Nitecore P40 Review: A Dual-Beam Searchlight with Serious Throw

Introduction

The Nitecore P40 is an ultra-long throw dual beam flashlight aimed at search and rescue, law enforcement, military patrolling, and hunting. It combines two very different light sources in one body: a single class 1 LEP white laser for extreme distance, and five LEDs that make up the floodlight. The result is a light that can throw up to a claimed 2,900 m, about 9,514 ft or 1.8 miles, while still giving you usable close-range illumination.

Key headline figures include a maximum output of 2,000 lm, a max intensity of 2,130,800 cd, and a max runtime of 20 hours. On paper that is an unusual combination, and in practice it makes the P40 one of the more versatile searchlights in Nitecore’s LEP lineup.

Who This Product Is For

This is not an everyday carry flashlight. At 7.32 in long with a 2.64 in head diameter and 13.7 oz (390 g) with the battery installed, it is a substantial light meant to live in a backpack or vehicle until it is needed. If you hunt at night, work in search and rescue, or patrol large properties, a long-throw LEP like this is genuinely hard to replace. Being able to see extremely far away, with the claimed 1.8 mi maximum throw, is the whole point of this light.

Build Quality and Design

The body is aluminum alloy with a type 3 hard anodized finish, and the overall feel matches what you would expect from Nitecore at this price range. Everything feels high quality, from the rubberized tail cap to the machined body.

Looking down the head, the design is unusual: five LEDs sit at the bottom of the head with a textured reflector serving the floodlight, while the class 1 LEP white laser sits pushed way back in its own optical lens. It is an interesting internal layout that supports the dual-beam concept.

One point worth knowing: the tail cap and body have no springs holding the battery. In many lights that raises concerns about interrupted output when the light gets banged around, but in testing there were no light interruptions from jostling, dropping, or impact. The light carries an IP68 rating, meaning it is fully dustproof and submersible in up to 6 ft of water, with 1 m impact resistance.

Interface and Programmable UI

Three buttons control everything: a clicky power switch at the tail, and two side buttons labelled A and B. A blue LED between the side buttons acts as a battery indicator, though it is a fairly basic three-stage system. To check the battery, you press and hold the B button while the light is off, turn it on, and release; a solid, fast blinking, or slow blinking blue light indicates the level. It is not the most elegant battery indicator around.

What makes the P40 stand out is the programmable UI. The light has three modes: floodlight, spotlight, and mixed light. Pressing and holding the B button while on cycles between them, and here is the clever part: each of the low, mid, and high brightness levels remembers its own mode independently. You can set low to floodlight for close-up tasks, mid to mixed light, and high to the intense spotlight, and the light keeps those assignments. Turbo is always mixed light mode and can be reached instantly with a long press of the A button. Mode memory and a silent momentary on via half-pressing the tail switch round out the experience. A factory reset is available by holding both A and B while turning the light on.

There is also an adaptive cruise mode, which automatically adjusts brightness based on the angle of the flashlight: pointed down it dims to low, raised up it ramps to turbo. It is activated by holding A and B while turning the light off, then back on. It is an interesting feature, but if you prefer full manual control over brightness, it is easy to ignore.

Beam Performance: Spot, Flood, and Mixed

The floodlight mode produces a nicely even, wide beam that works well for illuminating your immediate surroundings. There is no turbo in flood mode; the top level there is 800 lm.

The spotlight mode is where the P40 earns its reputation. Even on low, the class 1 LEP white laser produces a laser-like beam with an intense hotspot. At the claimed 2,900 m maximum throw, this is the kind of light that can reach far across open ground, which is exactly what hunters and search teams need. In real-world use, distant treelines and structures were easily visible.

Mixed light mode combines both sources, giving you a usable flood around you plus that intense hotspot far away. Turbo in mixed mode delivers the full 2,000 lm and 2,900 m throw, but manage expectations: the rated one-hour runtime at turbo is a total runtime figure until the battery dies, not sustained output. In testing, output held around 1,400 to 1,300 lm for roughly 2 minutes and 45 seconds before stepping down instantly to about 500 lm. The beam is a cool white, roughly around 6,000 K.

Battery and Charging

The P40 ships with a 3.6 V 5,500 mAh 21700 battery, charged via an 18 W USB-C fast charging port on the side of the body, protected by a rubber flap. A full charge from zero takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes, and the battery can also be slot charged separately if you have a charger. One limitation: the light does not support pass-through operation while charging, so you cannot use it plugged in.

Runtime figures by mode and level:

• Low: flood 100 lm (20 h), spot 50 lm (20 h), mixed 80 lm (20 h)
• Mid: flood 400 lm (4 h), spot 200 lm (3 h 45 min), mixed 300 lm (4 h)
• High: flood 800 lm (2 h 30 min), spot 400 lm (2 h 30 min), mixed 600 lm (2 h 30 min)
• Turbo (mixed only): 2,000 lm, 2,900 m throw

Things to Consider Before Buying

The main sticking point is the price, at around $240. That is a premium tag, though you are getting high-end features, and Nitecore is hard to beat in the LEP space with this combination of floodlight LEDs and a laser spotlight.

The three-stage battery indicator is underwhelming, adaptive cruise mode will not appeal to everyone, and the lack of pass-through charging may bother some users. None of these are dealbreakers for the intended audience, but they are worth knowing before buying.

Buying Advice

If you have the budget and a genuine need for extreme throw, the P40 is a great choice. It packs capabilities that much larger flashlights do not match into a body that, while not compact, is still manageable at 7.32 in. The programmable UI is genuinely useful: assigning floodlight to low, mixed to mid, and spotlight to high makes the light adapt to whatever the situation demands.

Buy it if you hunt at night, work in search and rescue or law enforcement, or patrol large areas. Skip it if you want an EDC light or a budget general-purpose flashlight; this is a specialized tool, and it is priced like one.

Conclusion

The Nitecore P40 is an awesome searchlight with a rare dual-beam design. The mix of a five-LED floodlight and a class 1 LEP white laser, combined with a fully programmable UI where each brightness level keeps its own mode, makes it one of the most versatile long-throw flashlights available. Seeing almost 2 miles with a handheld light is genuinely impressive, and for the right user, that capability justifies the premium price.