Design wise, the SGN5 has a similar form factor to the Nitecore TIP; however, it's longer and thicker than the TIP. It is very lightweight, but I personally think it'd be way too big for a keychain. I like the rectangular shape, as it helps prevent the light from rolling around at all. I don't like that the body is made out of plastic. It feels cheap in the hand, and I'm not sure how durable it would be over time. The plastic is somewhat translucent, so it's neat that you can look at the parts inside. I'm happy Mecarmy made the SGN5 in a few other colors (pinkish red or black). There are screws on the bottom of the light that allow you to take it apart if you'd like.
The output on this light is very impressive. There are four modes: low (3 lumens), medium (28 lumens), high (118 lumens), turbo (560 lumens), and strobe. I don't like the inclusion of the strobe, but that's just a personal preference. 560 lumens in a light this size is great! It's way brighter than the Nitecore TIP I keep mentioning which has 360 lumens max. For those that care about specific runtime measures, the max runtime is 42 hours on low and the minimum is 44 minutes on turbo. I've barely had to charge this light while I've had it, so runtime is good. For EDC purposes, you'll be fine. The beam has a nice tint to it. It's more of a hotspot than a flood. I prefer flood lights, so that's kind of a disappointment. It's not the end of the world by any means. I haven't noticed too many issues with the light getting too hot, so that's good. This is a super bright light and would work well for EDC.
While the beam and output don't leave me with many complaints, the UI definitely does. The UI for this light is overly complicated and sucks to use. There are lots of weird combos and ways to get to all of the modes. If you click once on the button, you get the low mode. That's fine. If you double click, you get turbo. You can also press and hold when the light is off to momentarily use the turbo. A triple click gets you strobe. While the strobe is on, you can hold the button to go into SOS mode. It's unnecessary, so I've never used it. I don't think you should ever have to click more than twice in a light like this. The button is not the most responsive, especially when you compare it to a AAA light. That means it's sometimes hard to click fast enough to get the double/triple click to register. I hate that there's no direct way to get to the medium/high modes. You have to first turn the light on, and then press and hold to cycle through the modes (low/medium/high/turbo). I would've gotten rid of the triple click, and then had each mode be accessed with individual clicks when the light is on. The SGN5 combines a UI I like, clicks, with one I don't like, press and hold. Mecarmy should have chosen clicks for the majority of the modes and had press and hold for turbo only. It would've made a much cleaner/simpler UI. The TIP has a much better UI, and I would've preferred to see something similar on this light. The turbo can only be on for 3 seconds and then it automatically ramps down. I personally didn't notice a ramp down, but maybe I missed it. I know that was a lot, but basically the UI could be a lot better. There's no mode memory either, which really blows. I've really grown to appreciate that in my lights.
The clicky works as it should. As I mentioned earlier, it is not the most responsive. I couldn't see it turning on accidentally, since it does take a decent bit of pressure to push. I like that the button is raised and has a rubberized texture. It makes it easy to find when it is dark. It's extremely easy to use this light one-handed.
This switch on the side of the light turns on an alarm and the strobe. The intent is that it could be used in a self-defense situation. You could blind your attacker with the light and turn on the alarm to alert others/cause the attacker to run off. At first, I thought this was a really stupid feature and didn't get why it needed to be included. It does make sense for self-defense though. I don't believe I've ever seen any other light with an alarm before. Props to Mecarmy for doing something different here. It's very loud and works as it should. Mecarmy says its up to 115db if that means anything to you. I didn't realize what the switch did when I first got the light, so I turned it on and scared the crap out of myself. It's definitely effective for someone that's not expecting it. The switch doesn't take too much effort to turn on, so I'd be concerned that it'd accidentally turn on when you're taking it out of the pocket. The last point I'll make regarding the alarm is that even if the battery is close to dead, you can still use the alarm for up to two minutes. That's pretty cool.
The SGN5 is USB rechargeable. I love seeing this on more and more lights. It's convenient to charge, and much cheaper than buying batteries. I like that Mecarmy covered the micro USB port with a rubber cover to protect from dirt/dust/water/etc. Mecarmy even includes a USB cord to charge it in the box. There's a red light under the button that will sometimes flash once after pressing the button. It's kind of annoying, but I believe it is to indicate that the battery should be charged soon. While the light is charging, the light will flash red and green until it's done charging. The light will be solid green when it's fully charged. The lights look really cool and do a good job of showing the battery life. This light charges very quickly in just an hour. That's better than a two hour charge time with the TIP.
These go for about $30, which is an incredibly fair price considering all that you're getting. A 560 lumen light with an alarm is well-worth that.
No comments:
Post a Comment