Tag: Tactical Flashlight

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Nitecore MH12 Pro Review

I wanted to do a written review on the Nitecore MH12 Pro flashlight that Nitecore sent to me to check out. They have been very patient as my personal life has taken precedence over the past several months over flashlight reviews. It’s running Nitecore’s first Proprietary LED the NiteLab UHi 40 and it’s round instead of the more traditional square LED. It’s also running Nitecore’s new higher capacity (5300mAh) 21700 NL2153HP battery. 

 

Pick it up at the Nitecore Store at https://www.nitecorestore.com/MH12-Pro-Flashlight-p/fl-nite-mh12pro.htm

 

What’s inside

The box is typical of Nitecore’s retail experience with quite a bit of info and full color on the outside. Inside you get the light, a clip, lanyard, extra oring, next-generation holster, the NL2153HP battery, USB-A to USB-C charging cable, manual, and warranty card. 

 

Construction & Design

Typical of other recent Nitecore flashlights in this price range the MH12 Pro is well built. The large rear mechanical tail switch stands proud at the tail but the two wings on the side allow it to tail stand. The milling on the tail is shallow and doesn’t really fit aesthetically to the body tube in my opinion. Threads are square cut and anodized with a proper amount of lubrication and oring in the usual places. 

The body tube had deep triangle-shaped rings milled in and then some cuts going length-wise in a slow spiral for contrast grip. I think it looks great and is very functional without being too hard on the hand to hold. Works pretty well with gloves too. The pocket clip is dual direction, nondeep carry, and fits on either end of the body tube. 

The head is glued in place and has your main mode button, USB-C recharging, and emitter. As talked about more in detail below, the light does have power level indicators and mode LED lights to the left and right of the button that are on when the light is on. These work well and are easy to see at a glance. The bezel is lightly crenulated and stands slightly proud of the glass lens. Underneath is a smooth reflector with the new round LED in the center. 

 

User Interface

The UI is pretty easy to pick up the first time you power on the light. The main on and off is a large mechanical button in the rear, and then to change modes you have a large textured electronic button in the head. To the left of the button you have 4 small blue LEDs to indicate what output power level you are on, and on the right you have 4 green LEDs showing the battery level. These remain on when the light is on. The light also has a proximity sensor that is in use on high and turbo modes. It’s reactive and will dim when it senses too much reflection and drop the light down in mode to where it won’t damage any fabrics or burn skin, and the nice thing here is that it steps back up to the mode you were in once the obstruction was removed. This is the way it should operate. You can also override the proxy sensor if it comes on in the use of the light by just clicking that mode button once, and the sensor will be disabled then until the light is powered off and on again.

 

LED

The MH12 Pro uses Nitecore’s NiteLab UHi 40 LED, this is a new LED made by Nitecore’s parent company and is round instead of the normal square LED we see typically. I tested this on my Opple light meter. I tested the tint at about 5440k and CRI at 57.5 CRI. The tint here is a bit yellow-green, more noticeable on lower powers. To my eye not a huge flaw but it’s definitely noticeable more in the spill. No apparent PWM in lower modes or turbo. The beam shape isn’t noticeably different from other Square LED lights. I think the optic that’s chosen has a greater effect than the shape of the LED. Night shots show it’s round shape, especially in the spill with a focused center. This throws well for not being a thrower an easy 200 yards to the building in the distance. A nice choice for a lot of urban or rural uses without being so narrow like a lot of throwers are. 

 

Heat & Runtime Graphs

Heat and runtime are pretty simple here, for my test of Turbo I disabled the proximity sensor (Check the UI section for how this is done), and got about 2400 lumens at peak output but this dropped pretty quickly to around 1250 lumens at the 30-second mark, and after 1 minute it was around 700 lumens where it ran slowly declining and hit its steady output of around 550 lumens for 3+ hours. Total runtime was 3:48:00. Max heat during this time was around 54C at the 50-second mark. 

