I've gotten the chance to try out these lights thanks to someone who watches my videos, Ryan! He wanted to try them out himself and offered to send them to me first. Huge shoutout to him! It'll be a lot of fun to carry these for the next month. The lights from left to right are the Nitecore TINI, the Nitecore TIP, and the Mecarmy SGN5. I'm still trying to figure out the UI on all of them, so that's something I won't be talking about now. Stay tuned for the review posts in the coming weeks for a more in-depth look about how I liked them. Initially, I like that all of them are around $30, rechargeable, and colorful. I'm hoping that at least one of them will be something that I want to carry every day. There's actually a lot of similarities between the three lights, so maybe there will eventually be a three-way comparison post. I'm almost positive I'll at least compare the TIP/TINI, and maybe do a Tube/TIP/TINI comparison.
I'm going to talk about the one I'm most excited to try first, and that's the Nitecore TINI. Here's a link to Amazon if you'd like to check it out. Surprisingly, this one has me the most intrigued. It's slightly brighter than the TIP (380 lumens vs. the TIP's 360), but it is smaller and has a more interesting design. I have not ever seen a light like this on the flashlight market before. I like that the TIP/TINI have the power button to turn the light on first, and a separate button to change the modes. I don't think I've ever had a light with a mode button before. The combination of the small size, different design, and good output make me think this one will be my favorite. We'll have to see what I think once I start carrying it.
The second light is the Nitecore TIP, which is the one I knew the most about going into this. Link to Amazon here. I was worried about the form factor, but it's a lot smaller than I expected. That's good, and it does fit nicely in my EDC pouch that I carry every day. One thing that surprised me about it is the fact that it doesn't have a cover over the USB port. That's not the end of the world to me, but the other two do have it covered, as well as the Nitecore Tip which is similar to this. I really dig the metal bodies on both the TIP/TINI. Both lights feel very nice in the hand. This one gets a lot of hype in the EDC community. Let's hope it lives up to it.
The last light is the Mecarmy SGN5 (link to Amazon here). This is the brightest of the bunch with a max output of 560 lumens. It has a switch on the side that triggers an alarm. Let me tell you, that scared the crap out of me when I accidentally turned it on. In the unboxing I did, you might be able to see me jump a little bit. At first I thought the idea of an alarm on a flashlight was stupid, but I do get that it's a different self-defense type of option. I don't particularly like the plastic body. It feels pretty durable, but I'd prefer metal, especially for the price and considering its competition is the TIP. The SGN5 doesn't look as nice in my opinion either. This one seems to be the light you'd get if you were only concerned with lumens and not necessarily design. I'll give it a fair shot, but I do think it'll fall flat to the Nitecores.
Stay tuned for the reviews on these in the next few weeks. I'm going to start with the TIP, and do the TINI and Mecarmy after that. Again, thanks a ton to Ryan for giving me the chance to try these! I'm excited to carry them! Thanks for looking!
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