Nextorch Saint Torch 30 Flashlight Review
Nextorch released the Saint Torch 30 V2.0, a flashlight offering three Cree XHP50.2 emitters. It also has USB-C charging and is a powerbank, too!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the Nextorch Saint Torch 30 flashlight product page.
Versions
I’m not actually sure what version one of this light is, but V2.0 of the Nextorch Saint Torch 30 flashlight has only one version. There are no body colors or emitter options on this light.
Price
The MSRP for the Nextorch Saint Torch 30 flashlight is $279.
I also have a referral coupon for Nextorch.com that’ll give you 10% off! The code is “ZEROAIR“.
Short Review
This light has a nice feature set at the list price. And wait til you see the runtimes! I love the unusual design of the head, and I have to say that this design seems to manage the heat very well. Charging by USB-C requires USB-A power, but can charge at up to 12V. So that’s a loss and a win both – 12V charging at ~2A is fast, but you might not already have a QC3.0 USB-A plug that can supply it. I would rather the C port also support C to C charging. But I’ll take all of that as a compromise for the great flat output on all the modes (that aren’t Turbo). Very solid.
Long Review
The Big Table
| Nextorch Saint Torch 30 V2.0 Flashlight and Powerbank | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Cree XHP50.2 (Triple) |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $279.00 |
| Cell: | Internal |
| Turbo Runtime Graph | High Runtime Graph |
| LVP? | |
| Switch Type: | Mechanical |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | USB-C |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | No |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 8000 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 8738 (109.2% of claim)^ |
| Candela per Lumen | 11.2 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 530 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 2550lux @ 5.912m = 89127cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 597.1 (112.7% of claim)^ |
| Claimed CCT | – |
| Measured CCT Range (K) | 5400-6700 Kelvin |
| Item provided for review by: | Nextorch |
| All my Nextorch 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
- Nextorch Saint Torch 30 flashlight
- Battery (built in)
- Wall wart (for outside of the US)
- Charging cable (USB to USB-C)
- Shoulder strap
- Carrying bag
- Manual
Package and Manual
Build Quality and Disassembly
I have said this about the other two Nextorch lights I’ve reviewed (the TA30 and P82), and it’s true about this light too – Nextorch lights are well built! This is a solid flashlight.
The Nextorch Saint Torch 30 flashlight has a massive set of features, too. Couple all that with the interesting head design, and you have my attention.
The light doesn’t really come apart too much though – just the cell tube comes off the head. I wasn’t able to unscrew that tailcap but I have a feeling it’ll unscrew with an appropriate amount of motivation.
The contact points are a bit unusual here, too. The head has the normal contacts, but the center is a brass button that goes into the positive contact on the battery. Not a big deal – it all works the same way, but this probably provides a very positive contact.
On the head are these fingers that grip over the whole head. That head has many cooling fins, and this all seems to deal with heat very well.
The handle is the battery – the whole part that detaches is the battery. Knurling on this part is good. Not aggressive but grippy enough. The anodizing is matte, which adds a bit of grip, too.
The tailcap is fairly simple.
Nextorch provides (along with the rest of the very comprehensive package) these two screwed-together parts. They seem to be for use while the head and battery are separated. That is, if you’re using the light as a powerbank or charging the battery, you’d probably want to screw in these parts to protect all the contacts and threads. I’m not sure it’s necessary, but it’s comprehensive!
When these parts are installed, the threads and contacts are well protected. I would guess they confer the same level of waterproofness that the flashlight has in general when set up as a flashlight.
Size and Comps
Officially 200mm x 84mm x 50mm, and 743g with battery.
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.
Retention and Carry
Probably the main means of carry on the Nextorch Saint Torch 30 flashlight is the included shoulder strap. That strap attaches here on the head through this split ring. The split ring comes attached but could be removed easily.
The other end of the shoulder strap connects through the tailcap.
Nextorch also includes as part of the package, this MOLLE-covered nylon carrying case. This is an interesting case. It’s built to carry more than just the Nextorch Saint Torch 30 flashlight specifically, so if you want to use it as a bit of a bug out or EDC bag, it should suffice.
The light does take up most of the space, but you could easily fit a sandwich or Capri Sun in here.
For those parts that are accessories to the light, there’s a “hidden” compartment. Much like many photography bags, this compartment is separated by a velcro closure.
There’s no velcro exposed on the outside for morale patches, but with the right setup, you can make it work. 😉
Power and Runtime
Nextorch uses a built-in battery for the Saint Torch 30. This battery is built into the handle, and as far as I can tell, can’t really be modified by the user.
Since the battery is also a powerbank, there’s a switch to select between options. I am not sure why this is necessary, but I suspect it’s a safety feature – this means the battery contacts aren’t active when the powerbank feature is enacted. So no shorts. It also of course means that you can’t use any of the features concurrently.
Below are a few runtime graphs. Turbo does step down quite dramatically but not in a “let’s game the system” way – it holds well over 8000 lumens (the claim) for more than a minute.