 

Recharging

The light has a larger port cover opposite the main operation button on the back of the light. It’s a bit unique instead of being solid silicone rubber like most other flashlights it’s got a harder plastic exterior and soft silicone interior. This should be good for durability. Recharging itself is done via USB-C and I had no issues with USB-C PD chargers indicating they have the correct pulldown resistors here. Charging took 4:26: in total, with charging hitting a peak of 2A for the first 110 minutes roughly. No complaints here with the charging curve or terminal voltage of the cell at 4.16v. The battery itself is protected and rated at 5300mAh, but in my testing, it was even larger at 5448mAh. The light takes a nonproprietary button top protected 21700-sized battery.

 

Conclusion

The beam pattern here is good i’m not sure it’s substantially better than square LEDs with a good optic from a similar style of lights. Personally, the somewhat green output here for me is a turn-off, and I would rather take some minor beam artifacts for a more pleasant, neutral or even cool white tint. So I’m not sure this new LED is meeting the marketing hype in this application. That said I don’t think a majority of Nitecore’s fan base will care that much round vs square since Nitecore generally has decent optics but some may care about the tint here. 

The rest of the light has quite a bit to like about it. The size here is nice for a 21700 light in my opinion, controls and user interface are good and it has a nice amount of grip in the hand. I like the LEDs around the button that show mode and power level all the time and the markings are minimal on the light. Overall a solid flashlight, but hopefully as Nitecore continues to use this LED, the binning and tint will improve. 

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Fenix PD36R Pro Review (2800 Lumens, 21700, USB-C)

Today I am taking a look at the new Fenix PD36R Pro. It’s an update on the previous light and includes a substantial increase in runtime. The light may look and sound familiar though because I took a look at the TK20R V2 earlier this year and it shares a lot of similarities with the new PD36R Pro. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to review. 

 

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Links to Purchase

https://amzn.to/3OYXRCK

https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-pd36r-pro-rechargeable-flashlight

https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-pd36r-pro-2800-lumen-flashlight/

 

Packaging & Accessories

The light I have is an early production sample that was sent before the packaging was finalized. That said I expect a typical Fenix full retail package that’s designed to hang on store shelves in your local sporting goods retailer. Included in your light will be a Fenix 5000mAh 21700 battery, USB A to C charging cable, Nylon Holster, pocket clip, Lanyard, spare o-ring, user manual, and warranty card. There is a few accessories that are not included but will also work with this light like a remote pressure switch that screws onto the tail, 3 different rail mounts, and a diffuser cone. All of these are sold separately. 

 

Construction and Design

I am only going to hit the high points here, and let the photos and video do the rest of the talking. The light shares a lot of physical traits with the TK20R V2. The light is made from T6061 aluminum and nicely anodized black, there is a special edition red camo version too at some retailers. At the tail cap you have 2 protruding buttons, a larger round mechanical switch that takes a good amount of force to push, and then a smaller rectangle mode button. The light does not tail stand as a result.

The pocket clip only mounts on the rear of the light. The body tube has a concentric ring knurling-like texture on the body, this provides a good amount of grip and looks nice I think. The charging port is covered with a textured silicone cover that fits very tightly, below it is a small LED indicator to show the charge level while charging. Red when charging, blue when charged.

Internally there is a stiff spring at the front of the light as well as in the tail, threads are smooth, square cut and a bit dry. Up front, the head is glued in place and the bezel is machined into the head. There is an AR glass lens, a narrow deep smooth reflector, and a nicely centered LED. 

 

Retention

Since this is a pre-production light I don’t have the lanyard or holster that the light will ship with in it’s final form. What I can talk about is the pocket clip. It only attaches at the rear of the light and is relatively narrow for the size of the light. It’s stiff and does a good job of retaining the light in my front pocket, with about 1” of the light sticking out. In my medium hands, the light is a nice size without being too bulky.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 5.74”, and the diameter at 1.09” at the head. Weight with the battery and clip came in at 6.00oz. The light IP68 water rated, which means it can survive 6.5ft of water for 30 minutes. The USB port itself is waterproof as well, so even if you don’t have the cover in place that won’t be a problem. Here are a few comparison photos with the Fenix TK20R V2, and some other lights. 

