Pricing & Availability
Acebeam sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the official product page and the Amazon US page where you can see current pricing. At the time of writing, MSRP is $35 USD but it’s on sale for $28 on Amazon.
What comes in the box?
UC3A comes in a retail box with a clear window to show off the light. Inside is:
- The light itself
- Battery (inside the light)
- User manual
- USB A-to-C charging cable
- Keychain clasp
- Spare o-rings
Design & Construction
UC3A is similar in shape to some popular “flat” EDC flashlights on the market, but it’s a bit shorter and is designed with a user-serviceable battery and RGB side light instead of the typical built-in battery with UV and laser.
Build quality is good. I have no complaints about the machining, finishing, nor fitment.
Size & Measurements
Surefire G2X Pro + Switchback | Zebra SC65c HI | Acebeam UC3A | Olight i3E | Mini Maglite
| Measurement | Measured (mm) |
|---|---|
| Length | 71.4 |
| Width | 31.1 |
| Thickness | 15.6 |
| Tailcap Diameter | 15.4 |
| Tailcap Length | 8.3 |
| Included Battery Length | 44.2 |
| Weight with included battery (g) | 63 |
Switch & User Interface
UC3A has two independent side switches, one for the main front LEDs and one for the side RGB LEDs. I love having a dedicated switch for each channel, and it’s easy to tell them apart by feel in the hand. It’s easy for the UI to get overly complex and unintuitive when you introduce extra channels and RGB, but Acebeam did a great job here.
White-Light UI Checklist: 10/12
- 1C on/off✅
- 1H to change brightness✅
- Stepped levels✅
- Main rotation is Low-Med-High✅
- Moonlight shortcut: 1H from off✅
- Low shortcut: 1H from Moonlight✅
- Brightest-mode shortcut: 2C from anywhere✅
- Strobe shortcut: 3C from anywhere✅
- Mode memory for Low, Medium, and High❌
- 1C from off always goes to Medium
- No mode memory for Moonlight, Turbo, and Strobe✅
- 4C or separate switch to lock/unlock❌
- Lock/unlock is a long hold on the main white light switch.
- Does something when you click the switch in Lockout mode✅
Side light UI:
- 1C from off: white high
- 1H from off: white low
- 1H from on: cycle between low and high brightness, regardless of the color (except police & rainbow)
- 2C from off: red high
- 2C from on: cycle to the next mode (white, red, red blink, green, green blink, blue, blue blink, police, and rainbow)
- 3C mode memory: This behavior isn’t mentioned in the user manual. 3C from anywhere will jump to the previously-used RGB mode (except for white, because white has dedicated shortcuts). So, if the last mode you used was rainbow, then 3C will jump to rainbow.
Notes:
- I love that the secondary RGB channel has its own dedicated switch.
- Both switches have a UI that is close to industry standard and very similar to each other. That makes the whole light intuitive and easy to use.
- You cannot use both lights simultaneously.
Emitter & Beam
The main LEDs are Luminus SST-36F diodes in cool white and ~70 CRI. I think that’s a reasonable choice for a light with a tiny battery. Efficiency is paramount. The bezel comes off easily, making the LEDs accessible for swaps. The side light is RGBW, and the white color is neutral white and ~70 CRI. It’s covered by a large cylindrical diffuser that provides 270°+ illumination. That’s pretty unique when most side lights provide 180 degrees.
The main beam is floody with a wide hotspot and soft spill, typical of a TIR lens. The side “beam” is extremely wide, 270°+ around the light thanks to the large diffuser. You can’t get that kind of coverage from most side lights where the LED(s) are embedded into the side of the light.
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, 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) |
| High | 920 | 2700 | 100 | 74 | 7200 | -0.0036 |
| Medium | 220 | 650 | 51 | 74 | 6920 | -0.0018 |
| Low | 85 | 250 | 32 | 74 | 6960 | -0.0014 |
| Moonlight | 3.7 | 11 | 7 | 73 | 6880 | 0.0005 |
Side white light: 5000K, 70 CRI, and the Low mode is 5% as bright as High mode by lux.
