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. 

 

UI

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

Thrunite Catapult V6 SST70 Review & Comparison (2836 Lumens, USB-C, 26650)

Today I have the newest Thrunite Catapult V6 with an interesting LED choice, the SST70 LED. Other updates include USB-C charging and it’s slightly longer in length. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me as well as providing a discount code which will be in the description below. Let’s get into that review.

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Pickup the Catapult V6 SST70 at https://amzn.to/3kYpBIL

Get 10% off with the coupon code catapultv6 until 3/13/2021 11:59pm PST.

 

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging is like similar Thrunite products I have reviewed, it comes in a sturdy brown paper box with minimal information on the outside with only the company name, address, model number and LED designator. In my case it was hand checked Cool White. Inside the light was encased in egg crate foam. Accessory wise the light includes a Thrunite branded 5000mAh button top 26650 battery,  2 extra Orings, an extra USB cover, extra inner button rubber, split ring, Thrunite branded Lanyard with split ring, a Holster, a USB-A to C charging cable and a holster. 

 

Construction

Construction of the Catapult V6 is on par with other recent Thrunite lights I have looked at such as the T2. It’s made of nicely machined aluminum and anodized in a black hard semi gloss coating. The tail caps on the Catapult V6 and TC20 look similar. Both are non magnetic and allow the light to tail stand. Each has a small hole for the included lanyard. Its one area where some will want a larger hole for paracord. There isn’t any knurling on the tail cap but I was able to get it off easily. Threads are square cut and lightly lubricated along with an Oring.

The body tube has a large diamond pattern milled around it. This is less deeply milled then the original V6 I have, and that’s not an improvement in my opinion. I prefer the deeper more grippy milling. The body tube is directional but doesn’t have any polarity markings on it for the battery. This light does come into 3 pieces the tail cap, body tube, and head. 

The head is fairly large. The light has a flat aluminum bezel that can be unscrewed with considerable effort according to others on budget light forums. The lens is large and anti reflective coated glass. The reflector is smooth and deep with the LED nicely centered on a large white PCB. It’s a slightly different reflector than what the original V6 had. The head has minimal milled out areas and is slightly shorter then the original V6.

The button is metal feeling and has a hole for an indicator LED underneath for charging status. It’s an electric switch and requires medium effort to use.The PSB charging port cover is the same as the previous V6, but the port inside is different. 

 

Size and Weight

I measured the length of the new Catapult at 137.3mm in length, 33mm on the body and 58mm at the head. Weight with the battery is 303.2g. 

In comparison to the old V6 Catapult the new light is 19.3g heavier, and 6.3mm longer. Diameters are the same. 

 

Retention

The new Catapult V6 comes with the same holster as before. It’s a pretty good holster, with minimal padding and a small Thrunite branding sewn in. It has a fixed belt strap on the back and Dring. 

 

Here is what it looks like in my hand as well.

 

LED & Beam

The previous V6 model of the Thrunite Catapult used the Cree XHP35 HI LED, but Cree discontinued this LED in the first half of 2020, in favor of the XHP35.2 LED series. Instead of going with this LED, Thrunite has chosen to go with the SST70 LED. On paper this is a little of an odd choice on a thrower style light. The SST70 is a domed LED which usually are usually better for more floody applications. So let’s see how it works here. 

 

The SST70 is in cool white only at the moment, but to my eye it’s not an obnoxiously cold cool white. Officially lumens are up, from 1700 in Turbo to 2836 on the new model. In practice this is kind of hard to see I notice it more in the spill with it being more intense then the older light. Candela is down from 140,650cd to 120,000cd and this is hard to see as well. The biggest difference is the hot spot size between the two lights. The new catapults hotspot is slightly larger when I compare the two. There is no PWM visible to the eye here, but my oscilloscope did detect a little bit in low mode only.

 

Heat & Runtime

Turbo on this light appears to have a timed step down at the 3 minute mark, where it steps down to 50% relative output for the next 30 minutes before stepping down to about 45% for most of the remaining 1:28:00 before rounding off and shutting off with LVP at 3.034V. Max heat I saw was at 26 minutes at 50.5C. 

When I compared this to the previous model Catapult V6 with the Cree XHP35 HI I can say the SST70 while making more light is a bit less efficient. They both have the same timed turbo step down at 3 minutes, while the previous model is able to sustain this a little better but remember it’s producing a bit less light. The result is about 30 minutes more runtime with the previous model and during this it’s producing a higher percentage of relative output, but keep in mind the new model light produces more light in all modes, so it’s actually brighter. 

 

UI

UI is clear and simple to follow. From off a short press starts the light off in low, and short presses will cycle up in modes to medium and high. When the light is on in any mode double click to shortcut to turbo, double click again takes you to strobe. To access firefly long press from off. The light also has memory and will turn on in the last mode accessed except for firefly, turbo and strobe modes. This is unchanged from the previous model.

 

Recharging

The 2021 Catapult V6 has onboard recharging via USB-C which is nice to see. However it requires the use of a USB-A to USB-C cable (included). I did not have any luck with this light charging via USB-C to C cable or via USB-C PD. 

The total charge time from LVP at 3.034V to fully charged at 4.158V took 3:04:09 of the included 5000mAh 26650 battery. Max charge rate I saw was near 2A. The curve does look a little atypical, with a sudden drop to lower charging point as the battery reaches a certain capacity. 

 

Pro’s

  • A bit more general purpose with the increased spill and more lumens then the outgoing model
  • Good build quality from Thrunite
  • Complete packaged light.

 

Con’s

  • Only available with cool white right now.
  • A bit longer and heavier then the previous design
  • Milling in the body isn’t as deep or grippy.
  • USB-C charging requires a A to C cable, C to C or PD doesn’t work.

 

Conclusion

I am not ready to call the Catapult V6 SST70 an all new light. It’s largely the same light as the original V6 but with a different LED and other small tweaks to better optimize the design for this new LED, as well as update the light to USB-C charging while they are at it. 

 

As I mentioned before the LED that was being used in the C6 Catapult was discontinued and the SST70 was chosen in its place. I do commend Thrunite for doing a good job at optimizing the design with a slightly different reflector, slightly longer head design to adapt an LED that traditionally isn’t used for a thrower to a thrower light. The result is pretty close to the old V6 design in terms of throwing performance in the real world even though it doesn’t test quite as well via official numbers. The new light does have a bit more spill and slightly less throw distance but it’s not enough to really notice in my tests. Mode spacing could be a little closer in the lower modes but I have certainly seen worse. 

The Catapult V6 has been a permanent member of my collection and gets used a decent amount because I like the size, feel in my hand and performance despite being cool white. The revised model I reviewed here retains most of that despite growing in length slight and having a less aggressive milling on the body. The increase in lumens isn’t drastic but the increase in spill is kind of nice when using for general purpose tasks. If you don’t have a Catapult V6 in you collection I can recommend whichever model you can get you hands on.

Don’t forget Thrunite has offered an additional 10% discount for about a week after this video is published and you can find that in the description below as well as links to my Social Media profiles. 

 

Pickup the Catapult V6 SST70 at https://amzn.to/3kYpBIL

Get 10% off with the coupon code catapultv6 until 3/13/2021 11:59pm PST.