Tag: FiTorch

Posted on

FiTorch M30R Tactical Flashlight (1800 Lumens, 18650, USB Recharging/Powerbank)

A few weeks back I reviewed the FiTorch ER16 and was impressed with it. FiTorch is a relatively new brand but the execution of their design and manufacture is like they have been doing it for years. Today I have the new FiTorch M30R to look at. This is a full size tactical light that emphasizes USB recharging. Thanks to FiTorch for sending me an early release example.

Full Image Gallery For this Review: https://imgur.com/a/FqkZ5KA

YouTube Version of this Review: https://youtu.be/jguBIVzJe3k

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging on the FiTorch is typical hanging style retail box and filled with lots of product information on all of the sides.

 Inside the light comes comes with several extras.  First you get a button top 3400mah FiTorch branded battery, that’s also microUSB rechargeable itself. Next lanyard with stop button, an extra rear center button and oring.  The light include a nice holster. It’s nylon but has an inner layer of neoprene padding. It has a velcro front closure and a button belt loop with no D-Ring.   Lastly the light includes a microUSB to full size USB port to allow you use the light as a powerbank to charge a portable electronic.  I like this adapter with the included keychain better then larger cable that the ER16 had.

Construction

The construction of the FiTorch M30R is quite nice. Machining, fit and finish are is on par with Olight I would say.  The light is made from aluminium and hard anodized in a semi gloss finish. Starting at the head of the flashlight it has a crenelated raw aluminium bezel with fairly sharp edges. The lens is thick glass that doesn’t appear to have traditional anti reflective coating on it. The reflector is deep and smooth. The LED is nicely centered. The head has some nice milled areas in it that are for style mostly, Below that is the multifunction aluminum button with the LED indicator ring around it. It has a nice concentric circle pattern milled into it. Directly opposite the button is the micro USB port that can be used to charge the light or for it to use as a powerbank function.  This USB port is at normal depth and standard cables can be used.

The barrel of the light has the concentric grip pattern that I liked on the ER16. It looks great but isn’t the most grippy and worth noting on a tactical light. The clip is stiff, removable, but non reversible and non deep carry. The tail cap has more of the concentric grip with 6 areas milled out to provide more grip.

The very back of the tail has a rotating ring that has a locked, unlocked, locked position. This is a mechanical lock for the paddle switches on the very end that activate strobe. The detent is fairly light and I would like to see just a little more detent on these as it’s fairly easy for this to rotate. The very back of the light has a raised rubber button in the center that is On/Off in turbo. There are also two paddles on either side that activate strobe. More on this in the UI section of the review. There are also two loops where a lanyard can be added. Normal sized paracord should fit here but it would be a bit tight. Due to the center button this light won’t tail stand well. Threads on the tail cap are ACME cut and orings are beefy. They came nicely greased. On the inside there are springs on each end, on the tail cap it’s a dual spring. The light uses a dual wall construction similar to the Olight M2R. The head is not removable.

Size + Weight

This isn’t a small light. This is noticed most in the length that came in at 163mm, width at it’s largest point is 37mm in the head, and minimum diameter is 24mm on the body tube. Weight was 216g With the included battery. It is IPX8 rated and drop resistant to 2M. If I compare it in size to the Olight M2R the M30R is quite a bit larger in all dimensions.  The two are both tactical lights but the M2R is still EDC able where for me at I would need to use the pouch that came with the M30R on my belt to be considered an EDC.

LED + Runtimes

This light uses a Cree XHP 35 HD LED in cool white.  It has a deep smooth reflector covered with a thick mineral glass lens that does not have an anti reflective coating. The driver uses constant current so flicker isn’t an issue. Modes spacing is as follows.

Turbo is 1800 Lumens, High is 460 Lumens, Medium is 130 Lumens, Low is 20 Lumens. Strobe is 1800 Lumens, SOS is 460 Lumens. This is pretty even to the eye which I like. This light does a really nice fade between modes which I really like.

Beamshot has a small defined hotspot with rings as it spreads out on the spill.  I think these are the creation of the reflector and the front bezel’s polished nature. With the hot spot this light throws well as you would expect for a general purpose tactical light. FiTorch claims 328 meters. I measured parasitic drain at at 1.7uA.

Like most lights this timed down from turbo after about 4 minutes and ran at 48% of output for about 95 minutes. Further step downs were done in small steps over about 20 minutes.  That is nice you don’t have sudden fall offs of light output other then turbo. Total runtime was 170 minutes before LVP kicked in.

