That was a pleasure to watch. I really like your way of showing small details, textures, engineering tricks used by manufacturers and explaining all this.
I have a TM26 and unfortunately the charge port no longer works and nether does the two stage switch. I now have to unscrew the battery pack to be able to turn it off. Such a shame because it's a great light and I miss using it. I also have a Fenix RC40 an Imalent R60C and an Imalent MS18 so I'm really having some fun. Absolutely love your review style. I think I've now found my favourite flash light channel. Keep up your great work 👏 👍
Man gotta shout out to the awesome hat! Is that an Akubra ‘The Croc?’ It’s brilliant watching a review of an awesome light as seen in so many movies, with the addition of such cool hats! Love it.
One thing I enjoy the TM2X line is how futuristic but austere it looks, despite being pretty old. Which obviously is why it was picked to be a prop in so much of the sci-fi part of Hollywood. On that front I like it almost as much as I like the "Gatling chaingun" Fenix TK45. Now, you know what I'd LOVE to see in this line? A TM28-46 conversion to a single cell 46800/46950 cell. With current technology, one battery is enough to fuel all those lumens pretty sustainably, a set of SBT90.2s or XHP50.3s would pick up any slack, and the one single cell would make the Tiny Monster a far, _far_ easier deal to recharge and maintain.
Something that’s good about multiple batteries in series is that at high output, during battery sag, the voltage of the batteries will still be higher than the forward voltage of the emitters. Sometimes with a single cell, under high drain the battery will sag and create step down. The batteries you listed are massive though, and they may not sag nearly at all. So there’s that.
That’s interesting, I still have a TM26 I bought 11 years ago and have also taken notice when it appeared in movies. Its definitely a unique design and stands out. Mine is an early iteration that had XM-L U2 emitters making 3,500 lumens but pushing only 43k candela. Nowhere near the throw of later models but it was state of the art and a ton of light in 2013. It was also before flashlights included batteries with your purchase and sketchy 18650 cells were rampant
@@cheule I like mine so much, I had @skylumen569 build some new custom cells to keep it going. Why is it you think we don't see new models with the isolated multi-emitters?
Nitecore was really onto something with those funky chonky designs. TM39 is a similar kind of beast, in that it just holds turbo until the temperature hits 50C. That can easily take over six minutes. Indoors. I've never tested it outdoors in cool air, but I can only imagine it could potentially hold turbo until the battery runs out in cold enough weather. It's also nice how you know exactly when the stepdown will happen, just by keeping an eye on the temperature reading in the LED display. I wonder if the TM28 has a similar kind of temp based turbo stepdown?
What do you think they do with this kind of props after finishing a movie? Could the same flashlight appear on different movies since those are all Hollywood movies?
I appreciate things for their aestetics and design is a big reason of why i buy the things that i buy so i appreciate a video like this... Dont think i could buy one of these in 2024 personally, its not like with cameras or something where they dont age much, this does feel quite outdated in terms of performance but its nice to see you enjoy these for their design and sentimental value rather than just the specs.
BTW if no-one has already mentioned it, great idea with the drone down the street at the Palm trees. One other thing I was curious about and that is optics. With flashlights the colour temp etc seems to largely be dependant on the emitter but with binoculars for example, it is very much dependant on the optic coatings and glass quality. So do flashlight makers not really do much with that tech apart from basic antireflective glass? As you say you like light and I have found myself addicted somewhat to sport optics and have a couple of small but expensive Leica and Zeiss binoculars though basic Chinese stuff is very good nowadays but you are talking several thousands of dollars for the top western models. I guess in the flashlight world there isn't really any demand for specific colour rendering optics except maybe for customs?
Multi coated lens optics are designed to reduce reflections and raise light pass through. An uncoated glass element might have as much as 4% light loss per side, so up to 8% for a single lens. Coatings can reduce that well below 1% with the best multi coatings reducing it to 0.1% per side. So very well multicoated glass might have up to 99.99% transmission rates.
