The Imalent MS18 is an efficient, highly bright flashlight for professional use or extreme situations. Essentially, this LED flashlight is like having the brightness of 8 car headlights in the palm of your hand. A significant upgrade from the Imalent MS12, the MS18 flashlight can be used in various types of terrain.
Whether you need a bright light on an overnight fishing trip, camping, or assisting with a search and rescue team, the MS18 can be a great help. There have been similar flashlights with the lumen output in the past, like the Acebeam X70, but it has since been discontinued. Here is my review of the Imalent MS18 rechargeable flashlight.
Summary of Contents
Specs
The Imalent MS 18 flashlight has a turbo burst output of 100,000 lumens. It has a turbo burst runtime of 1 minute before the thermal stepdown. The max beam throw is .8 miles or 1,350 meters. The MS18 LED flashlight has a bright beam intensity of 458,000 candelas.
The maximum sustained output is 25,000 lumens for about 60 minutes. This flashlight is great to use in direct streams of water or heavy seas, as it is IP 56 rated.
This flashlight includes a screw-on battery pack with high drain 8 x 21800 internal batteries. Also, the MS18 flashlight comes in a custom foam hard case and includes a shoulder strap, a user manual, and O-rings.
What You Get
You get a lot from the Imalent MS18 USB rechargeable flashlight. The main features of this flashlight include the following:
- High lumen output and low moon output
- Ramping interface
- Unihead construction
- Anti-reflective coated glass lens
- Waterproof and dustproof to IP67 standard
- Temperature step down
- CNC machined from aircraft-grade aluminum
- It uses a dual-bay li-ion battery charger
- It has a default 18650 body with the optional 18350 or 18500 battery tube
- It runs a custom FET and one driver with Anduril
- It has an electronic soft-touch switch
- The LED optics are efficient
- Warranty Policy
Price Range
The cost of a MS18 flashlight is currently $670 and is available in two different color temperatures. You can purchase the MS18 flashlight in either the cool white version or the warm white version.
While it does seem expensive for a flashlight, the MS18 is worth the cost for various reasons. It is the perfect tool for security, industrial inspections, law enforcement, and search and rescue teams.
Build Quality and Anodizing
Imalent has a history of being good with its build quality, and the MS18 flashlight proves that to be true. The Imalent MS18 flashlight is well-built and has good anodization. There are not any strange spots or missing anodization.
While the older MS12 has the clips attached to the tail cap and bezel, the new MS18 has upgraded strap carry attachments with a unique head and tail cap attachment ring. Imalent used a metal charge cover as the new attachment point to avoid damaging the coating on the flashlight.
If you lose the cover, you won’t be able to use the strap anymore because you will not be able to attach it. Unfortunately, the cover can be easy to lose since it is small.
Dimensions and Weight
The Imalent MS18 flashlight has a length of 10.4 inches, a head diameter of 5.1 inches, and the body diameter is 2.3 inches.
The head’s weight is 38.16 ounces, and the body’s weight with the batteries included is 28.10 ounces. The total weight of the flashlight is 66.26 ounces. Overall, the MS18 is easy to carry and lightweight compared to other similar flashlights.
Beam Shots
The Imalent MS18 LED flashlight can give the equivalent beam distance of over 30 sets of car headlights with their high beams on, much better than even the best thrower flashlights.
The average car’s headlights only produce between 700 and 1,200 lumens. The MS18 flashlight produces 100,000 lumens, which is exceptionally bright for a flashlight.
Batteries and Charging
It can take up to 4 hours to fully charge your high power MS18 flashlight with 8 internal 21700 batteries. When the batteries are fully charged, the halo of LED lights around the rear charging port will change from red to green.
If you plan on using your MS18 for multiple hours, it is a good idea to have a second battery to switch to.
Active Liquid Cooling
Many flashlights have forced air cooling fans, but few have vapor-cooled radiators/integrated liquid. The Imalent MS18 flashlight has a smart thermostat that triggers two cooling fans. One of the fans pulls cool air in and puts it through the radiator, while the other fan takes the hot air and exhausts it out on the opposite end.
The copper radiator core is made up of two vapor-filled heat tubes that are encased in cooling fins. The tubes go through an evaporative and condensing process which cools the tubes and transfers the heat to the heat sink.
Then, the heat dissipates into the air and goes through the exhaust fan. The cooling system on your flashlight is not all that quiet, as it sounds similar to a hair dryer on a low setting.
Weatherproofing
Since the Imalent MS18 flashlight is IP56-rated, it is an excellent high efficiency flashlight to use in rough seas or bad weather. The cooling system requires a lot of ventilation, but the water will not cause any issues.
You can use this flashlight for multiple endeavors, such as hiking, camping, boating, caving, exploring, or during a power outage. Since this powerful flashlight can be used in all terrain, it is popular among law enforcement and search teams.
The MS18 flashlight can be used for various purposes:
- Livestock security
- Extensive area security and surveillance
- First responder operations
- Offshore rig inspections/oil and gas pipelines
- Long distance signaling
- A searchlight for wilderness search and rescue operations
- Police manhunts
- Emergency fire starter
- Theft deterrent
- Ample area lighting for the scene of a disaster
- Disorient suspects or assailants
- Trailing wounded animals
Final Verdict
The Imalent MS18 is a professional and highly bright piece of equipment. It delivers more output than most other powerful flashlights and a majority of vehicles.
The MS18 allows you to have a light brighter than a large vehicle in the palm of your hand. Overall, I am impressed with the MS18 super bright flashlight’s performance and quality.
Pros
- Significant improvement since the Imalent MS12
- It has active cooling, including fluid
- It comes with a carry case and a carry strap
- Extremely bright with a maximum output of 100,000 lumens
- The battery can last up to 14 hours
Cons
- The numbers on the OLED display screen can be difficult to read
- It is easy to activate the turbo accidentally
- Expensive
Some struggle with seeing the point of owning a tactical flashlight with 100,000 lumens. However, the Imalent MS18 flashlight is a great light to have if you live in a rural area if you are a farmer, security guard, or first responder. The cooling system is unique and efficient but can be somewhat loud.
It only takes about 4 hours to recharge your MS18, and it can hold a charge for up to 14 hours, which should be long enough for you in most cases. Depending on your vision, the numbers on the OLED display screen can be hard to read, but that might be fine for some. This flashlight is expensive, but it is understandable why it is priced the way it is.