Niwalker N50S Long Range Flashlight Review

The 18350-cell Niwalker N50S long range flashlight features a Luminus SFT-40 emitter for fantastic throw and has an extension for 18650. Read on!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a tracking link to the Niwalker N50S long range flashlight product page at flashlightgo.com.

Versions

Green and blue bodies are available, and you can opt to get it with or without 18650 cells, too.

Price

The base price is $44.99. Each 18650 adds $5 to the price. Buy your Niwalker N50S long range flashlight at flashlightgo.com!

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What’s Included

• Niwalker N50S long range flashlight
• Extension tube for 18650
• 18350 cell
• 18650 cell (optional)
• Charging cable
• Lanyard
• Spare o-ring
• Manual

Package and Manual

Build Quality and Disassembly

The 18350 version of the Niwalker N50S long range flashlight has a nice build quality. I don’t love the design, but more on that later.

The head has some very deep cooling fins, which have an unanodized finish. That’s a neat contrast!

Here’s the design part that I don’t love. It’s the tailcap – it fits around the cell. I understand why (because of the extension you’ll see below), but I don’t love this because I tend to get the lube that’s all over the threads all over my fingers.

The positive contact is just a button.

The 18650 body is just an extension piece that is installed in the tailcap area. I like extensions that work this way.

Unfortunately, the extension (and possibly the tailcap) has a different shade of blue anodizing. This happens! Anodizing is hard, and this isn’t super noticeable. But noteworthy!

The extension screws into the body just like the tailcap screws into the body when using a single 18350.

That ring area is actually a fidget! It rotates under twist, but does not spin freely.

Size and Comps

18350: 99mm x 38mm x 28.5mm and 128g
18650: 132mm x 38mm x 28.5mm and 180g

Here’s the light in hand:

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. This is a brass version, which is a good bit heavier than aluminum, but has the same dimensions: 24mm in diameter by 117.5mm in length.

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 Niwalker N50S long range flashlight includes a lanyard that attaches through a loop in the tailcap.

The tailcap also has a magnet, which is suitable for holding the 18350 version but not for holding the 18650 setup.

Power and Runtime

The Niwalker N50S long range flashlight runs on and includes one 18350 cell.

With the included extension, it can also run a single 18650 cell (optional). It should not be used with two 18350 cells!

Below are a number of runtime tests with both cell setups. Performance is good, but doesn’t meet the 1750 lumen claim. The stepdown on Turbo isn’t too quick, but fairly aggressive when it does start.

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 Niwalker N50S long range flashlight charges via a USB-C port in the head.

A USB-A to USB-C cable is included for charging.

I could not get C to C charging to work. I am not sure if it was an electronic problem or a cable problem, but I will say that the charging port in the light is unusually deep. You’ll probably need to specifically use the included cable, as the C plug is a bit more exposed on this cable.

Charging both size cells happens at around 1A from the source and takes around two hours for a 18350 and 4 hours for a 18650. This isn’t super fast, but should be good for the cells.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	1800 (18650) 1750 (18350)	65m (18650) 2h30m (18350)	1183 (0s) 1083 (30s)	4.19
High	700	70m (18650) 2h35m (18350)	489 (0s) 477 (30s)	1.20
Mid1	450	2h (18650) 4h50m (18350)	304	0.68
Mid2	175	5h50m (18650) 8h20m (18350)	135	166mA
Low	65	15h (18650) 35h (18350)	60	82.3mA
Moonlight	10	40h (18650) 100h (18350)	11.7	45mA

Pulse Width Modulation

Each of the modes uses 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 Niwalker N50S long range flashlight has a single e-switch to control all modes.

There’s an indicator function in the center of the switch, too. The switch is very pleasant!

Here’s a user interface table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	On (Memory)
Off	Hold	Moonlight
On (except Turbo)	Click	Off
Any	Double Click	Turbo
Turbo	Click	Previous state
On (except Turbo)	Hold	Mode advance (excluding turbo and moonlight)
Any	Click 3x	Strobe
Strobe	Click	Previous state The manual has this wrong. It says one click to off. True only if you accessed Strobe from off.
Off	Click 4x	Access Battery Power Monitor. Main emitter blinks out voltage.
Battery power monitor	Click	Turn off battery power monitor.
Off	Click 5x	Lockout (blinks 3x to indicate lockout)
Lockout	Click 5x	Unlock (blinks 3x to indicate unlock)

LED and Beam

The Niwalker N50S long range flashlight uses a Luminus SFT40 emitter. I don’t think Niwalker makes any CCT claim, but it’s definitely cool white. There’s a very deep, smooth reflector to complement the throw.

The bezel offers three ball bearings as glass breakers.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

The Luminus emitter used in the Niwalker N50S long range flashlight is very cool white (over 7000K CCT) and low CRI.

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 Niwalker N50S long range flashlight is a low-cost, multi-cell “long range” (throwy) flashlight with a reasonable user interface. I appreciate that it can use (and includes or has available) both 18350 and 18650. The spinner ring is neat, but something I absolutely do not look for on a flashlight. The throw is impressive, and probably a good enough reason alone to consider buying the Niwalker N50S long range flashlight!

The Big Table

Niwalker N50S long range flashlight
Emitter:	Luminus SFT40
Price in USD at publication time:	$44.99
Cell:	1×18650 or 18350
Runtime Graphs
LVP?
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	USB-C
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	unsure
Claimed Lumens (lm)	1800
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1083 (60.2% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	129.7
Claimed Throw (m)	965
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	3690lux @ 6.169m = 140429cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	749.5 (77.7% of claim)^
Claimed CCT	–
Measured CCT Range (K)	7200-7700 Kelvin
Item provided for review by:	flashlightgo.com
All my Niwalker 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
• Great throw
• Can use 18650 or 18350 cells
• Familiar user interface

What I don’t like

• Mismatched anodizing
• PWM
• Turbo goes through previous mode before off (usually)

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Notes

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