Acebeam P20 Torch Review
Acebeam P20⌗
- Specifications
- Introduction
- Torch in use
- Build quality
- LED, bezel, lens, reflector and beam
- Size and comparison
- User interface
- Batteries and charging
- Performance
- Beamshots
- Conclusion
- Price
- Product page
Specifications⌗
| Brand/model | Acebeam P20 |
|---|---|
| LED | 1*Luminus SBT90.2 6500K |
| Maximum lumens | 5,500 lm |
| Maximum beam intensity | 409,600 cd |
| Maximum throw | 1,280 m |
| Battery | Battery pack 2*21700 1P2S, 2*21700 Protected |
| Onboard charging | No (Battery pack has USB-C) |
| Material | Aluminium |
| Modes | 6 |
| Blinkies | Strobe |
| Reflector | Smooth |
| Waterproof | IP68 |
| Review date | August 2024 |
Introduction⌗
The Acebeam P20 is a dual-switch powerful thrower with an SBT90.2 LED! It comes with a USB-C rechargeable battery pack with two 21700 cells connected in series. The massive head makes it ideal for bonking.
Will it dethrone the Maglite ML300L as the bonk light of choice?
Acebeam kindly provided this torch at a discount for review. I have not been paid for this review nor have I held back my opinions of this torch.
Packaging⌗
The Acebeam P20 comes in a black box with a foam cutout. There is an orange outer sheath with an image and details about the torch.
The following was included in the box:
- Acebeam P20.
- Acebeam ARC21700-1P2S-500A Type-C 7.4V Li-ion 5000mAh Battery Pack.
- Lanyard.
- USB-A to USB-C cable.
- Two spare o-rings.
- Spare tail switch cover.
- User manual.
- Warranty card.
Torch in use⌗
The Acebeam P20 feels like holding an Olympic torch (not that I have held one).
It is top heavy and the balance point is near the side switch. That said, it feels relatively lightweight overall and it is easy to handle.
It comes with a decent carry pouch.
The torch can tailstand and there is a hole in the tactical ring for a lanyard to be attached to.
It is fun to carry the torch around. You could use it as a spotlight while hunting.
Build quality⌗
The Acebeam P20 is made of aluminium and it has a matte black anodised finish.
It is mostly smooth but I noticed that the tactical ring has some chamfered edges that almost feel sharp. The edges could catch the inside of your index finger and thumb if you let the head of the torch drop down and catch it by the tactical ring.
The forward-clicky tail switch gives a satisfying click. The side switch feels good too.
Did I mention that the torch can tailstand?
The torch arrived with protective film on the glass lens to remove.
Square-cut threads came well lubricated. They are unanodised so it is difficult to mechanically lock the torch out and they will become gritty over time. You can turn the torch on with the Side Switch or the Tail Switch.
I love how Acebeam have used Phillips screws instead of torx screws for the driver and tail assembly. This will make it easier to modify or repair. They even included a spare Tail Switch cover.
That said, two screws for the driver have some kind of epoxy in them to prevent a screwdriver from being inserted.
Teardown⌗
The spare Tail Switch cover can be installed by unscrewing two Phillips PH0 screws from the tail and then by taking each part out.
Here is a video demonstrating the process:
I used the following tools to open up the head of the torch, remove the MCPCB and disassemble the tail:
- 2.5mm hex bit in a ratchet screwdriver
- Wera 118126 5.5mm Precision Nut Driver
- Knipex 86 03 125 Mini Plier Wrench
- Wera Phillips PH1 Screwdriver
- Wera 118026 Phillips PH0 Screwdriver
You only need a Phillips PH0 screwdriver to replace the tail switch cover.
I used the 2.5mm hex bit and the 5.5mm nut driver to remove the six nuts and bolts from the head. The Knipex Plier Wrench helped with turning the nut driver.
The glass lens is inside a glow-in-the-dark ring and it sits against the bezel.
The MCPCB with the SBT90.2 LED on it was screwed down against the shelf of the head with a PH1 screw.
There is a decent amount of thermal paste. Anodising has been removed from the shelf to help with heat transfer.
Here is the MCPCB:
LED, bezel, lens, reflector and beam⌗
The Acebeam P20 has a Luminus SBT90.2 emitter and a smooth reflector.
The glass lens is 3mm thick and it has a blue anti-reflective coating.
There is a green glow-in-the-dark ring near the lens.
