Category: Flashlight Reviews

Posted on

Vezerlezer ED10 Review (2200 Lumens, SST40, USB-C, New Brand)

Today I have the first light from a new company Vezerlezer with the ED10. No idea if I am pronouncing the company name correctly or not. This is a 18650 based light, with an SST40 LED, onboard USB-C charging and a side mounted switch. Thanks to Vezerlezer for sending it for me to check and providing a discount code for 30% off good till 2023. 

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@liquidretro1

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

 

Pickup the Vezerlezer ED10 from Vezerlezer at https://bit.ly/VEZED10

Use code CTZK5A8E to save 30% off the ED10 until 2023

 

Packaging & Accessories

The ED10 packaging is a nice retail style box, with a black, green and gray color scheme and various flashlight stats through out. Accessories that come with the light include a branded lanyard, extra oring, pocket clip, USB-A to USB-C cable, and a 2600mAh battery. 

 

 

Construction & Design

The ED10 isn’t breaking any new ground in terms of design but it does what it does pretty well. I am only going to hit the highlights here. Machining and anodizing are what I would expect in this price range but the edges are lacking champers around the head. The tail cap is flat, allowing it to tail stand and is non magnetic. 

There are quite a few markings on the light, with the logo, URL, model and company name appearing no less than 4 times, and they seem to be masked before anodizing, if scratched a bit it reveals bare aluminum at least on the tail. 

The body has a nice spiral shallow knurl in it. It reminds me of the Klarus ST15R I tested a while back. It provides a minimal amount of grip though. The pocket clip mounts at the rear of the body tube and the tube is non reversible.

The light does come into 3 pieces, with springs on both the head and tail. The head has a large anti roll ring, the switch is a metal eswitch with a near silent operation and a RGB led indicator at the center. The head has a large bezel that is removable, Inside is a lightly orange pealed reflector. What’s kind of unique is the reflector threads into the head which isn’t super common. As a result of all of this, it should be an easily modified light. 

 

Retention

Retention options with the Vezelezer ED10 are the included lanyard which attaches best on the side of the tail cap, or on the pocket clip. Your other option is the pocket clip. It’s a fairly deep pocket clip but the way mine is bent near the body it catches going into your pocket a bit. I think I can probably fix this with some pliers if I wanted to. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured length at 4.4” or 112mm. Maximum diameter at 1.1” (28mm) at the switch area, and minimum diameter of 0.96” (24.5mm). Weight with the cell and clip was 4.59oz or 130.2g. The light is IP68 rated and drop rated to 1.5m. Here are a few comparison photos to similar lights. 

 

LED & Beam

The light is running an SST40 LED in cool white. My Opple meter measured the tint at 6076k, and a CRI of 67 when in high mode. The beam profile is what I would call normal, primarily a central focused beam with minimal spill with no strange artifacts. PWM is present on all modes, it’s very a rapid PWM and I have a few graphs that show this from my Opple meter on high and turbo. Parasitic draw was measured at 20uA which is ok.

Official Outputs

  • Turbo – 2200 Lumens
  • High – 1400 Lumens
  • Medium – 560 Lumens
  • Low – 128 Lumens
  • Eco – 30 Lumens
  • Moon – 1 Lumen

Heat & Runtime

For my Relative output Runtime graphs I ran the Vezerlezer ED10 with the included 2600mAh battery. Turbo lasted to 2:40 with peak heat coming about the 3 minute mark at 51C. You can see active thermal protection on the light working through out the runtime as it takes little steps up and down to keep the temps regulated just under 50C before eventually turning off as power runs out at 1:40:00.

In my relative output comparison graph where I am basically comparing the runtime curves to one another (not total output), Turbo and high look very similar with high being slightly longer in runtime like you would expect but not in medium mode. Medium mode 

UI

The ED10 has 2 UI modes, stepped or ramping. To switch between them with the light off hold the button for about 5 second till the light flashes then let go. In stepped the light has memory mode. From off if you turn on and keep pressing the light will step up all the way to turbo and it stops. You have to press the button again to then step down. Anywhere you stop on that ramp, the next button press will step down. This is logical but takes time to get used to.

 

In ramping mode it behaves just like you would expect, except it only ramps to high mode, and you have to double press to go to turbo. The ramping is quite fast, and seems to be on a curve instead of linear. With the moon to mediumish being quicker then medium to high or so, maybe that’s because it leaves out turbo? In any mode triple click to get strobe.

 

Recharging

The ED10 charges via USB-C under a silicone cap opposite the e-button. The silicone cap fits well and stays out of the way. While charging the button turns into a charge indicator, red when charging, green when charged. The 2600mAh battery ended up testing 2694mAh, so that’s good.

Unfortunately C to C charging does not work here, so stick to the included USB-A to C cable. The charge curve here looks fine, it’s quite flat during the constant current charging for 2:32:00 minutes, but not very fast peaking at right around 1A. LVP is around 2.94v and the light charges the battery to 4.16v.

 

Final Thoughts

Not knowing what to expect from a brand new company I would say they have a pretty solid offering here for a first attempt. The exterior design is a nice size, I like the body tube milling rather than just standard knruling but you do pay in a bit less grip, and the port cover fits well. The beam properties are solid too, nothing really negative to say other then my standard gripe of cool white. 

That said there is room for improvement. The tail cap is just begging for a magnet with how flat it is, the pocket clip has that edge that catches on pockets, and they have went a bit overboard with the branding in my opinion on the light. I wish the battery was a larger size for the money being spent, 2600mAh isn’t that much in 2022 and the light really should be capable of C to C charging.

 

There are those firmware flaws that I mentioned in the UI section that another reviewer had found, None of them are deal breakers for me but they should be fixed. Ramping here is maybe a touch too fast in my opinion but I would rather it be faster then too slow. 

 

So in all a decent first attempt from a new model. The UI is easy to use, and the beam is suited just fine for EDC or general use. If they offered LED tint’s I think they could be a serious competitor with brands like Sofirn and Wurkkos for quality budget offerings. With the discount code that Vezerlezer has provided I think that puts the ED10 about where it should be price wise but it’s original MSRP is a bit too high to be competitive. 

 

Posted on

Lumintop GT Nano (Worlds Smallest Thrower?)

The Lumintop GT Nano is tiny, it’s modeled off the big BLF GT thrower that took 8 18650 batteries and came with a shoulder strap, the GT Nano looks similar but is smaller than your thumb. So you might be thinking something this small can’t possibly be functional right? Think again. 

