Acebeam L16 2.0 Review – Full-Featured Duty Light

1. Pricing & Availability
2. What comes in the box?
3. Design & Construction
4. Size & Measurements
5. User Interface
6. Emitter & Beam
7. Mode Chart
8. Runtime
9. Driver & Regulation
10. Switch
11. Carry & Ergonomics
12. Batteries & Charging
13. Competition
14. Conclusion

Pricing & Availability

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

What comes in the box?

The box is made of dense cardboard wrapped in printed paper. It’s got a nice magnetic closure and a tamper seal sticker. I love the black and orange coloring. Inside is:

• The light itself
• Battery (inside the light)
• User manual & other paperwork
• Short USB A-to-C charging cable
• Belt holster
• Wrist lanyard
• Spare o-rings
• Spare port cover

Design & Construction

L16 2.0 has a great design. It looks tacti-cal without looking tacti–cool. I love both color options, but the all-black is my favorite.

Build quality is top-notch, as usual from Acebeam. The anodizing appears satin and thick. It feels high-quality in a way that budget brands struggle to match.

Size & Measurements

Surefire G2X Pro + Switchback | Acebeam L16 2.0 | Jetbeam M37 Pro | Armytek C2 Pro Max | Olight Warrior 3S

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Bezel Diameter	40.5
Length	153.3
Side Switch Diameter	12
Tail Switch Diameter	12
Lens Thickness	Inaccessible
Lens Diameter	Inaccessible
Reflector Hole Diameter	Inaccessible
Reflector Diameter	Inaccessible
Reflector Height	Inaccessible
MCPCB Size	Inaccessible
LED Footprint	5050
Body Tube Diameter	25.4
Pocket Clip Slot Width	6.3
Pocket Clip Slot Diameter	24.6
Tailcap Diameter	29.5
Tailcap Length	32.0
Driver Diameter	Inaccessible
Included Battery Length	76.1
Weight with included battery (g)	218
Holster weight (g)	41

User Interface

This is an excellent UI. Best-in-class.

The actions below 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	Action	Result
Off	1C	On (mode memory)
Off	1H (short)	Moonlight (not memorized)
Off	1H (long)	Lockout
Any	2C	Turbo (not memorized)
Any	3C	Strobe (not memorized)
Turbo	2C	Return to memorized mode
Lockout	1H (long)	Moonlight (not memorized)
On	1H	Cycle brightness (Low-Med1-Med2-High)
On	1C	Off

State	Action	Result
Off	Half-Press	Momentary Turbo
Off	Full-Press	Constant Turbo
Turbo	Full-Press	Off

What they got right:

• There’s a dedicated Turbo switch, with momentary! I love this feature on every light that has it. It’s so great to instantly access Turbo with a dedicated button and do so momentarily! You can press it all the way for constant-on.
• The switches are independent. Some dual-switch lights use the tailswitch for on/off and the side switch for mode changes. Acebeam made them totally independent on this light, and I prefer this setup.
• Clicking turns the light on/off and holding the button changes modes (side switch). That’s the way almost all e-switch flashlights should work. It’s intuitive and quick.
• The common shortcuts work. Moonlight, Turbo, and Strobe all have shortcuts that work the same way as most other lights. They work very well and there’s no learning curve when switching lights.
• Turbo, Moonlight, and Strobe are not memorized. Each has a dedicated shortcut, so you can access them quickly without overriding your memorized mode.
• 1H from Moonlight goes to Low. That means you can get to Low mode without having to go through brighter modes if you don’t have it memorized.

What they got wrong:

• Mode number and spacing. There are too many levels (6) and the upper ~4 are all crammed too close together. There should be 5 levels so simplify a bit, provide a true medium mode right in the middle, and the remaining modes should be re-spaced so the perceived brightness difference between all of them is the same.
• Lockout is a long hold. Recently, other manufacturers have been moving to a 4-click lockout which I prefer. It’s faster and less likely to unlock by accident.

Emitter & Beam

L16 2.0 uses a Luminus SFT40 LED in either 6500K or 5000K. I tested both. SFT40 is a fine choice, but I wish Acebeam had chosen a 6V/12V LED like SFT70 or XHP50.3-HI instead, to get a little more brightness and better regulation performance.

The beam is quite narrow with a crisp, round hotspot. Surrounding the hotspot is some vaguely flower-petal-shaped corona and relatively narrow spill. This is a great beam for seeing far away or concentrating light on a subject. It’s suited for duty use, which I believe this light is intended for.

In the beamshots below, camera settings are fixed and the wall is 2.8M away.

In the beamshots below, camera settings are fixed, 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 were 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. 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 these measurements with a grain of salt.

The official specs are above (for the 6500k version), followed by my measurements below. Acebeam doesn’t provide different specs for the 5000k version, but it should be dimmer than the 6500k because warmer color temperatures are less efficient.

