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See the 15 tests

1. In the box
2. Light modes
3. Run times
4. Battery indicator
5. Lumen output (lantern)
6. Lumen output (flashlight)
7. Shine distance (lantern)
8. Beam distance (flashlight)
9. Charging input
10. Charging output
11. D-ring
12. Waterproofing
13. Impact resistance
14. Quality
15. Portability
16. Pros, cons & recommendations
17. Bonus – MUST read!

In the Box

• The Nitecore LR70
• A USB-C to USB-C cable
• A user guide
• Warranty information

Light Modes

• Lantern button: Frontthe one with the lantern icon
• Flashlight button: Sidethe one with the flashlight icon
• Both on at once: No

The white lantern is the mode you’ll use most:

• On and off: Long press
• Cycle Low → Mid → High: Short press

You can access the red modes using the same button:

• Enter red from off: Double pressit starts on Low
• Cycle Low → High → Beacon → SOS: Short press

And the flashlight runs off its own button:

• On and off: Long pressit starts on Low
• Cycle Low → Mid → High → Higher: Short press
• Jump to Turbo from any mode: Double press

That’s 12 modes in total. The flashlight remembers the brightness you last used, but the lantern doesn’t, so it always comes back on Low.

Run Times

I charged it fully, left each mode running, and timed how long it lasted.

Mode	Brightness	My testing (hours)
Lantern (white)	High	13.5
Lantern (white)	Mid	63
Lantern (white)	Low	292
Lantern (red)	High	92
Lantern (red)	Low	367
Flashlight	Turbo	30 seconds
Flashlight	Higher	7.75*
Flashlight	High	19*
Flashlight	Mid	122
Flashlight	Low	780

Turbo holds for exactly 30 seconds before the aluminum housing gets too hot and it drops back to Higher.

Battery Indicator

When the light is off, a short press of either button flashes the blue indicator, and you count the flashes.

Flashes	While charging a phone	Lantern (High)	Flashlight (Low)
3 of 3	100%	100%	100%
2 of 3	40-60%	55%	59%
1 of 3	12%	12%	13%
None	0%	0%	0%

Two flashes left me somewhere between 50% and 60%, and one flash was a little over 10%.

Lumen Output (Lantern)

I read every lantern mode off a light meter held at a fixed distance.

Mode	Brightness	My testing (lumens)
Lantern (white)	High	1,090
Lantern (white)	Mid	156
Lantern (white)	Low	6
Lantern (red)	High	27
Lantern (red)	Low	0

You can take one look at High and know it’s a lot more than the box claims. Low sits at 6 lumens, which is what I want for a night light when I don’t want to disturb anyone.

The red modes are dimmer again, and Red on Low didn’t register on my meter at all.

Lumen Output (Flashlight)

To test for the flashlight lumen output, I used a ceiling bounce test.

Brightness	Bounce distance	Reading (lux)	Estimated output (lumens)
Turbo	9.2ft	196-207	4,828-5,099
Higher	9.2ft	52	1,281
High	9.2ft	8	197
Mid	19.7in	19	15
Low	3.9in	6	0.2

Note: A bounce test gives only a very rough estimate, not a lab measurement.

That’s an enormous spread, from 0.2 lumens up to more than 5,000. Turbo peaks at 207 lux and slides down by about a lux every few seconds, so it starts at 5,099 lumens and is down to 4,828 by the time its 30 seconds are up.

Shine Distance (Lantern)

I backed a light meter away from the lantern until the reading hit zero, then measured back to the light.

Mode	Brightness	My tested shine distance	Tent size
Lantern (white)	High	11.2ft	26-person
Lantern (white)	Mid	5.0ft	5-person
Lantern (white)	Low	1.3ft	0-person
Lantern (red)	High	2.5ft	1-person
Lantern (red)	Low	0.79ft	0-person

High lights up a tent far bigger than anything I camp in, and Mid still covers a 5-person tent. The red modes barely throw at all, but that isn’t what they’re for. They’re there so your eyes stay adjusted to the dark.

Beam Distance (Flashlight)

Same method again, with the same light meter.

• Turbo: ~90.0ft
• Higher: 90.0ft
• High: 54.9ft
• Mid: 21.7ft
• Low: 3.9ft

Turbo measured about the same as Higher, but it only stays on for 30 seconds, so I’d take that one with a pinch of salt. Either way, the top two settings light up close to 100 feet ahead of you, which was more than enough for me.

Charging Input

• Charging port: USB-C (2-way)under a waterproof flap on the side
• What my charger gave it: 9V, under 1A
• Charge time: 3 hrs 15 min to 3 hrs 30 min

The blue light blinks the whole time it’s charging, and goes solid once it’s full.

Charging Output

• Max current: 3.0Athe highest of the 7 lantern flashlights I tested
• iPhone 12 charges: 3.5
• That lasted me: 3.5 days

Day	iPhone 12	Charge added	Time taken
1	25-93%	68%	1.02 hrs
2	16-91%	75%	1.00 hrs
3	20-88%	68%	1.02 hrs
4	20-50%	30%	0.5 hrs

On day four it stopped charging halfway through, with roughly 8% left in it. That still gave me another 23 hours of white lantern on Low.

A high max current doesn’t mean your phone will draw all of it, but the 3.0A did charge my iPhone 12 noticeably faster than the other lights I’ve tested.

