Nitecore Tiki GITD

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

OK, so pretty much everyone has a flashlight built into their smartphones these days, but sometimes it's just not convenient because it becomes another thing you have to hold, or you don't want to risk dropping it.

Or it's just a pain to fumble with the smartphone to get the flashlight working.

This is why I still carry a keychain flashlight. But theNitecore Tiki GITD I carry is no ordinary flashlight.

Buy the Product X here

$24.95 at Amazon

There's an awful lot packed into this tiny keychain:

Nitecore Tiki GITD tech specs

• Powerful, multi-brightness LED (up to 300 lumens, illuminating out to 77 meters)
• Secondary white and UV light built into the body
• Single button control
• Glow-in-the-dark body
• Up to 40 hours of runtime
• Rechargeable using microUSB
• Water and dust resistant to IP66
• Length: 55mm/2.16in
• Weight: 12g/0.42oz
• Keyring clip on tail

Themain LED has four settings, from a super-bright 300 lumens to a 1 lumen glow, making it perfect for a variety of uses. 

For such a small flashlight, it's capable of throwing a beam of light up to 77 meters, and can also put out a more subtle glow. 

On the side, the warm white light is soft and perfect for reading or other closeup work in the dark because it doesn't contribute to eyestrain. 

Alongside this is a 500mW/365nm UV LED that's perfect for not only making the glow-in-the-dark case of the Tiki glow brightly, but also for things like spotting anti-counterfeit measures in bills.

The UV LED is great for making the phosphorescent body of the Tiki glow

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

The UV LED is great for showing up anti-counterfeit measures in modern banknotes or bills. 

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

The tiny, built-in 130mAh rechargeable battery has enough power to keep this 12g keychain flashlight going for 30 minutes at full power, and an amazing 40 hours in glow mode.

The glow-in-the-dark polycarbonate shell is impact-resistant and water- and dust-resistant to IP66 (which means it is completely dustproof, and can resist high-pressure water jets from all directions). 

The unit is recharged using a microUSB port that is protected by a tough rubber flap.

The Nitecore Tiki GITD has fast become my favorite keychain light. It's small and ultra durable, easy to operate (which a lot of small keychain lights aren't), and offers a wide range of lighting, from super bright to soft and subtle. 

The glow-in-the-dark casing means it's easy to find if you put it down in the dark, while the UV LED gives it a useful feature that many small lights don't have.

At$24.95, it's certainly not cheap, but in my experience, cheap keychain lights break easily, offer a poor light, or just don't last long.

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