Tag: 18650 battery

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Thrunite TN12 Pro (18650 EDC Thrower for under $50, 1900 Lumens)

Today I am looking at the Thrunite TN12 Pro, it’s a slim form factor 18650 light, optimized for a throw, and tactical applications, but can serve that EDC roll as well for those that prefer a tail cap switch and turbo shortcut. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to review and show you guys.

 

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Buy the Thrunite TN12 Pro at Amazon https://amzn.to/3HikEpp

 

Packaging & Accessories

The packaging here is standard Thrunite, protective, nice but not over the top. Accessories that come with the light, is the 3400mAh button top protected 18650 battery, lanyard, orings, spare port cover, pocket clip, nylon holster, USB-A to C charging cable, and manual.

 

Design & Construction

The TN12 Pro is made of hard anodized 6061 Aluminium and features a mechanical switch in the rear with a textured button that is a shortcut to turbo. It has protective rings around it which feature a milled-out area for the lanyard. The pocket clip mounts at the rear. The body section has small, deeply milled lines that provide a significant amount of grip but shouldn’t rip things up. The head section is glued to the body. The head is similar to most other Thrunite designs with the same style silver button, with a voltage indicator LED in the middle with an antiroll ring around it. The bezel is not removable but does have rounded crenulations to allow light to leak out if placed face down. Inside the reflector is smooth and deep. The lens is AR coated. Inside the light has a fairly stout spring at the rear as well as the front. It’s a dual wall light to allow for the use of the front and rear buttons. 

A note on the name here, Thrunite has traditionally used the TN naming for lights that didn’t have onboard recharging and used TC for lights that had onboard charging. They through out history when choosing the name here as it’s a TN but does have onboard recharging. Labeling here is minimal just the brand and model number on the front, and directly opposite the required markings and serial numbers. Other brands should take note of how small and minimal this branding is. 

 

Retention

Retention options are several here, first, you have the branded lanyard that can attach at the tail if you wish. You also have the nylon holster the light comes with, it’s one that Thrunite uses with other lights this size, plastic Dring, sewed dring, elastic side, and soft interior. 

The last is the pocket clip which mounts at the rear of the light. It’s a dual direction clip so it can be clipped to a hat if you want. While this isn’t as deep of carry as I typically want on an EDC, you rarely get that on a tactical light, so the 0.85” that sits above the clip is ok. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 5.15”, minimum diameter at 0.94”, and maximum diameter at 1”. I measured the weight at 5.07oz with battery and clip. Thrunite rates the TN12 Pro as drop resistant to 1.5 meters and IPX-8 water rated.

The main competitor to the TN12 Pro is probably the Olight Warrior Mini 2. The Thrunite is larger in all dimensions as well as weight which came in 0.82oz heavier, without the magnetic tail cap properties of the Olight, although these are mainly for charging.

 

LED & Beam

The LED being used here is the Luminus SFT40 LED in cool white. I measured it with my Opple Meter at 6000k 65 CRI. It’s a flat top LED in a relatively small package. The resulting beam is a small hotspot and very minimal spill. The throw is this light’s main thing and it does that well out to a claimed 380 meters. Some people have complained about coil whine on high mode, but it’s not something I can personally hear here. There is PWM but it’s very fast. 

 

Output Measurements

Here is a chart for my measurements of outputs using my DIY Lumentube. Everything was pretty close except for Turbo I couldn’t quite get to the claimed 1900 lumens. 

 

Heat & Runtime

I will try to let the graphs do most of the talking in this section and point out a few high points. Turbo runtime was good for about 2 minutes, jumping from near 1800 lumens to 800, in what looks like a thermal regulation with temps reaching 56C. There is one more step down to 400 lumens gradually out to the 7-minute mark which is where Thrunite gets the 7-minute runtime number from.

Turbo and High modes had very similar output curves with the only difference is really where they start at. Medium mode ran out past 6 hours. In all modes, the light runs at the end in low/firefly for several hours. 

 

UI

UI is similar to Thrunite’s standard UI, but with direct access to only Turbo on the tail cap. The light has the normal Eswitch up front and mostly normal UI there. Long press from off to go to firefly, however long pressing again shuts it off instead of going to low. Once in low, you can press and hold to cycle between low, medium and high. To access turbo double press the front switch or just turn on the rear tail switch. To get to strobe triple-click the eswitch. There is memory mode, here when the eswitch is used for low, medium and high only. As a result of the construction here there is no mechanical lockout. 

 

I did notice one UI feature that I think maybe a bug. When in medium mode if you leave the light for a few seconds, hit the button again expecting to bump up to high mode, instead the light bumps down to low. 

