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Nitecore Tini2 Review: Keychain Flashlight

Nitecore Tini 2 intro
Build quality
LED, Lens Bezel and Reflector
Size and comparison
User interface
Batteries and charging
Performance
Beamshots
Concluding Verdict
Nitecore Tini2 for sale

Nitecore Tini2 specifications

Brand/model	Nitecore Tini2
LED	2* OSRAM P8
Lumens	500 lm
Beam intensity	ii,000 cd
Battery config.	Internal (280mAH)
Material	Aluminum/plastic
Modes	v
Blinkies	Due north/A
Reflector	Custom TIR
Waterproof	IP54
Review appointment	March 2021

Introduction:

Today I'yard taking a look at the Nitecore TINI2, one of the newest keychain lights in Nitecore's stable.

I received this light at the aforementioned fourth dimension as the T4K, and while this is quite a…delayed review, I've spent that time conveying the light in my pocket to go more of a longer-term experience for it.

There are a lot of similarities between the ii lights – this is too a keychain light, has emitters under a TIR, uses the aforementioned UI as the T4K, the aforementioned OLED screen – but that's where the similarities end.

This light is bachelor in both black and metallic grey, but I'll be reviewing the blackness version. The only divergence other than the colour of the body is that the buttons are silverish on the grayness version! (Some pictures will include the metallic grey besides, added by Marco)

The packaging for the TINI2 is somewhat spartan compared to other Nitecore lights I've received. This isn't to say it's bad packaging; information technology still has the same satin finish and card thickness I'd expect, and a articulate window over the light within, as well every bit 1 to indicate a beam to a higher place. It was designed this way so the light could be tested in Demo mode within the packaging, so information technology'south definitely commonsensical.

Opening up the box, I find:

The Nitecore TINI2
Keyring attachment tucked slightly underneath
Manual
Warranty menu

And that's it! Realistically, the only other thing that would round out this package is a USB-C cable – while somewhat ubiquitous, information technology'due south e'er nice to take everything yous need included.

Flashlight in use

If y'all oasis't already noticed by now – this is quite a small light. At merely iv.2 cm on its longest border, the top department of my pollex almost completely covers the calorie-free, so using it is a picayune fleck of a "compression and printing" motion.

The buttons have a good experience to them, so yous don't cease up wondering whether you lot clicked or not. They're also not so hard that yous need to put considerable attempt in either. They light up blue when charging and at low bombardment, only otherwise stay dark.

Nitecore accept this pegged as a keychain calorie-free, and it definitely fits the bill for that – unless your keyring merely has ane or 2 keys on it, the extra weight this adds is fairly negligible.

The lockout modes on this are definitely useful for when on a keyring and shoved into a pocket, though. With that said, I have spent a few days with this in my pocket with my keys unlocked as a examination, and I oasis't had any activations that I'm enlightened of. Assuming a quick press, the highest way is 200 lumens, and I tin concord the TIR against my skin at 200 lumens for quite some time and not feel any existent heat from it. If you managed to press down the style button and concord turbo for some time, that might be a different story…

Tailstanding: Nope, keyring loop is in the fashion.

Build Quality, and Warranty

This is going to sound quite familiar to the T4K review – the general structure of the lite is very similar with regards to how information technology's put together. This definitely isn't a bad thing though, as having the internals of lights accessible to those with the know-how to repair things is ever appreciated.

The TINI2 is built in a modular mode, with a plastic frame as the cadre of the torso, with thin metallic casings on either side to complete the await. The anodisation on the metallic casings is height-notch as always with Nitecore, and is generally smooth with an extremely fine texture to information technology.

There'southward a small loop at the bottom of the light to attach the keyring loop to, which is fastened to the frame via a spiral, and then if the loop were to be damaged, it could exist removed and replaced. Again, a bang-up move for repairability.

The snap-ring included with the light is quite small and potent, which is great for its intended purpose, only I had a off-white bit of trouble getting it attached due to the size of my thumbs, or peradventure, my (at the time) recently trimmed fingernails. Coming back to information technology afterward though, it wasn't as well difficult to remove and put back on, and then either I've gotten used to it, or my fingernails are sufficiently long plenty to be able to dissever it better.

The modest flap covering the USB-C port is quite solid, and has only a small protruding tab. When brushing my finger across it multiple times, the cap barely moved, but when sliding a fingernail past it quickly, it popped outwards, set for rotation to expose the port. I'm adequately satisfied that this will remain secure over time, though.

