Contents
- Pricing & Availability
- What comes in the box?
- Design & Construction
- Size & Measurements
- User Interface
- Emitter & Beam
- Mode Chart
- Runtime
- Driver & Regulation
- Switches
- Carry & Ergonomics
- Batteries & Charging
- Competition
- Conclusion
Pricing & Availability
Acebeam gave me a discount on this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the official product page and the Amazon page where you can see current pricing. At the time of writing, it’s $400.
What comes in the box?
The box is a masterpiece. It feels like unboxing a set of high end headphones or a computer. There’s a magnetic closure that unfolds from the right side. The light sits nestled inside a foam cutout topped with velvet. All the accessories are in a little cardboard box to the side. The following items are included in the box:
- The light itself
- Rubber bezel guard (installed on the light)
- 60W USB-C PD power brick (or 100W if you so choose)
- Beefy USB-C cable
- Replacement fan, o-rings, and hardware
- User manual & other paperwork
Design & Construction
The design is great. It’s reminiscent of a “soda can” light but with a larger, flared head and a very nice handle. There are lots of cooling fins cut into the head, plus some open holes to let air in/out for the active cooling fan. It’s a cool looking light.
Build quality is absolutely top notch, as I expect from Acebeam. They make some of the best, if not the best build flashlights in the world. X75 feels sturdy and dense with no sharp edges and expertly-applied anodizing. The threads are very smooth and well greased.
More on that colling fan… It’s attached to the handle and sits inside the head, blowing air across an exposed copper heatsink. This looks like the most effective active cooling solution I’ve ever seen on a flashlight. It’s much better than the typical “slap a cooling fan on the handle” solution we’ve seen before in lights like Acebeam X70. This is highly innovative and an awesome feature. If you’re concerned about the fan wearing out, Acebeam includes a replacement in the box! The light is still IPX8 water resistant despite this cooling setup!
Size & Measurements
Wurkkos TS10 | Wildtrail WT90 | Acebeam X75 | BLF LT1 | Emisar D4V2
| Measurement | Measured (mm) |
|---|---|
| Bezel Diameter | 91.9 |
| Length (without bezel cover) | 201 |
| Maximum Height (including handle) | ~125 |
| Large Switch Diameter | 10.8 |
| Small Switch Diameter | 9.1 |
| Large Switch Proudness | 1.0 |
| Small Switch Proudness | 1.8 |
| Body Tube Diameter (maximum) | 60.0 |
| Body Tube Diameter (mode) | 57.0 |
| Body Tube Length | 96.8 |
| Tailcap Diameter | 60.1 |
| Tailcap Length | 17.0 |
Weight without bezel cover: 1249g
User Interface
The actions are # of presses followed by a hold (H) or a release (C). So, “1C” is one click and release. “2H” is two clicks but you hold down the last one.
| State | Switch | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Off | Small | 1C | On (mode memory) |
| Off | Small | 1H | “Ultra-Low” (not memorized) |
| Any (except Turbo) | Small | 2C | Turbo (not memorized) |
| Any | Small | 3C | Strobe |
| Turbo | Small | 2C | Return to memorized mode |
| On | Large | 1H | Momentary Turbo |
| On | Small | 1C | Off |
| On | Small | 1H | Cycle Mode (Low-Med1-Med2-High, memorized) |
| Off (with fan on) | Large | 1C | Fan Off |
| Off | Large | 1H (3 sec.) | Toggle “windy mode” on/off |
| Off | Large | 10C | Toggle between “Eco” and “Power” modes |
Overall this is a great UI. There are just a couple of things I’d change.
Eliminate the “Eco” mode group. All it does is lower sustained output to decrease heat and increase runtime. I can do that just by switching to a lower mode. Having a separate mode group adds unnecessary complexity.
Memorize the lowest mode. When on “Ultra-Low” mode, if you use the momentary turbo feature and then release, the light will not return to “Ultra-Low” mode, it will go to low mode instead. When momentary turbo is used and released, the light should always return to the previously used mode. This is particularly annoying because I find myself using the 600-lumen “Ultra-Low” mode very frequently.
Make the lowest mode dimmer. I’ll go into more details in the mode chart section, but the lowest mode is not low enough.
Emitter & Beam
X75 includes twelve Cree XHP70 LED’s. My sample has the XHP70.2 6500K variety, but they’re also available in XHP70.2 5000K (less lumens, nicer color) and XHP70.3-HI 6500K (less lumens, better throw) versions. These emitters have some tint-shift, but who cares when they’re pumping out over 60,000 lumens! There are some flower petals at the very edges of the spill but they aren’t noticeable unless you’re looking for them.