I bought the optional 62mm green filter. The filter looks pretty fancy.
The green filter reflects purple under certain angles of light.
CCT, CRI, and duv⌗
I have taken Correlated Colour Temperature (CCT) and Colour Rendering Index (CRI, RA of R1-R8) measurements with the torch positioned five metres away from an Opple Light Master Pro III (G3).
The CCT is around 5000K, the CRI is around 60 and the Delta u, v is positive (green).
The beam produced has an intense hot spot and a wide spill. The hot spot is big and practical.
| Mode | CCT (K) | CRI (Ra) | x | y | Duv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra-Low | 4786 | 58.5 | 0.3554 | 0.3910 | 0.0147 |
| Low | 4787 | 59.5 | 0.3552 | 0.3892 | 0.0140 |
| Med1 | 4879 | 59.8 | 0.3517 | 0.3846 | 0.0140 |
| Med2 | 4977 | 60.8 | 0.3480 | 0.3783 | 0.0117 |
| High | 5028 | 62.0 | 0.3461 | 0.3738 | 0.0104 |
| Turbo | 5257 | 64.7 | 0.3388 | 0.3601 | 0.0068 |
Calculate Duv from CIE 1931 xy coordinates
Dimensions and size comparison⌗
Dimensions⌗
I took the following measurements using a digital caliper. Used a ruler to measure the length of the torch.
| Measurement | Unit (mm) |
|---|---|
| Length | 268 |
| Head diameter | 79.1 |
| Tube diameter | 25.45 |
| Tail diameter | 30.2 |
| Battery diameter | 21.4 |
| Battery length | 151.0 |
Weight⌗
I took the following measurements using a digital scale.
| Weight | Unit (g) |
|---|---|
| Acebeam P20 | 359.3 |
| Battery | 144.0 |
| Acebeam P20 with battery | 503.3 |
Size comparison with its competition⌗
From left to right: Wuben A1, Acebeam P20, Convoy L21B
User interface⌗
The Acebeam P20 has an electronic Side Switch and a forward-clicky Tactical Tail Switch.
The Side Switch provides access to every mode.
The Tail Switch provides quick access to Turbo.
There are four modes in the main group: Low, Med1, Med2 and High.
There are shortcuts to: Ultra-Low, Turbo and Strobe.
Side Switch⌗
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Press and hold for 0.5 seconds | Ultra-Low |
| Off | Click | On (mode memory) |
| Any | Two clicks | Turbo |
| Any | Three clicks | Strobe |
| Off | Press and hold for 3 seconds | Lock |
| Locked | Press and hold for 3 seconds | Unlock and Ultra-Low |
| On | Click | Off |
| On | Press and hold | Cycle (Low, Med1, Med2, High) |
| On | Half press the Tail Switch | Momentary Turbo (off when released) |
Tactical Tail Switch⌗
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Half press the Tail Switch | Momentary Turbo |
| Off | Click the Tail Switch | Turbo |
| On | Click the Tail Switch | Off |
Mode Memory⌗
There is mode memory when using the side switch. Ultra-Low, Turbo and Strobe are not memorised.
Strobe⌗
Strobe appears to have a constant frequency. 3,600 lumens for 3 minutes and then it steps down to 3,000 lumens for 2 hours 45 minutes.
Battery Level Indicator⌗
The indicator LED in the side switch will display the following when the torch is on.
| Colour | Battery level |
|---|---|
| Green | > 30% |
| Red | 10% - 30% |
| Red flash | < 10% |
Low voltage protection⌗
The torch has low voltage protection.
I tested low voltage protection by connecting the driver of the torch to a bench power supply and then by lowering the voltage from 8.4V to 0V.
| Mode | LVP? | Cut-off |
|---|---|---|
| Ultra-Low | Yes | 5.54V |
| Low | Yes | 5.54V |
| Med1 | Yes | 5.54V |
| Med2 | Yes | 5.54V |
| High | Yes | 5.54V |
| Turbo | ? |
I have not tested LVP for Turbo.
Low voltage protection triggered by the end of each runtime. I connected a USB-C cable to charge the battery pack for a second, disconnected the cable, and then I measured a voltage of around 6V.
Pulse Width Modulation⌗
I did not notice any visible PWM (flickering).
I measured the PWM of the light with a Zoyi ZT-703S oscilloscope.