LED, Lens, Bezel, and Reflector

Tucked neatly behind a custom TIR, the TINI2 has ii Osram P8 emitters, otherwise known every bit the PUSRA1.PM. This is a new emitter to me, and I'll freely acknowledge that I'm not as knowledgeable most them every bit other emitters.

They appear to be somewhere around 5700K to my centre, and then while they're a flake cool for my personal tastes, they're not excessively blueish or cold.

Despite being in a side-by-side configuration, the beam doesn't appear to be elongated or stretched at all. Unless I turn the light on right against a wall, the hotspot is very circular, just looking at the TIR I can't run into any prove of them being angled towards each other. Impressive!

As previously mentioned, due to the modularity of this calorie-free, the emitters could be swapped quite hands. Other CCTs of the Osram P8 will go on seamlessly, just you could also swap in pop 3535 emitters similar the LH351D, 219b, etc etc – information technology would just require a scrap more than care to center it correctly.

Dimensions and size comparison

Length 10 Width x Depth: 42.3 x 25 ten 12.5mm (i.83 10 0.98 10 0.49")

Weight:

Empty: fifteen.7g / 0.55 oz
With included keyring attachment: 18.8g / 0.66 oz

Keychain and EDC Flashlight comparing

Size compared to other EDC and keychain lights.

Paradigm 1, from left to right: Nitecore T4K, Nitecore TUP, Rovyvon A9 Aurora, Nitecore Tube, MBI HF-R, Fenix E03R, Nitecore TINI 2, Olight i1R ii EOS, Lumintop GLOW I.

Image 2 + 3: from left to correct: Nitecore T4K, Nitecore TUP, Rovyvon Aurora A9 copper, Nitecore Tube, Fenix E03R, Nitecore Tini 2.

Driver & User Interface of the Nitecore Tini 2:

Because the TINI2 uses the aforementioned UI as institute in the T4K I previously reviewed, this section volition be quite familiar to those who read the T4K review. Delight conduct with me on this! There are some subtle changes though, mainly the Turbo mode.

The TINI2 generally has 2 overarching modes – Daily mode, and Demo mode. At that place'southward two lockout modes, and in one of them, you can still (semi) apply the light.

Out of the box, the low-cal will come into Demo way. This fashion is the same equally Daily mode, but with the divergence that the light will only stay on for thirty seconds after the concluding style alter. Turbo can still be accessed every bit per Daily mode, but more on that later on.

To switch between Demo and Daily style, hold both buttons on the light and the display will prove the mode irresolute, and flash (one time for Daily to Demo, and twice for Demo to Daily).

Modes:

Ultra-Depression (1 lumen)
Low (15 lumens)
Mid (65 lumens)
Loftier (200 lumens)
Turbo (500 lumens)

From OFF:

Mode button:

1 click: Turns display on, showing battery life, principal mode (Daily/Demo), and brightness level (marked as Lv.i through Lv.4)
Printing and concord: Turbo (see annotation below)

Power push button:

one click: On : last used mode
Press and concord: Ultra-low (1 lumen)
1 click + press and hold for 1 second: Lockout mode 1
1 click + printing and hold for 3 seconds: Lockout mode 2

See notes below regarding lockout modes, in one case you lot're in them.

From ON:

Mode button:

one click: Cycle through modes, Ultra-low through High
Press and agree: Turbo

Power push:

i click: Off
Press and hold for ane 2d: Lockout mode one
Press and agree for 3 seconds: Lockout style ii

Turbo mode:

Unlike the T4K, running the TINI2 on Turbo doesn't have a hard timer, and appears to just deed similar another mode, with runtime indicated by the OLED screen equally per all other modes. Given that it doesn't heat up insanely fast on Turbo similar the T4K, it may have been nice to have this as a double-click of the mode button while on, and a single click to return to final mode – but the consistency of the UI is nice to have.

Lockout modes:

So there'southward 2 lockout modes on the TINI2, indicated by a padlock with a 1 or 2 in information technology. In Lockout ane, y'all can withal enter turbo way by property the Mode button. In Lockout two, the light is not able to be turned on.

You enter lockout fashion by holding the power push while the light is on, or a click and then hold from off. As you lot concur the power button, you'll see the padlock with a 1 on it, and so it changes to a 2 a few seconds later. Exiting both lockout modes is done the aforementioned manner every bit inbound information technology from OFF – click and so click-concur. A fundamental icon will appear on the screen, and then a progress bar will testify. The low-cal will and then turn on in the concluding-used mode (except Turbo).

