Preface
The Nitecore EDC33 is the first Nitecore flashlight that uses the new LUMIN SHIELD™ technology, which essentially is a “flood”-type Momentary Turbo mode that is supposed to work better than the more conventional Strobe modes.
This is made possible with the new “9-Core” NiteLab UHi 20 Max. It is basically 1* NiteLab UHi 20 LED (for the “throw” beam profile) surrounded by 8* Auxiliary LEDs (for the “flood” beam profile) to make up the total “9-Core”. Although this “9-Core” name sounds more like a play of words to make it similar sounding to “Nitecore”.
The EDC33 also comes with a new “Rapid Lock™” physical lockout and new in-built proprietary 4000mAh 18650 battery.
Packaging & First Impressions
This is what the light will come with as shown below.
- The electronic tail switch operates rather similarly to a 2-stages camera button with focus function.
- “Rapid Lock™” physical lockout require a fairly firm and deliberate push to activate, and helps in preventing any unwanted activation of the light.
- Anodizing of the light is uniform without any missing specs.
- The provided clip comes installed from factory and has rather strong tension which should ensure that the light will stay clipped to any material or prevent the light from falling out. We recommend installing the included paracord lanyard with mini-carabiner.
- The provided lanyard is able to support the full weight of the light and should hold up to the test of time.
- Battery compartment holds the in-built proprietary Nitecore 18650 4000mAh battery.
- Scanning the QR code with your phone/tablet on the box’s side would bring up the Nitecore EDC33’s product page.
Front:
Back:
Sides:
Top:
Bottom:
Box Contents:
Quick Overview (Manufacturer Specifications)
- Body Material: HAIII Aluminum (7075-T6)
- LEDs: NiteLab UHi 20 MAX (9* LEDs in total)
- Battery Format: 1 x 18650 (in-built / non-replaceable)
- Output & Runtime (with 18650 4000mAh battery):
- Ultra-Low (5 lumen / 2days 15h)
- Low (70 lumens / 1day 7h)
- Mid (300 lumens / 6h 58min)
- High (1,200 lumens / 2h 31min)
- Search (1,700 lumens) ≡ Momentary Turbo (Spot)
- Lumin ShieldTM(4,000 lumens) ≡ Momentary Turbo (Flood)
- No Strobe, Beacon or SOS modes
- Max Beam Distance:
- Momentary Turbo (Spot) = 450m
- Momentary Turbo (Flood) = 400m
- Beam intensity
- Momentary Turbo (Spot) = 54,500cd
- Momentary Turbo (Flood) = 40,505cd
- Waterproofness: IP68, 2m
- Impact Resistance: 2m
- Dimension: 115.6mm (length) x 25.4mm (head diameter) / 24.0mm (body diameter)
- Weight: 121g (excluding clip) / 127g (including clip)
- Accessories Included:
- 1*Nitecore 18650 4000mAh battery (in-built)
- 1*Pocket Clip
- 1*Lanyard
- 1*USB-C Charging Cable
- MSRP: ~$70
UI (User Interface)
UI for this light is good for Every Day Carry (EDC) as it is fairly straightforward to use, after the initial learning curve. The key is timing the 1/2 Press as quickly as possible, a slightly slower will accidentally activate SEARCH mode instead.
Switching ON and OFF is done by the TAIL electronic switch on the flashlight.
Normal Operation
From OFF:
- 1 Press – Light will switch ON to last used Mode (last mode memory).
- HOLD (1/2 Press) [~1 sec] – Direct access to SEARCH, release to switch OFF.
- HOLD (1 Press) [~1 sec] – Direct access to Lumin ShieldTM, release to switch OFF.
From ON:
- 1 Press – Light will switch OFF.
- 1/2 Press – Mode change (light cycles through ULTRA-LOW, LOW, MID, & HIGH → ULTRA-LOW, LOW, MID, & HIGH).
- HOLD (1/2 Press) [~1 sec] – Direct access to SEARCH, release switch to return to previous mode.
- HOLD (1 Press) [~1 sec] – Direct access to Lumin ShieldTM, release switch to return to previous mode.
Full Lockout Mode (Rapid Lock™)
From OFF:
- Slide the lockout switch to “LOCK” (logo can be seen when activated). Flashlight is now in Full Lockout mode.
- No mode is available
- Slide the lockout switch to “UNLOCK” (logo is hidden when activated). Flashlight is now unlocked.
- All modes are available.
Note: Sliding the lockout switch to “LOCK” while the flashlight is ON will cause the flashlight to switch OFF.
Half Lockout Mode (Rapid Lock™)
From ON:
- HOLD (1/2 Press) / HOLD (1 Press) + Slide the lockout switch to “LOCK” (logo can be seen when activated). Flashlight is now in Half Lockout mode.
- Search and Lumin ShieldTM modes are available only. All other modes cannot be accessed.
- Slide the lockout switch to “UNLOCK” (logo is hidden when activated) and 1 Press to switch ON flashlight → Flashlight is now unlocked.
- All modes are available.
Note: It is not possible to switch from Half Lockout Mode to Full Lockout Mode directly. Flashlight has to be unlocked (Step 2 above) from Half Lockout Mode before the Full Lockout Mode can be activated.
Sensor Protection (Dimming)
There is a built-in optical sensor next to the LEDs. When there is an “obstruction” detected, the mode output will temporarily drop from HIGH level to MID level, and once the “obstruction” is removed the light will return to original output.
Note: This function can be deactivated by 1/2 Press when the mode output automatically drops to MID level and the flashlight will go back to HIGH level.
Battery Power Indicator
When the light is ON, the Battery Indicator will light up in Green as follows:
- Battery Indicator x 4 → 75% to 100%
- Battery Indicator x 3 → 50% to 74%
- Battery Indicator x 2 → 25% to 49%
- Battery Indicator x 1 → <25%; please recharge.