Those drone shots were next level in flashlight review video production 👏. I started my collection of lights with the TM26 as my first, and I’m in too deep now 😅
I would have bought the TM28 since I bought the TM15 and TM26 when they came out but the TM28 LED's display for the lumens stopped working and I gave Nitecore another chance when I bought the TM03 a few years later but the first one I bought took a dump 2 weeks later in that it has only 2 modes - low and medium. However, I do like Nitecore and bought two more TM03's - the one with the tint and the one with CRI and they are excellent and the TM15 and TM26 still do work BUT because of the problems I've had I am a bit cautious of their products. I have six other nitecore flashlights and love them. Great video BTW!
@@cheule with the TM26 I didn't contact their customer service and the LED lumens worked fine until a couple of years ago so I've had it many years what you did tell me to do a couple of things and that didn't work. I think I had been told to order a new part or something but since the flashlight works I'm OK with it. The TM 03 customer Service wasn't helpful So I gave up. They just kept repeating that I could be on the wrong mode. Overall, I've never had any problems so I haven't had to deal with customer service but it's still in the back of my mind and they are a top quality company so definitely not bashing them but it's something I also can't forget. I'm totally satisfied with everything else I bought from them though?
Hey Cheul's Nice video Thanks, I have the Nitecore TM26GT Cree XP L HI V3 3500Lm that i bought way back from here in Australia for $500.00 Yeah crazy right! Looks exactly the same as yours & sits in my Flashlight collection of 300 plus other flashlights, my family think im crazy having so many torches in my collection. Brett from Australia.
Oh, I get it brother! I had about 400 at one point. But then I started selling a lot of them to fun the Hankos (did you see that video?). Now I. Probably down to 80 or so. I really should count again.
The cost is definitely justified. These Chinese multi hundred dollar lights far surpass anything you could buy at a retail store. It's unfortunate that American/first world country brands heavily sandbag on the technology that's given to consumers in order to keep costs down and to create planned obsolescence.
@@JaayyMan How so? I understand that every tool has it's use, but in what scenario for this cost does it justify this cost? Flashlights provide light, obviously. In what instance do you see yourself needing this much light this often?
@@JaayyMan They sandbag because they don't produce ANYTHING and want to live off of services and the research results of foreigners. These brands have forgotten how to hammer a nail into a bar of soap, they're decades away from being any competition.
I have a mad seagull feeding obsessive neighbour. Whole loaves multiple times daily. How's that for true nerdism! Total horrible whacko and she films me and calls the Police (and they are whack jobs too for even entertaining her) if I try and test even a small flashlight in my own garden. Oh and my latest flashlight order is a messed up delivery that I'm trying to track down. FedEx driver couldn't be bothered to deliver so phoned and told me it was lost but FedEx keep just scanning it every day in the depot and never deliver and AliExpress are totally useless. So you are living in flashlight heaven while I languish here in flashlight hell but in a way your nerd vids rescue me a little though our experiences seem to be such a contrast. I obviously did something extremely terrible in a previous life and must now constantly pay for it in this life. Keep on living your best life. I'm currently watching Gladiator so don't think I will spot any flashlights but they do a good fireball catapult with a decent throw and high CRI.
That’s rough, seagulls are flying rats. I didn’t used to think that when I was younger, I thought seagulls were majestic sea birds… then I spent time on boats, and started diving. That’s when I realized how horrible seagulls are. They’ll steal a sandwich out of your hands while pooping on you.
@@cheule The thing is I am miles away from the coast. This woman is like a mad cat lady only with Seagulls but it must be the same illness & because I complained to the environment agency she has now accused me of harassment 3 times but now she feeds these about 50 to 100 large gulls across the road at the local Church and it's getting crapped all over. The Church people are bound to find out what she's up to, so I am waiting to see what happens but as long as they are away from crapping 365 over my house then I'm not that bothered. People are crazy. The law and environment agency are beyond rubbish. Their mantra is feeding birds is not illegal so they actually support and encourage antisocial behaviour while all of their neighbours have complained about it. I like nature and am a part Birdwatcher but I like them to be in their natural habitat and not fed junk but they are very smart birds that pair for life. She basically is running a Seagull reserve in a residential area and none of the "authorities" will do anything about it, probably because they don't have to live beside it.
What do you think they do with this kind of props after finishing a movie? Could the same flashlight appear on different movies since those are all Hollywood movies?
The term prop is short for “property” because it’s the property of the studio in many cases. Some times they go back to the property house (Warner Bros. does this) and, yes, it could be used in another movie. It one of the reasons the light sabers look different between different installments. Because the ones used on set were not kept by Lucas. If you want a fascinating read, check this out. wannawanga.com/lightsaber-guidebook/
That was a pleasure to watch. I really like your way of showing small details, textures, engineering tricks used by manufacturers and explaining all this.
Thanks for your encouraging comment!
To sustain at 80% for 5 minutes is impressive! I have a LOT of lights and none will pull that kind of duty cycle. WOW!
You get it! You must be a true enthusiast to understand.
Love the backstory 🎉
I have a TM26 and unfortunately the charge port no longer works and nether does the two stage switch. I now have to unscrew the battery pack to be able to turn it off. Such a shame because it's a great light and I miss using it. I also have a Fenix RC40 an Imalent R60C and an Imalent MS18 so I'm really having some fun.
Absolutely love your review style. I think I've now found my favourite flash light channel. Keep up your great work 👏 👍
Thanks for the praise, it really keeps me making videos.
@@TimeIsMoney2034 Send it in for repair, they have a warranty
We're all nerds here! :D
Nice work man, keep it up!
Thanks for your encouragement!
Cool shots with the drone!!!!
my nitecore TM28 is still my favorite out of my collection of over 60 . it put out a shitload of light and has a long range!
You can never go wrong with a Cheule's video anyone you pick is just so well planned out and production as a whole is just so pleasing to watch.
Man gotta shout out to the awesome hat! Is that an Akubra ‘The Croc?’ It’s brilliant watching a review of an awesome light as seen in so many movies, with the addition of such cool hats! Love it.
A while back, I asked my parents for a fenix tk45. Then my dad paused Prometheus, to point out that same light. Still have it, now with 519a lol
I see some of the features from my EC25 Cobra in this light. Nitecore is the brand that got me into flashlights back in 2008/9.
damn bro your production is a lot better now
Thanks for noticing!
One thing I enjoy the TM2X line is how futuristic but austere it looks, despite being pretty old. Which obviously is why it was picked to be a prop in so much of the sci-fi part of Hollywood. On that front I like it almost as much as I like the "Gatling chaingun" Fenix TK45.
Now, you know what I'd LOVE to see in this line? A TM28-46 conversion to a single cell 46800/46950 cell. With current technology, one battery is enough to fuel all those lumens pretty sustainably, a set of SBT90.2s or XHP50.3s would pick up any slack, and the one single cell would make the Tiny Monster a far, _far_ easier deal to recharge and maintain.
Something that’s good about multiple batteries in series is that at high output, during battery sag, the voltage of the batteries will still be higher than the forward voltage of the emitters. Sometimes with a single cell, under high drain the battery will sag and create step down.
The batteries you listed are massive though, and they may not sag nearly at all. So there’s that.
Manker MK38 is a futuristic light with 40,000 lumens. But it's 500 bucks
That’s interesting, I still have a TM26 I bought 11 years ago and have also taken notice when it appeared in movies. Its definitely a unique design and stands out. Mine is an early iteration that had XM-L U2 emitters making 3,500 lumens but pushing only 43k candela. Nowhere near the throw of later models but it was state of the art and a ton of light in 2013. It was also before flashlights included batteries with your purchase and sketchy 18650 cells were rampant
I have a Fenix TK72R with three LED emitters. I have seen it in films since 2017.