This light was provided for me for free by Flashlightbrand.com a newer reseller based out of China. 

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@liquidretro1

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

 

Pickup the GT Nano from FlashlightBrand.com at https://www.flashlightbrand.com/lumintop-gt-nano-brass-everyday-carry-lights-450-lumen-keychain-flashlight-p3822334.html

 

10440 Tube https://www.flashlightbrand.com/lumintop-gt-nano-10440-tube-copper-brass-p3958893.html

Use Coupon Code LR10 for 10% off

 

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging here is a nice high quality box, and you get a number of accessories. Obviously the light itself, an 80mah button top 10180 battery, the recharger, a very short MicroUSB charging cable, split ring, lanyard and carabiner. There is an optional 10440 tube that you can purchase to run larger battery and more runtime but mine didn’t come with that. The light does come in black aluminum, titanium, and copper version too. 

 

I will note my light didn’t come sealed in a vacuum bag to prevent patina like Lumintop does normally. I asked FlashlightBrand about this and they said they open them up to make sure they are working…… I let them know this is not normal and my light arrived with fingerprints on it and scratches on the tail. All of the studio shots of the lights in the video were taken as the light came out of the box. Hopefully they stop this behavior.

 

Construction & Design

The Lumintop GT Nano is basically an exact clone as the larger BLF GT but just scaled down here significantly. I am not going into extensive descriptions here as the video and pictures will do it justice. There is a bunny logo on the tail inside the recessed area on the tail. The button here does seem large but that’s just because it’s such a small light. The front bezel does unscrew by hand easily it does have a AR glass lens and smooth deep reflector. Internally the head has just a center post, and the tail has reasonably long spring for the overall size of the light.

 

Retention

For retention you do have a small lanyard attachment point at the tail. A lanyard and split ring as well as a small keychain carabiner is included here. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 54mm, max diameter at the head at 24m, and diameter of the body tube at 14mm. 

Weight with the battery installed is 1.74oz or 49.4g. The light is IPX8 water rated.

 

LED & Beam

The GT Nano is running an Osram Flat White emitter the actual model is a CSLNM1.TG quite a mouthful. It’s a great choice here. On my Opple meter measured a CCT of 7289 and CRI of 71. Neither are very surprising. 

The beam pattern here isn’t the most beautiful but for what it is it’s ok. You have that very hot small center, and then in the spill there is a notable ring and some minor artifacts further out. It’s no surprise there is PWM here it’s pretty fast, here are some visualizations. 

The driver here appears to be unregulated with the manual warning not to exceed 2.4A of draw. With the 10140 battery this isn’t an issue, but if you do buy the 10440 tube make sure you throw a battery of the proper maximum output in or you risk damaging the driver. With the LED under the switch and such a small battery it would be best if you mechanically locked the light out when not in use. 

Official Outputs are listed at 450 lumens with a throw up to 300 meters;. 

 

Night Shots can be found in the video version of this review.

 

Runtime & Heat

With an 80mAh battery in this configuration runtime were never going to be anything super impressive. That said I feel like a maximum useable runtime from turbo of 24 minutes is decent. The brightest of that output lasts for the first 8 minutes as you can see in the graph. The peak in temp was about 38C after about 8 minutes. The brass here does a good job of holding heat. . 

I did a second runtime test in stepped mode 3 of 5 so a medium output and it was able to hold the brightest of that mode for 17 minutes before stepping down and ending at about 28 minutes. 

 

UI

The GT Nano is running Narsil M version 1.3. Narsil is kind of old firmware at this point and something I haven’t seen on a light in a few years. It’s nice firmware but kind of complicated with all it’s different configuration options. I won’t go into those but I will link to a chart that explains it. 

http://bit.ly/narsil-cs

What you need to know for the GT Nano is it ships in ramping mode. Ramping mode is good, and fast. You can change it to stepped mode if you wish which is how I tested in my runtime graphs but for general operation I prefer ramping. Switching between them is easy, with the light on press and hold for about 3 seconds the light will flash twice pause, and then blink once. It’s easiest to then just let the light exit programming by putting it down for about 45 seconds. 

 

Recharging

The light comes with it’s own charger and it’s neat how it works here. It looks like a lanyard bead with a MicroUSB port on the inside but upon further investigation the end with hole unscrews and you actually unscrew the tail of the light that holds the battery and then screw the side with the USB port into the tail of the light with the battery and your in business. The white plastic dome is the charge indicator here, red charging, green charged. This only works with the 10180 battery, if your running a 10440 you need your own charger. I am using my Vapcell S4 Plus because I can manually select a low charge speed of 250mA. 

For an 80mAh battery, you want to charge very slowly, and it does this at 0.09A, so charging here takes about 90 minutes. LVP was measured at 3.33v and full at 4.14V. 

 

Final Thoughts

A lot of tiny flashlights are gimmicks but the Lumintop GT Nano is the real deal. I am frankly quite amazed at how well this actually works. It throws an impressive distance especially for it’s size. Most of the time throwers are larger because that larger head works better for throwers, but here its quite small. That said with an 80ma battery your run times are very short and for that reason it kind of is a gimmick, so for that reason spend the few extra dollars and make sure you get yourself the 10440 tube too so you can increase that runtime. 

Pickup the GT Nano from FlashlightBrand.com at https://www.flashlightbrand.com/lumintop-gt-nano-brass-everyday-carry-lights-450-lumen-keychain-flashlight-p3822334.html

 

10440 Tube https://www.flashlightbrand.com/lumintop-gt-nano-10440-tube-copper-brass-p3958893.html

Use Coupon Code LR10 for 10% off

Posted on

Thrunite TC15 V3 Review (2403 Lumens, 18650, USB-C Charging)

Today I have one of Thrunite’s newest models and an update to one of my favorites the TV15 V3. It’s a 18650 powered, Cree XHP35.2 general purpose EDC flashlight with onboard charging. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to review. If they have provided me a discount that will be in the description below along with all my social media links to check out.

Pickup the Thrunite TC15 V3 at Amazon https://amzn.to/3uZY8xh (Be careful to select the V3) Use code LBJQKH2I to save an additional 5% until 3/10 on top of the existing 10% click coupon on the page.