The hotspot and spill are fairly wide and jaw-droppingly bright. It’s even more impressive because of how small it is. Below I compare it with an Acebeam X70 which offers similar brightness but is significantly larger and less wieldy.
In the beamshots above, the trees where I’m aiming the hotspot are 175M away. In the beamshots below, the park bench where I’m aiming the hotspot is 42M away.
Mode Chart
Disclaimer: All of my measurements are taken at peak brightness for that mode. Some are at turn-on, some are at 10-20 seconds, whichever is brighter. Lumen measurements were taken on a Texas Ace 3.5″ Lumen Tube. A candela measurement was taken at 10 meters with an Opple Light Master III on the highest brightness, and other candela figures were calculated relative to that. CRI, CCT, & DUV data was taken for each mode from a few feet away at the center of the hotspot with the Opple Light Master and Waveform DUV Calculator. Runtime tests were performed with the Ceilingbounce app on my smartphone. All of these tests were performed with a fully charged battery unless otherwise specified. I cannot measure moonlight directly, so moonlight readings are calculated based on the brightness relative to the next-lowest mode. None of this is professional equipment, so take all of these measurements with a grain of salt.
Above are the official specs, followed by my own measurements below.
| Level | Lumens | Candela | Throw (Meters) | CRI (Ra) | Color Temp. (K) | DUV (Tint) |
| Turbo | 62000 | 187000 | 865 | 68 | 5750 | too bright to measure |
| High | 16400 | 49465 | 445 | 68 | 5750 | 0.0043 |
| Medium-High | 7870 | 23737 | 308 | 68 | 5690 | 0.0051 |
| Medium-Low | 3650 | 11009 | 210 | 68 | 5650 | 0.0058 |
| Low | 1490 | 4494 | 134 | 68 | 5580 | 0.0063 |
| Moonlight | 590 | 1780 | 84 | 68 | 5590 | 0.0064 |
Mode Spacing: is poor. There are no weirdly small or large jumps between the modes, but “ultra-low” is six hundred lumens. That is not low, and certainly not ultra low. A sub-lumen moonlight mode may not be necessary on a light this large, but I would have appreciated a 100 lumen (or less) mode. “Ultra-Low” was jarringly bright for some situations.
“80,000 lumens” is what Acebeam advertises for this configuration. I only measured 62,000 lumens, but remember that I am not using professional grade equipment. My lumen tube was built & calibrated by a BLF user in his garage, not by a professional lighting company, and it cost less than half of what this flashlight costs. Take my measurements with a grain of salt. It’s also worth noting that there is very little difference visually between 80,000 and 62,000 lumens. It “not meeting specifications” should not deter you from buying this light. It’s still breathtakingly bright.
Runtime
Notes: All testing was done in “power” mode with the fan enabled (“windy mode”). The “Turbo Cooled” runtime was with a desk fan also blowing directly on the light to simulate being outside in the wind.
Performance: is excellent. Turbo lasts for nearly a minute before a significant, timed stepdown begins. That’s extremely impressive considering how (relatively) small this light is and how many lumens it’s pushing out. Then it drops to about 7500 lumens until the 5 minute mark, where active thermal regulation kicks in and it will adjust up or down according to the temperature.
Thermal regulation: is present, but it only kicks in after about 5 minutes. Acebeam advertises a thermal ceiling of 75C in “power mode”, which is very hot but will provide great sustained output. Switching to “eco mode” will lower the thermal ceiling to 65C. Ambient temperature and airflow will affect sustained output significantly, so if you want the best performance, use the light in a cool environment with lots of airflow.
LVP: sort of works sometimes. When the battery voltage gets too low, the head will shut off the main emitters. However, there is some parasitic drain from inside the battery pack that can cause problems. More on that in the driver section below.
“20,000 lumens for 30 minutes” is what Acebeam advertises for this light. That’s not what I observed, but remember I’m using amateur equipment and I do my testing in a closet with minimal airflow (unless otherwise specified) to keep things consistent between tests. In a cold, windy environment X75 might sustain 20,000 lumens for almost half an hour.
Driver & Regulation
X75 uses a very high current boost driver. Unfortunately it’s inaccessible to the user because acebeam filled the driver screws with epoxy and covered the driver with an aluminum plate.
Turbo is not particularly well regulated, but I would expect it to be when it’s pushing over 60,000 lumens from four 21700 cells. All the other modes are nicely regulated until the battery gets very low. I’ve heard rumors of an 8×21700 tube for this light coming in the future and I would expect better regulation from that since the load is spread across more cells.
