Reviewing System

Reviewing system

This describes how I assess lights in reviews.

I score each light on a number of different categories, which are weighted based on the type of light to provide an overview of my general impression of it.

Personally, I tend towards the enthusiast side of the market and towards high performance, but I follow broader community sentiment enough that I always consider how people with different opinions to me may feel.

Review sections

These will be fairly consistent through most lights, although some lights will by their nature have much more extensive content in some sections than other lights.

• Introduction, Background, and Official Specs
• First impressions
• Physical design and build quality
• User Interface
• Driver and emitters
• Power and charging
• Moddability
• Performance
• Beamshots
• Competitors
• Final thoughts and score

Introduction, Background, and Official Specs

Some background information on the manufacturer of the light, my own and the enthusiast community's experiences with them, and the context of the enthusiast scene and market at the time of release/review.

First Impressions, Physical Design, and Build Quality

A description of the light, its packaging, any accessories, and the general physical design. Also including immediate observations during this process and when first trying the light out.

User Interface

Overview of the user interface, and my thoughts on it

Using the Light

My thoughts on the general experience of the light, both while testing it and when carrying it for day to day use. More detail on things mentioned in the first impressions section.

Driver and Emitters

General technical overview of the light. May include information directly from manufacturers, from the community, and my own observations or educated guesses. Also includes subjective notes on the beam profile, quality, and general feel, as well as objective data on the CCT, spectral output, and colour rendering performance.

Power and Charging

How the light is powered, if there is any type of built in charging, powerbank mode, or similar. Also including data on built in charging if available.

Moddability and Repairability

An overview of the light's physical design from the perspective of potential disassembly for mods or repairs.

Performance.

The important part ;) - output, throw, and runtimes. Both data and my general observations, as well as any notes on the data collection process.

Beamshots

Because we all want to see how it looks in use. Usually including a few similar comparable lights.

Competitors

Brief overview of other lights you might consider for a similar use case.

Final Thoughts and Score

Mostly subjective opinion on a light. I try to keep my review scores evenly weighted. 5/10 means "completely unremarkable/average in this respect" and 3/10 means "noticeably below average", not "terrible" and "I'd actually rather use my phone" respectively.

Scores for each category are subjective, based on a combination of my own feeling and general community sentiment (leaning towards enthusiasts, but considering how the average nonenthusiast might see it too). As such, they may change over time, as technology advances and standards are raised. Equally, they also depend on expectations for what the light represents in terms of brand, target market, price point, etc. The standard for 8/10 looks in a low priced penlight is going to be lower than for a large medium priced EDC or tactical light. Similarly, 4000lm in a 14500 light would be a definite 10/10 for absolute performance, but a 3/10 in a large sodacan light.

Each light will be scored on each of these categories. Each category is scored according to expectations for the overall category of the light, including its price point and competitors.

• Looks: How visually appealing the light is.
• Quality: The physical quality of the light. This incorporates the physical design in terms of materials, machining, perceived durability, and the manufacturer's warranty and reputation for customer service.
• User Interface: How well designed and easy to use the user interface is, as well as the depth ofd configuration options it provides. This is somewhat situational - a light that's aimed at the enthusiast market will be marked down for not having a configurable user interface with advanced options, while a basic light more suitable for general use may be fine with the same UI.
• Performance: How well the light performs, compared to similarly sized and priced lights with a similar target market. Note that this is not necessarily overall performance. For example, 2000lm is a lot for a small EDC for a nonenthusiast, but underwhelming in a tactical or enthusiast-oriented light.
  • Absolute performance: The maximum performance possible from the light, with no consideration for sustained performance.
  • Sustained performance: How well the light holds a high output level, as well as runtimes.
• Moddability and Repairability: How easy it is to modify the light - if it is designed in a way that makes it easy or difficult, as well as the scope of potential modding that could be done. If the light has normally updatable firmware (e.g. anduril), this score will also reflect whether updating is possible - not including flashing pads or using an obsolete MCU will lower the score, as will things like the manufacturer not releasing any hwdefs and source code of any modifications for open source firmware.
• Practicality: How practical the light is. This does not necessarily mean "as an EDC" - an Acebeam X75 is practical compared to its direct competitors (Imalent SR32/MS18, Haikelite HK08), but I don't EDC one ;). This incorporates the battery, any charging system, runtime, carryability, etc. Lights can be penalised here for things such as proprietary or built-in non-replaceable batteries, or for having a magnet wihout an available non-magnetic option.
• Value: Value for money, including frequency and level of discount of any sales.
• Fun: Why a lot of us buy so many lights ;)

In addition, each light will get an overall score based on a weighted average of these categories, reflecting how important I feel the category is to the type of light - for example, most people buying tactical lights primarily care about build quality, UI, and performance, while for an enthusiast-oriented light, the top criteria would generally be performance, UI, looks, and moddability, or for a light that falls within neither category, it may receive a higher weighting for practicality and value.

Testing equipment

Coming soon.