On High, the output is just remarkably flat. This might be the highest “high” but still, at 2600 lumens, and for nearly 2 hours, this is very good!
Medium is unsurprisingly flat, too.
When the light is on, the four indicating LEDs (which you will see below) light briefly to indicate the charge level. I don’t think the manual covers what they mean but I’d describe it as very obvious. The more blue circles, the higher the charge.
Charging
Charging is by way of this USB-C charging port. This port is exposed only when the battery tube/handle is removed (or “nearly removed” – you don’t really have to unscrew the parts completely).
Despite being USB-C, C to C charging does not work. Nextorch provides a USB-A to USB-C cable, and that’s what you’ll need to use.
Nextorch also provides a wall wart, but it’s not suitable for use in the USA – it’s the wrong kind of plug. However, any QC3.0 USB port should provide satisfactory power, and those aren’t difficult to come by. (Alternately, any regular USB port should work, but it’ll be slow.)
With 12V power (though not from the device above), charging is quite brisk. Twelve volts at around 1.5A is 18W, and does charge the battery pack in around 2 hours and 41 minutes (consistently.)
Powerbank
Another feature is the aforementioned powerbank feature, which is facilitated by switching that little three-way toggle to the “USB” option seen below. When in this state (and only when in this state) there’s a little blue LED to indicate.
I appreciate that there’s an “OFF” state to this switch too – presumably, this can prevent parasitic drain (but I’m not sure how to test and confirm that.)
The powerbank works extremely well, outputting well over 2A (and 2A is the claim). At some output level (around 3.3A), the voltage drops out of USB specification. However, the powerbank will output over 2A for the duration of its ability to do so – there’s no sag in voltage or current until the cells are depleted. At the cutoff point seen below, the cells were at the same voltage observed from completed runtime tests: 1.26V.
Here’s a better view of the first couple of minutes, which is a sort of a stress test on the output levels and voltages.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 8000 | 2h15m | initial: 9179 30s: 8738 |
6.04 |
| High | 2400 | 4h | 2642 | 1.18 |
| Medium | 720 | 7h30m | 754 | 0.30 |
| Low | 90 | 60h | 0.03 |
Pulse Width Modulation
The Nextorch Saint Torch 30 flashlight doesn’t use PWM for any of the four steady modes.
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
Nextorch uses a side switch on the Saint Torch 30 flashlight. I am calling this a mechanical clicky, but I am not sure how to confirm that. I say it’s mechanical for two reasons. First, the light comes back on after the battery is disconnected and then reconnected. Secondly, it feels mechanical. If it is mechanical, it’s a reverse clicky. If it’s an e-switch (which is possible, sure), it has the action of a reverse clicky.
We don’t see side mechanical switch light often, but they do exist.
The switch action is ok – it’s quite deep, and you’ll need to be somewhat deliberate to turn the light on. But once the light is on, switching modes requires a much shallower press and is quite pleasant. One thing to note is that the mode order is higher to lower! The light always turns on into Turbo.
Here’s a user interface table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Tap | Momentary Turbo |
| Off | Click | Turbo |
| On | Tap | Mode advance (Turbo> High> Medium> Low> Strobe) |
| On | Click | Off |
And I believe that’s it for the user interface. I don’t think there are really any hidden features or things you’ll have to watch out for. Strobe is in the main group, but it’s quite avoidable since the light always starts on Turbo. I’m not sure that’s the best of both worlds there (since I don’t consider “starting on Turbo” to be that great) but at least you can avoid Strobe if you turn the light off and then back on.
LED and Beam
In the Nextorch Saint Torch 30 flashlight are three Cree XHP50.2 emitters. I don’t see that Nextorch makes a claim on the CCT and CRI of these, but we can check on that later. This is a ‘triple’ but not a traditional triple – each emitter has its own reflector.
The reflectors are smooth and deep.
The fingers around the head do allow light to escape when the light headstands.
You can see it here but much more below – the beam has a very distinct hotspot.
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
Again, the light starts on Turbo and the mode order decreases in output from there. So that’s the mode order you’ll see in all the photos below. On Turbo (left most below), the output does get up into the cooler CCT. The lower modes are quite reasonable though, in the upper 5000K’s. CRI isn’t great, in the mid to upper 70 range. All in all this isn’t too bad, particularly for a light with such high output levels.
Beamshots
These beamshots are always with 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
- Love the beam profile
- Powerbank feature works well
- Charging from QC3 is very quick
- Output is very great! Above specification on Turbo
- High output level is very stable for the duration
- Nice package including a carry bag
- Very flashlighty! Has a great ‘wieldability’
- Battery contacts are not active when the light is in powerbank mode
What I don’t like
- Doesn’t charge C to C
- Mode order is highest to lowest
- Strobe is in the main group (but avoidable, if you pay attention)
- Unclear if replacement batteries can be purchased
- Batteries are built-in and not user serviceable
Notes
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