UI

The UI of this light is easiest to understand if we split it into what each button does. Starting at the front the multimode button is the normal flashlight modes and functions. From off if you press the side switch for about 1 second to turn it on in Low, quick presses will then allow you to move up in modes through medium, high, and turbo. Instead of cycling over, once you reach turbo pressing again will go to medium and continue down. Think of it as ramping but not infinite brightness. Strobe and SOS are not part of the main mode group. To activate them when the light is on a quick double click will go to strobe or SOS. To get the other (Strobe or SOS) exit by pressing and holding the button and then enter the Strobe SOS mode again with a double click. Pressing the button quickly 3 times from off will show a voltage check via the LED indicator ring and turn the light on low. The light also has a location beacon mode that flashes on and off every few second using the indicator ring and to activate that press 4 times in the off position.

The rear 3 switches are used for tactical mode in addition to the lock ring on the tail cap. When locked only the center button is able to work. The center button is a direct to turbo full 1800 lumens. When you unlock the tactical lock ring each of the paddles are capable of working in strobe at a full 1800 lumens. These work no matter what mode the light is in. So if you were in low mode and needed turbo just press the center button, and if it was unlocked just press a paddle to get to strobe.

No special batteries are required for this light to work. Flat tops work, as well as NCR18650B, so no high drain cells are required for Turbo. 2X CR123A are also an option for this light but it’s not rated for higher then 6V so two 18350 isn’t an option.

Charging

Apart from its tactical side, this light is all about USB recharging. On the light itself it has a Micro USB port  that allows for recharging at 2A speed. The button indicator  is blinking green during charging and solid green when charged before it shuts off. All tests were performed using the included FiTorch 3500mah battery and supplied cable, with an Anker QuickCharge 3.0 power adapter. Charging time from LVP cutoff to 100% using the external USB port was took 2 hours and 20 minutes. Most of the charging was between 1.8 and 2A.

The battery also has the ability to recharge directly via micro USB  but it’s much slower then recharging in the light. It has a Red and Green LED on top of the battery to give indication of charging or charged. I tested with the same charger as above but only received a maximum charging speed of 0.82A, and decreased as the battery reached capacity. Total time was a relatively long 5 hours 32 minutes.

The light can also be used to recharge another electronic device via the MicroUSB to full size USB adapter  and the appropriate cable for your device. I tested with my phone and was able to charge my Note 8 from 28% to 81% at 1.7A charging speed during this time the light got warm to the touch. While in powerbank mode you can use the light in low or medium modes as well.

Pro

  • Standard depth micro USB port allowing the use of standard cables.

  • Really nice machining and fit and finish.

  • Very nice fade between modes.

Con

  • I would like to see a strong detent on the strobe lockout from the tail switch.

  • I would like to see the Location beacon setting be a bit smoother in its on and off, similar to the Astrolux MF01.

Summary

FiTorch is definitely an up and coming brand that is paying a lot of attention to detail and execution in their machining and tolerances. As a newer brand they are doing a better job of this then many of the older brands they compete with. My hope is that they will start to offer some Neutral White LED options in the near future.

The M30R is a nice light, that’s designed with a purpose. This isn’t your typical in the pocket EDC light. Instead it’s designed for a more tactical use. Personally I am not a big user of strobe. However if you are the rear lockout allows you to get to strobe very easily. I wish this detent was a bit stronger so that it’s less easy to activate strobe. The interface is decent, with room for improvement. I like how the USB recharging is fast and uses a standard depth connector so a standard cable can be used. The LED and reflector combo seem to create a slight donut at distance that I can tell on wall, but less so outside. Overall a nice light for those needing tactical above practical.

Banggood has offered a discount coupon for $36 off the FiTorch M30R using the following link https://goo.gl/6EpH25 with coupon ‘a03396’ Learn more at http://www.fitorchworld.com/index.php?case=archive&act=show&aid=93

Posted on

FiTorch ER16 Review (1000 Lumens XP-L2, 16340,18350,USB Recharging)

FiTorch is a newer brand to me and this is the first light I have looked at from them. It’s designed for EDC use, has onboard charging via micro USB, magnetic tail cap, and a deep carry pocket clip.Thanks to Banggood for sending this to me to take a look at.

Full Image Gallery https://imgur.com/a/vswz9

YouTube Version of this Review:

Packaging
Packaging is a black orange retail style box complete with a hanger. On the rear you get lots of details such as lumens, runtime, battery, and other ratings. Inside you get the light itself in a plastic try along with the accessories including the deep carry clip, lanyard, branded belt holster, and one oring. The holster is made of black nylon, is branded with a sewn in flag. It’s belt loop is fixed, and it doesn’t have an oring. It’s sides are elastic so it fits the light well. You will need to be careful with button placement so you don’t accidently turn it on.




Construction
This light is made from aluminum that’s hard anodized black. Machine is above average quality and inline with the price of the light. The tail cap has circular groves running around it as knurling with 4 pockets milled in to provide extra grip This light unscrews in the middle which is a little different from many. There isn’t any knurling on the body tube but it has enough cuts to provide grip. Threads were nicely greased and fairly fine. For a light of this size it has quite a few threads.