 

LED & Beam

The Fenix PD36R Pro is using the Luminis SFT70 LED in cool white. My Opple meter shows it as 5456k and 60 CRI in medium mode. In higher modes, it cools off slightly and has a slight green tinge to the beam to my eye (and meter). The beam has a large pronounced hot spot in the center and a large spill with some tint shift noted. Compared to the TK20R V2, the hot spots are a similar size but the spill is larger here on the PD36R Pro. The Parasitic Drain was measured at a low 4.0uA with the tail cap off. There was some PDM here, especially on lower modes but my eye or camera didn’t see it only my Opple meter did. 

Measured outputs vs Stated Outputs

All readings were taken at the 30-second mark. The light was cooled in cool water between measurements.

 

Turbo – Measured – 2160 Lumens Claimed – 2800 Lumens 77.14% of Claimed

High – Measured – 978 Lumens Claimed – 1000 Lumens 97.80% of Claimed

Medium – Measured – 349 Lumens Claimed – 350 Lumens 99.71% of Claimed

Low – Measured – 157 Lumens Claimed – 150 Lumens 104.66% of Claimed

Eco – Measured – 35 Lumens Claimed – 30 Lumens 116.66% of Claimed

 

Heat and Runtime

For my heat and runtime, I tested with the supplied Fenix 5000mAh battery, on my Texas Ace Lumen tube. Turbo starts out here a the claimed lumens but by 1 minute it’s stepped down to about 750 lumens because the heat was up to about 43C. It increases the output some in the next 20 minutes as heat dissipates, but the light has a substantial drop at about 2:10:00, then again at 3:20:00, and once more at 4:30:00, where it runs at it’s the lowest output for many more hours. Total runtime was right around 8 hours, and the light does flash in the last hour of use to indicate it’s the battery is low.

I then did a comparison between Turbo, High and Medium runtimes and there isn’t really any real surprises. Lower outputs are more stable and have longer outputs. 

 

UI 

UI here is very simple and it’s the same that was found on the TK20R V2.. The light has 2 buttons on the rear tail cap of the light. There is the larger power button which Fenix is calling the Tactical switch, it’s a forward clicky switch with momentary, and then the smaller button which they are calling the function switch. You can half-press the tactical switch to turn the light on in the last mode used before locking fully on. Once on you use the function switch to cycle through the 5 modes in a linear manner. The light does have memory mode. At any time you can press and hold the function switch to get to strobe mode. 

 

Recharging

Recharging on the PD36R Pro is accomplished via the USB-C port on the side of the light near the head. The port cover is worth mentioning here, it’s very tight fitting, and can be a bit of a challenge to remove despite a small tab to pull on. You have wide access to the port so cable compatibility shouldn’t be an issue here. The light charged via C to C cables and PD chargers without a problem. One thing to note is that you can’t use the light during charging.

I charged the included 5000mAh battery (Rated at 4870mAh in my testing)  from LVP at 3.044V to Full at 4.227V in 4:13:00. The charging speed starts off slow for the first few minutes, then increase significantly with a peak of 2.5A before slowly declining. The total charge time was 4:10:00. One thing that was concerning was that the terminating voltage was slightly too high. Not sure if this was my multimeter or maybe due to the prototype nature of my light. When fully charged the side LED indicator goes from Red to Blue.

 

Final Thoughts

The Fenix PD36R Pro is a pretty large upgrade over the older PD36R in nearly all metrics and is overall a well-rounded flashlight. However, I can’t help to draw on the large number of similarities to the TK20R 2.0 that I reviewed earlier this year. Same LED, Same UI, Same battery, very similar performance, Same tail cap, and same clip. Where they differ is mainly in the charging port cover, and head size. The TK20R V2 is more of a tactical purpose, where as the PD36R Pro is more EDC/General use while also being capable of tactical use. 

