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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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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
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.
Golisi Mothra Review (18650 Battery Charger, Wireless Qi Powerbank)
Golisi is a brand many flashlight users may not be familiar with, they are more well known in the Vape community for their batteries and battery chargers. It’s a brand that I have heard of but is new to me too. Today I will be looking at their brand new 18650 charger, that acts like a powerbank, and has a wireless Qi charging pad on it too. Thanks to them for sending this too me, I will link to their product page where you can find it where it’s available for preorder at the time of this review.
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Packaging & Accessories
Packaging is a nice high quality printed heavy cardboard box, with information on all sides. Inside the Mothra is protected with foam. The only accessory was a USB-A to C cable. Since mine was preproduction it did not include any paperwork but I was able to get the manual from Golisi’s website.
Construction
The Golisi Mothra is built from a high quality glossy plastic and a solid feel. It has an attractive black and white color scheme with gold lettering. There is no water rating given on the unit. On the top you have a translucent outline of an X that lights up blue when the QI wireless charger is active.
The front has the USB-A (Labeled output) and USB-C port (Labeled input) a small LCD screen and a single button. The LCD screen is inverted with a dark background and light colored letters, and is backlit in blue. The battery door in what I will call the back of the unit, has a slide mechanism with a detent to stay locked in place. When open I would caution you to be a bit careful of the hinge as it only opens up 90 degrees.
Cells are installed with the positive end facing the LCD screen. I used LG HG2’s unprotected flat top cells that I had for my tests, and these worked fine. I put a few different types in included protected and button top protected and had no problems with cells of different lengths.
Size and Weight
I measured the Mothra at 90mm x 90mm and 33mm tall. With 4 LG HG2 Batteries it comes in at 346.2g. I will put a few comparison photos of other multicell Powebank and chargers that I have reviewed in now.
As a Battery Charger
The Golisis Mothra is designed to charge via USB-C. It supports Power Delivery as an input and officially supports 5V @ 3A, or9V @ 2A. I don’t have a charge graph with this one like I would normally. Despite suppring PD my meter would not come on when connected in any of the configurations I tried. My guess is something here with the handshake doesn’t meet the spec 100%. That said I successfully charged it via PD with my Xtar, Aukey, Anker, and Energie chargers that I know meet the PD spec. So I ended up timing how long it took to charge my 4 LG HG2 batteries. They took right at 3 hours to charge. Terminating voltage was 4.15V, so a little low but reasonable.
As a Powerbank
As a powerbank you have a few options to charge your devices. The Mothra has USB-A out that can output 5V at up to 3A. You also have USB-C which can output the same 5V @ 3A, 9V @ 2A, or 12V @ 1.5A. The USB-C port supports PD delivery, and the A port supports the QC charging standard.
Your other option is the QI wireless charging pad on top of the Mothra. To activate this you have to press the button on the front for 4-5 seconds and a blue outline of an X across the top will light up to show it’s active. This is reported to charge at 10W and my Samsung smartphone reports it as fast wireless charging.
I love the addition of the wireless charging pad, as that’s how I charge my phone most of the time, but the one here I found to be a little tricky to get the position just right. After some practice this got easier though.
When in powerbank mode the percentage of charge of the cells read individually. Golisi told me that it chooses the highest charged cell, then when everything random it picks cells at random to discharge. Kind of a unique way to do it. My experience is this varies, by up to 4% but in the end was fairly balanced. It will charge via wired or wireless with any combination of 1 to 4 batteries. The charger does support pass through charging.
Golisi reports the charger as being about 70% efficient when used as a powerbank, and my capacity test was lower then that with 4x LG HG2 batteries only seeing 6228mAh. These batteries are older which I believe is part of the issue.
Conclusion
The Mothra is currently available for pre-order from Golisi direct for around $66. At that price I feel like it’s a bit expensive. There are other products that have 2 of the 3 features and support less batteries but also cost quite a bit less.
I do think they did things right here in supporting the most common and up to date standards. Bi directional USB-C to C charge/discharge with PD support, as well as Qualcomm Quickcharge. While not the biggest thing I wish the display was more predictable, when discharging there seems to be a percentage sag vs when there is no load on the device. I have seen a roughly 10% swing on a loaded vs unloaded cell. It’s frustrating but not a deal breaker.