Totally! That one is very iconic as well
@@cheule I like mine so much, I had @skylumen569 build some new custom cells to keep it going. Why is it you think we don't see new models with the isolated multi-emitters?
Nitecore was really onto something with those funky chonky designs. TM39 is a similar kind of beast, in that it just holds turbo until the temperature hits 50C. That can easily take over six minutes. Indoors. I've never tested it outdoors in cool air, but I can only imagine it could potentially hold turbo until the battery runs out in cold enough weather. It's also nice how you know exactly when the stepdown will happen, just by keeping an eye on the temperature reading in the LED display. I wonder if the TM28 has a similar kind of temp based turbo stepdown?
What do you think they do with this kind of props after finishing a movie? Could the same flashlight appear on different movies since those are all Hollywood movies?
Oh definitely. It's an exceptional prop for any futuristic production.
I appreciate things for their aestetics and design is a big reason of why i buy the things that i buy so i appreciate a video like this... Dont think i could buy one of these in 2024 personally, its not like with cameras or something where they dont age much, this does feel quite outdated in terms of performance but its nice to see you enjoy these for their design and sentimental value rather than just the specs.
I’ve been thinking of swapping it to FFL505A
BTW if no-one has already mentioned it, great idea with the drone down the street at the Palm trees. One other thing I was curious about and that is optics. With flashlights the colour temp etc seems to largely be dependant on the emitter but with binoculars for example, it is very much dependant on the optic coatings and glass quality. So do flashlight makers not really do much with that tech apart from basic antireflective glass? As you say you like light and I have found myself addicted somewhat to sport optics and have a couple of small but expensive Leica and Zeiss binoculars though basic Chinese stuff is very good nowadays but you are talking several thousands of dollars for the top western models. I guess in the flashlight world there isn't really any demand for specific colour rendering optics except maybe for customs?
Multi coated lens optics are designed to reduce reflections and raise light pass through. An uncoated glass element might have as much as 4% light loss per side, so up to 8% for a single lens. Coatings can reduce that well below 1% with the best multi coatings reducing it to 0.1% per side.
So very well multicoated glass might have up to 99.99% transmission rates.
Those drone shots were next level in flashlight review video production 👏. I started my collection of lights with the TM26 as my first, and I’m in too deep now 😅
Excellent, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I would have bought the TM28 since I bought the TM15 and TM26 when they came out but the TM28 LED's display for the lumens stopped working and I gave Nitecore another chance when I bought the TM03 a few years later but the first one I bought took a dump 2 weeks later in that it has only 2 modes - low and medium. However, I do like Nitecore and bought two more TM03's - the one with the tint and the one with CRI and they are excellent and the TM15 and TM26 still do work BUT because of the problems I've had I am a bit cautious of their products. I have six other nitecore flashlights and love them.
Great video BTW!
Oh that’s a shame! And customer service was unhelpful? Sometimes you have to be tenacious.
@@cheule with the TM26 I didn't contact their customer service and the LED lumens worked fine until a couple of years ago so I've had it many years what you did tell me to do a couple of things and that didn't work. I think I had been told to order a new part or something but since the flashlight works I'm OK with it. The TM 03 customer Service wasn't helpful So I gave up. They just kept repeating that I could be on the wrong mode. Overall, I've never had any problems so I haven't had to deal with customer service but it's still in the back of my mind and they are a top quality company so definitely not bashing them but it's something I also can't forget. I'm totally satisfied with everything else I bought from them though?
I also have TM26 GT, but on xp-l hi. Mine also has a curved display. And he's my favorite. Greetings from Russia
Greetings!
In term of flashlights used in movies.
I think Maglite is also popular, very common in horror movies.
Totally agree.
Really want to know what that guy in the right of the drone shot was doing 😂, maybe he was also testing his nitecore
Honestly I didn’t even know he was there until editing!
I have a White Manker Mk38 with dual fans and handle. Looks like a Storm Trooper light.