 

Recharging

Recharging here is accomplished via USB-C port that is capable of charging via C to C and or PD. Max charge rate I saw was 1.7A without issue in a near-constant current charge mode till the end. The total charge time of the included 3500mAh 18650 from LVP at 2.93v was 2:46:00. Full charge was measured at 4.18v.

The port cover here is worth mentioning. Like many, it’s rubberized silicon that pushes in place. They have a little dovetail to help keep it in place, but I find it kind of hard to push in and keep in place when in use. I found if I push the cover in and then pull it to the front of the light, it’s easier to put it in the dovetail and keep it in place. 

 

Final Thoughts

I have mixed feelings on the TN12 Pro, it’s not radically different from other models, but it’s a pretty great value if you’re looking for a throwy 18650 with onboard USB-C charging, cool white, and instant-on Turbo via the tail cap. 

 

For me, this doesn’t meet my EDC needs, but this isn’t really where the design is focused, as I feel like it’s more on the tactical side of things with EDC being a second thought. I had a hard time putting the port cover in place and keeping it there, it’s like the silicone is just slightly too long.

Overall it’s a good value right now with the coupons that are being offered on Amazon for a complete kit light if this niche is what you’re looking for and I think you will be happy with it. However, this isn’t different enough that I would rush out and buy it if I had a previous version or a light that did something similar. 

Buy the Thrunite TN12 Pro at Amazon https://amzn.to/3HikEpp

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Lumintop EDC18 Review (2800 Lumens, Triple LED, Side Switch) & 11.11 Sales

The Lumintop EDC18 is Lumintop’s newest EDC style light. It borrows very heavily from the FW3A that was designed by the BudgetLightForums but built by Lumintop. It features the same light engine, similar optic and similar ideas. Lumintop however has refined some of the qwerks of the FW3A to gear it a little more two a consumer oriented EDC market. Thanks to Banggood for sending this too me to look at and review.

A quick word that if your watching this video shortly after it’s made live, Banggood is having huge 11.11 day sales on tons of things in their store including flashlights and other goodies. I will have links in the description below to where you can find the sales and the Lumintop EDC18. 

 

Pickup the Lumintop EDC18 at Bangood for $39.90 at http://bit.ly/2MXLwjR with coupon BG18

 

Banggood 11.11 Flashlight Sales (Limited Time) http://bit.ly/32tSnpO and Main Venue Sales: http://bit.ly/36jJylo 

 

YouTube Version of this Review: 

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/jiymjZR

 

Packaging

Packaging of the Lumintop EDC18 is the brown cardboard box that the FW3A had too. The outside slipcovers are different with corresponding photos of the light and the emitter on the outside. Not much detail on the outside, which makes sense. Inside ithe light is protected in form fitting white foam. The EDC18 came with a few more nice extras. It includes a lanyard, a deep carry pocket clip, magnetic tail cap, and glow in the dark silicone diffuser. 

 

Construction

The EDC18 is made from aluminium that’s anodized in a smooth eggshell black finish. Machining was good with no problems but mine did have a slight anodizing flaw on the heatsink that you can see under good lighting and then inside where the tube makes contact with the head it looks like some masking failed during anodizing. I will fix this after my review with a little sandpaper, neither are deal breakers and easy fixes. 

Starting at the tail cap, it’s flat and contains a strong magnet that can easily hold the light of the weight up in a horizontal and vertical position. There is a small hole in the back for a lanyard. Knurling on the tail cap and body are very shallow and no aggressive. I have found this type of knurling on other Lumintops to pick up and hold dirt easily. 

The clip is deep carry which is nice, it fits quite tightly but does rotate around the light. It does have a small shelf on it which I tend to not like but I have not found it to be a problem here. It’s reversible to either end of the light and at least on mine retention is good in the pocket but it’s not flush against the body when mounted at the rear of the light. I will make note that a deep carry clip is also available for the FW3A now too on NealsGadgets and I need to pick one up.

The head is where the largest differences are. Lumintop decided to give the EDC18 a little more mass in the head which is good for heat dissipation without much additional size. It’s got some milling to dissipate heat and add style. The only UI button is also found in the head. It’s a silicone button with a clear rabbit (Lumintop’s logo) and a green LED underneath, so when it’s got a battery installed it’s a glowing rabbit which is kind of cool. The switch underneath is an electronic switch and takes a decent amount of force to press. I didn’t have trouble with it in my pocket. 

The front of the head features a recessed lens with a polished aluminum flush bezel. Underneath is the bare carillo style optic. No glass lens is sitting on top like on the FW3A making this EDC “lens” more susceptible to scratching. This also isn’t a genuine Carillo optic, but instead a Chinese domestically made version. Performance wise they are very similar, it does look like mine has a slight flaw in it though. 