Watch this review on YouTube:

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@liquidretro1

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

 

Packaging & Accessories

Standard Thrunite packaging here that I will let the photos do the descriptive work. While the box does note that a NW emitter is available, it’s not out at the time of review. Accessories that come with the light are the flashlight itself, a Thrunite branded standard 3100mAh 18650 IMR battery, branded lanyard, USB-A to USB-C cable, 2 extra orings, spare USB port cover, pocket clip, nylon holster and assorted paperwork. 

 

Construction and Design

The TC15 V3 looks a lot like the previous TC15 V2. Starting at the tail cap it is mostly flat with a small indent, and non magnetic. Your lanyard attachment point is on the rear. There is no knurling on the light, with only flat areas milled in the tail cap for grip to remove the battery. The body tube has flutes milled into it for style and a bit of grip. As mentioned in the retention section the clip only attaches in the middle of the light and the body tube is not reversible. 

Internally there is a spring at the tail, and a solid post in the head. Threads on both ends are square cut, lubricated and anodized. The head has a anti roll ring where the button sits. It’s the same e-button Thrunite has used on many other lights and tolerances are good, no side to side movement. It makes a nice click and requires slightly more force than normal to push. The charging port here is 90 degrees to the right of the button, in a very slim silicone cover that stays out of the way.

The front is one piece, no extra bezel, what bezel is there is smooth. The glass lens is slightly recessed and has AR coating. The reflector has an orange peel and is deep. 

 

Retention

Retention options on the TC15 V3 are pretty typical with one asterisk. Thrunite does include nice branded lanyard that attaches on the tail cap. You also get a branded holster, it’s ok, mine had lots of loose strings and felt kind of thin. 

Lastly is the clip on the TC15 V3. It’s changed from being mounted near the tail, to mounting in the middle of the body. It’s a dual direction clip but backwards from how I would carry this light, head down. That means to carry it head down you have to lift your pocket over the rather large bend of the clip. Once you do that it carries pretty well but it’s just not easy to put in the pocket like pretty much every other knife or light with a clip. Oh and for those suggesting you rotate tube so the pocket clip carries more traditionally you can’t. The thread line up but it doesn’t make electrical contact due to a 1mm difference on the head side. Not a fan of this design personally. 

Size and Weight

I measured the length of the TC15 V3 at 122.5mm (4.82”), minimum diameter at 23.5mm (0.925”), and maximum diameter at 25.6mm (1”). Weight with the included battery and clip was 134.5g or 4.74oz. The light is IPX8 water rated and 1.5M impact resistant. Here are some comparison shots with similar sized lights you might have. Branding is pretty minimal on this light which is great. 

LED & Beam

The TC15 V3 is using a Cree XHP35.2 LED. As of the creation of this video it’s only available in cool white. My unscientific Opple Meter registered this at 7000k in turbo with a CRI of 72 in the center. The beam has tint rainbow, with the beam getting green around the spill. The beam shape is a medium sized hotspot in the center and large amount of spill. This light does have PWM, but I don’t notice it with my eye. I will throw up what the meter shows in medium mode. I measured parasitic drain at an acceptable 47uA. 

 

Thrunite lists the official outputs as the following.

 

Heat and Runtime

For my runtime tests I measured the % of relative output at the 30 second mark to set what 100% relative output is according to the FL1 Standard then let them run. I did this with the supplied 3100mAh battery fully charged. 

Turbo ran for 3 minutes stepping down gradually as heat increased. From here it ran for 1:20:00 before 2 final step downs for a somewhat short total runtime at 1:35:00. Maximum heat was recorded at 1:20:00 at 46C. I then compared Turbo, High, and Medium runtimes and there really is not much difference between Turbo and High runtimes, less than 5 minutes. However medium ran out to 4:10:00. I did test low but didn’t graph it, it clicked in an impressive 58 hours and 17 minutes which is longer than The United claimed runtime. 

 

UI

The UI here is pretty simple. When the light is off, a quick press turns it on in the last mode used (memory), a press and hold lets you cycle through the 3 main modes (Low, Medium, High). When on double press to go to Turbo or Triple Press to go to strobe. When going to turbo or strobe the light does blink to off for a second which isn’t my favorite thing. From off long press to get to firefly mode, to lock/unlock from firefly press and hold to lock. 

 

Battery and Recharging

The TC15 V3 comes with a Thrunite branded 3100mAh IMR battery. This is a standard button top battery which is great to see. The light charges via the USB-C port on the side of the light. It is USB-C to C compatible and USB-C PD compatible. I charged from LVP at 2.94v to full at 4.1v in 2:17:04. It’s worth noting that charging speed here hit 2A almost immediately and continued at this rate for the first hour. Not a ton of light actually hit and hold 2A charging. Make sure you have a high quality power supply though to hit this. 

Final Thoughts

The TC15 V3 is mostly a win for me. It’s a nice size, easy user interface, and uses standard batteries with onboard USB-C charging. The pocket clip is what doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, it really should be flipped to the tail for deep carry, or mill the body so you can mount it in either direction. Both would be great solutions and improve the carryability of this light. As is to carry it head down it’s basically a 2 hand operation to put it back into your pocket. Not idea in my opinion.

I do hope we see a NW emitter for the TC15 V3 some day, it’s a personal preference of mine and something Thrunite has been good at in the past. I hope this isn’t a situation of slower sales of NW emitters causing the company to choose not to come out with that option. 

 

So if your looking for a good quality general purpose, non complicated 18650 flashlight with an easy UI and good customer service, look no further than the TC15 V3.

Pickup the Thrunite TC15 V3 at Amazon https://amzn.to/3uZY8xh (Be careful to select the V3) Use code LBJQKH2I to save an additional 5% until 3/10 on top of the existing 10% click coupon on the page.

 

Posted on

Wurkkos TS21 Review (3200 Lumens, SST20 90+ CRI, 21700, USB-C)

Today I have a fun one that I think you will want to stick around and watch, with the Wurkkos TS21. This is a newish light that Wurkkos has come out with, it’s a compact design, has 3 emitters, runs off a standard 21700 battery, uses the Andruil 2 firmware, and has onboard USB-C charging. Wurkkos did send this to me to look at and review, and they have offered a 20% discount on Amazon which is in the description if you’re interested in picking one up. 

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@liquidretro1

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

 

Pickup the Wurkkos TS21 from Amazon and save with the coupons below, or from Wurkkos direct (no coupon)

Gray from Amazon https://amzn.to/3rxyEFD Use code X5KSZIQH to save 20%

Black from Amazon WARNING THIS IS RUNNING Anduril 1 Read the listing carefully https://amzn.to/3Jb3byH Use code 5SDBMRK8 to save 20%

More options from Wurkkos direct are at the end of the review.