It’s a well built light, one of the best USB-C port covers I have seen, and a very easy to use UI with the two dedicated buttons on the tail. I’ll give it a ding for not being able to tail stand and for not lacking a true moonlight mode of 1 lumen or less. 

 

Links to Purchase

https://amzn.to/3OYXRCK

https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-pd36r-pro-rechargeable-flashlight

https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-pd36r-pro-2800-lumen-flashlight/

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Wuben X-1 Falcon Review (12,000 Lumens, 3X XHP70.2, USB-C)

Today I am taking a look at a new light from Wuben with the X-1 Falcon. What I have here is a preproduction sample, but the light has now been formally announced. Wuben has been around for a while but isn’t super well known. They are not afraid to try things, and they have done that here with the X-1 Falcon. It has 3 Cree XHP 70.2 LED’s and 2 21700 batteries in a side-by-side configuration in a very rectangular package. Thanks to Wuben for sending it my way.

 

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Learn more about the Wuben X-1 at https://www.wubenlight.com/pages/x-1

 

Packaging & Accessories.

Since this was a preproduction light, mine came in a plastic hard case, with a paracord style lanyard and a USB-A to C cable (Who doesn’t have a ton of these at this point 🙂 ). I was also able to request a copy of the manual. I suspect the full version will have the full retail box, Charging cable, Storage bag (According to the manual), and normal paperwork. I will note the manual I have is a little rough in the translations. There looks to be an optional bike mount too. 

 

Construction & Design

The light is made from aluminum and anodized black. It’s a bit of a unique design being a large rectangle. The corners are angled and have extra milling into them as well as milled channels on the sides, top, and bottom for style. To me it’s a “space age design” and kind of reminds me of something you would see in a Sci-Fi movie or something. 

The most unique aspect of the design is functional too, right under the button the light has a passageway for active cooling with a heat sync under and a small fan on the right-hand side. The fan is thermally controlled, and it only comes on when it gets hot enough and turns off when it cools. You can hear it slightly and feel it too if holding it near the top. I suspect the fan is why I don’t see a formal water rating either for this light and also why I didn’t really want to test this myself. Opposite the fan is the USB-C port with a silicone cover. It’s tucked nicely away.

The light is a very solid feeling in the hand. The button sits at in a pretty natural position, where you want to rest your thumb. It’s not a small light and one I will probably put the lanyard on. It has some harder edges and isn’t the most ergonomic thing, but it’s not uncomfortable either.

While they don’t advertise the batteries are replaceable, it is if you remove the 4 screws on the tail cap. So here is what I found inside.

Up front is the unique shaped lens to fit the 3 emitters side by side. It’s an anti-reflective coated glass lens with a short orange peel reflector where the 3x Cree LED’s sit behind. 

 

Retention Options

According to the manual, the light will ship with a Storage bag that looks like a holster, and a lanyard. Since this is the prototype I only have the lanyard to show you. You guys know I am not a big lanyard user but on this one, I will be installing it. I think with the size and weight here a bit of extra security when in use is a good idea. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 128.4mm, width at 56mm, and depth at 28mm. Weight is 13.42oz or 380.5g. Like I said it’s very solid feeling light, and the heft adds to that. There is no official water rating on this light, I imagine do to that fan. I would imagine it would handle light rain ok, but definitely don’t submerge it. I don’t have a ton of lights like this to compare it to, but here are a few that I choose to give a size reference.

 

LED & Beam

This light is running 3x Cree XHP 70.2 emitters in a side-by-side configuration. With my Opple meter, I measured 5369K tint, and 65Ra. The DUV here indicates it does have some green in the tint, which I tend to see more on lower power output. This isn’t uncommon from these LEDs but not too overpowering. Minimal PWM on lower outputs.

The beam itself isn’t completely round, the hotspot is more oval than round. It’s not pure flood but pretty close, there is a minimal large hot center and a significant amount of spill around. The outer edges of the spill does mimic the shape of the reflector too. 

