During my deep dive into the flashlight world, I discovered a relatively new brand AceBeam (est. 2014). The name kept showing up on forums and a friend mentioned they were excellent lights, so I had to try them out. They offer a wide variety of flashlights for any situation from diving to hunting and anything in between. Having so many everyday carry lights, I wanted to try out something different and go for a long-range thrower. AceBeam’s L-series of tactical throwers fits this bill and I decided to try out the L19.
The L19 is their latest model in the L series lineup and is designed specifically for long-range use. According to the specs, the white LED version has an incredible throw of 1,350 meters with a maximum brightness of 1,650 lumens. The L19 is also offered in green LED and for those running night vision, infrared.
Specs:
Weight – 6.91 oz w/o battery
Length – 6.44 in.
Bezel Diameter – 2.36 in.
Body Diameter – 1 in.
Drop rating – 1 meter
Water resistance up to 5 meters
Warranty – Limited lifetime warranty, 5 year warranty for factory defects, 24 months free repairs.
What’s in the box
AceBeam includes a few nice accessories to go with the L19. Inside the box you’ll find the L19, a nylon belt holster with Velcro, a wrist lanyard, USB charging cable with power bank adapter, two spare o-rings, extra rubber switch cover, manual, warranty cards, and the AceBeam 21700 USB-C battery (battery does not come with all models). Surprisingly the accessories are all made from high quality materials. Most of the time, the flashlight holsters are a flimsy piece of nylon with bad stitching. But not this one. It’s thick, has reinforced seams, and quality stitching.
Overview
In the hand, the L19 has a nice balanced weight and quality feel to it. The aircraft grade aluminum body has a matte hard coat anodized finish and features a frag milling pattern that provides a pleasant grip surface. There are no gaps between the body and electronic switch, or tail cap. The machining quality is exceptional – all the surfaces are smooth and clean. It looks as if the light was constructed from a single piece of aluminum, you can’t even tell where the tail cap joins the body. One of my biggest pet peeves about flashlights are the rattles. I’m pleased to say the L19 doesn’t have any of those and is built solid.
The tail cap itself has a nice rubber boot covering the switch with the same frag pattern found on the body. It is a push to click activated tail switch and has a positive tactile feel. Just below the tail switch is an all-metal tactical ring with a cutout for the lanyard attachment. The metal activation switch on the main body is flush with the tube to prevent accidental use. Next to the switch is the battery indicator. It will change from green to red as the battery drains.
The L19 features a crenulated strike bezel that houses the TIR (total internal reflection) optic and LED. AceBeam used a domeless OSRAM LED that produces a very narrow, high intensity beam. Paired with the TIR optic, the L19 has a tightly focused beam with small but intense hotspot. Surprisingly there is very little spill. Which is to be expected with a long-range thrower.
Operating and Use
Unlike some other flashlights, the L19 has a very user-friendly interface. It has 6 different operating modes and a memory feature. The tail cap switch activates turbo mode only – half press for momentary on, and full press with click for continuous use.
Use the side switch on the body to cycle through the different light modes. Press it once to turn it on. Once on, press and hold to switch light modes. Once off, the light will turn back on to the last used setting. To activate moonlight mode, from the off position, press and hold the side switch. Turbo mode can be activated from off or during any mode with a double click. Strobe mode is activated with a triple click. The side switch can also be pressed and held for 5 seconds to lockout the light. Press and hold for 5 seconds to unlock. None of the lighting modes displayed flickering or PWM issues.
AceBeam’s 21700 protected button top battery has a built in USB-C charging port. Charging using the provided USB cable proved to be a bit slow and took around 4.5 hours to charge. However, the charging cable also has a USB A female adapter on one end so you can use the battery as a power bank to charge other devices in a pinch. The AceBeam 21700 is a bit longer than traditional 21700 batteries, but it still fits in my bank charger and my other protected 21700s worked just fine in the L19.
Performance
Turning on the L19 for the first time caught me by surprised. I wasn’t expecting the beam pattern to be so tight and focused with almost no spill. The color temperature appears to be a bright white around 5700K. Indoors, the L19 leaves a lot to be desired which is understandable since it’s a long-range illuminator. Outside is where we can see that tight beam stretching out as far as the eye can see.
The TIR optic used in the L19 does an incredible job at concentrating the light into a bright hotspot. Even on the moonlight setting of just 1 lumen, it’s still plenty bright to use on a walk. Most flashlights in moonlight mode are only good for reading a book just inches from your face.
