REVIEW – We currently have a single flashlight in our household. It is rechargeable and has a nice base that it plugs into while waiting to be used. On the rare occasions where I do need a flashlight, I often find myself competing with the spousal unit (old Saturday Night Live Coneheads reference!) as to who gets the flashlight. So when the opportunity came up to review the Imalent DM35 flashlight, I jumped at the opportunity. Let’s see if this flashlight ‘lights my world’!
What is it?
The Imalent DM35 is a 2000 lumens rechargeable spotlight flashlight. I am emphasizing the spotlight, because of the type of lens it has on the front. That lens makes the light act more like a spotlight so that the light reaches further in a narrow band, versus a floodlight which would not reach as far, but have a wider field of view. Imalent makes a DM70 that looks just like the DM35 but it is a floodlight. It has up to 4500 lumens but will only reach 306 meters, while the DM35 is 2000 lumens and reaches 450 meters.
What’s in the box?
- One DM35 spotlight flashlight with the rechargeable battery inside
- One belt pouch carry case
- Two spare O-Rings – one by the base where the battery goes in, and one up top near the flashlight head.
- On micro USB charging cord
- One metal snap-on belt clip
- One lanyard
- User’s manual
Hardware specs
- IPX-8 – two meters submersible
- 4.53 inches long
- Rhombic knurling for easy grip
- CREE XHP35 HI LED bulb rated at 50,000 hours
- Sleeping Tight Light
- Indicator Lights
- Strobe light feature
- Five output levels – 2000 lumens, 1400 lumens, 900 lumens, 300 lumens, 20 lumens
Design and features
Setup
The picture above shows the flashlight completely taken apart. You need to do this in order to perform the proper setup. Unscrewing the bottom cap lets you slide the battery out of the case. On the battery, you can see the micro USB charging slot. It is a bit of a pain to have to take the battery out to recharge the light. The battery is 21,700 lithium ions and is supposed to hold a charge in standby for a long time. The middle part is the main part of the battery case, and the top part holds the CREE XHP35 HI LED bulb rated at 50,000 hours. If you look closely you will see a clear piece of plastic to the right of the headlight housing. That was between the head unit and the top of the battery. That needs to be removed before the light will work.
Another thing to note is that if you look closely at the picture above, the screw threads are lubricated nicely. Imalent recommends putting a thin coating of silicone-based lubricant on the threads every six months or so.
To recharge the battery, you simply plug in the micro USB cable into the slot on the battery and the USB end of the cable into a charger. It will glow red like above when charging and turn to green when fully charged.
I popped the belt clip on the light to try it out. It really clips on there. It will not come off easily. It does hinder putting the bottom cap on if the clip is on. I feel pretty confident that if you use this clip to hang the light on a pocket or belt, it won’t come off easily.
The picture above is a close up of the light and lens in the flashlight. It shows that this flashlight is a spot type flashlight and not a flood light.
This is a picture of the bottom of the light casing where the top of the battery would sit.
Finally, this is the bottom cap of the light with the spring where the cap screws into the bottom of the battery. Everything is really well built with an aluminum alloy. You could certainly hurt someone by throwing this light at them.
Performance
As I mentioned above, this light is really well built. It can stand on the end cap easily.
Al nice feature of the flashlight is that it has a magnetic base. It will hold the flashlight on a vertical surface as you can see in the picture above. I don’t believe it is strong enough to stay in place if the object were moving or vibrating.
The two pictures above show the power button for the flashlight. It rotates. This allows you to show more or less light when you turn the indicator light on the flashlight. When it is in standby mode as it is in the picture above, there is no indicator light.
This picture shows the indicator light on. It is handy if you put the flashlight down in a dark area with the light turned off. Let’s say you are in a tent and want to be able to find it. To turn the indicator light on, you simply press and hold the power button for two seconds. The indicator lights will turn off automatically after three hours.
Another feature of the flashlight is this ‘Sleeping Tight Light’. There is this indicator that is on the opposite side of the power button. To turn it on you press the power button quickly three times and the indicator will start to glow red. It is supposed to help you sleep better at night. I can’t say if this works or not. I personally prefer my room to be as dark as possible at night.
Now for the fun part. Let’s see how well this flashlight works. This flashlight advertises five levels of light and a strobe mode, however, I only seem to find four levels of light and a strobe mode. Each of the pictures below shows the level of light for each mode. I was standing on the back of my deck pointing towards the corner of my backyard that was about 41 feet away. Pushing the power button once puts it at its last level or the lowest level. Pressing and holding the power button lets you cycle through the different power levels.
Level 1 – this is 300 lumens I believe. In my opinion, this is not very useful unless you are trying to illuminate something really close.
Level 2 – 900 lumens – This is much better. I made it my default setting.
Level 3 – 1400 lumens – Everything is lit well.
Level 4 – 2000 lumens At this point, my backyard is too short. The light would extend much further. That is why the center seems overexposed with too much light. I would think you would use this setting if you were trying to illuminate way up a trail.
What I like
- There are lots of features in this flashlight. Strobe mode, indicator lights, magnetic base, pouch, and clip.
- The battery is lithium-ion and should hold a charge a long time in standby mode.
- It is very well made and seems indestructible
What needs to be improved
- It would be nice to recharge the light without having to take the battery out.
Final thoughts
This flashlight may seem rather expensive and I am sure you can find cheaper flashlights out there. What I don’t think you will find are flashlights as well built like this with the features it has. If you are looking for a sturdy, well built, and portable flashlight that should last you a long time, I recommend this flashlight.
Price: $94.95
Where to buy: imalentstore.com
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Imalent.
