Nitecore TINI Thoughts

The Nitecore TINI is the newest addition to Nitecore's keychain line that started with the Tube. There's also the TIP, which got upgraded at the beginning of 2017. I believe the TINI came out in the fall of 2017, so it's relatively new in the flashlight world. It's got an interesting design, but due to some bad UI, it falls flat. I wanted to love it, yet I hate lights where you have to press and hold to turn it on. Here's a link to it Amazon if you'd like to give it a look. I won't personally recommend it, but it is solid in everything except the UI.

The TINI is very tiny! I think that's the pun that Nitecore was going for. It looks really cute and stands out with its different design. It reminds me a lot of a projector, and I find it to be one of the cooler looking lights I've ever tried. I don't think there's many other lights that resemble this one on the market. Despite the small size, it is still easy to use one-handed. They come in all sorts of different colors, which is always something I like to see. It's is very lightweight and would be nice to put on a keychain. I think it's a little too wide to put on a keychain when compared to a AAA light. I would rather have it on my keychain over the TIP though. The body on the TINI is also aluminuum like the TIP. I really like that, as aluminum feels a lot nicer than plastic. You can easily take this light apart with torx screws on the top and bottom. The quality is great as well!

The beam is nice. The tint looks good, and the beam is mostly flood opposed to a hotspot. I like the beam on this light more than the TIP's for some reason.

The output on this little light is very impressive. The max output is 380 lumens, which is actually 20 lumens brighter than the TIP. That's a nice amount of lumens to have in an EDC or keychain light. There are 4 modes total: low (1 lumen), medium (38 lumens), high (145 lumens), and turbo (380 lumens). If you also read my thoughts on the TIP (linked here), I mentioned that runtime is not too much of a concern to me. I generally only use my lights quickly for no more than a minute at a time, so the battery seems to last forever with this type of usage. I've only had to charge this light once within a few weeks of having it. The max runtime is 60 hours on low, while the minimum runtime on turbo is 15 minutes. I love the 1 lumen low mode. Sometimes low modes are around 10 lumens, which I personally find too bright for a low mode. The low and medium modes are my most used modes with this light.

The UI is annoying. In order to turn the light on, you have to press and hold the power button for a few seconds. I've had this UI on other lights before, and I've never been a fan of it. If I need to use my light that means I need light now. A couple seconds doesn't seem that long, but it's always an annoyance I've had. It's not the end of the world obviously. If that's an issue to you as well, I don't think you'd like this light. I'm also not a fan of the two buttons: one for power and the other to switch modes. I didn't like them on the TIP, and nothing has changed with the TINI. These buttons are a lot easier to press than the TIP's, so maybe Nitecore did the press and hold UI so it wouldn't turn on easily. After turning on the light, you switch modes with the top button. I don't mind having to click for each mode, but I know some people don't like that. There is mode memory, so you are able to leave it on whatever mode you use the most. To access the turbo mode, you press and hold the mode switch. It only momentarily stays on like this, so you must hold the switch for however long you need turbo on. I find that kind of annoying, but then again, turbo is not a mode I need that often. You'll need to put the light in daily mode after first getting it (by pressing and holding both buttons down for a few seconds until there are two flashes), in order to prevent the light from turning off after 30 seconds.

I love that Nitecore made this light USB rechargeable. It's easy and convenient to charge. I'm happy they put a rubber cover over the micro USB port to protect from dirt, water, etc. It doesn't take too long to charge, only about 2 hours max. There are blue lights under the buttons that will flash to indicate the battery level (tap the mode button to see how full battery is)/when it's charging and will turn solid blue after done charging. They look really cool. It does not come with a USB cord in the box to charge it. Though if you order it from Amazon, most of the sellers will include one for free.

The TINI goes for about $30, which I think is a great deal. The TIP also goes for $30 but doesn't have as many lumens. If you're looking for a smaller light with almost 400 lumens, you can't go wrong for $30.

Unfortunately, this is not a light I personally recommend. I hate the UI, but I realize that I could be in the minority on that. The design, price, output, and size are all great things about it. It's a shame that such a cool light had to be ruined with a terrible UI. If you're trying to decide between Nitecore's lights, I say go with the Tube. If you're stuck between this and the TIP, I think the TIP is better. I really was hoping to like this, but it wasn't meant to be. It is still a solid light, so check it out if it interests you. Here's a link to it on Amazon. Thanks for looking!