REVIEW – What do you look for in a flashlight? High lumens? Multiple brightness modes? Pocket clip? Rechargeability? A flat shape so it won’t roll away when you lay it down? The Nitecore EDC27 flashlight ticks all of these boxes so let’s take a closer look.
What is it?
The Nitecore EDC27 is a rechargeable flashlight that you can add to your EDC gear collection.
What’s in the box?
- Nitecore EDC27 flashlight
- USB-C charging cable
- Lanyard (not shown)
- User manual
Hardware specs
LED – SST40 x 2
Max Output – 3,000 Lumens
Max Beam Distance – 220 Meters
Max Beam Intensity – 12200 cd
Battery – Built-in 1700mAh Li-ion Battery
Max Runtime – 37hrs / 1.54 days
Special Modes – Strobe
Beam color – White Light
IP54 rated
Dimensions – Length: 135.6mm (5.34″) x Width: 31.4mm (1.24″)
Weight – 124 g / 4.37 oz
Design and features
The first thing that you notice about the Nitecore EDC27 flashlight is its interesting flat design. This form factor is one that you’ll either love or hate. I like it because the light won’t roll off the table when I set it down.
The flashlight has a high-strength stainless steel body with a PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) titanium matte coating that is anti-corrosive, water-resistant, and impact resistant.
The top surface of the Nitecore EDC27 flashlight also has a small OLED display at the back that provides charging status, mode, and real-time runtime info so you’ll always know when it’s time to recharge it.
Flip the flashlight over and you’ll see that it has a very robust detachable pocket clip that also has a lanyard attachment slot that is compatible with 550 paracord.
You’ll also notice the ridged bump above the lanyard slot. This is supposed to help you slide the flashlight’s clip into your pocket, backpack strap, etc. without accidentally activating the buttons.
The back end of the flashlight has two buttons. The larger flat button is the mode button, and the smaller button which is sticking out from the body is the power button.
The front end of the Nitecore EDC27 flashlight has LEDs and a lens.
This light uses 2 LEDs with a max of 3000 lumens.
Here’s a close-up of the control buttons which are located on the tail of the flashlight. these buttons have knurling so that your thumb won’t slide off
The Nitecore EDC27 flashlight charges with a standard USB-C cable. One comes with this flashlight, but you can use any existing cable to top off the battery when needed.
The fact that you can use any USB-C cable is great. Unlike some other flashlight manufacturers that require a proprietary cable, you’ll know that you can easily find a cable to recharge this light whenever you need one.
Operation and brightness levels
The Nitecore EDC27 flashlight has two button design with a power button and a mode button. To turn on the flashlight, you fully press the power button (the smaller button that sticks out from the body). The power button has a tactile click when you fully depress it. Fully pressing again will turn off the light. While the light is on, half-pressing the power button will switch between ultralow, low, medium, and high brightness levels. To access the turbo mode (3000 lumens), while the light is on or off, half press the mode button. You can’t lock in the turbo mode, once you let go of the mode button, turbo mode turns off and you’re left in the brightness level that you were set to before pressing the mode button. If you fully press the mode button when the light is on or off, you’ll be in strobe mode which also only works while holding the mode button.
Note: The flashlight will remember your last brightness level setting.
The only problem that I encountered while testing the Nitecore EDC27 flashlight was accidentally getting it into one of the two locking modes. These lockout modes are designed to make it difficult to inadvertently turn on the light when it’s in a pocket or bag. You might think that the lockout modes are annoying, but since this light can get super hot, you will realize that having this safety measure is a good idea.
In the half lockout mode, the power button will be deactivated, but you can still use the mode button to momentarily activate turbo or strobe mode. In the full lockout mode, the power button and mode button are locked. That means the light can’t be used until it’s unlocked. Unlocking the light requires you to half press the power button and then immediately fully press and hold the power button until it unlocks. Again, it’s a pain if you do it by accident and need to use the light only to fumble around trying to remember how to unlock it (spoken from experience).
As mentioned, this light can get hot. There’s even a warning printed on the Nitecore EDC27 flashlight itself to remind you. It doesn’t take long for the business end of the flashlight to get very warm when using turbo mode.
See it in action
What I like
- BRIGHT!
- The shape is nice for not rolling off a table
- Recharges with any USB-C cable
- Saves the last brightness level setting
- Display gives real-time runtime info
What I’d change
- Provide the ability to turn off locking modes
- It gets HOT
Final thoughts
What do you look for in a flashlight? High lumens? Multiple brightness modes? Pocket clip? Rechargeability? A flat shape so it won’t roll away when you lay it down? The Nitecore EDC27 flashlight ticks all of these boxes has a decent price for a 3000 lumen flashlight.
Price: $89.99
Where to buy: Flashlightgo
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Flashlightgo.
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Hi Julie
Good short review. I recently bought this flashlight. By the way, I have been a flashlight enthusiast for some years now. The Nitecore EDC27 has an excellent form factor and several interesting features. Easy to handle, feels great in the hand. But….youre right. Its gets too hot when the LED is pushed to its brightest level. The lense should be made of pyrex or glass, not the plastic it is now made with. LOCKOUT needs to be a much simpler procedure. 3 or 4 quick clicks. See how a Wuben locks out.
Difficult to lockout deliberately but easily unlocked unintentionaly. Found it on in 1000 lumens mode twice in 2 days alerted to this by the smell of heat and and feeling of heat on my leg. I think when I sit with this in my hip pocket the buttons are pushed into my belt and sometimes hits the unlock pattern of presses. So best to use brest or sleve pocket if you have a larger waist line. Good points. Fast changing. Very bright. Strong pocket clip. Easy to see display day or night.
Thanks for the review Julie.
I just ordered one online and should get it in a couple of days.
Should have researched it a bit better than I did.
I have about 8 or so torches that I have bought in the last 10 years or so and all are in the same price bracket as the edc27.
The difference is, all the others have glass lenses, The edc27 lens is plastic.
Feel a bit let down though. But it was my mistake, should have paid more attention to the specs.
Pete.
Pete, Please let me know what you think of the light once you get it. Is there THAT big of a difference between glass and plastic lenses?
Hello Julie,
received my edc27 earlier today. What I like about it is build quality, the quick access to turbo and strobe, lockout option and the stainless steel body.
It has some heft to it and I don’t really mind the plastic lens.
Pete.