Note: All regulation measurements are taken at or near turn-on so they do not reflect any thermal or low voltage stepdowns that may occur. A value of 0 indicates low voltage shutoff immediately upon activation.
PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes or camera, nor audible to my ears.
Parasitic Drain: is a bit of an issue on my sample. The head draws 200 microamps when off, which will take over two years to drain the battery, and can be eliminated by loosening the head, so it’s not an issue at all. What is an issue is parasitic drain within the battery pack. I tested the pack when it was empty (an hour after the light shut itself off during a runtime test) and it dropped from 11.42V to 11.22V over the course of 8 hours while sitting disconnected from the head. That means that if you don’t recharge your light soon after it shuts off, it could start to over-discharge the cells after just a few days.
I contacted Acebeam and they assured me that the battery pack does have low voltage protection and offered to repair it, so I suspect my sample just has a bug. I had my friend Cheule from Cheule’s Flashlight Reviews on YouTube do a similar test to his X75 and his did not seem to have this problem. Just to be safe, I recommend charging this light soon after draining it, and storing it fully charged. If your battery pack gets over-discharged and becomes damaged, they’re very expensive to replace.
Switches
The switch setup is one of my favorite features of X75. There are two switches: a small main switch and a larger auxiliary switch. There’s also a lockout toggle which physically prevents the switches from moving. All of this lives on the handle, right where your thumb naturally rests. This switch placement is perfect.
The small switch does all the normal stuff: on, off, and mode changes. The large switch is used to switch between “power” and “eco” modes (which you’ll never do), switch between “windy” and “non-windy” modes (which you’ll never do), and momentary turbo (which you’ll use all the time).
The switches are metal and feel high quality, but they’re very mushy when pressed. There’s no audible or tactile click, which is a shame.
Carry & Ergonomics
X75 feels great in-hand. The handle is a nice size, the grooves line up perfectly with my fingers, and it balances nicely. The switches are right where my thumb naturally lands. This is the best handle design I’ve ever used on a flashlight and it makes X75 very comfortable to carry and use. It’s lighter weight than most other lights with handles, so that helps too. One minor downside I’ve noticed is that there’s no good way to control the light in a reverse grip because the buttons are all on the handle.
No carry methods are included with X75, which makes sense because it’s too large to fit in a pocket or on a belt. There’s just a wrist lanyard to keep it from accidentally being dropped while in use. There’s also a rubber bezel cover which protects the bezel from scratches and protects you from the hot bezel. I prefer not to use it, but if you do use it, it turns blue when the bezel gets hot enough.
Tailstanding works great and is very stable. There is also a standard tripod mount directly opposite the handle.
Batteries & Charging
X75 uses a proprietary battery pack with four built in 21700 cells and a full-featured USB-C port. It may not be impossible to replace the individual cells but Acebeam makes it extremely difficult by filling the screw heads in with epoxy. You are not meant to get inside this battery pack. Replacement packs are expensive, so this proprietary battery is a significant downside to this light. With that said, it does lower resistance for increased performance and it enables some awesome charging features.
Those features come via the USB-C port on the side of the pack which is rated for one hundred watt PD charging! A 60W charger is included by default which will charge the light in about an hour and a half. You can upgrade to a 100W if you so choose. That’s much faster and more convenient than any charging solution I’ve seen in battery packs with removable cells. It also works as a high output powerbank that can charge anything from your headphones to your laptop.
Competition
Here are some lights in the same class and how they compare.
Acebeam X50: smaller, lighter, not as bright, no active cooling, but priced almost as high as X75. I recommend X75 instead.
Imalent MS12 Mini: smaller, lighter, same number of emitters, rose active cooling, similarly priced to X75, worse build quality and an all-but-proprietary charging solution. I recommend X75 instead.
Imalent MS18: a little brighter, much larger, much heavier, and more expensive than X75, holds the crown of “brightest flashlight in the world”. I would much rather have an X75 because it’s smaller, lighter, cheaper, almost as bright, and has a much better charging solution.
This section is not comprehensive. If I didn’t include a particular light here, it doesn’t mean it’s bad or doesn’t deserve to be here. I simply cannot list every possible competitor.
Conclusion
X75 is the best large flooder available right now. The proprietary battery pack is unfortunate, but it comes with the territory. X75 outperforms all the other lights in its size and price range, while being smaller and less expensive than other lights in its performance range. The handle is absolutely excellent and makes it a pleasure to carry around and use. As of now, it’s the best of the best and I highly recommend it.
Thanks to Acebeam for giving me a discount on this monster in exchange for a review!
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