Contents

• Pricing & Availability
• What comes in the box?
• Design & Construction
• Size & Measurements
• User Interface
• Emitter & Beam
• Mode Chart
• Runtime
• Driver & Regulation
• Switch
• Carry & Ergonomics
• Batteries & Charging
• Competition
• Conclusion

Pricing & Availability

Acebeam sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the official product page and the Amazon page where you can see current pricing.

What comes in the box?

My sample came in a retail box inside a plain cardboard box. The retail box is simple with a vacuum-formed plastic insert to hold everything in place. The following items are included in the box:

• The light itself
• 14500 rechargeable battery (inside the light)
• USB A-to-C cable
• Wrist Lanyard
• Charging cable
• Diffusers (optional)

Design & Construction

The design is pretty nice. There are a couple of fins on the body tube near the head to help with cooling. The body tube has some milled ribbing for grip. There’s more ribbing on the tailcap, which is weird since it’s glued in place and shouldn’t ever need to be removed.

Build quality is excellent. The threads are square cut, lubricated, and smooth. They’re un-anodized though so mechanical lockout won’t work. The grey anodizing looks and feels great. There aren’t any sharp edges or machining marks anywhere.

Size & Measurements

Olight i16 | Olight Baton 3 | Acebeam Pokelit AA Grey | Emisar D2 | Lumintop FW3A

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Bezel Diameter	18.2
Maximum Head Diameter	18.2
Length	94.8
Switch Diameter	10.0
Switch Proudness	4.5
Body Tube Diameter (internal)	14.8
Body Tube Diameter (maximum)	18.2
Body Tube Diameter (mode)	17.0
Ride Height (sticking out of pocket)	14.2
Pocket Clip Space (for pants material)	2.4
Pocket Clip Space (at mouth)	3.4
Pocket Clip Width	6.6
Pocket Clip Thickness	1.0
Pocket Clip Slot Width	8.1
Tailcap Diameter	17.8
Tailcap Length	12.3
Driver Diameter	13.8
Included Battery Length	50.2
Included Battery Diameter	14.3

Weight without battery: 37g
Weight with included battery: 58g

User Interface

This user interface is simple and easy to use but I’ve got a couple of gripes.

It uses a forward clicky switch so pressing all the way will click the light on and off like you’d expect. From off, you can press it halfway for momentary activation. Repeated half-presses will cycle through the 3 modes. It has mode memory so it will come on in the last mode that was used.

What they got right:

• 3 is the right number of modes for a small light like this
• There are no blinky modes to get in the way

What they got wrong:

• Mode memory is a little clunky here. I would rather the light always start on low. Then I could use the forward clicky switch to instantly tap through to the mode I want. As it is, there’s no way to go directly to low from off, which is annoying sometimes. The copper Pokelit AA does not have mode memory and it works better.

Emitter & Beam

I don’t know exactly what LED Acebeam is using here. It’s 3V, 3535 footprint, domed, standard CRI, and cool white. A good choice for high output and efficiency. If you’d rather have high CRI and a more neutral color temperature, the other colors of Aluminum Pokelit AA come with a Nichia 219F and the copper version comes with a Nichia 519A.

The hotspot is CRISP. It’s one of the most well defined hotspots I’ve ever seen and it’s a delight. It’s wide too, so you get plenty of flood out of it. There’s also plenty of spill for peripheral illumination. This beam is fantastic for this style of light.

In the beamshots below, the basketball goal to the right of the hotspot is 39M away and the power pole in the center is 185M away.

Mode Chart

Disclaimer: All of my measurements are taken at turn-on. 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 included 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)
High	860	2600	102	65	5450	0.0108
Medium	270	816	57	64	5380	0.0116
Low	5*	15	57	63	5240	0.0148

*Moonlight: Is only partially present here. “Low” mode is very poorly regulated. It’s 5lm on a full battery, but it drops down in brightness as the battery drains and gets below 1 lumen when the battery is low. So, sometimes it qualifies as moonlight mode, sometimes it doesn’t. I would have liked to see a consistent ~1/2lm moonlight mode so this is pretty disappointing.