 

Packaging & Accessories

Wurkkos has a pleasant but basic white box with orange ends that largely displays their name in the middle. On the side is a sticker telling you what model you have inside, body color as well as emitter choice. Inside the light was in bubble wrap and continued the 5000mAh 21700 battery, pocket clip, Lanyard, extra orings, a USB-A to C Charging cable, and literature. 

 

Construction & Design

The TS21 is made from aluminum and in anodized in a variety of colors. It’s currently available in Champagne (A metallic tan color), Metal Gray, Black, Red (What I have here), and a splatter camouflage. The anodizing here is god, but I have noticed my red isn’t super durable, this isn’t uncommon with aluminum anodizing because black is the most durable color available.

The tailcap is flat, and magnetic, not super strong but enough to hold the weight of the light. The lanyard hole is an eyelet and is a little sharp. The body tube is nicely scalloped and completely reversible. It has groves milled in to accept the pocket clip on either end. 

The head grows in side, and contains minimal heat syncing. The button press feels about what you would expect from an eswitch, but the button itself kind of rattles around some, not the best feeling in the world. There are LED indicators under the switch that are used to show the charge status, and act as a locator LED. They go Red, Blue, and Amber in color. At the front there is a stainless steel bezel with large but shallow crenulations, a glass lens and a triple TIR optic. Note this isn’t the standard size you have seen in other lights like the FW3A, etc, it’s slightly larger.

Thread are anodized, square cut and nicely lubricated from the factory. Internally, the front is just a button contact, out the rear there is a large gold coated spring, and the tail cap is magnetic. It’s just strong enough to hold the light on a painted metal surface with a slight amount of slippage. 

 

Retention

Retention options are the dual direction pocket clip, which allows you to put the light on a hat and run a makeshift headlamp, or use more traditionally as a pocket clip. It’s reasonably deep carry and will mount on the rear or front of the light. Your lanyard attachment points are either on the tailcap of the light, or on the pocket clip. As mentioned the mount on the tailcap is a little sharp and can be a hot spot for larger hands. Speaking of fit in the hands it’s pretty good, It’s a reasonably compact design and provides a modest amount of grip. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the TS21 at 113.3mm (4.46”) in length, maximum diameter at the head at 28mm (1.1”) and minimum diameter on the body at 26.06mm (1.02”). Weight with the battery and clip installed came in at 158.7g or 5.10oz. The light is IPX water rated and here it is compared with a few similar style lights and the popular Wurkkos FC11. 

 

LED & Beam

The TS21 has 3 Luminus SST-20 Emitters, mine shipped with the 4000k tint but 5000k and 6000k are also available. These are behind a narrow TIR optic and it creates a very nice narrow semi floody beam. It’s a very practical and useful beam for a variety of tasks in my opinion. The bezel does interfere ever so slightly at short ranges with the very outside of the spill with the narrow optics here. With my not so scientific Opple meter I registered 3780k with 95 CRI. You have to take those CRI numbers with a grain of salt, but they are high enough to consider “high CRI” for me. It’s a pleasant warmer tint. 

Officially Wurkkos rates this as making 3500 lumens with 217M of throw. That may be a little optimistic with these specific warmer LED’s and I suspect they achieved this using the cooler tint LED’s that typically have a small performance advantage. This is a FET driving light and there is PWM here, it’s how ramping is achieved. It’s not noticeable to the eye for me but my equipment can pick it up. Personally I didn’t notice any whining during ramping. For me Turbo pulled 7.8A at the tailcap with the included battery, so you don’t need a particularly high drain battery for this light. See my night shots section of the video version of this review for a full demonstration of the beam and some comparison with other lights.

 

Heat & Runtime

So for my heat and runtime tests I used the included Wurkkos branded (standard non proprietary)  5000mAh flat top battery. I calibrated the light to a 60C and ran two rounds of tests. The graphs are using the FL1 standard so 100% of relative output is taken at the 30 second mark. First was my standard Turbo test, where I take the light to its absolute top output and just let it go. In doing this I saw the light almost immediately start stepping down at about 25 seconds it then ran at about 100% output for a minute and a half as heat peaked just under 50C. This makes me rethink my thermal calibration may need to be revisited. I won’t lie if I said I didn’t struggle with this a bit. Anyways output continues to decrease and it stabilizes between 30-45% of relative output for another nearly 4 hours. Total runtime down to 1% relative output was just shy of 5 hours.

I then ran a runtime which was the top of the default ramp curve. For this is was able to sustain 100% relative output for a little longer and the total output graph was pretty similar. Active thermal management shows itself in both modes well with the light increasing output as it cools even though the battery voltage is declining. This is something Andruil does well. LVP was measured at 2.994V. 

UI

The TS21 when it came out originally came with the Andruil 1.0 firmware by Toykeeper, but they are now shipping it with Andruil 2.0. This is my first light with Andruil 2.0 so it had a bit of a learning curve. I won’t pretend to be an Andruil expert, but I will say the diagram on how to navigate the light is absolutely critical to learning it and doing more advanced settings like setting the thermal calibration which I highly recommend doing. 

The light ships in Simple UI mode and this is a benefit of Anduril 2.0 as it’s your basic flashlight functions like turning on, increasing and decreasing brightness, battery check and lockout. It’s much easier to not end up in an advanced mode or get lost. Much better for more novice users or someone who wants something easier, that said it’s not calibrated so you can expect your runtimes to be less, especially at high outputs.

 

Your basic functions are ramping (Which can be switched to steps with 3 Clicks once on), double press to go to top of ram (Technically not turbo). In advanced mode you have the full range of features including all the blinking modes, changing the color of the auxiliary channel which on the TS21 is on the button, etc. You can see I somehow unintentionally turned my button LED to be on all the time in orange. You can of course go in and disable this. I think in time as I use Andruil 2 more I will like it but right now it’s a little confusing and not muscle memory yet. 

 

Recharging

Recharging is done via the onboard USB-C charging port built into the light. The silicone port cover here fits well but is rounded so it does help it roll on it’s side. A note on the battery here, it’s a flat top 21700 that’s non proprietary which is fantastic to see. The light supports charging via USB-C PD but doesn’t benefit from a speed increase as a result. 