Ultra-Low, Low, Mid, High, Turbo
What I like about the UI⌗
- Shortcut to Ultra-Low from off.
- Shortcut to Turbo from off.
- Shortcut to Strobe from off.
- It is simple to use.
What could be improved⌗
- It would be nice if I could have the light on Low, half press the tail switch for Turbo, release the tail switch and then have the light return to Low. It will turn off in this scenario.
Batteries and charging⌗
Battery⌗
An Acebeam ARC21700-1P2S-500A Type-C 7.4V Li-ion 5000mAh battery pack was included inside the torch. It arrived with a voltage of 7.55V. I removed a piece of plastic that was insulating the battery pack.
The inner pads on each end of the battery pack are for the positive and negative terminals. The outer pads are for carrying a signal between the driver and the tailswitch. The battery pack is required for the tailswitch to work.
I have accidentally inserted the battery pack backwards a few times because the USB-C charging port is near the tail instead of the head. Usually a USB-C port is near the head of a cell.
I tried the following cells:
| Cell | Top | Compatible? | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acebeam ARC21700-1P2S-500A Type-C 7.4V Li-ion 5000mAh battery pack | Flat | Yes | |
| Acebeam IMR21700NP-500A 15A 3.6V Li-ion 5000mAh, Fenix 21700 3.6V Li-ion 5000mAh | Button | Yes* | Tail switch does not work. |
| 2*Lishen LR2170LH with three spacers | Flat | Yes* | Tail switch does not work. |
Two long protected 21700 cells with button tops, or flat tops with spacers, can be used instead of the battery pack. However, only the side switch will work.
Charging⌗
The battery pack has USB-C charging.
Power supply: PinePower Desktop USB-C
USB Meter: AVHzY CT-3 (recommended by LiquidRetro)
Room temperature: 13 C
The battery pack took 5 hours 50 minutes to charge from 6.09V to 8.38V at a rate of 5V/1.3A to 5V/1.9A.
The charging status indicator at the end of the battery pack is red while charging and it turns green when charging is complete.
I measured a temperature of 30 C when the battery pack was charging at 5V/1.5A with USB-C PD input. One user on Reddit reported that theirs reached 58 C while charging.
Power supply compatibility⌗
| Power supply | USB Type | Protocol | Does it charge? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple 61W Power Adapter | USB-C | PD | Yes |
| Google Pixel Power Adapter | USB-C | PD | Yes |
| PinePower Desktop | USB-C | PD | Yes |
| PinePower Desktop | USB-A | QC | Yes |
| PinePower Desktop | USB-A | Yes |
USB-C to USB-C charging works.
Performance⌗
Specifications from the manual:
| FL1 STANDARD | Turbo | High | Med2 | Med1 | Low | Ultra-Low | Strobe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Output (lumens) | 5,500 + 1,800 | 2,300 + 1,800 | 1,100 | 470 | 150 | 50 | 3,600 + 3,000 |
| Runtime | 70s + 2h 40min | 3min + 2h 40min | 5h | 12h | 36h | 74h | 3min + 2h 4min |
| Beam Distance (metres) | 1,280 | 731 | 515 | 347 | 209 | 141 | 960 |
| Beam Intensity (cd) | 409,600 | 133,590 | 66,306 | 30,102 | 10,920 | 4,970 | 230,400 |
I have performed tests using the included Acebeam ARC21700-1P2S-500A Type-C 7.4V Li-ion 5000mAh battery pack.
Lumen measurements⌗
I measured the current at turn on for: Ultra-Low to Med2 with a bench power supply; High and Turbo with a UNI-T UT210E clamp meter.
| Mode | Amps at start | Specs | Lumens @turn on | Lumens @30 sec | Lumens @10 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra-Low | 0.056 A | 50 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Low | 0.116 A | 150 | 121 | 119 | 119 |
| Med1 | 0.364 A | 470 | 428 | 423 | 421 |
| Med2 | 0.890 A | 1,100 | 1,004 | 991 | 969 |
| High | 2.200 A | 2,300 + 1,800 | 1,989 | 1,954 | 1,567 |
| Turbo | 11.650 A | 5,500 + 1,800 | 5,237 | 4,781 | 1,519 |
| Turbo (HD) | 5,500 + 1,800 | 5,272 | 4,834 | 1,548 |
I used two high drain (HD) Lishen LR2170LH cells and three spacers to see if I could increase the output on Turbo. There was a small improvement.