Depression voltage alarm:

At 3.4V, the buttons will light up bluish once every two seconds – I feel this is quite high, and 3.i or 3V would exist perfectly fine. A flash of the main emitters may have

Strobe/blinkies

Thankfully there'southward no strobes on the TINI2 – a keychain light isn't the best identify for it.

PWM

The TINI2 is advertised every bit not having PWM, and I can't detect any with my eyes, nor my camera.

Batteries & Charging

The TINI2 has an internal 280mAh cell, which is recharged past a USB-C port on the side of the light, close to the keyring end. The flap fits quite deeply, and the tab to open it is quite small. Adventitious opening of the flap shouldn't be too much of an consequence hither.

When continued to a charger, the screen will calorie-free upward with the electric current-voltage and an increasing progress bar, but this will turn off after a few seconds. The 2 buttons will light upwardly bluish for i second, then off for one 2d until the battery is full, at which point the lights stay blueish.

It will charge on both USB-A to USB-C, too as USB-C PD – although information technology simply charges at 250mA. A good rate for a 280mAh cell, though, given that information technology'southward close to 1C – similar to charging a 30Q at 3A.

Performance

For my readings, I use the following:

Lux Meter: For lumen readings and runtimes, an Adafruit TSL2591 continued to a Raspberry Pi running Ubuntu, using RuTiTe past bmengineer in a custom sphere (build certificate coming before long, when I accept some more time). A UNI-T UT383S is used for candela readings. An Adafruit MCP9808 rounds out the listing for temperature monitoring.

Runtime graph

I've run the TINI2 in Loftier and Medium for runtimes, along with Turbo at great expense to my sanity – organising a button to hold in for a runtime with an elastic band and a bare XHP50.2 is not something I want to do again any fourth dimension soon!

High holds very close to its word; at just earlier 46 minutes, in that location'southward a brief rising in output, and so a gentle slide down to nothing. Medium runs for most 127 minutes before the slide downwards, which is a bit down from its stated runtime of ii.5 hours.

Turbo however – I didn't expect information technology to hold for the whole 15 minutes advertised, just I didn't realise it would only affect the output vs High so trivial. Effectively, Turbo slides down to effectively High over the form of 7 minutes, simply then holds through until later 42 minutes, so y'all lose 5 minutes of runtime for seven minutes of increased output. Get figure!

Lumen measurements (for each way)

Ultra-Low: 1 lumen
Low: 16 lumens
Medium: 75 lumens
Loftier: 198 lumens
Turbo: 471 lumens

A bit of up and down here – I've measured Depression and Medium as above their rated spec, but High and Turbo as below. They're well inside the margin of error, though.

Throw numbers:

5m indoors: 72 lux = 1800 cd = 84.85m throw
10m outdoors: xix lux = 1900 cd = 87.18m throw

A note almost candela readings in general – being 10cm out at 5m can make such a difference; had I measured 72 lux at 5.1m (10cm difference), and then I'd be getting 1872cd, almost the aforementioned equally my 10m reading. At these lux levels and distances, existence out even a pocket-sized amount can change the numbers quite a bit.

That said, this is within the 10% margin on manufacturer'due south specs that I promise to exist within with my equipment.

Beamshots

All wall-shots taken at i/30, f4.0, ISO 1600, 5000K WB, five meters from the wall. The line inside the image is probably the shutter.

Reyligt pineapple v4 brass wutg 14500 beam — RovyVon A9

Disclaimer: This flashlight was sent to me for review at no cost by Nitecore. I take not been paid to review, nor have I been holding back on problems or defects.

Final Verdict

Pros

Swell UI
USB-C charging is a breeze
Good performance/size ratio

Cons

Small-scale-ish battery
Cool white emitters

^{Author: Owen}

four.5 stars: ★★★★⋆

I like information technology! I really do. I've put this on my motorcar keys now, I'one thousand enjoying it that much.

While it's a flake larger than other keychain lights in their stable, for example, the TIKI, it's still suitably small to acquit on a keychain, and the weight is depression enough to not actually find information technology.

The modes are far more appropriate here than on the T4K due to the size of the light, and the Turbo being express to 500 lumens keeps things in the realm of "warm merely non burning holes in things". The bombardment, while relatively minor, can still requite a decent amount of light out. 45 minutes on high, and 15 on Turbo, is definitely no slouch, and it holds the output pretty steadily until its fourth dimension is upward.
I'm happy to give the Nitecore TINI2 four.5 stars – the but things belongings information technology back from 5, in my opinion, are the emitters, which I think would be amend suited for a more neutral white and higher CRI, and the MSRP. There's adequately regular deals bachelor though, so keep your optics peeled!

Nitecore Tini 2 For Auction

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