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.

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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.

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

December 22, 2021

Nitecore TM9K Review (9800 Lumen Tiny Monster)

Today I have Nitecore’s newest pocket rocket the TM9K TAC part of the Tiny Monster series of lights. It has 9X Cree XP-L2 LED’s that produce up to 9800 lumens in it’s turbo mode, USB-C charging and an internal 21700 battery. Thanks to Nitecore for sending this for me to check out and review.

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Pickup the Nitecore TM9K TAC from the Nitecore Store and get free shipping with https://shrsl.com/3ar1f

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging is a nice black box, I would even call it kind of elegant with the light on the front and minimal information around it. The rear has a few stats and high points. The light does include a 5000mAh 21700 battery that non user replaceable (Sealed). Other accessories include a pocket clip, lanyard, lanyard threading tool, paperwork and nylon case for carrying on your belt. The case is the odd ball here as it doesn’t seem like it’s designed to fit this light but it does, it’s als0 feels lower quality then I was expecting when compared with everything else.

Construction & Design

The light is made from aluminum and hard anodized black. Machining here is good quality with no sharp edges, and all the finishes are even. All the fins, angles etc mean the light won’t slip out of you hand and doesn’t roll on a table easily. It will not tail stand, but will stand on it’s face. The tail switch has dual buttons, a mechanical on/off switch that is rubber coated and stands proud and then a flat paddle switch that is the mode button for the light. It’s got a nice texture to it but is a little hard to find, especially with any type of gloves. The tail cap has light knurled more for style then grip and is glued to the battery tube.

The battery tube is lightly knurled with flats. Given the size of the head I think it looks short but is long enough to fit a 212700 inside. One note here about the battery tube, it is sealed from the factory. My guess is they did this for financial and liability reasons, as well as to limit complaints if someone was to put in a protected or non high drain battery to prevent the light from reaching it’s claimed performance.

The head is a one piece design with the body tube, which is better for thermal transfer and this light will take anything it can get. There are heat fins, the usual markings etc. The front bezel I believe is stainless steel but finished in a smoked finish. It allows for light to escape out the side, and could be used for striking. The lens below is glass, AR coated. Below that appears to be a custom optic to fit the 9 LED’s.

Warranty here is typical of other Nitecore higher end lights. 15 day DOA/Exchange policy, and a 5 year warranty for manufacture defects, I assume this does not cover normal wear of the battery.

Size & Weight

I measured the weight as it is out of the box at 219g, length at 127mm long, minimum diameter at 24.3mm, maximum diameter at 42.2mm. The light is IPX 68 rated. Here are a few photos with similar multi emitter lights that I own.

Retention

The lights has two retention options that it ships with. First is a pocket clip. It attaches near the top of the battery tube but about 1” down. I think it’s a generic clip that just happens to fit this light, since it doesn’t make great contact with the body. Not super practical to actually use as a pocket clip in my opinion due to the head diameter, but you could clip it onto a vest or something.

The second option is a generic lanyard that attaches via a hole in the tactical ring. Nitecore has included a piece of floss to make threading easier. The hole is incredibly small though and I had to use dental floss to get the lanyard installed.

LED & Beam

The TM9K TAC has 9X Cree XP-L2 emitters inside. No official tint data is given but it’s more neutral than I expected, other reviewers have reported in the neighborhood of about 5600k which is a nice change over the typical very cool white. It should be no surprise that this is a very flood light, it has no defined hotspot, and when bounced off a ceiling or wall in turbo it’s almost like it has a diffuser inside.

Official Outputs

Turbo – 9800 Lumens – 280M
High – 2000 Lumens
Medium – 500 Lumens
Low – 130 Lumens
Ultra Low – 30 Lumens

Runtime & Heat

The big story here is how long turbo lasts. While the light is rated for 9800 lumens, it only produces this in Instant Turbo, and it does so for about 5 seconds before starting to stepping down. So not FL1 standards to get to that 9800 lumens. This is due to heat, as it gets warm very quickly. Just some informal measuring, the light got to 114F exterior temperature with a non contact thermometer in 2:30 while running through turbo and step down via momentary mode before shutting off, .