Standby drain⌗
56 µA
Runtime graphs⌗
I used my own DIY lumen tube with a TSL2591 sensor and forked bmengineer’s project RuTiTe to record runtimes.
Note: Lumen measurements may be off by 10% with my DIY lumen tube.
The room temperature was approximately 13 C.
Turbo⌗
Battery pack vs two high drain Lishen LR2170LH with three spacers.
Runtime⌗
Here is a summary of the runtime results:
| Mode | User manual | Runtime | Turn off | Final voltage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 70s + 2h 40min | 2h 28min 47s | 3h 13min 17s | 5.94 |
| High | 3min + 2h 40min | 2h 38min 9s | 3h 20min 3s | 6.03 |
| Med2 | 5h | 5h 19min 35s | 5h 44min 12s | 6.07 |
| Med1 | 12h | 12h 10min 49s | 12h 36min 4s | 6.00 |
| Low | 36h | 10min+ | 10min+ | |
| Ultra-Low | 74h | 10min+ | 10min+ |
“Runtime” is the time until the output reduces to 10% of the output at 30 seconds (as per the ANSI/PLATO FL1 2019 Standard).
“Turn off” is the time until my DIY lumen tube no longer detects more than one lumen.
“+” indicates that the light remained on after recording had stopped.
I measured a maximum temperature of 50 C while running Turbo with the included battery pack.
I measured a maximum temperature of 54.6 C while running Turbo with two high drain Lishen LR2170LH cells and three spacers.
Runtimes for High, Med2 and Med2 are pretty close to what Acebeam claim. The runtime for Turbo fell slightly short by about 11 minutes.
The output is stable and well regulated.
Throw⌗
I took lux measurements with a UNI-T UT383BT at 30 seconds. Each mode was measured at ten metres. I charged the battery pack between each measurement.
| Mode | Specs (cd) | Specs (m) | Candela measured (cd) | Distance (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra-Low | 4,970 | 141 | 2,400 | 97 |
| Low | 10,920 | 209 | 9,000 | 189 |
| Med1 | 30,102 | 347 | 33,100 | 363 |
| Med2 | 66,306 | 515 | 77,900 | 558 |
| High | 133,590 | 731 | 153,800 | 784 |
| Turbo | 409,600 | 1,280 | 366,000 | 1,209 |
The beam distance is pretty good.
The beam distance for Ultra-Low, Low and Turbo were slightly shorter than expected but my lux meter is not calibrated.
Beamshots⌗
I went to a local park and aimed the Acebeam P20 at a tree 70 metres away while using Turbo.
Beamshots were taken using a Sony RX100M2 using 3.2", f3.2, ISO 100, 5000K WB.
Beamshots were taken using a Sony RX100M2 using 1", f3.2, ISO 800, 5000K WB for green.
Acebeam P20 (Turbo)⌗
Convoy L21B CSLNM1.TG 100%⌗
Mateminco MT-911 (Turbo)⌗
Wuben A1 (Turbo)⌗
Acebeam P20 (Turbo) Green Filter⌗
Armytek Predator Pro Warm (Turbo) Green Filter⌗
Conclusion⌗
The Acebeam P20 is a premium bonking light.
The build quality is excellent. I like the look and feel.
It is nice how the torch accepts two long button top 21700 cells, a battery pack or two unprotected 21700 cells (with three spacers). It would be even better if the tail switch continued to work without the battery pack carrying the signal.
It is nice to see that the torch itself has low voltage protection.
Lumen output for Turbo is slightly lower than expected. But my DIY test equipment could be producing slightly inaccurate results.
The beam distance is good (approx 1.2km).
The driver produces a stable output and the runtimes are pretty good.
I recommend the Acebeam P20 if you are an enthusiast and/or you need a spotlight with a practical beam.
Pros:⌗
- Excellent build quality.
- Good runtimes.
- Good beam distance.
- Low voltage protection.
- Simple UI.
- Tactical shortcuts.
Cons:⌗
- Lumen output is slightly lower than expected.
- The battery pack is required for the tail switch to work.
- Low CRI.
Price⌗
The Acebeam P20 is US$199 at acebeam.com
Product page⌗
Get 15% off with the code Tim15 (valid until 10/09/2024)
Acebeam P20 at acebeam.com (affiliate link)
I may earn a commission if you use an affiliate link or a promo code. This will help fund future torch reviews and tutorials.