D-Ring

• D-rings: 1at the top
• Stows away: To either sideit’s slightly magnetic, so it stays put

Waterproofing

• Official rating: IP67heavy rain, water jets, and submersion to 1 meter for 30 minutes
• My tested rating: IP66it passed everything except the submersion

I started with 30 minutes of heavy rain, then gave it 10 minutes of high-pressure water jets.

Then I put it under water for 30 minutes.

The very next day it was completely dead, with water leaking out of the USB-C port.

That one was the review sample, so I bought a second LR70 with my own money to finish the testing.

Update 2026: Review sample doesn’t even hold a charge anymore, so it’s basically out of commission.

Impact Resistance

• Rated drop height: 1 meter
• My drop test: Passedno scratches on the plastic or the aluminum

It landed pretty heavily, but every mode still worked and the lens was fine too.

Quality

• Color temperature: 4,000Kneutral, so neither warm nor cool
• LEDs: 7 front, 6 top, 7 backnothing on the left or right sides

The diffuser doesn’t do a great job. You can pick out the individual LEDs even on Low, and it gets glaring quickly on the brighter modes.

• Diffuser: High-grade plastic
• Base: Aluminum alloy
• Buttons and port: Rubberized
• Warranty: 2 years

As a lantern you can hang it off the D-ring, stand it upright, or turn it upside down, depending on where you want the light to go. You can also use it while it’s charging.

Portability

• Weight: 9.56oz
• Packed size: 4.4 x 2.4 x 1.3in

Pros, Cons & Recommendations

Now, what are the pros and cons, and would I recommend the Nitecore LR70?

Pro #1 – Loads of light modes

You get 12 modes in total:

• White lantern: Low, Mid, High
• Red lantern: Low, High, Beacon, SOS
• Flashlight: Low, Mid, High, Higher, Turbo

It’s also the only one of the 7 lantern flashlights I tested with a red mode, which is exactly what I want in the middle of the night when I don’t want my eyes to readjust.

Pro #2 – A huge range of brightness

The lantern runs from 6 lumens to 1,090, and the flashlight from 0.2 to more than 5,000. Nothing else I tested comes close:

Lantern flashlight	Lantern (lumens)	Flashlight (lumens)	Beam distance
Nitecore LR70	6 – 1,090	0.2 – 5,099	90.0ft
Goal Zero Torch 500	291 – 1,663	31 – 320	52.1ft
UCO Leschi	33 – 125	49 – 517	48.2ft
UCO Pika	5 – 171	3 – 148	37.5ft
Goal Zero Micro Charge	0 – 265	0 – 60	25.4ft
Goal Zero Micro Flash	0 – 209	0 – 99	24.5ft
Nitecore LA10	31 – 285	3 – 28	8.6ft

Nitecore quotes 400 lumens for the lantern on High and 3,000 for the flashlight on Turbo. I measured 1,090 and 5,099, so I got a lot more than I expected.

Pro #3 – Great battery capacity

At 10,000 mAh this holds the biggest battery of any lantern flashlight I’ve tested, and the run times show it:

Lantern flashlight	Battery	Longest lantern run-time	Longest flashlight run-time
Nitecore LR70	10,000 mAh	367 hrs	780 hrs
Goal Zero Torch 500	5,200 mAh	20 hrs	28 hrs
Goal Zero Micro Charge	2,600 mAh	274 hrs	239 hrs
Goal Zero Micro Flash	2,600 mAh	353 hrs	308 hrs
UCO Pika	1,800 mAh	61 hrs	61 hrs
Nitecore LA10	1x AA	16 hrs	16 hrs
UCO Leschi	1x AA	11 hrs	11 hrs

On the Mid white lantern I got 63 hours, and that was bright enough to light a 5-person tent. At 9 hours a night, that’s a week of camping without a single recharge.

Nitecore quotes 200 hours for the white lantern on Low, and I got 292.

Pro #4 – Loads of other features

Away from the light modes, you also get:

• Mobile charging
• Fast charging, in and out
• A low current mode for small devices
• Battery indicator lights
• Flashlight memory
• A magnetic D-ring
• Rain and water-jet proofing
• A 1-meter drop rating

Pro #5 – It charges a phone quickly

The 3.0A max current is the highest of the seven, and it showed in how long a full phone charge took:

Lantern flashlight	Max current	iPhone 12 charge	Time taken
Nitecore LR70	3.0A	75%	1.00 hrs
Goal Zero Torch 500	2.1A	77%	1.58 hrs
Goal Zero Micro Charge	1.0A	68%	1.58 hrs
UCO Pika	Not stated	39%	1.67 hrs

That worked out about one and a half times faster than the other lantern flashlights I’ve charged from.

Con #1 – The submersion test killed it

It’s rated IP67, which should mean 30 minutes at 1 meter submerged. Mine was dead the next day with water pouring out of the port, so I’ve put its tested rating at IP66. It takes heavy rain and water jets without any trouble, so just don’t go submerging it and you should be fine.

Con #2 – Heavy

At 9.56oz this isn’t a light you’d clip onto a pack and forget about. Only the Goal Zero Torch 500 is heavier of the seven I tested.

Con #3 – Expensive

Of all the lantern flashlight combos I’ve bought, this is the most expensive one so far.

Bonus – MUST Read!

I measured every number on this page myself.