Vastlite Minima BOW LED Flashlight Review
The Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight makes a nice pair with the tiny LEP version of this light. Inexpensive, four modes, and a simple user interface. Read on!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight product page at FlashlightGo.com.
Versions
From what I can tell, there’s only one version of this LED version of the Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight. There’s a LEP version too, of course.
Price
The Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight is listed and available at $21.99.
What’s Included
- Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight
- Vastlite 850mAh 16340
- Pocket clip
- Spare o-rings (2)
- Manual
Package and Manual
Build Quality and Disassembly
The Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight is inexpensive! Amazingly just around $22, and that includes the 16340 cell. At that price, you might expect a reduced build quality. And you can see some choices were made to keep the cost down, but the build quality here is still very good.
Despite sharing a name with the LEP version of the Minima Bow, this light has some different designs on the head (and general differences in the knurling, etc, all over.)
On the Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight, only the tailcap is removable. There’s a spring, and the threads are anodized.
Inside the cell tube, you can see the positive contact – just a button and no spring. That’s fine for this type of light, especially since they’re providing their own 16340 cell. So contact should always be very good (even though there’s no spring.)
Size and Comps
Size: 79mm x 20mm (Length x tube)
weight: 29.5g
Here’s the light in hand:
Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. The version below is a custom laser-engraved Convoy S2+ host by GadgetConnections.com. I did a full post on an engraved orange host right here! Or go straight to GadgetConnections.com to buy your Convoy S2+ now!
Also in the photo above, my Standard Reference Material (SRM) flashlight is the Hanko Machine Works Trident, an 18350 light. While I have not reviewed or tested the Gunner Grip version seen here, I have tested a Hanko Machine Works Trident Total Tesseract in brass. I love the Trident, and it’s a striking contrast to the inexpensive Convoy S2+, another great SRM.
Retention and Carry
The Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight ships with a pocket clip already attached to the tail of the light. It’s a very standard clip. The styling is “notably Lumintop,” which makes me wonder if Lumintop makes the brand Vastlite. Nothing wrong with that at all!
That’s it for carry! There’s no magnet or pouch or anything.
Power and Runtime
The Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight runs on lithium-ion cell – in this case, a 16340. The 850mAh 16340 cell seen below is included. The light runs a standard cell though, so if you have your own, it should work too.
The cell goes into the light in the usual way – positive end toward the head.
Below you can see runtime tests for all four modes. The output is claimed to be 800 lumens. Output is reasonably close to that claim, so that’s good.
The light shuts off with low voltage protection at around 2.9V, too.
The temperature lines in these charts are included as general context, not precise measurements. The values represent the range (min to max) during testing, but should not be taken as exact readings. A temperature sensor is not always attached to the bezel (or even the hottest spot, assuming that could be defined). Even with ideal placement, too many variables affect temperature to definitively state a specific max value.
Charging
The Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight itself does not have charging, but the optional cell does. There’s a USB-C charging port on the positive end.
Charging works with C to C and A to C just fine, and both require about 3 hours. That’s very slow charging, but should give the cell a nice long and happy life. This is well under 0.5C for this 850mAh cell.
When charging, there’s a little red indicator on the positive end. When charging is complete, the indicator turns green.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 800-450 | 2m+35m | 769 (0s) 738 (30s) |
1.99 |
| High | 480 | 45m | 450 (0s) 442 (30s) |
0.92 |
| Med | 200 | 3h50m | 167 | 0.29 |
| Low | 45 | 11h | 36 | 0.06 |
Pulse Width Modulation
There’s no PWM.
Click here to 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 Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight uses a mechanical clicky for operation. This is very different from the LEP version, which is a twisty! The switch here is very nice. There’s a good bit of tension so the action is very firm and there’s a tritium slot in the middle.
The light will tailstand, and there’s a lanyard hole in one side of the tailcap, too.
Here’s a user interface table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Click | On (Memory) |
| On | Click | Off |
| Off | Tap | Mode advance |
| Momentary Low | Double tap | Momentary Strobe |
| Momentary Strobe | Double tap | Momentary SOS |
| Momentary SOS | Double tap | Momentary Strobe |
| Momentary Low | Tap click | Strobe |
LED and Beam
Vastlite does not state what emitter is used here. Whatever it is has a dome and has an orange peel reflector. They do state it’s cool white, though.
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
In fact, it’s very cool white, ranging from 6800K to 7900K. CRI is low, too.
CCT (Correlated Color Temperature) refers to the measurement of the color appearance of light, expressed in Kelvins (K), which indicates whether the light is warm (yellowish) or cool (bluish). A lower CCT (below 3000K) is considered warm light, while a higher CCT (above 5000K) gives cooler, bluish light.
CRI (Color Rendering Index) is a measure of how accurately a light source renders colors in comparison to natural sunlight. Scored on a scale from 0 to 100, higher CRI values indicate that colors appear more true to life and vibrant, similar to how they would look under the sun.
Beamshots
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. These photos are taken around 18 inches from the door.
I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!
Summary and Conclusion
The Vastlite Minima Bow LED flashlight is an inexpensive light. That’s the main point here. If it has other features you like (beam profile, for example), it’s a very good choice, particularly if you are able to swap the emitter. The user interface is simple and strobes will not generally get in your way. My one real complaint is that a 45-lumen low is much too high to be the lowest mode!
The Big Table
| Vastlite Minima Bow LED Flashlight | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Unstated white LED (Cool White) |
| Price in USD at publication time: | |
| Cell: | 1×16340 |
| Runtime Graphs | |
| LVP? | Yes |
| Switch Type: | Mechanical |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | USB-C (on cell) |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | – |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 800 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 738 (92.3% of claim)^ |
| Candela per Lumen | 6.1 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 135 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 205lux @ 4.971m = 5066cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 142.3 (105.4% of claim)^ |
| Claimed CCT | Cool White – |
| Measured CCT Range (K) | Cool White 6800-7900 Kelvin |
| Item provided for review by: | Flashlightgo.com |
| All my Vastlite 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 I like
- Low cost
- Simple user interface
- Built quality reminiscent of Nitecore EX11 (and the whole series, not sure which one exactly)
- Uses standard (included!) 16340 cell
What I don’t like
- Very cool white
- Strobes – I’d just leave them off this light. I’d much rather have another mode that’s lower than 45 lumens.
- 45-lumen low
Notes
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