Runtime
Performance: I haven’t tested many 10440 lights to compare against, but this performance seems fair to me. Peak brightness is impressive at north of 900 lumens. Performance on NiMH is significantly reduced, but still useful in an emergency.
Thermal Management: My High and High Cooled tests are virtually identical, so there’s no active thermal throttling here, just timed stepdowns. That means performance will be consistent, but not optimized for ambient temperature. It is notable that the High test ran 2-3 minutes longer before the second stepdown than the High Cooled test, but I don’t know why.
LVP (Low Voltage Protection) is present and works well for Li-ion batteries. It doesn’t rely on the battery having a protection circuit. The light will shut off when the battery is practically empty, but it can be temporarily re-activated in an emergency.
Driver
The driver isn’t specified, but it must contain a boost circuit since it can work off 1.5V AAAs.
Voltage immunity is a little below average, but not bad for a tiny 10440 pushing ~900 lumens! It maintains most of the Turbo brightness down to ~50% charge and below that all modes get noticeably dimmer.
PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes or camera, nor audible to my ears on either channel.
Parasitic Drain: I wasn’t able to measure the parasitic drain because my multimeter probe wouldn’t fit.
Batteries & Charging
The battery included is a USB-C rechargeable, 400mAh, protected, button-top, 10440 cell. The driver has physical reverse polarity protection, so flat-top 10440 cells won’t work. Alkaline and NiMH AAAs will work, but with reduced performance.
Charging is facilitated by a USB-C port built into the included battery. Charging takes just over an hour, and an LED on the battery turns from red to green when charging is complete.
Battery indicator: There isn’t one. That’s something I’d like to have, especially on a light with such a small battery. Perhaps a triple-click of the RGB switch could briefly turn on the RGB side light as green (>50% charge), amber (~25-50% charge), or red (<25% charge). That wouldn’t require any hardware changes.
Carry & Ergonomics
Ergonomics are fine. The buttons are easy to access in a forward grip and there are no sharp edges. The clip provides a nice spot for my index finger to index on the light.
Clip Checklist: It meets most of the criteria, but the snagging screw issue is pretty egregious. That and the bezel-up orientation make me not want to carry it.
- Attachment doesn’t pop off or rotate accidentally✅
- Can be removed and bent back into shape if needed✅
- Bezel-down carry is at a reasonable depth❌
- It’s bezel-up only, and you can’t fully seat the light in the pocket because of the second issue below. One minor upside is you can clip it to a hat.
- Landing location is smooth, not on the charging port, and away from the bezel✅
- Mouth/ramp and loop(s) are wide enough for pants material❌
- The clip screws are cap-heads that stick way out into the loop of the clip. Unless your pocket is paper-thin, the screws effectively block the top third of the clip. Pocket clip screws should be counter-sunk or at least pan-heads. I’m surprised this issue made it through to the final production version.
- Finish is durable✅
- No bidirectional clips without reason✅
Magnet: There’s a magnet embedded in the tailcap that holds the light securely even on a vertical surface. That’s handy, especially in conjunction with the side RGB light.
Lanyard/Keychain: There’s a lanyard loop on the tail and a keychain clasp in the box so you have some alternatives if you don’t want to use the clip.
Competition
Here are some lights in the same class and how they compare.
Wurkkos HD01 Pro: more typical flatlight alternative
- similar pricing
- brighter
- significantly larger and heavier
- higher-capacity built-in battery that you can’t replace
- better pocket clip
- white + RGB + UV + laser
- similar switches & UI
- battery indicator
- integrated USB-C charging
- RGB light covers 180°, not almost 270°+
Acebeam Pokelit AA: more typical dual-fuel alternative
- lower price
- brighter and throws further
- traditional cylinder light shape, similar overall volume
- accepts one included USB-C rechargeable 14500 cell or a single AA
- just one main front light, no side light
- much better pocket clip
- mechanical tail switch instead of side switch
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 neat little light. Most flat EDC lights have a built-in battery. This one trades that for a lower-capacity but user-replaceable 10440 cell. It also adds a great 270°+ side light. Acebeam did an excellent job with the UI and kept the price and weight reasonable. They even fit a magnet into the tiny tailcap. My only gripe is the sub-par pocket clip.
Thanks to Acebeam for sending me this light for review!
