Nextorch P83 Flashlight Review
The Nextorch P83 is an interesting flashlight that offers a throwy white emitter with red and blue secondary emitters, and USB-C charging!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the Nextorch P83 Flashlight product page.
Versions
There’s only this one version!
Price
The MSRP of this Nextorch P83 flashlight is $65. That does include the 18650 cell shown in this review.
Short Review
The Nextorch P83 is a neat flashlight with a great set of features. The base features are a good offering at $65, but the addition of the red and blue ring extends the value of the P83.
Long Review
The Big Table
| Nextorch P83 flashlight | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Osram P9 |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $65.00 |
| Cell: | 1×18650 |
| High Runtime Graph | Medium Runtime Graph |
| LVP? | Yes |
| Switch Type: | Mechanical |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | USB-C |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | No |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 1300 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 1246 (95.8% of claim)^ |
| Candela per Lumen | 21 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 280 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 1100lux @ 4.917m = 26595cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 326.2 (116.5% of claim)^ |
| Claimed CCT | – |
| Measured CCT Range (K) | 7000-8000 Kelvin |
| Item provided for review by: | Nextorch |
| All my Nextorch reviews! | |
^ Measurement disclaimer: I am an amateur flashlight reviewer. I don’t have $10,000 or even $1,000 worth of testing equipment. I test output and such in PVC tubes!! Please consider claims within 10% of what I measure to be perfectly reasonable (accurate, even).
What’s Included
- Nextorch P83 flashlight
- Nextorch 2600mAh 18650
- Charging cable (USB to USB-C)
- Spare o-rings (2)
- Lanyard
- Manual
Package and Manual
Build Quality and Disassembly
Just like other Nextorch lights I’ve reviewed (the Nextorch TA30 and Nextorch P82, for example), the build quality of the Nextorch P83 long-range flashlight is fantastic.
This P83 shares many features of the P82, and could be seen as a good smaller companion to it. But many of the features are the same.
Only the tailcap is fully removable, and it’s very smooth. These anodized threads are long, smooth, and appropriately lubed. You can see a beefy spring in the tailcap.
Unlike the P82, the head end of this P83 does have an actual spring.
Size and Comps
Dimensions: 155 × 35 × 28.5 mm
Weight: 177g (Without 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.
Also seen above is 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 means included for carrying the Nextorch P88 long-range flashlight is a lanyard. This lanyard attaches only through this hole in the tailcap.
The ample-sized hole makes installing the lanyard very easy.
Power and Runtime
Nextorch includes the cell type that’s required for the P83. That’s a button-top 18650, and in this case, has a capacity of 2600mAh.
The cell goes into the P83 with the button toward the head, as is the case with most flashlights. Only the tailcap comes off fully, so you’ll change the cell as seen below.
In case you forget the cell orientation, Nextorch has added some logos to remind you.
Below are a couple of runtime tests – the highest two modes. While initial output is good, the stepdown is fairly quick and dramatic – from around 1300 lumens to around 450 lumens (and falling).
Output on the second (middle) mode is about the same as on High, without the initial very high level.
There’s a LED array near the switch which does provide information about the charge level. This array lights briefly when you turn the light on, but stops indicating after a couple of seconds. When the cell is low (around 3V or so), this normally blue array blinks with one red LED.
Charging
Charging on the Nextorch P83 long-range flashlight is via USB-C. This charging port is in a nice but unusual spot – it’s hidden behind some threads in the head, so that it’s normally completely covered.
There’s a little USB charging logo on the side. Honestly if not for this, it’d be hard to get any idea that there’s even built-in charging on this light! That’s not a bad thing; it’s a nice and stealthy bonus feature.
Nextorch includes a short USB to USB-C charging cable.
Just like when using the light, this LED array does indicate the charge level. While the manual doesn’t cover what the indications mean, it’s very straightforward – When the light is fully charged, all the emitters are blue. Anything less than that means the light is charging. For example, if three are solid blue and one is blinking, the cell is “nearly charged.”
Charging is a little strange, seeming to oscillate between two currents. I am not sure this is “bad” but it’s also probably not ideal – if nothing else, it causes charging to take longer than you’d really want it to. Still, the charge time is within the range Nextorch claims, of around 2.5 hours.
C to C charging does work. Unfortunately, I was unable to log a charge cycle of that.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | 1300 | 2h | 1246 | 4.39 |
| Medium | 350 | 4h30m | 304 | 0.76 |
| Low | 25 | 60h | 25 | 0.08 |
Pulse Width Modulation
The mode order of the user interface is high > medium > low, so that’s how I’ve organized all the information in this review. The lower two modes do use 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, with is 50 microseconds (50us). 10ms. 5ms. 2ms. 1ms. 0.5ms. 0.2ms. 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
Nextorch uses an interesting switch setup here on the P83. There are two switches but they share a (“separated”) rubber cover. They’re both e-switches. This switch is exactly like the one on the Nextorch P82.
In the photo below, the rightmost switch is a “strobe only” switch. That switch overrides anything else you do with the user interface. It’s also not a momentary switch – you tap this and strobe is on. Even if you’re in a steady mode and you tap the strobe, strobe is then on.
Here’s a UI table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Click strobe switch | Strobe (not momentary) |
| On (Steady, White) | Click strobe switch | Strobe (not momentary) |
| Strobe | Tap strobe switch | Off |
| Off | Tap mode switch | Momentary High |
| Off | Click mode switch | High (steady) |
| On (Steady, White) | Tap mode switch | Mode advance (High > Medium > Low) |
| On (Steady, White) | Click mode switch | Off |
| Any | Hold strobe switch | Red and blue flash |
| Secondary on | Tap strobe switch | Secondary advance (Red and blue strobe > Red Blink > Blue Blink > Red Steady > Blue Steady) |
| Secondary on | Hold strobe switch | Secondary off |
While the tactical switch is fairly great (at least it’s very suited to the purpose), I did find that the mode switch press was much too deep. It’s almost like there needs to be a nub on the inside of the switch cover to reach the actual e-switch, or the e-switch (inside) needs to be higher. This isn’t a problem except that upon rebounding from being fully clicked, the switch “almost always” (by that I mean “always” but I’m also not going to click it 10000x for a robust sample set) hits High on the downstroke but the upstroke of the switch is…. something…. enough that the light then immediately switches to Medium.
LED and Beam
Nextorch uses an Osram P9 in the P83. This emitter coupled with the orange peel reflector makes for a throwy light.
The bezel, which like the TA30 has multiple glass-breaking balls, has a “tripod” feature to allow light to escape when headstanding.
The little wrinkle on this P83 is the secondary emitters, which form a ring around the head. This means they’re very floody, of course, and probably useful mainly as you would use a wand. (Not for magic, but for directing traffic or something. But maybe also for magic.)
In the red and blue blinky level, there’s one blink that is actually red and blue as seen below. So there’s red, then blue, then red and blue. I would guess it’s done this way because that does mean it doesn’t look like you’re trying to impersonate police with this light.
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
CCT of this white emitter is quite cool, venturing up into the 8000K range. CRI is low too, at 70ish.
Beamshots
These beamshots are always with the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. Red is fourth (as above in CRI/CCT) and blue is last (also as above.)
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
- Great build quality
- USB-C charging port is well covered and protected
- Very good beam profile
- Throwy beam
- Reasonable cost for a complete package light
- Red and blue are neat additions
What I don’t like
- Mode switch presses too deeply and causes a bit of mode skip
- Low CRI
- Floody nature of the secondary emitters potentially limit their utility
Notes
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
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