Note: When the flashlight is OFF and is fully UNLOCKED, a 1/2 Press will show the battery power indicator for about 5 seconds.
Form Factor
For flashlights that are intended to use on a daily basis (EDC) and can double up for some more “tactical” usage, form factor is extremely important.
This light feels rather well balanced and compact in a medium-sized hand (not head/tail-heavy). Switching between overhand and underhand holding method is easy with its form factor. The grooves on the light helps it to be fairly “grippy”, even with wet hands/gloves. The usage of the 7075-T6 aluminum alloy was a surprising move from Nitecore as this material is more commonly found in higher end/custom flashlights such as Okluma DC1 and Oveready BOSS.
Due to the extended tail cap which helps to “hide” the electronic Tail switch, it enables the flashlight to tail-stand . With the paracord attachment and mini-carabiner, there are more options to carry/clip this flashlight.
Charging Process
With the included Nitecore-branded USB-C Cable, the battery was charging at ~1.70A. The light can be operated on all modes except Search and Lumin ShieldTM modes when it is being charged.
The flashing GREEN indicator on the Battery Indicator depicts charging in progress and solid GREEN (no blinking) indicators depict charging has been completed.
Beam Style/Beamshots
For this light, the spill, corona and hotspot is rather impressive due to the combination of the relatively shallow Orange Peel Reflector and new UHi 20 LED used. With the LED used, the beam is more “throw”-orientated for recognizing items in the mid-range distance. The 8* Auxiliary LEDs provides a large wall of “flood”-orientated light (Lumin ShieldTM mode) that can be rather disorientating to those at the receiving end.
The above beam profile is a rough interpretation of what is seen when white wall hunting.
The beam has a hotspot which is almost a perfect circle with some slight corona and a fairly wide (circular-style) spill, with most of the lumens output focused into the hotspot. It also helps that the center LED is perfectly centered in this sample. There are some beam artifacts when white wall hunting but not visible in real world usage.
All of the beamshots taken below are done so with the following camera settings (ULTRA-LOW: 0.8sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB, LOW: 1/3 sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB, MID: 1/8 sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB, HIGH: 1/15 sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB, SEARCH: 1/15 sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB and Lumin ShieldTM: 1/25 sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB).
Some pictures have been adjusted slightly to depict as close as to what is seen in real life. The distance of the light from the door is 4.6m.
Control shot:
ULTRA-LOW (5 lumens):
LOW (70 lumens):
MID (300 lumens):
HIGH (1200 lumens):
SEARCH (1700 lumens):
Lumin ShieldTM (4,000 lumens):
Mode (Output) Spacing
Mode spacing appears to be progressively brighter to the eye and the modes are well spaced enough to be able to know which mode one is currently in. With that in mind, TLR tend to view mode spacing as battery life indicators (amount of runtime left) rather than the specific output (lumens).
Unfortunately, unlike the Nitecore MH12 Pro, this ULTRA-LOW mode of 5 lumens is too bright to be considered a moonlight mode and is not suitable for night-adjusted eyes.
It would be nice if the HIGH mode is in the 800 to 1,000 lumens range, rather than a 1,200 lumens to provide a cooler and longer running HIGH mode (i.e. when running at a lower lumen output, the light will have a longer runtime and will operate at a lower temperature).
That said the momentary SEARCH mode which provide this flashlight with the maximum amount of “throw” and momentary Lumin ShieldTM mode which provides this flashlight with the maximum amount of “flood” in this small form factor are rather impressive. Needless to say, these 2 modes produces a lot of heat within a few seconds of activation.
Tint & CRI
Nitecore did not disclose the tint (color temperature) and/or the CRI (Color Rendering Index) for the LEDs used in their light. For this light, a guesstimate would be in the 6500K and 70CRI ballpark.
There are tint shifts throughout the beam profile. The hotspot is cool white with some hints of yellow & green whilst the corona and most of the spill possess a slight yellowish-green tint.
This is not as noticeable when used in real life situations.
Waterproofness
The light was subjected to warm water submersion, followed by cold water submersion and left under room temperature running water tap whilst running on HIGH.
No signs of water intrusion in the head, switches or USB-C port was seen.
Lockout Capability
No electronical lockout but mechanical lockout is possible when needed, like during transportation in a bag.
See Full Lockout Mode and Half Lockout Mode options. That said, we recommend the Full Lockout Mode for most EDC usages, to prevent any accidental activation.
Scale Comparison (Ruler)
Summary
To sum up, we believe that the most important part of any review is if given the chance to purchase the same light for our own EDC/usage or to gift to our loved ones out from one’s pocket (wallet), would we still do it?
For this light, it is a possible YES, if the in-built battery is not an issue for your usage.
The new NiteLab UHi 20 MAX LEDs which enables the rather innovative momentary SEARCH and momentary Lumin ShieldTM modes in a relatively compact form factor, latest 18650 with 4000mAh capacity, Power Battery Indicator, Full & Half Rapid Lock™ options, usage of 7075-T6 aluminum, pocket clip with paracord lanyard and mini-carabiner are all plus points for this flashlight.
That said, it will be nice if there are improvements to the driver to enable different combinations of how the “9-core” LEDs is used to provide different modes with different beam profiles (“spot” and/or “flood”).
Here is a bonus size comparison picture with other Nitecore flashlights.
From Left to Right: Nitecore EDC33, Nitecore MT21C, Nitecore MH12 Pro and Nitecore MH25GTS.
As with all gears, two is one and one is none.
Stay safe,
The Lite Review
Disclaimer: Light was provided for by Nitecore (manufacturer) for this review. No other compensation was provided.
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Nitecore EDC33
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