Recharging from LVP at 2.994v to full at 4.17v took 2:53:00 at a maximum of 1.85A at the very beginning of charging, with the bulk of charging a bit lower then that. This is well under 1C for this battery and safe for long term use. 

 

Final Thoughts

Wurkkos has made their name in offering quality lights that appeal to enthusiasts at affordable prices and the TS21 is no different. It’s nice and compact, I don’t generally EDC a 21700 light because of it’s size but this is small and compact enough that I would if I was anticipating needing the output or runtime here. Because of that size though and this having 3 emitters it does build heat quickly and ramps down. This may be a slight disappointment if your not used to that, my advice would be to calibrate the light, raise that ceiling but also don’t run the light on the maximum output if you don’t need it. 

Multiple body color options from launch, LED Tint choices including warm, neutral tints, and high CRI are great to see at this price range. The number of manufactures that offer this keep declining and I think it’s an important feature. I hope consumers appreciate this complexity this adds to production and inventory with lots of additional SKU’s. 

 

Andruil is an enthusiasts UI for sure, it’s not super simple, but Andruil 2 with it’s separation of simple UI from Advanced UI improves this so it’s still a easy to use flashlight if you want it to be without all the complications, but those power features are there too if you want. Just make sure you have a diagram handy if you want to venture into the Advanced UI. 

So I can recommend this one both to new users, and enthusiasts. It’s a compact light with good performance, emitter tint options, high CRI, and body colors with onboard charging. This updated version I tested here today is a good way to try out Andruil 2 if you don’t have a light with it. With the coupons Wurkkos has provided I can get the light shipped to me for under $40 next day with a battery, which I think is a great deal. 

 

How to Purchase the TS21

Pickup the Wurkkos TS21 from Amazon and save with the coupons below, or from Wurkkos direct (no coupon)

 

Gray from Amazon https://amzn.to/3rxyEFD Use code X5KSZIQH to save 20%

Black from Amazon WARNING THIS IS RUNNING Anduril 1 Read the listing carefully https://amzn.to/3Jb3byH Use code 5SDBMRK8 to save 20%

 

All colors from Wurkkos https://wurkkos.com/products/wurkkos-ts21-new-color-metal-gray-and-champagne-with-anduril-20-21700-led-flashlight-3sst20-3500lm?VariantsId=10082

 

Blue Splatter from Wurkkos https://wurkkos.com/products/%E3%80%90pre-sale%E3%80%91wurkkos-new-ts21-with-anduril-20-nichia-219c-5000k-usb-c-rechargeable-21700-led-flashlight-with-power-bank-function-magnet-tail?VariantsId=10154

 

20350 Tube for the TS21 https://wurkkos.com/products/20350-short-tube-tube-work-for-wurkkos-hd20-ts21

 

Diffuser for the TS21 https://wurkkos.com/products/wurkkos-white-diffuser-for-ts21-soft-composite-materials-bright-indoor-reading-hiking-tent-lighting-with-malleability?VariantsId=10156

Posted on

Lumintop Antman Review (World’s Smallest LEP Flashlight)

Today I have for you what Lumintop claims as the smallest Laser or LEP flashlight on the market. It runs on a 14500 battery and is a familiar form factor. Thanks to Lumintop for sending this to me to look at and share with you.

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@liquidretro1

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

 

Get a 22% discount on the Ant man by using coupon code “JANTM2” at Lumintoponline at https://lumintoplighting.com/products/lumintop-ant-man-thor-mini-165lm-590m-14500-lep-mini-flashlight-184

 

Packaging & Accessories

Standard Lumintop cardboard packaging here, the light is well protected with some foam. Mine came with very minimal accessories, the light itself with the clip preinstalled, a Lumintop 920mAh battery with onboard USB-C, and a manual. 

 

Construction & Design

You probably recognize this light, it looks a lot like the Lumintop Tool series of lights from Lumintop. I don’t have a recent AA model to compare it to but it looks similar in most ways. Machining is good, with corners nicely broken and soft. Anodizing is flawless and markings are minimal. The head and tail are removable, threads are square cut, smooth and lubricated. The tail cap features a forward clicky button, it has LED’s underneath that glow ever so slightly as a locator feature. 

Internally there is only a stiff spring in the tail cap, with a solid post in the front. I would recommend changing the battery through the front of the light, due to the tail cap holding the clip into place, I find it’s easier that way. The body has standard diamond knurling thats minimally aggressive. 

The head features a six sided anti roll ring built into its heat fins. The front has a glass lens, with a GITD insert below the lens, blue in my case. The light will stand on it’s head but not the tail. 

 

Retention

The light ships with the standard Lumintop dual direction clip that’s held in place with the tail cap. It’s not my favorite due to not being deep carry but it works and keeps the light secure. It’s pre drilled for a lanyard if you wish but one isn’t included in the package. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 100mm, head diameter at 22mm, body tube at 19mm.I measured the weight with the Lumintop battery and clip at 85g or 3oz. The light is IPX8 water rated

 

Emitter & Beam

The Antman is using a LEP or Laser Excited Phosphor the result is a very throwy beam with no spill. I have explained this technology in some of my other videoss if your curious to learn more about it. The beam here is a little more fuzzy then other LEP’s I have and doesn’t have the same sharpness of the beam pattern. Tint here is very hard to measure due to the intensity, but it’s very cold, and I measured no flicker since this is a direct drive light.

Official stats have this at making 165 lumens and 87,025 candela. I don’t think mine is producing that with a full battery. I don’t have a calibrated setup that I trust to measure LEP’s right now to really give scientific evidence of this but my night shots shows what the eye sees decently.

 

Night Shots

You can see from my night shots (Video version) that the performance isn’t quite what I expected here. I compared it to the Thrunite Catapult Mini which on paper is pretty closer, while different technologies my Antman doesn’t seem to be close to the rated numbers. 

 

Runtime & Heat

I did my runtime tests with the optional Lumintop 920mAh button top battery. Flat tops and button tops work here but longer protected cells are not recommended. You don’t need a high drain battery either because the current draw is pretty minimal at just at 1A. 

Some other reviewers reported high parasitic drains with the Antman when off, I wanted to test this further but didn’t see the same effects on my light. I had the battery in the light and noticed no noticeable drop in voltage. 

 

The driver is direct drive and thats apparent in my runtime graph, it’s a very linear decline in relative output from the begging to the end. It is able to hold near 100% output for just about 10 minutes before declining. During this time the hottest temps I saw was 35C. Total output was 42 minutes on the supplied 920mAh battery. One thing to note is there is no low voltage protection built in here and the light will stop operating around 1.1V. Below you will see the direct charging via the battery too. 

