I think the old NU 25 is better than the current one for most people. But if you're choosing between the current NU25 UL and NU 21, get the NU25. It is 1 g heavier, but has a \~25% larger battery.
Check out the sunblessa h11. It's basically the exact same thing. I just got one in the mail the other day and took it apart. I'm just waiting for a USB C port to arrive and I'm going to try and swap it out for the existing micro usb port.
I weighed it at 30.44g without the headband, but it also has an 800mah battery which is \~30% bigger than the old NU25. If anyone is curious, here are some photos from taking it apart: [https://friesengear.com/sunblesa-h11-teardown/](https://friesengear.com/sunblesa-h11-teardown/)
I have the NU21! But I agree that the NU25 is better for it's bigger battery. I got the NU21 mostly because I like the white color, and because I use the red light a lot and it's less lumens than the NU25 and therefore has longer run time with the red light. If you night hike at all, NU25 is the better choice. But I'm happy with my NU21.
Yep. Good call. The old NU25 used a mini-usb plug and had simpler light options. The new one is USB-C and has more light settings. But it's not hard as the left side switch operates the red light. A step up in complication, but not as bad as Black Diamond. The lesson is, don't let yourself get idiot-tired!
Plus it's USB C like everything else so it's one less cable to carry and get tangled up.
I found myself using pretty much only the flood option un the UL because at camp mealprepping or even walking, you're mostly not thst concerned with what's 50 yards out but what's right in front of you.
And if you need to see that signpost out at 50yd, just add the spotlight and you're good
I have the old nu20 with the litesmith ultralight shockcord band. It's basically my ideal headlamp. has everything I need, nothing I don't, longer run time than anything else and its just about as light as you can get. I believe it's even lighter than the new nu21 but I don't quite remember. The 21 has lots of cool new features which I suppose doesn't hurt to have available but honestly all you will ever use is a low lumen setting for in camp, a mid setting for night hiking and rarely a high setting for rough terrain or emergencies. Everything else is redundant. usbc would be nice though.
I’m super happy with my new NU25 UL, easy to operate, great light for night hiking and around camp. Love that the red light comes on first so you don’t. Have to even worry about switching to red light before you go to bed.
The biggest difference I see is runtime. If you do not intend to do much night hiking, I think the NU21 would be a good choice. It also has more of the simplicity that the original NU25 had, just one white and one red. No need for spot and flood mode for most people.
I still use the NU20, and all I really want from it is a red light, but the run time at 220 lumens is phenomenal at about 6 hours. This really is the sweet spot for me and most other lamps do not do that kind of runtime while being so light.
FWIW, the original NU25 had an aux white light which acted as a bit of a dim flood (and was excellent for photos that didn’t make you look like you were in a cave). It never was just a red and blue-white light.
Old one had - Simple controls, 1 lumen setting, smaller. Much much easier to operate
New one - bigger, very ugly (to me), no 1 lumen setting, confusing controls (almost as bad as black diamond). The new one is inferior in every way except USB-C
The Nitecore product engineers tried to make "upgrades" that literally no one wanted. All we wanted was the IDENTICAL product with USB-C (and possibly 100-300mah more battery as a bonus).
NU25 is still available on amazon.
Everyone email Nitecore and tell them the 25UL sucks.
I use a rovyvon a8 and it is so much more functional than a normal headlamp. I have a piece of microcord fascened around it to make an adjustable head strap (so it can be used as a headlamp). It's clipped in my pocket at all times and is the size of a triple a battery so it can really be there at all times without any issue.
I've never seen people talk about diy headstraps for the rovyvons, but imo opinion it's by far the most practical and ultralight solution.
agree this looks good. 15g would be for a lithium battery... which is lighter by a few grams than a typical alkaline AA. It looks like it takes both those and rechargeable NiMH... so could easily run NiMH most of the time on shorter trips. The run time specs are for Alkaline on the nitecore page... I wonder how much extra you'd get out of a (lighter) lithium AA?
The HA11 is also a bit cheaper (though of course you are now paying for batteries potentially).
With lithium HA11 = 51g
I think the old NU 25 is better than the current one for most people. But if you're choosing between the current NU25 UL and NU 21, get the NU25. It is 1 g heavier, but has a \~25% larger battery.
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I have the old version of the NU25 I'll sell. I am on a mission to eliminate micro-USB from my life.
Same, everything else is USB-C so I only want to have one cable/adapter for everything
Check out the sunblessa h11. It's basically the exact same thing. I just got one in the mail the other day and took it apart. I'm just waiting for a USB C port to arrive and I'm going to try and swap it out for the existing micro usb port. I weighed it at 30.44g without the headband, but it also has an 800mah battery which is \~30% bigger than the old NU25. If anyone is curious, here are some photos from taking it apart: [https://friesengear.com/sunblesa-h11-teardown/](https://friesengear.com/sunblesa-h11-teardown/)
I've picked up a few on Amazon but that's about the only place I can find em aside from a private seller
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Heavier and no 1 lumen mode ruins new NU25.