Overall a nice device, that seems to do everything it claims. I like the addition of the wireless charging pad a lot. I have a hard time fully recommending a device that can only charge 18650 batteries for flashlight users given there are smaller and larger sizes that are popular these days. That said this offers more features than just a charger on it’s on, so it’s definitely worth considering if you want a multifunction charger and powerbank combo and you’re solidly in the 18650 camp.
http://www.golisi.com/?dt_portfolio=mothra-3in1-wireless-charger
Xtar PB2C Review (18650 Battery Charger & Powerbank)
Xtar has an update for the original PB2 18650 charger and powerbank. As the name implices (PB2C) the new model adds USB-C but only for charging. The XTar PB2 lineup is a little confusing in naming. The Larger PBS can fit larger 21700 batteries, charge and discharge via USB-C and has a screen. The new PB2S is smaller in size, can only take 18650 batteries, and doesn’t have a screen. Thanks to Xtar for sending this to me to take a look at and review.
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Packaging & Accessories
The Xtar PB2C packaging is very simple, it’s a clear plastic shell with a cardboard back with most of the information on the rear of the package. There is a simple multi language manual included in the package. Inside you get the PB2C itself and a USB-A(3) to USB-C cable.
Construction
The Xtar PB2C is made from hard plastic with some texture. The body and color of mine happens to be a sky blue with black accents. It’s a great look in my opinion and feels well built. The lid is held on with magnets at the center that are reasonably strong. There are nail nicks to make removal easier. On the inside you have the input and output specs as well as the units model and serial numbers.
Inside the cells are held in place with pretty robust springs on one end and tabs on the other. This allows all 18650’s from flat top unprotected cells to protected button tops to fit. There is a ribbon to make removal easier which is a nice. Polarity and charging rates are molded into the base too.
The only indicators that’s available are a series of 4 small white LED at the top, that are used for charge/discharge status, on/off status, and any errors (All blinking). Four lights building one by one means it’s charging, if all 4 lights are on charging is done.
Size and Weight
The PB2C is smaller then it’s larger more advanced PB2S brother because it only fits 18650 batteries and doesn’t have a display. I measured the length at 109mm, width at 50mm and depth at 24mm. Weight with 2 18650 batteries came in at 150g.
As a Powerbank
As a Powerbank the Xtar PB2C is a little disappointing because it only works via the USB-A slot. The USB-C connector is an input only. Then I remember the price here, about $12 and given that it comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable, I will give it a pass. As much as I love USB-C it’s still not as universal especially world wide as the Western World thinks it is. USB-A is the most compatible with the largest market yet.
I tested the PB2C with some 2600mAh Xtar batteries and was able to easily discharge at 2.25A for 1 hour 34 minutes. The voltage did sag some when running this hard, and wasn’t quite as stable as you see from most of my Anker and Aukey power banks but it was fine with an average voltage of 4.89V.. Capacity came in at a measured 3115mAh, which seems a little low but is roughly 80% efficiency assuming the labels on the batteries are correct. Higher capacity batteries will yield more capacity to recharge your devices. LVP on the cells kicked in at 3.23V and 3.40V. The powerbank function can be used while the charger is charging batteries, with it primarily powering the device off the USB input rather then discharging the batteries.
As a Charger
As a charger the Xtar PB2C combines all the features from Xtar that are proven and well respected such as zero volt activation, reverse polarity protection, safe charging rates, over discharge protection, etc. If one battery is inserted, into the 2 slot charger, charging speed will be 1A, if 2 batteries are installed it will be upto 2A. If the batteries inserted have different power levels, the lower voltage cell will charge first till they are equal and then it will charge both batteries.
In my testing I charged 2 2600mAh cells to full in 3 hours and 7 minutes mostly at 1.9A of speed. Terminal voltage on both cells was 4.17V which is good. I had no trouble fitting protected, unprotected, and all manner of button top cells on the charger. Your luck may vary with custom cells from brands like Olight.
Pro’s
- Very Affordable
- Can take protected or unprotected 18650’s
- Blue and Orange Color Options
Con’s
- USB-C is only used for charging here, it would be better if it was bidirectional.
Conclusion
This is a nice little battery charger and powerbank combination if all you need to charge are 18650 sized batteries. It has most cases for those covered. It’s a nice update to see USB-C included but I wish it was in and out instead of just used for input power only. That said the included USB-A to C cable does help with this, and for the price I can’t fault it much. Overall this is a good basic charger and powerbank combo from Xtar at a very affordable price.
Full Image Gallery https://imgur.com/a/2ovOuC0
Find more on the Xtar PB2C at http://www.xtar.cc/product/XTAR-PB2C-Charger-131.html
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