 

UI

This is a single mode light so not much to say on the UI. It does have a forward clicky switch that you can half press for momentary mode or full press to lock it on. This is a little disappointing for the price range, I would expect another mode here.

 

Final Thoughts

The Antman is an interesting light. It’s quite small and is in a familiar form factor we know. However, in my experience it’s performance leaves something to be desired. While it does throw a reasonably far distance with a fairly focused beam, it’s not quite at the level I expected based on the other LEP lights that I own. I feel like my night shots do a good job of showing that in the video. I paired it up next to my Thrunite Catapult Mini which is a similar size but with a larger head. The performance of the two are very similar throw wise on paper, but not so much in the real world. For the Antman your putting size and form factor above performance.

I don’t normally talk about pricing in my reviews because it varies so much based on where you are in the world, where you buy it, what promotions are ongoing and when you buy. But on this review I have to mention price. LEP’s are not inexpensive, but typically their throw performance is unmatched. However on the Antman, the performance just isn’t quite there. There are lights that are LED based, that are a similar size, that offer the same or more performance but for half the cost. 

 

I do hope that Lumintop continues to develop this small form factor LEP based lights so that the performance comes up to what we have come to expect from LEP lights and the price decreases. I think this will happen with time. Right now I would have strong reservations on recommending the Antman, it’s remarkable in terms of its size and its technology but it’s performance lags my expectations in this case.

Posted on

Acebeam P15 Review (1700 Lumens, EDC, Tactical all in one)

Acebeam has a new dual purpose tactical weapon light that can also double as an EDC with the new P15. It’s designed to easily transition between the two uses and features a number of optimizations to work for both uses. It’s available in 4 colors with a variety of accessories too. Thanks to Acebeam for sending this to me to look at and review.

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@liquidretro1

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

 

Pickup the Acebeam P15 from Acebeam.com and save 10% by using the code ACE10

P15 EDC Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-edc

P15 Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-tactical-light

P15 Limited Edition https://www.acebeam.com/p15-limited-edition

Or Amazon at https://amzn.to/3nQLi03

 

Versions & Packaging & Accessories

The P15 comes in 4 colors, Black, Orange, Green, and Dark Green which is what I have here. The colors are really nice, Packaging is well done, with a full color magnetic closure box but not much info on the outside. Inside on my standard edition light I received an Acebeam Lanyard, 2 extra orings, allen key, 2 extra screws, the dual contact (proprietary) 18650 battery, and a proprietary charging cable. 

 

Construction & Design

Let’s talk about the design elements and construction on the Acebeam P15. Construction wise this feels and looks like a nicely built light in my opinion. Everything is nicely machined and finished. Edges are chamfered and the anodizing is flawless. This Dark Green color that I have here is my favorite, I wish more lights were finished this way. There is a good amount of laser engravings on the light, something is visible from almost every angle.

Let’s start at the tail, the light does tail stand, the switch is electronic, metal and flush. It’s hard to feel with gloves on but you can stab blindly and it generally works. There is a rotating locking ring in the rear as well to lock in your various accessories like the charging cable, tactical ring, or remote pressure switch on the side of the light. 

The body tube is smooth except for ribbing in the middle that adds a bit of grip and style. Threads are square cut and raw (but with grease). Internally there are springs on both sides. The head is pretty minimal in design with some basic milling for style mainly. The front bezel has some crenulations that allow light to escape when head down. Inside you have that double AR glass, and a smooth reflector.

 

Retention

Retention is one of the main differences on this light with it’s dual purpose design ethos of being weapon mountable and quickly converted to EDC. Starting first with EDC, there is the large pocket clip that dominates the light. It’s not a traditional pocket clip at all, it stands proud of the light quite a bit more then what we are used to seeing, that’s because it’s mounted on a “Scout” mount. As a result it’s not deep carry, but fairly secure. Given that I think it’s a better fit on a vest than in jeans pocket. The included lanyard can be attached at the rear of the clip or in the middle. The scout mount can be removed by taking the hex screws off the clip and then using your own smaller allen keys to remove it from the light if you wish. Acebeam sells a tactical ring that can be used in place of the clip if you wish too.

To convert to a weapon mount, you simply remove the two clip screws to reveal the standard scout mount you can then slide into any compatible mount. While easy to convert it’s not a tooless design.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 129.7mm, maximum diameter at the at the tail near the clip 34.5mm, minimum diameter on the body at 21.7mm. With the battery and clip installed the light comes in at 5.26oz, or 149.2g. The light is IPX8 water rated. 

LED & Beam

The P15 is using the Luminus SFT40 HI LED in an advertised 6500k tint with an advertised maximum 1700 lumens resulting in 330 meters of throw. On my unscientific Opple meter I recorded 6000K in turbo with a Ra (CRI) of about 65 and no measurable flicker. The beam is what you would expect, from a flat top LED, very throwy with a focused hot spot in the center and minimal spill. The crenulated bezel’s edges are visible in the spill but just a little. 

 

Official Outputs

    • Turbo 1700 Lumens – 27,225 Candela
    • High 600 Lumens
    • Mid 200 Lumens
    • Low 45 Lumens
    • Ultra Low 2 Lumens

 

Heat & Runtime

Let’s talk about the runtimes of the P15. Tubo lasts for 2 minutes before stepping down to 40% of relative output. It then continues on like this for 2 more hours till it takes a sharp decline for a total runtime of 2:18:00. During this time peak temp was 50C which is pretty controlled. I also ran a medium mode output and it’s very stable for 2:50:00 and then declines and shuts off for a total output of 3:12:00. 

 

UI

UI is simple on my version here without any of the accessories. From off, long press to turn on in firefly, long press to go into low, and the light will keep cycling up to medium and high. Double click to go to Turbo while on, and triple press to go to strobe. You can’t mechanically lock the light out due to those anodized threads but it does have electronic lockout that works pretty well. The quick function switch and pressures sensitive switch add other UI elements, but since I don’t have those I won’t comment on them directly. 

 

Recharging

Let’s talk about the battery in the Acebeam P15. It’s a 3100mAh 18650 that’s dual polarity on the one end with the plastic separator ring. We have seen other manufactures use these same type of cells usually on larger lights. I think Acebeam is doing it here to facilitate charging and the remote pressure switch without a dual tube light design to keep things slim. The bad news is it’s semi proprietary. 

So charging is accomplished via the pogo pins style connectors in the rear of the light. It comes with a special cable that plugs in via USB. It slides in from the rear and is a tight fit. It definitely takes some effort to get it there since the connector is a softer rubber/plastic. Once in place you can lock it in by turning the mechanical switch on the rear switch. This is also used for the other accessories. 

Charging took 2:27:00 to charge from LVP at 2.945V to full at 4.215v, so right where Acebeam claims. Fastest charging rate I saw was about 1.4V. The light will not turn on while charging.

 

Final Thoughts

I like the P15 EDC Tactical and the concept that Acebeam was trying to achieve with it. I like that they brought out multiple colors of the light from the beginning instead of dribbling them out over time. That said the light does make concessions in it’s design to do both tasks. Mainly the clip for me isn’t deep carry enough to create a light that I want to EDC in my front pockets, for me it’s more of a jacket light or something to go on a bag, that’s ok. As a weapon light I think this would do pretty well, they seem to have thought of most things, and it’s probably a little better as a weapon light than an EDC in my opinion.

This is the first light I have tried with the Luminis SFT40 HI LED. It’s pretty great for being cool white, without any major tint shift at lower outputs and creates a nice tight beam to throw well for its size. Hopefully we see this in future lights and from other manufactures.

The numerous different accessories with this light are nice as well, something for everyone aimed at both the tactical side if you wish, the P15 Defender kit will be the model you want to pick up, or the P15 EDC Tactical for more EDC uses but still have the ability to mount if you wish. With the P15 the choice is up to you and I can recommend it with those reservations about EDC use. 

 

Pickup the Acebeam P15 from Acebeam.com and save 10% by using the code ACE10

P15 EDC Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-edc

P15 Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-tactical-light

P15 Limited Edition https://www.acebeam.com/p15-limited-edition

Or Amazon at https://amzn.to/3nQLi03

Posted on

Thrunite T1S Review ($35, 1212 Lumens, 18350)

Thrunite has updated their small EDC offering with the T1S, it features an 18350 battery, SST40 LED, and is said to produce up to 1200 lumens. They have updated the design a bit, added USB-C charging, and a new TIR Optic. Thanks to Thrunite for sending it to me to review. 

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@liquidretro1

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

 

Pickup the Thrunite T1S on Amazon on the links below. For the discount click the coupon on the page and use coupon code MZMO4272 for an extra 15% off.

Black: https://amzn.to/3rh5OI6

Grey: https://amzn.to/3qz2SY0

 

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging is standard Thrunite here, Not much to explain that the pictures won’t answer. You do get the note to remove the battery isolator before using the light, a key point for new users. Accessories you get with the T1S are a 1100mAh 18350 battery, lanyard, extra oring, snap on pocket clip, and a USB-A to USB-C charging cable. 

 

Construction & Design

The T1S is made from aluminum, and anodized in a semi shiny black. Fit and finish is good, above average for this price point I would say. Everything feels good, threads are anodized. The tail is flat, with a magnet inside. The clip attaches at the rear only, more on that later. The body is has 3 smooth sides, and 3 sides with small shallow slots milled into them for grip and style. The head is slightly larger, with minimal fins to dissipate heat. The electronic switch sits on a shallow platform which helps make it indexable, it has LED’s under to server as power indicators too. Opposite the button is the USB-C charging port, with standard silicone rubber cover. 

Internally there is a spring and magnet at the tail, and a brass post up front. Tolerances here are good, the battery is slip fit and the light can run standard flat top or button top cells from whomever you choose. Nothing is proprietary.

 

Retention

The T1S comes with the same pocket clip that the T1 had, this is a press fit on the rear only. It has a bit of a step in it and the top of the loop is small both of which are not my favorite, but works well here and carries super deep. It’s a dual direction clip so it can clip onto a hat well too. Don’t forget the tail is magnetic too.

 

Size, Weight, and Comparison

I measured the length of the T1S at 69.3mm, minimum diameter at 22.2mm, maximum diameter at 26mm at the button in the head. Weight with the battery and clip installed was 2.47oz, or 70.1g. Size wise it’s extremely similar to the original Thrunite T1. When I compare it to the Olight Baton 3, it’s longer and larger in diameter, and that’s expected given the different batteries the two run. The T1S is IPX8 water rated.

 

LED & Beam

The T1S is running a SST-40 in Cool White. When tested with my Opple meter, I received an unscientific 5375k tint in turbo, and 5230k in high. Ra value is somewhere in the 60s. What my eye saw was in the lower modes there is a significant amount of green tint shift that disappears in the higher modes. 

The optic here makes all the difference in my opinion, the T1 was a traditional reflector but super short, the result was all flood. The T1S has a TIR optic so you get a very useful balanced beam for EDC tasks, a reasonably large hotspot with most of the beam intensity and some spill. One thing to note is the TIR is concave, plastic, and doesn’t have a glass lens on top. Not a big deal at this price point, but expect it to get scratched some with use.

 

Official Outputs

 

Runtime & Heat

Turbo output on the light is rated at 1212 lumens for 5 minutes, but in my test I really only saw that for about 2:30 before that stepdown started. It was a slow stepdown that took about 10 minutes to reach around 30% relative output where it ran for an additional hour before running at its low/firefly modes for the remaining 3 hours or so for a total of 3:20:00. Max heat during that time was 50C. I then ran a runtime in medium mode where it was extremely stable and outdid the rated runtime out to 6:30:00.

 

UI

The Thrunite T1S has the pretty standard flashlight UI from Thrunite. From off, long hold to get to firefly mode, when off a single click turns on in the last standard mode used. Long press when on to cycle through the 3 main modes. Double click to go to turbo, triple click to go to strobe. This is simple and definitly an improvement over the slow ramping UI of the original T1. 

 

Recharging

The light recharges via the onboard USB-C that’s opposite the main switch. It is USB-C PD Compatible which is great to see. When recharging the button on the light turns red and turns blue when charged. Maximum charging speed I saw with the included 1100mAh battery was about 0.6A which is conservative. Total charging time from LVP at 3.033V to full at 4.144v was 2:20:00. One other note is that the light uses a standard 18350 battery, I was able to swap in a flat top Vapcell or Keeppower brand battery without problem here. 