I also ran a runtime in the highest mode the light will stay in for about 6 minutes before stepping down massively to about 25% relative output where it runs for 2:45:00, the remaining runtime is pretty linear out to 4 hours. From here the light runs in it’s lowest mode of just a few lumens a total of about 24 hours. This is below 1% relative output and not graphed. Max heat during the High runtime was at about 45C at the 7 minute mark.

The basic UI here is simple, The large round mechanical button servers as the on/off for the light. Once on your paddle is your mode selector. The light progresses from low to the higher modes linearly. It has memory to remember where you were previously. When on you can triple press it quickly to get to strobe, or long press to get to turbo. When off you can also long press to go to turbo. There is a lockout here that I won’t go into detail on but it would probably be a go idea to use when transporting the light.

Recharging

As mentioned before the light ships with an internally sealed 21700 battery that’s not user replaceable. Recharging is accomplished via a USB-C port on the side under well fitting silicone cover. It will charge via USB-C to C or PD chargers. Nitecore says it charges in under 5 hours via USB-C PD, and in my experience that came in at 4:16:00 to charge. You can charge even faster if using a QC compatible charger, in right at 3 hours. When recharging you get a blue LED on the tail cap that flashes, and it goes solid when charged. It’s not possible to turn on the light when recharging.

Final Thoughts

The Nitecore TM9K TAC has a ton of output for it’s small size but it’s drawbacks make this one hard for me to recommend without serious reservations. The main two being the very short duration of turbo output, and built in non replaceable battery.

Other then those, it’s a pretty good, pocket rocket of a light, when not in turbo the runtimes and temps are reasonable, and build quality/machining are what I would expect in this price range. Reasonably neutral tinted LED’s are a nice change here too but a low CRI. UI is easy enough to use too. I like that it works well with USB-C but would have liked them to go with USB-C PD for faster charging rather then the QC standard. Ultimately this one is geared to a more mainstream non flashaholic audience, and for that segment of the market I would think most people would be happy with it and amazed at how much light it puts out in Tubo, however short that may be.

Pickup the Nitecore TM9K TAC from the Nitecore Store and get free shipping with https://shrsl.com/3ar1f

December 14, 2021

Olight i1R2 Pro & Obulb MC Christmas Edition

It’s a new month so you know what that means, a new Olight Flash Sale that’s already started and runs till Dec 16th at Midnight EST! For this one Olight sent me the new i1R2 Pro keychain light, which is on sale for under $5, and the Olight Obulb MC Christmas Pack. The new light they are promoting is the Odin GL M, a Odin with a built in laser which looks cool. There are lots of other lights on sale too so be sure to check the link in the description, if you do decide to buy anything it does help support my channel when doing so.

December 2021 Flash Sale Link https://bit.ly/OlightLR2

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i1R2 Pro

Let’s take a look at the iR2 Pro, it’s an upgraded version of the i1R2 Keychain light that’s slightly larger, brighter, and with a new spiral body knurling. This one comes in a special deep red anodizing that I think is beautiful. Let’s hope they bring other lights out with this finish.

Physically it’s 0.63” in diameter & 2” long when turned off, with a weight of 0.78” including the battery and split ring. This is 0.05” in diameter, and 0.25” longer then the i1R2. The head is captured so it’s not possible to fall off accidentally like it was on the original i1R or get lost when charging.

Performance

Thte i1R2 Pro is using a CSP Cool white LED producing 180 lumens on high, for a claimed 23 minutes of runtime, or 5 lumens on low for 12 hours. This is up by 30 lumens and an increase in runtime by 8 minutes over the i1R2. It’s a bigger jump up on the i1R, an increase of 50 lumens on high. All 3 are using a TIR Optics which work out here well for these types of tasks while keeping the light small.

The light has a built in 130mAh 10220 battery, the largest capacity of the 3, that’s rechargeable via onboard USB-C. It charges via USB-C to C, and even comes with a short USB-A to C cable. The USB-C port is hidden, just unscrew the light and that exposes the port and side charging indicator LED, red for charging, green for charged.

For the asking price of $4.95 during the flash sale this is a no brainer to add to your order or add as a stocking stuffer for gifts. The only downside is quantities are limited, and it’s only 1 per person.

Obulb Christmas pack.

It should come as no surprise I am an Obulb fan, I think I have 7 or 8 of them now so I was excited to get my hands on the Obulb MC Christmas Pack. It contains to Obulb MC’s one in Green, the other in Red, as well as a Obuddy Red, and a Santa cover in a nice high quality gift box. It comes with 2 of the magnetic charges and two of the shield shaped metal coin/emblems.

So a quick recap on the Obulb MC. This is the multi color version of the Obulb, a mini lantern/pokeball light. They are impact resistant, waterproof and float. Great for the kids, out when camping, as an emergency use light in the car or in case of emergency and when traveling.

They have 8 modes

Low warm white
High warm white
Red mode
Green mode
Blue mode
Slow Fade of Red to orange to green to blue to purple, pink, yellow, orange
Slow Flash of Red to orange to green to blue to purple, pink, yellow, orange
Fast red blink

In our house we have them on our night stands for just enough light to read or watch a video or read in a tablet without total darkness, good for nighttime bathroom runs, on high they work well in the shower or bath when you don’t want a ton of light.

The Red Obuddy and Santa Topper are nice additions here to the pack to make it a little extra. The Santa topper is just cute, kids and adults will love it, it can make a nice desk decoration etc. I could see putting this on your fireplace mantel etc. The Red Obuddy keeps the charging interface on the backpack so it’s functional in addition to looking cool too.

The flash sale has already started by the time this video is out, and runs till Dec 16th at midnight EST. Olight has said they will do their best to get your orders shipped and to you to the holidays but with shipping backed up in many areas there are no guarantees. Either way both these would make great stocking stuffers for a variety of people, especially kids or non flashlight people in your life.

December 2021 Flash Sale Link https://bit.ly/OlightLR2

December 6, 2021

Sofirn SP36 Pro Review & Comparison (SST40, 8000 Lumens)

I reviewed the Sofirn SP36 back in 2019, and this is the updated version of the SP36 Pro. So instead of this being a full review like I typically do I am going to go over the differences that the Pro has over the standard version, mainly being the different LED’s, increased output, and different UI. Thanks to Sofirn for being understanding on this review, it took longer than expected with life getting in the way. They have provided a coupon on where you can find the SP36 and SP36 Pro for a discount in the description below.

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Sales

20% OFF the SP36 Pro CODE: 20OO95IC https://amzn.to/3339wwA

10% OFF the SP36 Pro CODE: CC6824GA

https://sofirnlight.myshoplaza.com/products/sofirn-sp36-pro-8000-lumen-flashlight-4-sst40-led-usb-rechargeable-lamp-anduril-ui-6500k-cool-white-light?scm=spz.search&ssp=spz&spm=..search.search_1.5

Accessories

The light ships with options of including batteries or not, mine came with batteries. Everything else here was the same as before.

LED

The light is using 4x SST40 LED’s. It’s available in a 5000k or 6500k tint. The non pro was using Cree XP-L2. The difference in the beam shot is the SST40’s are a bit brighter at 8000 lumens, so an additional 2000 lumens and a little more throwy, more on par with the original Q8. It’s still a pretty floody beam with some artifacts around the edges, pretty normal for this type of reflector. The beam has a pretty defined hotspot and no noticeable tinges at lower powers.

Runtime

Since the light is running Anduril I highly recommend you calibrate it. I did that on this when I first got it, it resulted in longer runtimes. Below is a graph comparing the two runtimes with the lights different emitters. This graph compares 100%w output with each light, so this isn’t a comparison of brightness, it’s really a graph of runtimes plotted against each other with the relative outputs being equalized. While the batteries are not the exact same (Sofirn batteries in the Sp36 Pro, vs 30Q in the SP36) they are similar.

For me the big takeaway is that running Andruil on the calibrated SP36 Pro the outputs are more active and can step back up as the light cools off, resulting in a more efficient output (along with the different LED’s). The result is more usable light for longer and the tail end of the graph shows that si there is 15-20% more light.

The Pro here is running running Andruil firmware vs the standard light’s Narsil M firmware. I won’t take a ton of time to explain Andruil 1.0 because I think a lot of people are familiar with it. It’s complex and flexible for your needs, ramping or stepped. My advice would be get the diagram and take some time to learn it.

Charging

No changes on the charging to report here. Still requires a USB-A to C cable to charge. Max changing speed is 1.86A.

Conclusion

The Sofirn SP36 Pro is an enthusiast light, and a nice little upgrade over the standard SP36 with the additional output and switching over to Andruil 1.0 Firmware. It’s like a scaled down BLF Q8 with still a ton of power and Andruil firmware. The SP36 and Q8 are still my favorite can style lights, the SP36 Pro is a nice edition that I can recommend if you want a little more output and tint options too, and don’t mind the complexity of the Andruil firmware. Overall a good light at a good value price.

November 24, 2021

Olight I3T Plus & Obuddy Review (Black Friday Deals Start Tonight)

Today I have 2 reviews to show you of some of the new Olight products for the month of November, and tell you about this month’s flash sale. First I have the i3T Plus, a new Penlight from Olight, then the Obuddy, an accessory for your Obulb, the next video in a few days will be of the Parrot, a new knife design from Olight.

I will remind you now the flash sale starts November 24th at 8pm EST so you can shop before Thanksgiving and Black Friday. My link which helps support the channel will be in the description below if you’re interested. Everything I am looking at here and several other things like the new Baldr Pro R, Javelot Pro 2 and others are on sale, at the best prices, along with extras, new customer bonuses etc. Make sure you do log in to your account to get a free i1R pro and take part in the daily drawings.

If I have any other black Friday and Cyber Monday sales from various flashlight brands I will post them on Social media and on my YouTube page too, so make sure you give all of that a follow.

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Pickup the I3T Plus, OBuddy and all the other models at https://bit.ly/OlightLQ the flash sale starts Nov 24th at 8pm EST.

10% OFF Coupon code: LQ10 Coupon Code will work during sales on non-sale listings only.

I3T Plus

Olight has listened to it’s fans and has made a pen light! It’s based of the i3T and called the i3T Plus. It uses 2 AAA batteries in series and sees a bump in output. For the flash sale it’s available in black which I have here and blue.

Watch this review on YouTube:

Packaging & Accessories

Since I know some of you guys want to see the packaging I will insert some photos, it’s pretty what you expect from the i3T/i5T families of lights. The light does ship with 2x Alkaline AAA batteries. Long timer viewers will know my opinion about these, just toss them in your remotes and throw in some rechargeables NIMH so you don’t ever have to deal with leaking cells.

Construction & Retention

The light is made from aluminum and nicely anodized. It comes in at 2.19oz with batteries so pretty light but heavier than some of the competition, and it’s 5.24 inches long. I will throw in a few photos compared with other pen lights I have like the Thrunite Ti4, Lumintop IYP365, and Royvon Aurora A33 I reviewed earlier in the year. You can see length wise it sits in the middle here.

As far as physical features it’s basically an i3T with a longer battery tube, same nicely textured raised tail switch, same deep spiral in the body, same plastic optic and lens. It’s solid feeling in the hand and pocket. The clip here is the same as the i3T, and not captured. It’s reasonably deep carry and works well as an EDC in a front pants pocket or shirt pocket.

LED & Beam & Runtime

No specific LED is mentioned here, it’s a cool white, but more neutral, and I don’t have any green tint like I do with my copper and aluminum i3T’s. It has a plastic TIR type optic here, same as the i3T. The candela is listed as 1240, and it is ipx8 water rated.

I know it’s popular to put 10440 batteries into the i3T. I didn’t do that here, because I am concerned running the LED at around 8.4V vs the designed 3V will blow cause problems with the LED or Driver circuit and I don’t want to ruin my light. The light is designed to run on Alkaline, NiMH rechargeables and Lithium Iron batteries.

Runtimes here are pretty substantial. On high it runs for 1 minute at 250 lumens before stepping down to 100 lumens for 8 hours. At the end it will flash on and off slowly to let you know the batteries are low. In low mode it will run at 15 lumens for 28 hours. I ran my tests off 2 Amazon Basics NiMH cells and got similar numbers. One thing that’s a bit disappointing is that timed step down of the 250 lumens. Heat isn’t an issue, I wish it was longer.

UI

UI here is the same as the smaller i3T, with 2 modes, allowing for a half press or full press to switch between them. The light starts out in low always, and there is a nice slow ramp up when going to high and then stepping down. When the light is running out of the power it will flash to let you know power levels are getting low.

Conclusion

If you like the i3T but want more runtime this is your light, it’s basically just a stretch i3T. Most everything else here is the same. This is a good answer to those that have been asking for a Penlight from Olight, but it’s not exactly creative in terms of design, emitters, or power source. I am sure it will be popular though and I have no issues with it but I do have a wishlist for future versions.

Personally I would have liked them to go more the route of the Royvon Aurora A33 with liion battery and emitter choices (Neutral or warm tints please) but maybe we can save that for an i4T R or something like that. It would be great to see a high CRI option here too, since any hit in output is ok since this is a close range light and good color rendering is really useful in many pen light situations.

This one will be 25% off during the black Friday flash sale and available in black and blue colors. It’s also part of a few different bundles that you can see on OlightStore.com

—————————————-

OBuddy

I think the OBuddy might be my favorite non flashlight thing Olight has come out. It’s an accessory to any of the 3 generations of OBulb. The OBuddy is a soft silicone white and blue spaceman model, and the OBulb goes where his head is. I think it looks kind of like the Reddit spaceman logo if you know what that’s like.

The OBulb magnetically drops into place for his head, and that’s because on the back where his backpack is, it is designed to connect your MCC charger to charge up your OBulb. If you have the new OBulb MCS then you can use this to plug in your light and activate the motion sensor. I am demoing it with the sapphire blue OBulb MC, which has RGB LED’s inside to to do multicolor, and it comes with googly eyes in the package too which is a great addition to give your spaceman so me character. The OBuddy also works with other lights like the Baton 3 if you wanted.

If you have kids, especially kids who love the OBulb like many do, this one is a no brainer to pick up during the flash sale, it’s only $7.96. I plan to pick up another for a stocking stuffer for sure. Even if you don’t have kids I could see a lot of people putting this on a shelf, desk or even car dashboard. It’s so simple but it’s a hit for me, I really like it. For me this might be the best item of this flash sale, it’s creative and was totally unexpected. I could totally see Olight brining out some special editions in different colors, and maybe we will get a larger version with a internal battery to give the OBulb some extra life.

———————————–

My next video in a few days will be of the Olight Parrot, a new knife design from Olight and Kizer.

Don’t forget all the many models of lights available for sale during this flash sale which starts November 24th at 8pm EST. There is the Baton 3 4 seasons editions with special materials, designs and colors, Warrior x 3 in OD Green, Baldr Pro R, the new Javelot Pro 2, The Parrot and Begal knives, as well as tons of bundle deals with many existing models, in new colors too. Links to the sale will be in the description below, and if your watching this after the flash sale don’t forget my code LQ10 will save you 10% off any regularly priced item.

Pickup the I3T Plus, OBuddy and all the other models at https://bit.ly/OlightLQ the flash sale starts Nov 24th at 8pm EST.

10% OFF Coupon code: LQ10 Coupon Code will work during sales on non-sale listings only.

November 14, 2021

Thrunite TS2 Review (Emergency Survival Lantern & Powerbank)

Thrunite has a new product on the market with the TS2, they are calling it a self-rescue light. I am going to call it a mini lantern. It’s a simple product but well thought out and I think it has a wider appeal then just the flashaholic market. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to look at.

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Pickup the Thrunite TS2 with a 20% discount by clicking this link https://amzn.to/3ncyilo

Packaging and accessories

Packaging here is a step up from what Thrunite has done in the past, it’s a white cardboard box with color photos and info, upscale a bit. I will show a picture of everything that comes with this package, but let’s talk in depth about each piece in the next section.

Construction and Details

So the light part of this kit is the small plastic piece with the dome at the top. This plugs in via USB-C on the side of the 21700 battery, and doesn’t use the contact at the top of the cell at all. All power comes from the USB-C connector, the positive terminal isn’t used. The “light” part has a single protruding side where the single power button can be found. I did find the head works on other batteries, I tried a Acebeam 21700 I had with a USB-C on the side and it fit perfectly. Presumably if you had a Female USB-C cable you could plug this in and run indefinitely.

The battery is a standard button top 21700, 5000mah cell coming in at 77.3mm long. Not much to write home here about other then it has a neat power indicator on top that I haven’t seen before. 4 LED lights with a tiny button that you press for 3 seconds to show you the power level. When recharging the battery these go solid green too.

Case and Hanger

The battery and light assembly slide into the plastic tube that it comes with. It stays in place via a magnet at the bottom of the tube. The helps to protect the battery, and server as an attachment point. You can attach a lanyard here, or attach it via the magnet. It’s enough strength to hold on a painted metal surface. Your last mounting option is a magnetic hook that’s magnetic and pretty strong. This would be great for attaching to a bag, clipping to a wire or branch, etc.

Cables

The cable here deserves some attention. It’s a bidirectional cable, with multiple connection types. So you can use it to recharge the cell, just take the light off the battery to expose the USB-C port. Then use the cable via USB-A or remove the cap to expose the USB-C and charge via C to C. You can also use the cable to charge your phone or other device via the USB-C, Apple Lightning, or MicroUSB connections. Total charge time from when the battery was empty to full was 2:07:00.

Size & Weight

Weight with the battery and light comes in at 3.00oz, add in the plastic case for a total of 3.65oz, and then the hook and everything else 4oz.

LED, Beam, and Runtime

No data is given on what LED is inside of this light, but I can tell you it’s 4 warm LEDs under the diffuser which is nice. Official outputs are High at 118 Lumens, for 11 hrs, medium for 40 lumens for 30 hours, low at 5 lumens for 180 hours, and SOS at 118 lumens for 20 hours. I will insert my runtime graphs that show this.

UI here is very simple, the light has 3 modes, and one button. Push for about one second and the light will come on in the low mode. Press and hold to cycle up to medium or high. Double press to go to SOS mode. Single press to shut off.

Conclusion

I like the TS2, while it doesn’t put out a ton of light, it’s a very functional small/light weight lantern of sorts. Like the box says, good for an emergency or rescue situation. I can see putting this in a glovebox in your car, in a go bag for natural disasters, in home or work desk for power outages, or to take camping to hang in a tent. The addition of the plastic sleeve makes it safer but I am not sure it’s quite kid proof since it’s only held in place with a magnet. Speaking of which the magnetic hanger is strong but I could see it coming loose if brushed up hard.

I really like that nothing here is proprietary, I was able to get this working on an Acebeam 21700 battery I have with USB-C on the side. Remember it doesn’t use the batteries traditional contacts like all other flashlights use, it uses the USB-C port for power.

As far as value it may not be the best value on the market, but it’s a unique product that I think a lot of people who watch my videos would find useful. The cable alone is really handy especially when travling to charge a variety of devices or lights. So I can recommend it without reservations. It would make a great stocking stuffer too for the holidays.

November 10, 2021November 11, 2021

Flashlight 11.11 Sales for 2021

As many of you know, many of your favorite Chinese companies will be having 11.11 (Singles Day) sales. It’s kind of like Chinese Black Friday, but entirely online. This is a great time to pick up a new light at a usually a pretty good discount. Many of these are available now for a limited time.

If I have done reviews on some of the for sale models I will try to link my review video below.

Wurkkos

https://wurkkos.com/

Up to 40-45% off many popular models

Use the coupon code E4WQC7P9 for extra savings.

Wurkkos has been a newer brand that has been hitting it out of the park. The FC11 is the first model that I reviewed and it’s a fantastic place to get started as a general purpose or EDC flashlight for many people. I will be reviewing more from Wurkkos in the near future.

FC11 Review (They have updated the model since then)

HD20 Review

Thrunite

15% off on the following Lights (Click the coupon on the listing)

Archer 2A – https://amzn.to/3bYpg59

TC15 V2 – https://amzn.to/30aQDH3

My review of the TC15 V1

Catapult Mini – https://amzn.to/3C2u4kr

My review of the Catapult Mini

T1 Custom Color – https://amzn.to/3wBq1KV

My Review of the T1

Catapult V6 – https://amzn.to/3D6X0JF

My review of the Catapult V6

Sofirn

https://www.sofirnlight.com/

10% OFF first order (new registered customer) CODE: UBK82QA7

15% OFF HS20 SC31Pro, D25S, IF22A,Q8Pro, LT1 CODE: Q82YOY1K

30% OFF TF84 CODE: WG379GP3

Discount codes don’t stack. If you have a 10% off discount, they can’t also use a “15% off” or “30% off”coupon. Only one discount at a time can apply to a single order.

Sofirn (Amazon US) Starts on 11/10/2021 at 0:00 AM.

https://amzn.to/3qskntK

20% OFF your purchases CODE: LCHMHR9M

Sofirn (77 Store Amazon US) Start on 11/10/2021 at 0:00 AM.

https://amzn.to/3F5XSP6

20% OFF SC21-5000K CODE: 20HTLH8P https://amzn.to/3D0h8gp

20% OFF TF84 CODE: 20MNF51K https://amzn.to/31RCAXl

20% OFF D25L Headlamp CODE: 20PCURFY https://amzn.to/3D5ONp0

20% OFF SD05 Dive Flashlight CODE?20MG3JZD https://amzn.to/3D4V98d

20% OFF IF22A CODE: 20YRWEKI https://amzn.to/3oi4ZgD

Manker

25% off for all items when the order is more than US$40.00 at official website.

Coupon code: MK1111

Valid time: 9th November to 15th November (Total 6 days)

Official website: http://www.mankerlight.com/(link is external)

25% OFF direct at Aliexpress store

Valid time: 11th November to 12th November (Total 2 days)

Aliexpress store: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/5700077

Convoy

https://convoy.aliexpress.com/store/330416?

Traditionally Convoy will have something for sale, watch this space for more details if I have them I will update the post.

Rovyvon

Rovyvon is having sales as well 20% off certain models.

RovyVon A33 – https://amzn.to/3kLQWiH

RovyVon A28 – https://amzn.to/3Hbbhr7

RovyVon A5x – https://amzn.to/31Qmtt4

November 7, 2021November 7, 2021

Acebeam E70 Brass Review (95+ CRI, GT-FC40 LED, 21700)

Today I am taking a look at the Acebeam E70 in Brass. This is one of the many variants of the Acebeam E70 that have been made, in many different materials, a few colors, and with LED choices. The one I have here has a new special high CRI large format LED which I will talk about here later on in the review. Acebeam sent this one to me as a gift, but I decided I would do a review for you guys too as this one is pretty cool I think.

Watch this review on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/fy3vVufv5WQ

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Pickup the Acebeam E70 at https://bit.ly/Acebeam

Packaging and Accessories

A few notes on the versions of this light, you can go for a black anodized aluminum version, as well as Copper, Stainless Steel, a bead blasted or rainbow titanium and a polished brass which I have here.

The packaging is a nice cardboard white box, with clear plastic window showing the light itself. In the case of the brass light it came sealed in a vacuum sealed bag, which I opened before I took pictures (a cardinal sin of flashlight reviewing). Acebeam sells this light with and without a battery, but everything else is included. A lanyard, manual, warranty card, and warning card, a Lanyard, extra orings, a felt drawstring bag, and a USB cable allowing you to use to charge the optional battery and use it as a powerbank.

Construction

Instead of covering everything on the design here I want to hit the highlights while you look at all the photos I have taken of the light. So somethings to note, the tail is flat so it tail stands well, on my version the electronic button in the rear is brass but this is normally stainless steel on the aluminum version.

The light uses a dual tube design, and they have chosen to mill out areas of the body tube to see the inner anodized aluminum blue tube. This creates a pretty unique look for a production light. It’s also a dirt trap, so probably not the light I would choose to go camping with but fun none the less. The body tube also has a place for 6 small tritium tubes milled, which isn’t seen commonly on production lights.