I took the L19 out to the park down the street where I could shine out as far as 600 meters. In turbo mode, the beam looks like a white search light scanning the sky. It reminded me of the spotlights I used to see as a kid panning the sky at the movie theater down the street. Needless to say, it had me grinning and I could clearly see anything the beam touched. It easily illuminated the bayou 600 meters down to the highway where I could then see the cars glowing as they passed on the feeder road. The L19 is truly impressive, and I don’t doubt you could easily see 1,000+ meters when paired with a magnified optic.
AceBeam makes a picatinny rail mount and tail cap pressure switch for use on long guns. This would make for a great varmint hunting spotlight, and the green LED version would be ideal for predators. It’s light enough to use in hand for prolonged periods, and much lighter than my previous hunting light reducing the bulkiness on the gun.
Final thoughts
The L19 is a winner if you’re looking to shine out to long distances. It does a great job at spotlighting targets 40 feet and further. It’d be ideal for people in search and rescue, law enforcement, property owners, hunters, and anyone who just appreciates high-powered flashlights.
There are no extra features to complicate the interface, and the light has performed flawlessly during my use. The one gripe I have about the L19 is that it does require the use of protected 21700 batteries. Not a big deal since battery technology has come a long way in recent years, but something I wanted to point out.
AceBeam has an excellent warranty program and from what others have said about their customer service, they are responsive and fast. The ability to spot targets as far as my eye can see, the compact size and high-quality manufacturing make the L19 my new favorite spotlight.
This flashlight is not even on their website. What’s the deal?
Passersby fans. I think the L19 is the longest shot in the light cup of the same size, and the LED used is also the smallest core automotive-grade lamp bead. Not to mention its lens. It is not necessary to deliberately hack it.
AceBeam flashlights are made in CHINA. Same for Fenix and O light.
Elzetta, SureFire, and Streamlight flashlights are made in the United States of America.
Yes, it matters.
Yeah, and I bet at a much higher price for a light that probably doesn’t have as much effective usable light. And you should look a little deeper into the names you claim are made in America. What do you mean by “made?” Let’s not all facts, 99.99999% of everything cones from China or some other foreign country. So I’d bet they get their supplies to make the lights from cheap Chinese suppliers who almost certainly manufacture every part made in those so called US made lights, except the US plant JUST assembles it! Then it’s US made in shady people eyes which is every manufacturer who does that and claims US made when literally zero part is made in the US and just assembled here. Trust me, none of those places get every bit of their materials here in the US especially now since it’s slave labor prices in most all other counties and what idiot would pay a team of people full US wages, benefits, etcetera when they don’t have to deal with but one man who distributes him what he wants with zero issues on his US side when he can pay a flat fee for just the goods and never has to deal with cry baby US employees and instead pay so much less than we could Evan imagine and sadly with a better end result since let’s face facts the US people are lazy as can be abs do the very bare minimum just to keep our jobs and if you think your not one then when was the last time you did something at work you didn’t have to?!
One can buy two ThruNite TN42 Throwers for that cost. The TN42 has a reach of 1550 meters and is rated at 600,750cd. Another contender is the Niwalker BK-FA30S Long Throw Search Light 2200 Lumen, 1600 Meter Throw Distance . Beam Intensity: 650,000 cd. Both of these can be found for around $169 or less.
The TN42 and BK-FA30S are HUGE compared to the L19. The TN42 comes with a shoulder strap it’s so big. And both these models use multiple 18650’s vs a single 21700.
I’m not sure this is a fair comparison considering the power and size of the AceBeam.
Anyone interested in this AceBeam LED Flashlight needs to check out the FENIX line of LED lights! They blow the AceBeam light(s) totally away. They have small LED lights which can be used as handheld or weapon mounted (much like the Shurefire lights) some of which are double plus (3200 + lumen small tactical flashlight – hand or weapon mount) the lumen output of this large one and have a versatile battery interchangeability as well. There are also some larger very high powered lights. Their price points are GREAT as well and the customer service and support is phenomenal. I currently have a hand-held FENIX which is smaller than the AceBeam reviewed here (mine is palm sized) which generates 10,000 lumen (checked the output with a luminosity meter and it is within +/- .05% across all brightness modes). It is rechargeable with L-O-N-G battery charge life, 5 modes with easy changeability and it is easily recharged from multiple sources. It illuminates long
distances from 1200 – 1600 + meters easily. This SUPER LED can be purchased for around the same price as the AceBeam.
The only Fenix light on their site that’s 10,000 lumen has a 63,200 max candela. The AceBeam has 442,407 max candela. So the AceBeam shines 6 X further than the Fenix…
Lumen count has no effect on throw distance.
A rechargeable battery is fine, but the ability to use a lithium or NiCad in its place when needed is a miss in my opinion.
You actually can use 2 CR123’s and it will work just fine.