Acebeam W35

Acebeam W35
LEP type / classShine through LEP
Max. beam intensity (candelas)1,690,000 cd
Max. beam distance (meters)2,600 meters
Max. output (lumens)800 lm
LEP Modes4 + zoom
Avg. Price listed by manufacturer$339

The successor of the Acebeam W30

Acebeam has been at the forefront of producing LEP flashlights, with the Acebeam W30 being the most interesting… well.. at least till a few years ago. Fortunately, in 2023 they picked up their work, and produced 2 new LEP flashlights, namely the Acebeam Terminator M1, and this Acebeam W35..

And the W35 is rather unique, because it is sold a a zoomable LEP flashlight. But this ‘zoom’ feature is unlike any other LEP flashlight, since it doesn’t really zoom, but diffuse. Acebeam calls it Liquid Crystal Diffractive Electro-optic Lens (LC DEL) Zoom. It doesn’t only sound very sophisticated, it also is. It gives you 8 different diffuse settings, from very diffuse (which feels like a floody LED beam) and a non-diffuse setting for its highest intensity.

And Acebeam specifies it at 2,600 meters and 1,690,000 candelas. And yes, the W35 can easily achieve that in my testing.

Use, batteries, and more

The W35 uses a single 21700 battery, that is included in the package. It’s a Acebeam IMR21700NP-500A with 5,000mAh, and it arrived at 3.85Volts. But if you want a backup battery, you can use any off-the-shelf 21700 including unprotected, flat tops. So that’s something many people would appreciate, since you are not restricted to 1 single type of battery.

You can charge the battery inside the W35 via a USB-C cable that Acebeam also provided. Charging itself takes 4 hours, give or take 1 minute. So that’s pretty consistent.

And you also don’t need to charge your battery in the flashlight, as you can simply charge it in a normal 21700 battery charger.

Performance

I tested the Acebeam W35, and got the following Lumen measurements

ModeSpecsat turn on30 seconds10 minutes
Low80 lm99 lm90 lm87 lm
Med230 lm250 lm239 lm226 lm
High470 lm507 lm471 lm438 lm
Turbo800 lm810 lm733 lm410 lm

This means that it didn’t quite reach specified output, but close enough. These were tested without any diffusement

I also double checked the output in Turbo, just for the widest zoom/strongest diffuse mode.

ModeSpecsat turn on30 seconds
Turbo (flood level 8)570 lm661 lm594 lm

Here are my runtime measurements:

ModeSpecifiedMeasured (ANSI FL1)Time till shut off
Low8h 20min8h 03min8h 03min
Med4h4h 18min4h 18min
High2h2h 14min2h 14min
Turbo*1h 46min2h 04min2h 04min

And last but not least, here are my throw measurements:

ModeSpecifiedCd measuredMetersYards
Low180,625 cd240,000 cd980 m1072 yd
Turbo1,690,000 cd1,892,000 cd2751 m3009 yd

I also measured the 8 different zoom/diffuse settings, from level 1-8.

ModeCd measuredMetersYards
Turbo (zoom 8)4,125 cd128 m140 yd
Turbo (zoom 7)7,925 cd178 m195 yd
Turbo (zoom 6)10,100 cd201 m220 yd
Turbo (zoom 5)13,750 cd235 m256 yd
Turbo (zoom 4)22,000 cd297 m324 yd
Turbo (zoom 3)42,825 cd414 m453 yd
Turbo (zoom 2)111,500 cd668 m730 yd
Turbo (zoom 1)359,500 cd1199 m1311 yd

Final verdict

The W35 is pretty unique with its electronic diffuse system (zoom they call it), with 8 different softness settings. In my opinion, they could have done with 4 or maximum 5.. 8 in my opinion is way too many.

In terms of performance, mine easily outperformed specs in its highest setting, reaching 2751 meters instead of the claimed 2600.

Get the flashlight here:

Further reading: