In a time of flashlights with thousands of lumens, one may wonder what the reasoning behind buying a 260 lumen (at best) flashlight.
A few months ago, I purchased a Nitecore MT21A from New Zealand based company Torchmonster. I've purchased several items in the past from them, and as well as providing free delivery by courier, within one or two days, any contact I've had with them has been friendly.
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| Here it is, in all its glory! |
Considerations:
When deciding to purchase this flashlight, I had a number of considerations to, erm, consider:
- Availability:
- New Zealand doesn't have a great range of flashlight brands available.
- Quality:
- I thought LED Lenser flashlights were top of the range here, until I found the likes of Nitecore and Klarus, available online locally.
- Cost:
- This flashlight was to be a gift for a 13 year old nephew overseas, and with a significant risk of it being lost or stolen.
- I was looking at around the NZ$50-$70 range.
- Multiple modes:
- Especially a strobe. He was fascinated by a flashlight I have with a strobe, and wanted the torch to have that, plus a low, medium and high setting.
- AA batteries:
- I didn't want my nephew to have to get any special chargers or batteries.
- As it was being sent overseas, I couldn't consider anything with a Lithium Ion cell.
- Size:
- I didn't want it to be too big, that he wouldn't carry it with him, nor too small, so it would get lost.
- Runtime and brightness:
- I knew that by going with AA batteries, that there'd be a runtime vs brightness tradeoff, so would have to compromise here.
- Ease of use:
- My preference was for a single button, cycling through the modes.
The contenders:
As well as the MT21A, I had also considered the following:
The decision:
I decided that the output of the MT1A (140 lumens in Turbo), wasn't quite up there, and with just a single AA battery powering it, the size may be too small, so I eliminated that from my choices.
The MT21A and MT2A were pretty close, and the final decision came down to availability, as at the time, Rubber Monkey didn't have any in stock.
The verdict:
I had a quick play with it before taking a few photos and wrapping it up, and liked what I saw.
It was pretty lightweight, compared to the Nitecore SRT7GT that I have, but felt solid enough in the hand. It reminded me somewhat of the classic 2AA Mini Maglites.
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| The angle from which I took this photograph makes the head look bigger than it really is. A useful photographic tip, guys. |
Despite being a huge fan of Nitecore's Selector Ring Technology, I wasn't too fussed with having to twist the head to select turbo mode, but this seems to be a standard design feature at this price point. It does mean that users are less likely to use turbo be default, thus draining the battery quickly, so I can see how it's useful.
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| A single clicky switch at the bottom. Unable to do tailstands. |
It was bright enough for a budget light, and the advertised runtime meant that juice wouldn't run out every time it is used.
Overall, I think that this flashlight met my requirements pretty well. My nephew is pleased with it, and hasn't lost it, yet!
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| Packaging: Front. |
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| Packaging: Back. |
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