Nextorch TA70 Review – Flat EDC with Switchback-Style Ring

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. Batteries & Charging
11. Switches
12. Carry & Ergonomics
13. Competition
14. Conclusion

Pricing & Availability

Nextorch sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the official product page where you can see current pricing. At the time of writing it’s $120 USD. Pricey!

What comes in the box?

TA70 comes in a basic retail box. Inside is:

• The light itself
• User manual
• USB A-to-C charging cable
• Wrist lanyard

Design & Construction

TA70’s design is similar to most other flat EDC lights on the market, with two notable exceptions: the unique switches and tactical ring.

Build quality is good. I have no complaints, but it doesn’t give quite the same high-end feeling as something like Olight ArkPro, for example.

Size & Measurements

Mini Maglite | Thrunite Defender | Olight ArkPro | Nextorch TA70 | Surefire G2X Pro

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Body thickness	16.5
Body width (without ring)	32.9
Length	121.2
Pocket Clip Screw Spacing	9.7
Weight with included battery (g)	125

User Interface

This is a pretty non-standard UI but I think it’s well thought out and I like it. The selector lets you choose between the three mode groups, which I’ll cover separately below.

Lock

• Click the switch to turn the battery indicator LED on briefly. That’s all.

Duty

• Momentary on: A half-press will activate the light until you release it. It always starts on low, but releasing and pressing again will jump up into Medium and then High. Getting to the mode you want is fast.
• Constant on: A full-press will turn the light on until you press again to turn it off. It always starts on low, but half-pressing from on will cycle through the modes (low-med-high).
• Turbo/Strobe: There is no access to Turbo or Strobe in the Duty group.

Tac

• Half-press: Momentary Turbo. It will turn off when you let go. There is no constant-on Turbo.
• Full-press: Momentary Strobe. It will turn off when you let go. There is no constant-on Strobe.

Emitter & Beam

TA70 is equipped with Sanan Optoelectronics 3535 flat-top LEDs, a model I’ve never seen before. They’re ~65CRI and ~5500K with mildly positive DUV. They seem like a perfectly reasonable choice to me. They sit in a smooth, triple reflector.

The hotspot is wide, flat, and surprisingly crisp and clean. I really like it. The spill has a couple of large flower petals making it oblong, but it’s not distracting in normal use.

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

In the beamshots below, camera settings are as similar as possible, but aren’t exactly the same. Take brightness differences with a grain of salt. 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, followed by my own measurements below.

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Turbo	3200	13500	230	67	5820	0.0059
High	1200	5100	140	65	5640	0.0083
Medium	280	1200	69	66	5480	0.0087
Low	22	93	19	65	5500	0.0095

Runtime

Performance: Turbo is momentary only, so I just ran it for 3 minutes. As you can see, it doesn’t last long before stepping down. High gets you 5 minutes of runtime before stepping down to ~375lm sustained. That’s on par with other EDC flatlights like this.

Thermal regulation: My High and High Cooled tests are virtually identical, so there’s no active thermal regulation here, just timed stepdowns. I expected active thermal regulation because of the marketing image below says “Intelligent Temperature Control System”.

That image also mentions “Ultra Thermal Buffer” (U.T.B) technology. I don’t buy that it prevents step-down because Turbo steps down very quickly, but I might believe it helps with overall cooling. The sustained output is in line with competitors but it remains a warm, holdable temperature. Most competitors get too hot to hold.

LVP (Low Voltage Protection): The light will shut off without warning when the battery is practically empty, but it can be temporarily re-activated in an emergency. I would have liked some warning, such as a harsh stepdown to a lower level or the indicator LED glowing/blinking red.

Driver & Regulation

The driver is a “constant current” boost circuit according to Nextorch. That’s great news, as boost drivers tend to provide good efficiency and regulation.

Regulation performance is good/average. It maintains most of the Turbo brightness down to ~25% charge (based on charging time, not based on indicator color), and all the other modes are flat down to 25% charge or less. That’s exactly what I want because it shows the components are high quality and they’re being pushed hard for great performance.

PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes or camera, nor audible to my ears. I checked for PWM with my Opple and found some flickering on High and Turbo modes, despite the “constant-current” claim. It wasn’t full on/off PWM though, just flickering in the top ~15%.