Mode Spacing: is poor. Medium is too close to High and too far from Low. I would have preferred Medium to be around 75 lumens.

Runtime

Performance: is pretty good. High steps down fast but that’s to be expected in such a small light. Sustained output is quite good. It just doesn’t look to be very well regulated (output droops over time), which is a shame.

Thermal regulation: there’s a stepdown from high but I am not certain if it’s time-based or temperature-based. I did not test for active thermal regulation because it wouldn’t make a huge difference on a light this small.

LVP (Low Voltage Protection): The battery has a protection circuit, but there is no protection built into the light itself. If you’re going to use aftermarket li-ion batteries, make sure they’re protected or be vigilant about checking and charging them.

Driver & Regulation

This light is using a 3V LED and is compatible with 1.2/1.5V AA batteries so it must be using a boost driver. My guess is there’s also a FET or Linear portion of the driver that’s used when you have a 14500 cell installed.

Regulation is poor. All modes are affected by battery voltage. I didn’t do specific regulation testing on Low mode, but I did find that it dropped from 5lm on a full battery to below 1 lumen on a low battery.

Note: All regulation measurements are taken at 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 nor audible to my ears, but my phone camera picked up some flickering on High and Medium modes.

Parasitic Drain: There is no parasitic drain because this light uses a mechanical switch.

Switch

The switch is a forward clicky located on the tailcap and I like it. I’m a big fan of forward clicky switches because they allow for momentary activation and allow you to cycle to the mode you want before fully clicking the light on. They pair well with a light that always starts on the lowest mode, but Acebeam has chosen to include mode memory in Pokelit AA which is a shame.

This switch is a bit unique because the sides of the boot are aluminum. That ensures a smooth switch travel that doesn’t have any side-to-side play. It makes it a little bit less tactile than purely rubber switches though.

Carry & Ergonomics

Ergonomics are good for a tiny light. It’s really small for my large hands so it’s a little awkward, but that’s just because of the size. The ribbing on the body tube actually helps a lot with a cigar grip, making that my preferred grip when using this light. It’s also easy to hold in your mouth for hands-free illumination in a pinch.

It carries great. Since the light is so small it hides in the pocket nicely. It’s not “deep carry” where the tailcap is flush with the pocket clip, but it’s deep “enough” carry. The clip is a little strong for my liking so you may want to consider bending it out a little bit to avoid it wearing holes in your pants. I appreciate that there’s still some ramp at the mouth of the clip despite it looping back on itself.

The clip will also let you attach the light to the brim of a hat as a makeshift headlamp and that works surprisingly well. There’s a wrist lanyard included in the box too if that’s your style, but there’s no dedicated lanyard attachment points on the light itself. You’ll have to attach it to one of the fins near the head or attach it to the pocket clip.

Tailstand: does not work because the switch boot sticks out

Batteries & Charging

Pokelit AA includes a USB-C rechargeable protected button top 14500 cell. That’s a great inclusion at this price point and is a great solution for day-to-day use. In emergencies it can also accept AA’s (Alkaline, NiMH, or Lithium) but I’d stick with the rechargeable cell most of the time. I don’t believe unprotected flat top cells will work in this light.

Charging is facilitated by a USB-C port on the side of the battery near the positive terminal. An LED under the positive terminal will glow red while charging and will glow green when fully charged. It does not work as a powerbank. Both A-to-C and C-to-C cables worked fine for charging.

Competition

Here are some lights in the same class and how they compare.

Olight i5R: similar size, switch, looks, and clip. 14500 battery with a charging port with a proprietary voltage that cannot be used in most other 14500-compatible flashlights, two modes, always starts on low

Skilhunt E2A: reverse clicky switch, tailstand, different clip, TIR optic instead of a reflector, optional high CRI LED, less expensive

Lumintop EDC AA: similar switch, TIR optic instead of a reflector, not quite as bright, flimsy clip, 4 modes (including a strobe), less expensive

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

This is a solid little EDC light. If you’re someone looking for something with mode memory, high brightness, high efficiency, and dual-fuel support, this is a great option. If you want something a little fancier with a high CRI emitter and no mode memory, take a look at the copper Pokelit AA.

Thanks to Acebeam for sending me this light for review!