A quick note about the modality of the EDC18. The FW3A was a modders dream with no glue and built to change but this made the light a little finicky at times. The EDC18 takes a little different approach, it has retaining rings in the head and tail to keep parts aligned and a single piece body tube to make it more reliable. The bezel does unscrew so that you can swap out the optic, put a glow gasket in, or replace the opic with one with tritium etc. While the light is still moddable it’s less so then the FW3A.

 

Size & Weight

I measured length at 94mm, minimum diameter at the body tube at 25mm, and maximum diameter at the head at 27mm. Weight with included clip and my Sony VTC6 battery is 120.9g.

 

In comparison the FW3A in aluminum with the same battery and it’s clip it weights 98g. The FW3A is just a hair shorter and the head and tail are very similar in diameter. The biggest difference is the taper in the body on the FW3A. In my time carrying the light it makes a difference in how comfortable it is.  

LED/Beamshots/Runtime

My example of the EDC18 is using the Nichia 219C LED’s in about 4000k. For me this is one of my favorite LED’s and tint’s. It’s high CRI,  and just a slightly warm neutral color. That said it’s a “hot” LED and doesn’t produce as many lumens as the other LED’s being offered. The other choices available are SST20, Cree XP-L HI in Neutral White or Cool white. If your looking for all of the 2800 lumens here, go with one of the Cree emitters. For me I will happily trade a little performance for that preferred tint.

The beam here is nice and useful for EDC, it’s a fairly diffused light, not a thrower, and what we would expect from a Carclo style optic. 

Runtime on the EDC18 was very similar to the FW3A which makes since because it’s basically the same emitter engine. I did 2 runtime tests, the first being just showing the first 4 minutes in the highest output mode and as you can see this light heats up super fast and almost immediately starts to reduce it’s output. By about 4 minutes the light is stable and it runs here for well over 200 minutes. I stopped the test so the graph would be readable but let the light run and it was still at this output when I woke up the next morning. LVP kicked in about 2.87v.

 

As with the FW3A this light works best using the ramping firmware to bring it up to the level of light you need and not more, to maximize runtime and minimize heat. Thankfully that’s easy to do with Andril.

 

UI

This light is using Toykeeper’s Anduril UI. It’s currently one of my favorites available as it has a ton of options and neat little easter eggs that commercial UI’s don’t include. By default the light comes in ramping UI which is where I left it. The ramping is fast and logical. A stepped mode is available that you can configure as well if you prefer. 

The light has thermal controls, you can configure beacon mode, as well as 5 types of strobe including candle mode, party strobe, and lightning storm. You access these with 2 taps and a hold, and then two taps to change modes inside this group. Candle and lighting mode are my personal favorite. How practical these are could be a point where one could argue, but I like that they are present and it just makes things fun. Due to how you access these strobe modes I would not call the light a tactical UI or tactical light as you have to remember a series of presses and pauses to get there. 

 

For instance 4 clicks gives you lockout, and another 4 clicks unlocks the light, or you could just unscrew the head a tiny bit. If you activate momentary, the only way to clear it is to unscrew the head to do a full reset. 6 clicks from off gives you muggle mode which limits the lights output and output for a less complicated interface. 

 

Personally I find the UI to be easy to use for what you want to do most often, but a little more complex to get to those modes you don’t use very often. This is a UI where you should take a look at the manual or at least the graphical manual for the UI and spend some time playing with your light to get the most out of it.

 

Pro’s

  • Andril Firmware
  • Great extras’s are included like the deep carry clip, and diffuser
  • Magnetic Tail
  • More Reliable, less fiddly
  • Button top cells work here in addition to flat tops but no protected batteries

 

Con’s

  • Less modifiable then the FW3A, but this means more reliability
  • Larger profile makes it a little less pocket friendly.
  • Knurling is pretty smooth and minimal

 

Conclusion

My conclusion on the Lumintop EDC18 is that this version is a version of the FW3A that’s designed a more for the mainstream consumer. It trades ultimate compactness and modality for a slight increase in size, and a little more reliability. What this means is it’s less likely to have problems out of the box but your not going to be able to modify it like what people are doing with the FW3A. It would still benefit from everyone doing a thermal sensor calibration. 

 

The biggest difference is really if you want a tail or side switch because that’s the biggest difference for me. I honestly like both. I think for EDC I prefer the feel of the FW3A in my pocket because of it’s slightly tapered body (and deep carry once I get my deep carry clip) and slightly smaller size. That said there have been times I miss having a magnet in the tail, especially when at work. So for me it’s really hard to pick just one, I don’t think either are bad choices for a compact hot rod triple light. So I would if you can get the emitter you like in both, go with where you like your switch best, FW3A for tail switch, or the Lumintop EDC18 for a side switch. 

 

Pickup the Lumintop EDC18 at Bangood for $39.90 at http://bit.ly/2MXLwjR with coupon BG18