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NITECORE TUBE

Nitecore TUBE, retail $7.92 (www.batteryjunction.com...)
Manufactured by Nitecore (http://nitecore.com)
Last updated 10-24-19

The Nitecore TUBE (hereinafter, probably just called the TUBE) is aa small keychain-type LED flashlight. You might be thinking, "O BOY!!! A keychain flashlight!" but the TUBE is different from the others.

It features a Cree XP-G R5 phosphor white LED, has infinitely variable intensity, and it's...wait for it...

WAIT FOR IT...

RECHARGEABLE via the USB port on your pee-cee or Mac computer!

Size of product w/hand to show scale

SIZE

To turn the TUBE on in low mode, press & release the black rubberised button on its upper surface once.

To get high mode, press & release this button again within approx one second of initially turning it on.

To access the continuously-variable intensity mode, press & hold down the button after you first turn it on; release the button when the intensity is where you want it.

To neutralise the TUBE (turn it off), press & release the button at any time it is on.

To access a momentary mode in which the TUBE will come on at maximum intensity right away and stay that way until the button is released, press & hold down the button while the TUBE is completely off; releasing the button neutralises it.

To change the batteries in your brand spanken new (or corroded old)

TUBE, unscrew & remove the bezel (head), carry it to a bridge over deep water (the Oakland Bay Bridge would be ideal; however, the Juneau-Douglas Bridge would also do in a pinch here), and throw it over the side so that it goes "blub blub blub" all the way to the bottom of Gastineau Channel with all of the bowling balls that were lobbed over that bridge in the 1950s and 1960s...O WAIT!!! THE TUBE IS RECHARGEABLE!!! So you need not go through any of this rigmarole.

To charge the TUBE, get a micro-USB cable (not included; you'll have to procure one elsewhere; many rechargeable MP3 players and cellular telephones come with one -- my Samsung Galaxy TAB4 tablet computer uses one), plug the larger end into any USB port on your computer, swing up the rubber bung covering the micro-USB port on the TUBE located on the left side of its body near the front, and plug the smaller end of the cable into this micro-USB port. A bright blue LED inside the TUBE's body will come on to indicate that the charge cycle is in progress.

This is a micro-USB cable -- well, the two ends of it anyway.

When the blue light turns off, unplug the USB cable from the TUBE, firmly replace the rubber bung over the micro-USB port on the TUBE, and unplug the cable from your computer. Yes, it really is that easy!

This is what the Juneau-Douglas Bridge looks like...or what it lookED like anyway before it was replaced in 1976.

And this is what the bridge looks like now.
But you really don't need these pics because there is nothing to remove & lose or chuck anyway.

Unable to measure current usage due to how the product was constructed.

The flashlight appears to be reasonably sturdy. Ordinary flashlight accidents should not be enough to do it in. I wanted to administer the smack test on it (ten whacks against the concrete floor of a porch; five whacks against the side of the tailcap and five whacks against the side of the bezel), but since this is a loaner (and it's freakin tiny!), this particular test will be foregone this time around. I know you like to see me try and break things, but "ain't" "gonna" happen today, folks.

Water-resistance will not be an issue here...if it falls next to the mailbox and the dog passes micturition (lifts his leg and pisses) on it, just douche it off under the faucet or take the garden hose to it and keep going...good as new!

Using the TUBE in foul weather will not kill it either, provided that the rubber bung over the micro-USB port is firmly pushed into place.

The small split ring was judged to be a significant pain in the toilet muscle to attach, requiring the aid of a butterknife and several frustrating minutes -- but I finally got it on.

Beam terminus photograph on a poster at 12".
My usual test target has become misplaced, which is why this Viva Piñata™ poster was used.
Measures 24,200mcd (low) and 126,200mcd (high) on an Amprobe LM631A light meter.

Pic showing the blue, "Charge cycle in progress" LED.

Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this flashlight (low).

Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this flashlight (low); spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 440nm and 460nm to pinpoint native emission peak wavelength, which is 451.880nm.

The raw spectrometer data (tab-delimited that can be loaded into Excel) is at http://www.tllm.site/48/tubel.txt

Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this flashlight (high).

Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this flashlight (high); spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 440nm and 460nm to pinpoint native emission peak wavelength, which is 452.590nm.

The raw spectrometer data (tab-delimited that can be loaded into Excel) is at http://www.tllm.site/48/tubeh.txt

Spectrographic analysis of the LED that indicates, "Charge cycle in progress".

Spectrographic analysis of the LED that indicates, "Charge cycle in progress"; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 450nm and 460nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is 457.170nm.

The raw spectrometer data (tab-delimited that can be loaded into Excel) is at tubech.txt

USB2000 Spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.

A beam cross-sectional analysis would normally appear here, but the ProMetric System
that I use for that test was destroyed by lightning in mid-July 2013.

TEST NOTES:
Test unit was sent by J.P. of London, UK and was received on the afternoon of 05-07-15. Unit reviewed here is a keeper, but several other units with differing body colors do need to be returned, so the text, "(PA*)" will be appended to its listings on this website, denoting the fact that some of the units neeed to be sent to London and that they will be spared, "The Bog Test", the, "The Pet Rat Cage Test" and, "The Smack Test" as I'm certain that Jahn will want to receive them with no dirty lavatory water or desiccated rat pellets in them and no dents or cracks in their bodies.

UPDATE: 11-27-16
Just a subjective opinion (not an objective scientific obsnervation) here about the TUBE...its light output on Low isn't so bright so as to be dazzling -- it's the perfect intensity for a task like getting dressed in the dark and not disturbing a sleeping clanmate; while the output on HIGH is crazy bright -- it's of sufficient intensity to look for dropped objects in small dark spaces even during sunny daylight where other keychain flashlights would come up way short.

Suffice it to say that the TUBE has become my new EDC (Every Day Carry) light!

UPDATE: 02-09-19
The test unit was lost or left behind in a move that I made on 01-15-19.
Therefore, that dreadful, " Lost/left behind in a move that I made on 01-15-19

Lost/left behind in a move that I made on 01-15-19

" will have to be appended to its listings at once.

UPDATE: 10-24-19
Although the Tube was later found, it was stolen in Shelton WA. USA sometime in summer 2019 while awaiting shipping to me in Fresno CA. USA.
Therefore, the dreadful, "

" icon must be appended to its listings on this website, denoting the fact that some true-blue total asshaberdasher has kyped it -- probably to sell for drug money if who I suspect stole it indeed did it.

Shame too; I rather liked the little fella.

PROS:
Bright little bugger for its size
Continuously variable intensity
Starts off at minimum intensity
Rechargeable -- never have to worry about disposable batteries being dead
Small size lends itself very well for EDC (keychain or pocket carry)

NEUTRAL:
Split ring (esp. the small one) is a pain in the patootie to attach

CONS:
The micro-USB charging cable does not come with it

Nitecore

Rechargeable LED keylight

Cree XP-G R5 phosphor white LED

Wide spot w/ soft fall-off to extinction

N/A

Pushbutton on/mode change/off

Plastic

Plastic; LED inset into a rectangular recess for it

Internal rechargeable Li:ION cell

Unknown/unable to measure

Yes

Yes, to 1.50 meters

Small & medium split rings, inbuilt battery

56.50mm (2.22") L x 21mm (0.83") W x 8mm (0.31") H

9.60g (0.340 oz.) not incl. battery

China

18 months

Nitecore TUBE * www.batteryjunction.com...

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