Parasitic Drain: I can’t measure parasitic drain because the battery is built-in.

Batteries & Charging

The battery included is a built-in 1400mAh pouch cell. 1400mAh is on par for flat EDC lights, but a traditional cylinder light of a similar size will have 1-2x the battery capacity. It’s not user-serviceable, so when the battery eventually wears out, you can’t replace it. I tried to remove the side panel but it didn’t budge and I didn’t want to pry it off. That sucks, and it comes with the territory. Virtually all of these flat-style EDC lights have built-in batteries.

Charging is facilitated by a USB-C port under the tailswitch. The switch hinges up to reveal the port. It’s waterproofed so the light retains an IP67 rating even with the exposed charging port. Charging takes a little over 2 hours and it cannot be used while charging. There’s no powerbank function, and I don’t expect one with such a small battery.

The battery indicator is a single LED under the tailswitch that shines through a little optic. Here’s what it means:

State	Color/Pattern	Meaning (ostensibly)
Charging	Red	Charging
Charging	Blue	Charged
Unplugged	Solid Blue	75-100%
Unplugged	Blinking Blue	50-75%
Unplugged	Solid Red	25-50%
Unplugged	Blinking Red	0-25%

Why I don’t trust the indicator: When I was doing my regulation testing, I took the light off the charger every 30 minutes to test. Keep in mind, it takes a little over 2 hours to fully charge, so ~30 minutes of charging should be around 25% in the CC phase. After 30 minutes of charging from empty, the indicator said it was 50-75% charged. After 1 hour, it indicated 75% or more. That’s after I had taken it off the charger, so it’s not a result of voltage boost while charging. This is not unique to this light. I’ve observed similar apparent inaccuracy from other battery indicators in the past, but this one is worse than most. If you have any reasons you think I might be wrong and it is working properly, let me know in the comments where I post this review!

Switches

TA70 has a primary tailswitch that turns the light on and off. It’s an electronic two-stage switch but it sort of acts like a forward clicky and reverse clicky mechanical switch. More about that in the UI section. It hinges up to reveal the USB-C port. I find this switch is a little finicky and quick full-presses register as a half-press. It’s also blocked on the sides so I can’t press it with my knuckle when the light is flipped forward on the ring.

There’s also a selector switch to choose among the lockout, duty, or tac mode groups. I love that lockout is a position on the selector switch. It’s got strong, audible detents so it’s clear which position the selector is in.

Carry & Ergonomics

Ergonomics are stellar with the ring installed. I’m a big fan of Switchback-style rings like this. Ergonomics aren’t as good without the ring, but still fine.

Tactical ring: this style of ring is similar to the popular Thyrm Switchback, which I use on my EDC light. I find switchback-style rings fun and useful, and this ring does almost everything a proper Switchback ring does. The only thing it won’t let you do is press the switch with your knuckle when the light is flipped forward, but that’s more of an issue with the switch than with the ring. It can be unscrewed if you don’t want to use it.

Competition

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

Klarus X1K: the only other one with a ring

• significantly lower price
• higher advertised brightness, lower advertised throw
• slimmer profile, but longer
• larger battery
• OLED screen
• proximity sensor
• lower IP rating (IPX6)
• has more modes
• two tail switches instead of one tail switch and one rotary selector

Nitecore EDC29: best “tactical” flatlight without a ring

• similar price
• staggering brightness (over 2x lumens)
• dual tail switches and a separate lockout switch
• OLED display
• longer and heavier

• price
• performance

Olight ArkPro: non-tactical alternative

• similar price
• not as bright, doesn’t throw as far
• four beams (flood, spot, laser, and UV)
• no tailswitch
• feels premium and well made
• great UI and switches
• magnetic tailcap

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

The brightness, clip, and tactical ring are great. Build quality, beam, switches, regulation, throw, and UI are good. The battery indicator seems inaccurate and the built-in battery is a shame, but comes with the territory. It’s pretty expensive, but may worth it to someone who wants a switchback-style ring on their flat EDC light.

Thanks to Nextorch for sending me this light for review!