Threads are square cut and work well, although I had minor issues starting them on this light repeatedly. The head itself has holes drilled for style mainly and I like this look. The bezel is does unscrew and is quite sharp around the outer edges. The lens is mineral glass and the reflector has an orange peel. The internal connection points such as the springs are gold plated.

Size & Weight

The E70 is a medium sized 21700 light, with length coming in at a measured 128mm in length, 30.2mm in diameter at the head. Weight with the battery was quite heavy on this brass model at 284.8g or 10.04oz.

Retention

The light features a standard clip design with 2 screws, so your popular aftermarket clips will fit here. Kind of unique are the 3 predrilled locations for the clip. The stock clip is good but a little thin in my opinion for this lights weight. The front bezel is also pretty sharp, so I would personally think twice about EDCing this one inside a pants pocket, but it works great in a bag instead.

LED & Beam

There are 3 LED options available in most but not all of the E70 varients. The base models use a Cree XHP 70.2 LED in either 5000k or 6500k at 70 CRI. Optionally on many but not all of the models there is a new Getian GT-FC40 LED at 4500k producing 95 CRI which is what I have. This required a driver change as well as this LED runs off of 12V instead of the 6V for the Cree. You take a decrease in performance though with the High CRI option at 2800 lumens instead of the 4000 the XHP 70.2 produces.

The beam is a hot round center with some tint shift a rosy corona out into the spill. At distances this is mostly a flood light with the orange peel reflector and the massive doamless LED. It’s more pleasant to use in my opinion then a mule style flood since it does have a bit of optic but it’s not a thrower. Quite nice for normal tasks.

Heat and Runtimes

I did my runtime testing with the optional Acebeam branded 5000mAh battery. Output on the GT-FC40 LED in my light here is somewhere between 2500-3000 lumens in turbo, and step down came at 1 minute and seems timed. It then ran at 35% relative output for 90 minutes, stepping down a few more times for total output at a little over 2 hours. While this is producing a lot of light, it’s certainly not the most efficient LED or driver combination I have seen. It also produces a significant amount of heat, that builds over time with this light in a pretty linear fashion. You are going to want gloves or turn it down for sustained use, max heat was at 1:30:00 at a crazy 84.9C (185 F).

The UI here took me a few times to get used to, but the more I use it, it’s become a good UI that builds in an element of safety. To turn the light on you can double press the tail switch to turn the light on in low, the light does have memory so if it’s recent it will turn on in the last mode used excluding turbo. Once on, long press and hold to advance into the 4 available modes. Double press to turbo, triple to strobe. The light also has moon light mode which you can access from off by long pressing, as well as lockout. Lastly to turn off it’s a simple quick press to turn off. This seems to be a change over previous versions of the E70.

Recharging

Charging is not built into this light. Acebeam sells an optional 21700 battery for an additional cost that has a USB-C plug on it. Recharging this cell took 2:07:00 to charge. You can use standard cells inside the E70, but you need to use a longer cell, like something that’s protected or a tall button top.

Conclusion

My conclusion on the Acebeam E70 is it’s a nice higher end model of production flashlight with a lot of nice features that have been well thought out. I love that Acebeam continues to offer LED tint choices, and on this model different versions of LED’s. For an application like this I will take the GT-FC40 LED every day over a XHP 70.2, especially when I can get a warmer tint and high CRI.

The brass and copper versions of this light are quite heavy with a battery, so if you were planning to use this as an EDC I would get one of the lighter versions like Titanium or even the Aluminum which also happens to be the most economical. I like that they included a standard clip configuration here so if you want you can further customize the light. I wish they offered a smooth bezel in the box too, this would make EDC in a front pocket a more pleasant experience. That said this is a bigger light and not one you will probably find me EDCing in my pants pocket often as a result. I will use it often for going on walks, etc.

I can recommend this one without reservations, especially with the GT-FC40 emitter, it’s got a wonderful tint in my opinion and produces enough lumens for most tasks. That said it does get quite hot, but this isn’t because of the LED choice itself.

Pickup the Acebeam E70 at https://bit.ly/Acebeam