Hey Cheul's Nice video Thanks, I have the Nitecore TM26GT Cree XP L HI V3 3500Lm that i bought way back from here in Australia for $500.00 Yeah crazy right! Looks exactly the same as yours & sits in my Flashlight collection of 300 plus other flashlights, my family think im crazy having so many torches in my collection. Brett from Australia.
Oh, I get it brother! I had about 400 at one point. But then I started selling a lot of them to fun the Hankos (did you see that video?). Now I. Probably down to 80 or so. I really should count again.
Review on nitecore concept 2.
I’ll look into it.
@@cheule much appreciate that...thanks
If you ask me the olight marauder mini blows the tiny monster out of the water in ergos and lumens.
The folks at Nitecore don't play!😮
It’s serious. I was really impressed with the turbo runtime performance.
i saw it in Prometheus
$400 for a flashlight is insane!
It's not your usual kitchen drawer or glovebox light.
The cost is definitely justified. These Chinese multi hundred dollar lights far surpass anything you could buy at a retail store.
It's unfortunate that American/first world country brands heavily sandbag on the technology that's given to consumers in order to keep costs down and to create planned obsolescence.
@@JaayyMan How so? I understand that every tool has it's use, but in what scenario for this cost does it justify this cost? Flashlights provide light, obviously. In what instance do you see yourself needing this much light this often?
@@JaayyMan They sandbag because they don't produce ANYTHING and want to live off of services and the research results of foreigners. These brands have forgotten how to hammer a nail into a bar of soap, they're decades away from being any competition.
@@BoBo-tx9spAmazon has a payment plan, I think mine is $25.00 a month for this flashlight
I have a mad seagull feeding obsessive neighbour. Whole loaves multiple times daily. How's that for true nerdism! Total horrible whacko and she films me and calls the Police (and they are whack jobs too for even entertaining her) if I try and test even a small flashlight in my own garden. Oh and my latest flashlight order is a messed up delivery that I'm trying to track down. FedEx driver couldn't be bothered to deliver so phoned and told me it was lost but FedEx keep just scanning it every day in the depot and never deliver and AliExpress are totally useless. So you are living in flashlight heaven while I languish here in flashlight hell but in a way your nerd vids rescue me a little though our experiences seem to be such a contrast. I obviously did something extremely terrible in a previous life and must now constantly pay for it in this life. Keep on living your best life. I'm currently watching Gladiator so don't think I will spot any flashlights but they do a good fireball catapult with a decent throw and high CRI.
That’s rough, seagulls are flying rats. I didn’t used to think that when I was younger, I thought seagulls were majestic sea birds… then I spent time on boats, and started diving. That’s when I realized how horrible seagulls are. They’ll steal a sandwich out of your hands while pooping on you.
@@cheule The thing is I am miles away from the coast. This woman is like a mad cat lady only with Seagulls but it must be the same illness & because I complained to the environment agency she has now accused me of harassment 3 times but now she feeds these about 50 to 100 large gulls across the road at the local Church and it's getting crapped all over. The Church people are bound to find out what she's up to, so I am waiting to see what happens but as long as they are away from crapping 365 over my house then I'm not that bothered. People are crazy. The law and environment agency are beyond rubbish. Their mantra is feeding birds is not illegal so they actually support and encourage antisocial behaviour while all of their neighbours have complained about it. I like nature and am a part Birdwatcher but I like them to be in their natural habitat and not fed junk but they are very smart birds that pair for life. She basically is running a Seagull reserve in a residential area and none of the "authorities" will do anything about it, probably because they don't have to live beside it.
What do you think they do with this kind of props after finishing a movie? Could the same flashlight appear on different movies since those are all Hollywood movies?
The term prop is short for “property” because it’s the property of the studio in many cases. Some times they go back to the property house (Warner Bros. does this) and, yes, it could be used in another movie.
It one of the reasons the light sabers look different between different installments. Because the ones used on set were not kept by Lucas. If you want a fascinating read, check this out. wannawanga.com/lightsaber-guidebook/