Preface Official Specs Versions Price Short Review Long Review What's Included Manual and Packaging Build Quality and Durability Size Retention Power User Interface and Operation Modes LED and beam Tint vs... Beamshots, Runtime, etc table. Conclusion What I like What I don't like Up Next Notes
Preface
This is a light I’d never have asked for but got in a package with another light (The UT25). I liked the UT25 just fine, and in fact have liked other Nitefox lights just fine too. This is an unusual light from their line; let’s see how it stacks up.
Official Specs and Features
I’m forced to link amazon here, because I can’t find this exact product on Nitefox’s website.
Versions
There are a number of similar versions of this light, but this is the only version exactly like this. There’s also a flood only, and a focusable version.
Price
This light goes for around $25.
Short Review
This is not a light I personally care for, but I can see some (probably) rare and specific use cases for it. I think it suffers from poor build quality (and indeed build choices), but it’s a format that could be improved upon.
Long Review
What’s Included
- Nitefox UW360
- Steel plate
- Charge Cable
- 18650 cell
- Manual
Package and Manual
The light ships in a bar-code labeled plastic container.
The manual is just a printed sheet of paper. Nothing professional or special at all. Basically copy paper.
Build Quality and Disassembly
This is an unusual flashlight, with a handheld body, and a long (6″) neck, and the light on the other end. Not only that is unusual. Also unusual is that the head has two sets of emitters – a single for ‘throw’ and a series of emitters on the side for flood.
Unfortunately the build quality on the hand held part is quite low. The body is plastic – not good plastic, and the threads between body and driver are plastic as well. I did not test waterproofness, but these type threads normally have low water resistance. I wouldn’t trust this light in the wet.
The handheld part is also not very grippy – the whole body is hard plastic with only some grooves for grip.
See the plastic threads above. There is an o-ring, at least.
Size
Hard to quantify size of such an item, so just see the pictures. It is a 18650 light, so that gives you some scale.
Retention
The only option for retention of this light is the magnetic base. Also included is the steel disc, which isn’t described in the manual. I believe this can be screwed to the base of the light, and the light can then be used as a lamp/lantern – standing up on it’s own – type light. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to use the light this way.
Power
Nitefox includes a single 18650 with the UW360. The light shouldn’t care what variety of 18650 is installed – there are springs on both terminals.
The output is unfortunately very boring. I tested only the “throw” emitter, and don’t be fooled by the runtime. While it’s fairly stable over the course of the 180 minutes before I stopped the test, the actual output is not all that high. So take the “100% Relative Output” seriously.
To be frank, the output was so low that after 3 hours I stopped the test. The cell was still at 3.6V.
This light also has on-board charging. It’s a typical micro-USB port on the side of the light. When charging, the switch indicates red (for “charging”) and green (for “fully charged”).
The charge profile looks great, if a little slow. It charges the cell (in fact, any 18650 – not proprietary charging!), at around 0.5A. That’s ok by me. Unfortunately the included cell doesn’t fare quite as well, and only rates at about 1.5Ah. That’s low compared to the 2.6Ah claimed.
Nitefox also sent over an 18650 with built-in on-board charging. Below is a mini review of that cell!
Nitefox UR18-26 Mini Review
Package
Plastic “battery” package, but with just one cell and one charge cable.
Contents and Cell
Only the cell and charge cable in this package!
The cell is one of those “micro-USB port on the positive terminal” cells.
Here’s a chargetime. Unfortunately the cell doesn’t have all that great of a charge profile, and on average CC charges at around 0.55A, but it’s noteworthy that the capacity as approximately accurate at just north of 2.5Ah.
Size
User Interface and Operation
The Worklight has a single button for operation. It’s an indicating switch, and can indicate red and green. It’s really a … button with a sticker over it – the kind that eventually wear out. The actual action of the switch is fine, but I don’t like the sticker-over-button-ness of it.
Here’s a UI table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Click | Flood (High) |
| On | Click | Mode advance (Flood High, Flood Low, Throw On, Off) |
| Off | Hold | No action |
| On >1m | Click | Off |
Modes
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flood High | – | – | 0.61 |
| Flood Low | – | – | 0.2 |
| Throw | – | – | 0.62 |
LED and Beam
The emitters in this light aren’t mentioned by name. The side emitters are the big rectangular kind, and have a fairly good neutral tint. These aren’t bad emitters, and provide a very floody, useful light.
The front emitter is also unnamed, but isn’t as good as the side- it looks to be an aged emitter, and the tint is also not great – blue to purplish.
Tint vs BLF-348
Beamshots, Runtime, and Lux Measurements
| Nitefox Worklight | |
|---|---|
| Emitter | |
| Emitter Notes | |
| Cell | 18650 |
| Glamour Shots | Beamshots [0.3″, f/8, ISO 100, 5000k] |
| Runtime | Chargetime |
| LVP? | 2.4V shutoff |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | – |
| Lux (Measured) | 55 lux @ 4.211 m |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd | 975.3 |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 62.5 |
| Throw (Claimed) (m) | – |
Conclusion
What I like
- Flood is nice tint
- Head is on an adjustable… neck. Can be useful
What I don’t like
- Low build quality
- Questionable waterproofness
- Throw emitter is dated and bad tint
- Total output is low
Up Next
I have a couple of lights up next week. One by Imalent, and a Nitecore too!
Notes
- This light was provided by Nitefox for review. I was not paid to write this review.
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.wordpress.com. Please visit there for the best experience!
- Whether or not I have a coupon for this light, I do have a bunch of coupons!! Have a look at my spreadsheet for those coupons. It’s possible to subscribe and get notifications when the sheet is edited!!
