I came across the Acebeam L17 and immediately became interested because of the different LED color options and the impressive beam throw. I would definitely label this light as a pocket thrower because it’s so small but has such an impressive beam pattern to it. So today I’m going to review the Acebeam L17 and I’ll talk about all of its features as well as give you my opinion on this awesome tactical flashlight.
Summary of Contents
Long Throwing LED Flashlight
Today I’m going to review the Acebeam L17 with a white LED. It comes in different LED colors including green and red. I’ll talk a little bit about those colors, but I’m really going to focus on the white LED here.
The Acebeam L17 is a compact throwing light. This light is barely over five and a half inches in length, has a really tactical look to it, and some may even consider it to be an everyday carry light. It comes with a removable pocket clip so if you want to carry this on you, you could do so very easily. With the white LED, you have a maximum output of 1400 lumens. Considering some of the other lights I’ve reviewed, 1400 lumens is a good amount of light but certainly not the brightest. However, the true power of this flashlight comes from that extremely tight and focused beam. The white LED has a maximum being distance of 802 meters. Normally in order to get that kind of throw and that kind of power we would see bigger lights, significantly bigger than five and a half inches. It really is impressive.
The beam on this light has pretty much no spill so it’s great for seeing clearly far into the distance. I did say that this light is compact for some users to carry it everyday, but I personally wouldn’t. For my everyday carry I prefer a more balanced beam. The L17 is strictly a hotspot more than anything else. It has some spill, but I wouldn’t really consider it usable. So if you’re wanting a pocket thrower with a laser beam, this light is perfect.
Operating the Acebeam L17 Tactical Flashlight
The L17 has a single tactical tail switch making the user interface super easy to learn. It’s just a simple click on and click off and hold down to cycle through the brightness levels. Now when you’re cycling through the brightness levels, it goes from low to high. In order to access the turbo mode, you need to double click and a triple click will get you the strobe mode. Like I said, it’s an easy user interface so operating it is very easy.
Multiple Outputs on the Acebeam L17
Most tactical flashlights come with multiple outputs and the L17 follows the same pattern. The outputs vary based on the colored LED you choose so I’ll go over all the outputs. Starting with the white LED, you have turbo at 1400 lumens, high at 370 lumens, mid at 150 lumens, low at 50 lumens, ultra low at 15 lumens, and a strobe mode that’s going to be at 1400 lumens again.
With the red LED you have a turbo mode of 300 lumens, a high of 100 lumens, a mid of 45 lumens, a low of 13 lumens, and an ultra low of 4 lumens, and a strobe of 300 lumens.
With the green LED you have a turbo 2000 lumens, a high of 370 lumens, a mid of 150 lumens, a low of 75 lumens, an ultra low of 25 lumens, and a strobe at 2000 lumens.
So that gives you an idea of the different outputs across all the LEDs. With the white led, the pacing is okay. I think I would have liked the high mode to be a little bit stronger. Other than that, I do like the pacing. With such a pinpoint beam, you really don’t need a moonlight mode so I think a 15 lumen low is perfect. You’d be surprised by how far 15 lumens can get you with this flashlight.
18650 Flashlight
The L17 is an 18650 flashlight that can also run on two CR123A batteries. Using an 18650 battery, this LED light has a thinner body than your typical 21700 flashlight. I believe the body is about an inch in diameter which is good because it’ll be easy to find a mount for it if you’d like to mount this light on to a firearm.
It also features a low voltage warning. It doesn’t have any indicators or anything on it, so that low voltage warning is a really good feature to have. You don’t want your light to just die out on you unexpectedly. Typically, a lot of high quality flashlights will drop down in output as the battery energy drops down. So if the battery doesn’t have enough energy to keep the light in turbo, it’ll drop it down to the next brightest level and continue to go until you’re at the lowest level the battery can handle until it’s charged up again.
It’s great that this is an 18650 flashlight. 18650 batteries are becoming a bit easier to find and provide a lot of energy and power. However, you can use CR123 batteries instead. I really don’t know what the outputs or run times will look like with CR123 batteries which is something to keep in mind. Nevertheless, it’s always great to have a handheld flashlight that can use multiple batteries.
Final Thoughts on the Acebeam L17 Tactical Flashlight
Pros: This is one awesome Acebeam flashlight! It has such an impressive beam throw with 802 meters and it’s still such a compact size. This is a great flashlight to mount on a weapon or to carry if you’re needing that narrow-focused beam. I like the user interface on the light. It’s simple and easy to remember. The L17 has a great style and design to it that gives it a classic tactical look.
Cons: There are a couple of cons with this light. It doesn’t have knurling on the body of the light. This may not bother everyone, but it does mean that it’s going to be a little slicker in your hands than something that has an anti-slip knurling pattern on it. It does have that knurled pattern on the tail cap though. Seeing as how that’s where the switches are, it does make sense to keep it there. So that’s really more of a user preference but I wanted to point that out.
Conclusion: Acebeam did a great job with this flashlight. It is a dedicated thrower. For such a compact size, I was really impressed to see the beam throw on it. I also think it’s great that you can choose between different LED colors. If you’re wanting a pocket thrower flashlight, look no further than the Acebeam L17 tactical flashlight.