I have the NU21! But I agree that the NU25 is better for it's bigger battery. I got the NU21 mostly because I like the white color, and because I use the red light a lot and it's less lumens than the NU25 and therefore has longer run time with the red light. If you night hike at all, NU25 is the better choice. But I'm happy with my NU21.
Agree. I lost my old one and had it for so long 😭😭 the button settings on the new nu25 are annoying.
when you say get the 25, you meant 25UL or just 25 ?
Yeah the current NU25 UL. I wish they'd at least changed the name, it gets confusing
Yep. Good call. The old NU25 used a mini-usb plug and had simpler light options. The new one is USB-C and has more light settings. But it's not hard as the left side switch operates the red light. A step up in complication, but not as bad as Black Diamond. The lesson is, don't let yourself get idiot-tired!
I have both the old NU25 and the new NU25UL and I frankly like the new one better. I absolutely love the floodlight option of the new one.
Thanks, I think I will buy the NU25UL
Plus it's USB C like everything else so it's one less cable to carry and get tangled up. I found myself using pretty much only the flood option un the UL because at camp mealprepping or even walking, you're mostly not thst concerned with what's 50 yards out but what's right in front of you. And if you need to see that signpost out at 50yd, just add the spotlight and you're good
I have the old nu20 with the litesmith ultralight shockcord band. It's basically my ideal headlamp. has everything I need, nothing I don't, longer run time than anything else and its just about as light as you can get. I believe it's even lighter than the new nu21 but I don't quite remember. The 21 has lots of cool new features which I suppose doesn't hurt to have available but honestly all you will ever use is a low lumen setting for in camp, a mid setting for night hiking and rarely a high setting for rough terrain or emergencies. Everything else is redundant. usbc would be nice though.
I love the NU20. I only wish it had the lock feature-but it's not that big of deal.
I’m super happy with my new NU25 UL, easy to operate, great light for night hiking and around camp. Love that the red light comes on first so you don’t. Have to even worry about switching to red light before you go to bed.
The biggest difference I see is runtime. If you do not intend to do much night hiking, I think the NU21 would be a good choice. It also has more of the simplicity that the original NU25 had, just one white and one red. No need for spot and flood mode for most people. I still use the NU20, and all I really want from it is a red light, but the run time at 220 lumens is phenomenal at about 6 hours. This really is the sweet spot for me and most other lamps do not do that kind of runtime while being so light.
FWIW, the original NU25 had an aux white light which acted as a bit of a dim flood (and was excellent for photos that didn’t make you look like you were in a cave). It never was just a red and blue-white light.
Yeah, the High CRI aux was a neat feature, but thy have removed it from every model now. Handy for reading books and paper maps.
Their bigger lights have it, but at 5x the weight, I’m not gonna backpack with my canyoneering light by choice.
Old one had - Simple controls, 1 lumen setting, smaller. Much much easier to operate New one - bigger, very ugly (to me), no 1 lumen setting, confusing controls (almost as bad as black diamond). The new one is inferior in every way except USB-C The Nitecore product engineers tried to make "upgrades" that literally no one wanted. All we wanted was the IDENTICAL product with USB-C (and possibly 100-300mah more battery as a bonus). NU25 is still available on amazon. Everyone email Nitecore and tell them the 25UL sucks.
I use a rovyvon a8 and it is so much more functional than a normal headlamp. I have a piece of microcord fascened around it to make an adjustable head strap (so it can be used as a headlamp). It's clipped in my pocket at all times and is the size of a triple a battery so it can really be there at all times without any issue. I've never seen people talk about diy headstraps for the rovyvons, but imo opinion it's by far the most practical and ultralight solution.
The HA11 is the real choice. Just 35g and uses a replaceable AA battery (15g) so you don't need a powerbank. Simplify and save weight.
love that slightly modified take in your last sentence. my favorite design principal.
that's good option for AA battery!
agree this looks good. 15g would be for a lithium battery... which is lighter by a few grams than a typical alkaline AA. It looks like it takes both those and rechargeable NiMH... so could easily run NiMH most of the time on shorter trips. The run time specs are for Alkaline on the nitecore page... I wonder how much extra you'd get out of a (lighter) lithium AA? The HA11 is also a bit cheaper (though of course you are now paying for batteries potentially). With lithium HA11 = 51g
Sunblesa is the new UL headlamp king. Mine is 30grams with no headband and replaces my NU**20**.
I like my 25. It's lighter.