots always have the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level, and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.

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

I keep the test flashlight on the left and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

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

Conclusion

What I like

• Simple user interface with no strobes
• Beam shape is great for tasks
• Good pocket clip

What I don’t like

• Cool white emitter
• High – Medium – Low mode order
• Mode memory
• No real way to attach the light to a keychain
• Can’t headstand

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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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