The front end of the light a hexagonal area milled out that contains the button and USB charging port opposite the button. This are is milled out to act as a heat sync The button itself is flat and metal, it’s a floating style button. I do recommend using lockout with this light if your going to carry it in a front pocket. Around it is a small clear bezel with multicolor LED’s under that acts status indicator for power level and onboard battery charging. Further forward is a smoothly milled area where the emitter and lens are.

The bezel is not removable as a front piece itself, itls a larger component and it’s lightly crenulated. The lens itself is anti reflective coated glass. The reflector smooth and fairly deep, and the emitter is nicely centered.


This light is rated for a 16340 battery but there is quite a bit of extra room in the tube when your using a 16340 so I decided to try a flat top 18350 that I had on hand. I had to add a magnet in the center of my flattop to make the light work again because of the physical reverse polarity protection built in but it will work and there is still a bit of extra space left in the tube. With the 16340 battery installed I didn’t have rattle because of the pretty strong spring in the tail.

The light has a strong magnet that very easily holds the light’s weight on a metal surface both horizontally and vertically. No weak magnets here, it’s the way it should be. It’s strong enough that it holds the battery in place too even though there is a spring in between.

93.3mm in length, 27.7mm at it’s thickest (Button) and 23.7mm at it’s thinnest.
Weight with my KeepPower 16340 is 91.3g
Water Rating is IPX8

For a 16340 EDC light it’s a little bigger than I expected. For a front pocket EDC the more lights I test the more I have determined diameter is one of the most important factors and the ER16’s is just a little bigger then I would like. If you have an Emisar D4, it’s pretty similar to that in diameter and length. Lengthwise the ER16 pretty decent. This being said it carried nicely in a couple pairs of jeans. I really liked the clip on the ER16. It’s sturdy and deep carry to where there is almost none of the light showing above your pocket, exactly like I like.

LED + Runtimes + Temps
The ER16 uses a Cree XP-L2 LED in cool white, defined hot center. Output on turbo is 1000 lumens. Medium is 340 lumens, medium is 100 lumens and low is 3 Lumens. I would like to see high be a bit higher and low be a bit lower under ideal circumstances. The beam has a definite hot spot with a decent amount of spill. The light throws better than I expected too. Easily out too 100 yard which is pretty good for this size of light.

Runtime
For my runtimes I used a Keeppower 800mah 16340 battery and an Aspire 1100mah 18350 for comparison. Turbo lasts for about 5 minutes on the 16340 decreasing as voltage drops. It’s more stable on the 18350. The light does step down as you can see from the graph. It’s making usable light out to about 90 minutes. With a 18350 medium lasts a bit longer but the biggest difference with is how much longer low runs for. It makes usesable light out to about 150 minutes before entering low mode at 3 lumens. If you can use an 18350 instead of a 16340 do it, because there is almost no penalty in doing so.

UI
The UI of this light goes as follows Turbo > High > Mid > Low > Turbo. It’s unfortunate it starts in turbo. I think this limits it’s practical EDC use because many times you don’t want to start off at 1000 lumens. There is memory but it’s pretty short in how long it remembers. You can double click to get to strobe and single click to exit that mode.

Lockout is accomplished when the light is off pressing and holding the switch and the indicator will briefly flash red letting you know its locked. Doing the same thing will unlock it and low mode will come on in the main beam.

Voltage check is well done on this light. From off triple click the button 3 times in a row. First you get green flashes showing the first number of the voltage so 3 would be 3 volts then you get red flashes showing the next digit. So 3 green 1 red would be 3.1V.

Charge Graph
This light has onboard USB charging via a micro USB port on the body. As I mentioned earlier the unfortunate thing is that this microUSB port is buried deep requiring a longer then average cable to recharge. For me this kind of defeats the purpose of MicroUSB recharging if I can’t use a standard cable. The light can charge at 1A but it didn’t hold there for to terribly long only about the first 30 minutes before it started slowing as the battery (800mah Keeppower 16340) reached capacity. Terminating voltage was 4.1V. Total charge time was 1 hour and 9 minutes.

Pro
*Quick charging for a 16340
*Fits 18350’s by surprise, nice for extra capacity
*Sturdy deep carry clip and a strong magnet
*Throws well for an EDC light

Con
*Extra deep micro USB connector means most standard cables won’t work for recharging.
*Wish the UI would start on low instead of Turbo.

Conclusion
The FiTorch ER16 has some pretty stiff competition in this size and use case. For me the ArmyTek Prime C1 probably wins out due to it’s slightly thinner profile and button that is less prone to accidental activation. However the ER16 throws further and has a smoother beam profile over the Prime C1 Pro. My recommendation for FiTorch is that they make the UI start on low, and not recess the microUSB connector quite so far so that you could use a standard cable to charge it. If you don’t mind these things the ER16 is a nice light that charges pretty quick and has a strong magnet. It will work well in an EDC application for you.

You can pickup the ER16 on Banggood if you have any questions please let me know below.