 

Final Thoughts

If you were looking for a small EDC light, with USB-C charging, and a non proprietary battery, the Thrunite T1S is a great place to look. At an MSRP of $40, but with a $10 off currently the Thrunite T1S is a bargain at just under $30 and remember that includes the 1100mAh battery and USB-C charging cable. That’s a great bargain for what you’re getting, and fast shipping from the USA. If you’re looking for a new EDC light in this form factor that’s small and don’t mind the greener tint’s at lower outputs, I can recommend the T1S. Hopefully when the chip shortage eases we will see some neutral white emitters and other body colors soon. Thanks for watching or reading.

 

Pickup the Thrunite T1S on Amazon on the links below. For the discount click the coupon on the page and use coupon code MZMO4272 for an extra 15% off.

Black: https://amzn.to/3rh5OI6

Grey: https://amzn.to/3qz2SY0

Posted on

Lumintop Thor 3 Ragnarok Review (1.562 Million candela!)

Lumintop has a new addition to their Thor line of LEP flashlights with the Thor 3. The Thor 3 is the largest of the 3, and is powered by a 21700 battery, or optional 18650 with the included adapter. It’s a beast in terms of performance so I have to thank Lumintop for sending it to me to try and show you what it can do. 

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

 

Get a 22% discount on the Thor 3 Ragnarok from Lumintop by using Coupon Code “JTHOR32” at https://lumintoplighting.com/products/lumintop-thor3-ragnarok-400-lumens-2500-meters-21700-lep-flashlight-183

 

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging is like may other recent Lumintop lights, a cardboard box with a basic slip cover and an outline drawing of the light. Inside the light is nicely protected in foam. You don’t get much in terms of accessories here for the price but you do get the light itself, a lanyard ring, 18650 adapter tube, and in my case an unlabeled 21700 battery. I believe you will get a battery with a branded lanyard if you choose that option. 

 

Construction

The light is made from aluminum, and anodized in a mat black. Fit and finish here is great. The rear button is a reverse clicky, and stands proud with the Lumintop bunny showing some small red LED’s underneath to help you locate the light in the dark. The tail also has 6 glow tubes in it. These do glow in the dark but it’s not the best glow material I have seen. 

The body tube tapers slightly as you go towards the head. It has a deep large diamond pattern milled into it that’s elegant yet gripy but the edges are a little sharp. I am glad they decided to do something different than the traditional knurling that we saw on the prototype version of this light. Internally there are small springs at both ends.

The head has large fins with milling for style primarily since this light doesn’t get hot. Branding is very minimal, it actually doesn’t say Thor 3 anywhere on it, only a largeish Lumintop logo and serial number. No laser warning is atypical too. The front bezel unscrews if you want to see inside. There is a thick glass lens thats spaced a bit away from the front convex lens that helps shape the beam here. There is what looks like glow material between the two on the edges, similar to what the Thor 2 had, expect here it doesn’t glow. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 164mm, the largest diameter in the head at 59.9mm, and the smallest on the body at 25.46mm. Weight with the battery and ring was 344g. The light is IPX8 water rated. 

 

Retention Options

The only included retention option with this light is the removable silver lanyard ring. There is a little more tolerance here then I would hope for, as it rattles around and rotates a bit too easily for my liking. The light feels good in the hand.

 

Emitter & Beam

Instead of a LED the Thor 3 uses a Laser Excited Phosphor (LEP) module. The Thor 3 is using the second generation of module where the laser sits behind a phosphor layer which has a silicone piece on top that focuses the light into a narrower beam. Lenses are then used to direct the light out of the front of the light into the beam we see. The benefit is this style of module is smaller typically but the lens assembly can be larger. The beam here over a long distance is very even, in some of my other LEP lights mainly the Jetbeam and Astrolux you can see a narrowing point (Focal Plain), but the Thor 3 seems more even like you see out of a traditional LED light. At short distances (2Ft) the beam has a hole in it, that in this case is blue/black, with a bright donut of light on the light. At 4+ feet this normalizes and just becomes a very intense beam with a few rings of intensity. The longer the distance the less this happens. Tint wise this is on the cooler side 6000-7000k I would guess. I have equipment on the way to give you a better answer to this question in my future reviews. 

 

Table of Outputs

 

ANSI/NEMA FL1 LOW HIGH
OUTPUT 40 Lumen 400 Lumen
Runtime 7H 20MIN 5M+ 4H+
INTENSITY 1562500cd (Max)
DISTANCE 2500m (Max)

 

Runtime & Heat

I ran my runtime tests with the included unlabeled button top protected battery that Lumintop sent with the light. I put it in my Vapcell S4 Plus charger to run an analysis cycle on it and came in with a capacity of 4987mAh. The Thor 3 claims to run for 5 minutes on high before step down and that’s exactly what my tests showed. Stepdown is about 37% of relative output for 5 hours at which point the light blinks once and goes to an ultra low mode for another 40 minutes. During this time the highest temp it saw was 31.5C, so not even warm.

 

In low mode only the light runs for what looks more like an unregulated 9 hours, Output slowly declines  but is above 50% relative output for the entire time. Impressive runtimes when your use to LED’s that typically run hot and for not as long.

 

UI

The UI on the Thor 3 is super simple. It has 2 steady mode and a strobe. The light turns on officially in low at the start, and you can half press the rear button to turn to high. Double half press quickly to go to the fast strobe. The light does have memory for the two low and high modes. It’s as simple as that.

 

Final Thoughts

The Thor 3 is my best performing LEP thrower light, and it’s also one of the largest single cell LEP lights I have. In terms of performance it’s a beast. 1,562,500 CD is nothing to sneeze at.  It’s amazing to think that you can get this much throwing performance out of a single cell light you can hold in one hand, and get that for 5 minutes before step down. You just can’t do that with current LED technology. 

 

I like the look here physically with the body milling and tail being my favorite parts. You get grip without the same or similar knurling that nearly every other flashlight has. Performance is good here too, it can sustain the high output for the better part of 5 minutes before step down. That equates to throwing performance of 2500 meters, well over 1 mile of performance. Pretty impressive for handheld. 

 

I still maintain I don’t have a ton of practical uses for LEP’s in my daily life other then to amaze people and have an awesome handheld spotlight to quiet the neighbors dog 3 houses down. 🙂 If you have land or just want a fun but somewhat impractical spotlight, this is a great option to pick. 

 

Pick up the Thor 3 Ragnarok from Lumintop at https://lumintoplighting.com/products/lumintop-thor3-ragnarok-400-lumens-2500-meters-21700-lep-flashlight-183