| Nebo Luxtreme SL100 | |
|---|---|
| LEP class | Class 1 |
| Distance / intensity | 640,000 cd / 1,600 meters |
| Lumens | 500 lumens |
| Modes | 1 (for the LEP) |
| Avg. Price | $349 |
One of the few hybrid LEP flashlights, including a COB LED
I own about a few dozen LEP flashlights, and I have never had anything like this before. I’m not talking about its performance but about the design. It holds like a pistol, with your index finger resting on the power switch. And you don’t need 2 hands or change hand positions to change light sources or turn the light off.
The SL100 has 2 light sources, namely an LEP for a long-distance beam, and a COB LED for close up. You could use either of the 2 light sources or combine them. If you hold the light in a normal position, you can use your thumb to manipulate the dial know to change the light source. This dial knob has 4 settings: O (Off), F (Flood, COB), S (spot), and C (combine flood and spot).
While toggling between these modes, there is a very smooth transition. It’s not like you change the setting and the light will turn off and on, like on most other lights, but instead, there’s a smooth transition between the modes, so you won’t be left in the dark.
That’s a very handy feature.
Having a flashlight that can throw a mile is great, but what about those instances that you need a floody beam? You could take 2 flashlights with you, or get something like the Nebo Sl100. It uses a COB that will give a very floody beam that will light things up around you.
Imagine you doing a search & rescue, going through different terrains, a combination of throw and flood in 1 flashlight would be awesome. Just use your thumb to toggle between flood and throw, while keeping your eyes focused on a specific spot. No need to let your flashlight go, get another flashlight, just to realize you forgot the specific spot/location.
There’s a tripod mount built on top of the flashlight, so you could have it very stable, pointing at things very far away. It’s really hard to keep a beam steady on things that far out.
This is the farthest reaching flashlight Nebo has built thus far, and not just that, it
Batteries, and more
The SL100 uses 2*21700 batteries built into a battery pack. That means, you can’t just replace the batteries whenever you want, because it’s a proprietary system. That being said, Nebo includes a 12V car adapter that makes you able to charge while on the road.
Another great feature I just found out, is that you don’t need batteries if you use the USB-C adapter! Well, at least I just tried to use the USB-C cable, while the batteries weren’t inserted. And that still works.
So you can have a 12V backup for extremely long runtimes/light.
If you don’t have a car for using the 12V adapter, you should probably get an extra battery pack, just in case.
Performance
While I just said you better get a spare battery pack, don’t think the runtimes are short. No, on the contrary, the runtimes are very long, which makes it ideal to use for longer periods of time.
From my testing I got the following lumen numbers:
| Mode | Specs | @ turn on** | @ 30sec | @ 10minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LEP | 280 | 327 lm | 321 lm | 182 lm |
| COB | 500 | 609 lm | 580 lm | 156 lm |
| LEP+COB | 525 lm | 615 lm | 598 lm | 271 lm |
| Red | 30 lm | 20.20 lm | 19.66 lm | 19 lm |
**Both the LEP and COB don’t start at peak output. They start at about 90% and quickly increase to peak output within a second or 2. I wrote down the highest output I could measure at ‘turn on’ which was in reality about 2-3 seconds.
I also tested distance (candela)
| Light source | Specs | Candela | meters | yards | miles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COB | 42 meters | 350 | 37 | 41 | – |
| LEP | 1600 meters | 676,000 cd | 1644 meters | 1798 yards | 1.02 miles |
Here are 2 comparison graphs in terms of candela
Get the flashlight here:
You can get the flashlight directly at Nebo
