Nitecore NM01 Flashlight Review

The Nitecore NM01 flashlight is a low-cost entry-level flashlight with a built-in 18650 and has onboard charging. Read on!

Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Nitecore NM01 Flashlight product page.

Versions

There’s only one version of the NM01.

Price

The price of the NM01 at NitecoreStore is $39.95.

Short Review

I have a feeling flashlight enthusiasts will dump all over this light but for someone who’s just getting into lights or wants to not have to mess with any chargers or accessories, this is a very good low-cost option. It meets or exceeds output/throw specs, too.

Long Review

The Big Table

Nitecore NM01
Emitter:	Cree XP-L HD (V6)
Price in USD at publication time:	$39.95 at NitecoreStore.com
Cell:	Internal
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Presumed
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (A):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?	Low and Medium while connected
Claimed Lumens (lm)	1000
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	983 (98.3% of claim)^
Claimed Throw (m)	178
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	409lux @ 5.346m = 11689cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	216.2 (121.5% of claim)^
All my Nitecore 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

Nitecore NM01 Flashlight (with internal cell)
Nylon pouch
Pocket clip
Lanyard
Charge cable (USB to micro-USB)
Manual and paperwork

Package and Manual

Boxed Nitecore ultra compact flashlight on a wooden surface. The packaging highlights 1000 lumens, CREE XP-L HD V6 LED, USB rechargeable, a micro-USB charging port, and a built-in 2,600mAh Li-ion battery.

A black and yellow product box displays specifications: max output 1000 lumens, max distance 178 meters, max intensity 8000cd, impact resistance 1 meter, and waterproof to 2 meters. The background is weathered wood.

The back of a Nitecore product box showing features and specifications, including max output of 1,000 lumens, rechargeable Li-ion battery, runtime, and company information. Box background is yellow and black, set on a wooden surface.

Typical Nitecore package. And whether I mention it in every review or not, I think just about every Nitecore item is serialized, as shown below.

Here’s the English part of the manual.

Build Quality and Disassembly

A compact black flashlight with a textured grip stands upright on a wooden surface. The background is blurred and the word ZEROAIR.ORG appears vertically on the left side.

A small black flashlight stands upright on a wooden surface. The body has a textured grip, certification markings, and a symbol warning “hot” near the lens. The background is out of focus.

A black, compact, cylindrical flashlight stands upright on a light wooden surface, with textured grip sections and a flat top. The background is blurred, and the word ZEROAIR.ORG is faintly visible along the left side.

Here’s the most brief Build/Disassembly section ever. The light is built well. It’s not intended to be taken apart, nor could I get it taken apart. I’m going to try to motivate it some more later, but I do not expect to break it free.

Size and Comps

Officially:
Length 118.6mm
Head Size 24mm
Weight 99g

A black Nitecore NM01 flashlight is placed horizontally on top of a two-dollar bill, which is laying on a weathered wooden surface.

A black flashlight is placed next to a U.S. two dollar bill on a weathered wooden surface, showing their relative sizes.

A black bottle cap with an open symbol is in focus, positioned above a blurred two-dollar bill on a wooden surface.

It’s not the smallest 18650 light, but then…. technically it’s not even claiming to be an 18650 light. Since we all know that’s what’s in there, let’s call it what it almost is.

A persons hand holding a black Nitecore NM01 flashlight against a blurred green background.

A hand holding a black flashlight outdoors with a grassy background, viewed from above. The flashlight is gripped firmly and text is visible on its side.

A person holding a black flashlight in their right hand against a blurred green background. The flashlight is compact and features some visible text on its side.

It’s nearly spot-on size of the Convoy S2+. But don’t forget that it adds at least one feature, which is onboard charging. So some of that length is warranted.

Retention and Carry

A black flashlight in a black nylon holster is positioned vertically on a weathered wooden surface. The holster is partially open, showing the flashlights head and pocket clip on the left side.

A black flashlight inside a textured black nylon holster with a hook-and-loop flap, placed on a weathered wooden surface. The text ZEROAIR.ORG is faintly visible along the left side of the image.

Included is this nylon pouch, in which the NM01 will fit bezel up or down. Without the clip the light goes in very easily.

A close-up of the top section of a black, textured flashlight, showing a flat, notched metal bezel against a blurred neutral background. The word ZEROAIR.ORG is faintly visible on the left side.

A close-up of a compact, black, cylindrical flashlight standing upright on a light surface with a blurred background. The side of the flashlight features textured grip sections. The word ZEROAIR.ORG is faintly visible on the left.

There’s also a lanyard, which generally will attach to the tailcap, but could also attach to the pocket clip if you really desired.

A black, compact flashlight with a textured grip, metal pocket clip, and visible regulatory markings stands upright on a wooden surface.

A small, black, cylindrical flashlight with a textured grip and pocket clip stands upright on a wooden surface. The background is out of focus. The text ZEROAIR.ORG is faintly visible along the left side.

The pocket clip is a friction fit clip, which attaches only on the tail end of the light, for bezel down carry.

Power and Runtime

The power for the NM01 is an internal (aka built-in) cell. While the product literature doesn’t state it (at least as far as command+f tells me), this is an 18650 light. That 18650 is not replaceable, at least without breaking the light apart in a more-than-just-unscrewing-it way. I expect it’s thread-locked, but I didn’t break the threads to find out.

The light also isn’t driven all that hard. Max output isn’t even called Turbo. There are just three outputs in fact; High, Medium, and Low. High is claimed at 1000 lumens, and by my amateur measure, it hits that.

Here’s a runtime on High.

Here’s a runtime on Medium.

The light eventually shuts off after stepping down fairly dramatically. By all means this should be LVP but since I can’t test that or test the cell voltage after a run, I can’t [shouldn’t] say.

Charging

Since the cell is built-in, of course there’s onboard charging. Charging happens over USB, and Nitecore includes a USB to micro-USB cable for the purpose.

The charge port cover is adequate, but not the best ever. It does seat onto the port in an interesting way, though.

Just like the output, the charge current is fairly conservative. Here’s a graph:

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens
High	1000	1h45	983
Medium	200	6h15	231
Low	5	245h	7

Unfortunately current per mode isn’t something I can test, since I can’t get the light apart.

Pulse Width Modulation

No PWM at all. Yay!

Oscilloscope screen showing a mostly flat yellow signal line near zero, grid background, with Running and Waiting indicators at the top. Settings at the bottom include 1V, DC, 0.2ms, AUTO, Int, and -0.04V.

An oscilloscope display shows a flat, horizontal yellow line near the center of the screen, indicating no significant signal variation. The time base is set to 0.2 ms per division and the voltage is set to 1V per division.

An oscilloscope screen displays a mostly flat yellow waveform near the center. The settings below show 2V per division, DC coupling, a 0.2ms timebase, AUTO mode, and an input voltage of -0.08V.

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

There’s a single switch on the NM01. It’s a tail e-switch, but has a nice large metal button cover.

The switch itself isn’t an indicating switch, but there’s an indicator right beside it.

Here’s a user interface table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Hold	Low
On	Click	Mode advance (LMH)
On	Hold	Off
Off	Click	Battery Indicator^

^ Power indicator works as follows:
Three flashes: power >50%
Two flashes: power <50%
One flash: power <10%

There is apparently no lockout. There really should be a lockout. Also there are no strobes. No strobes is just fine with me.

LED and Beam

The emitter here is a Cree XP-L HD. The reflector is smooth. This makes a beam with a mostly hot-spot profile, but a bit of spill.

The bezel has some reliefs so that light spills when headstanding.

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.

A mostly black image with a faint, small circular glow in the center. Along the left side, the text ZEROAIR.ORG is vertically visible.

A bright white circular light is centered against a dark background, creating a glowing halo effect. The text ZEROAIR.ORG appears vertically along the left side.

A bright white circular light with a soft blue halo radiating outward on a dark background. The text ZEROAIR.ORG appears vertically along the left side of the image.

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

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

Conclusion

What I like

Complete package with fairly low cost
Meets specifications
Very simple UI
On-board charging works adequately
Metal switch cover, and also a very solid switch in general
No Strobes

What I don’t like

Cell is built-in and there’s no possibility to change it
No lockout, and no way to lockout.

Notes

This light was provided by Nitecore 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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