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Turbo	1800	125000	710	68	6470	0.0031
High	810	56000	470	67	6130	0.0059
Med 2	380	26000	330	66	5970	0.0076
Med 1	160	11000	210	65	5860	0.0087
Low	60	4200	130	64	5810	0.0097
Moonlight	0.2	18	08	65	5660	0.0106

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Turbo	1500	110000	660	65	5290	0.0039
High	820	59000	490	64	4860	0.0049
Med 2	390	28000	340	63	4700	0.0060
Med 1	170	12000	220	62	4620	0.0076
Low	64	4600	140	61	4630	0.0083
Moonlight	0.2	18	08	62	4520	0.0091

Runtime

The official runtime graph is above (for the 6500K), followed by my measurements below. There’s no official graph for the 5000K version, but it should be marginally dimmer than the 6500K.

Performance is a little below average. Some competitors sustain a little higher brightness and last a little longer. The 6500K version has 300lm higher peak brightness and slightly longer runtime. Other than that they perform almost identically.

Thermal regulation is active and works great. There’s a dramatic difference between my Turbo and Turbo Cooled (desk fan blowing directly on the light) tests.

LVP (Low Voltage Protection) is present and works well. When the battery is effectively empty, the light will shut itself off. It doesn’t rely on the battery’s protection circuit and the light can be re-activated in an emergency.

Driver & Regulation

The driver is a buck circuit, which should provide good efficiency. The previous version had a boost driver, which I prefer for better regulation performance. The driver is covered so I can’t see any components other than the dual springs.

Regulation performance is average. Turbo is always affected by battery voltage, but it produces respectable brightness down to ~25% charge. Below that, all the brighter modes drop off, which is normal. I only did regulation testing on the 5000K version. The 6500K regulation performance should be almost identical, just a bit brighter across the board.

PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes or camera, nor audible to my ears.

Parasitic Drain: 170 microamps. That will take ~3 years to drain the included battery.

Switch

The side switch is for general utility operation. It’s a fairly standard electronic side switch with a black steel boot. It controls on/off and mode changes completely separate from the tail switch.

The tail switch is just for Turbo. It’s a forward clicky so a half-press does momentary activation and a full press will click and latch on. It’s offset to one side and protected by a couple of ears with lanyard holes. Those stick up past the switch a bit so the light can tailstand.

Carry & Ergonomics

Ergonomics are good. This is a fairly large light but it’s not unwieldy. In a reverse grip I can reach both the tail switch with my thumb and the side switch with my pinky with a minor grip adjustment. A forward grip works great with just the side switch and a cigar grip works fine with just the tail switch. The knurling and facets of the body provide grip without being scratchy.

The clip is good. It’s strong and has enough room at the mouth and loop. It lands on the knurling, but that knurling isn’t sharp enough to tear up pockets. This light is too big for regular pocket carry, but this clip makes it doable on occasion. Let me be clear though, this is a pocket clip, not a belt clip. If you clip it to your belt, the light will pop off the clip and fall.

The holster is what you should use for belt carry. It’s made of nylon with a velcro closure and elastic sides. There are two loops on the back; one that opens and one that’s fixed. Pretty standard, but it works.

Batteries & Charging

The battery included is an Acebeam-branded 5000mAh protected button-top 21700 cell that powers this light well. Unprotected flat top 21700 cells fit too, but the light will briefly flicker off if jostled hard enough with one of those shorter cells. 18650 cells will work if they’re long (protected button tops, especially with a charging port) but they’ll rattle side to side.

Big props to Acebeam for using a dual-tube design to get electronic functionality in the tailcap instead of using a proprietary battery.

Charging is facilitated by a USB-C port on the tailcap of the light next to the switch. It’s sealed by a silicone port cover. That port cover is quite secure and I’m not concerned about it coming open by accident. Both A-to-C and C-to-C cables work fine. The light can be used while charging, but only the side switch works. There’s no powerbank function, which is a little disappointing. There’s a small battery indicator LED that glows only when the light is plugged in. Red means charging and green means fully charged.

Charging speed was slow on my first sample (10hrs), but Acebeam reached out and informed me that they found the issue and have fixed it. They sent me another sample with corrected charging and it takes 4hrs to charge from low voltage shutoff. I’d love for it to charge in 1-2hrs, but 4hrs is acceptable.

Competition

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

Olight Warrior X 4: more tactical alternative

• more expensive
• more lumens, similar candela
• two-stage electronic tailswitch only
• two mode groups (high-low or medium-strobe)
• magnetic tailcap charging and USB-C
• cigar grip ring included
• excellent polymer holster
• fits Thyrm Switchback DF
• proprietary battery

Nitecore MH25 Pro: traditional UI alternative

• less expensive
• more traditional dual-switch UI (tail for on/off, side for mode changes) with option to always start on Turbo
• best-in-class battery & brightness indicators
• more lumens, less throw
• sharpest hotspot I’ve ever seen
• proximity sensor to prevent holster burns

Sofirn C8L: budget alternative

• less than half the price
• good quality driver
• more lumens, less throw
• no clip nor holster included
• more traditional dual-switch UI (tail for on/off, side for mode changes) but with Turbo or Strobe shortcut (not good for signaling)

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

I love the UI, switches, and build quality. I like the aesthetics, ergonomics, throw distance, runtime, clip, and charging solution. The brightness, holster, and regulation performance are fine but not particularly impressive. I wish there were fewer brightness levels and better mode spacing. Overall, this is a great choice if you’re looking for a duty-style light with all the bells and whistles.

Thanks to Acebeam for sending me this light for review!