 

Outputs

Outputs for the most part looked pretty close to what was claimed on my homemade lumen tube with the exception of Turbo. My lumen tube and the different adapter sizes are really designed for round lights, I didn’t custom design a rectangular one for this light, so that may be where part of the losses are. Even with that, it’s about 74% of the claimed max output. I have to also mention this is a prototype so there may be some slight differences in it too. It could also be part of the programming mode which I will explain later.

 

Heat & Runtime

Let’s start with Turbo for my Heat and Runtime tests. Turbo as expected here doesn’t very long, right at a minute and heats up the light quickly to 47C within the same amount of time. From there it steps down to about 2200 lumens where it runs happily for the remainder of the 2 hour runtime. Peak heat ended up being about 55C. I think it may have gotten a little hotter, but my tape stretched and didn’t hold the thermal couple as tightly. 

The small internal fan seems to be thermally reactive, not coming on until it reaches a certain temperature, instead of coming on automatically in certain modes. I can’t say how much of a difference this really makes, but I would guess it helps mostly that middle LED that’s less exposed to outside air, and has a smaller surface area with the casing.

 

I did a comparison testing Turbo, High, Medium, and Low as a comparison between each other. Turbo and High were identical basically. Medium ran out to 5:37:00 just under 1000 lumens, and low for 12:30:00 at 200 lumens or so.

 

UI

My light arrived in Lockout mode, so 4 presses of the button unlock or lock the light. Single press to turn on, long press once on to cycle through the 4 main modes. Double press from anywhere to get to turbo. The light does have blinking modes that you can get to from anywhere by triple pressing. Triple press again to cycle between strobe and SOS modes.

The unique aspect of this light is the programming mode, It allows you to adjust the preset value of the 4 main modes by one on Clicking and holding and the light will ramp up slightly and blink when at the top of the range. Just stop when you reach the brightness you want and it will memorize it. There are upper and lower bounds on what each mode will do too, so I will show you the chart here rather than explain it. 

 

Recharging

The light uses 2 internal 21700 batteries, while not advertised to be user replaceable, they are pretty each to reach by removing the 4 (PH#1 Sized) screws at the tail. The included lights are flat tops, unprotected LG INR21700M50T 5000mAh according to the wrapper and have springs on both ends inside of the light.

On the left-hand side of the light, just behind the grill air exhaust, there is the USB-C charging port protected by a silicone cover. It’s a little different design but works well here and stays out of the way nicely. What’s neat is this light will charge at 9V instead of the lower 5V like most lights. This means a little faster-charging speed if your charger supports it. Completed the charge in 2:44:00 which is impressive considering the light has 10,000mAh of batteries inside it, about 41Wh. I had no issues charging it with USB-C to C or with a PD charger. 

 

Final Thoughts

You don’t typically see a lot of side by side lights, especially larger cells like the 21700’s in this light. This is a hefty package but it feels very solid. I like the space age, Sci-Fi type design here, and it seems Wuben is the only one doing that really.  

The UI here is easy to use, and the programming feature of each mode is kind of cool too, it helps you dial in exactly the mode spacing you want within reason. High, medium and low had impressive runtimes, but I wish Turbo lasted for more than a minute, especially with the fan and the compromises that have been made to accommodate it, like water resistance. 

 

I really appreciate here that the batteries are replaceable with a bit of work. That should lead to a long life, on what I am sure will be a higher-priced light. It’s a unique beam pattern that I found to be just fine during normal use. The XPH 70.2 isn’t my favorite LED, but here it’s not too cool white, and the tint is’t overwhelmingly green so it works. 

So all in all a solid offering, in a different format, with a modern design, and something a little different in the flashlight world. I like that Wuben took the chance with the X-1 Falcon to be different. Let me know what you guys think of the X-1 in the comments below.

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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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Fenix GL19R Review (1200 Lumens, 18350, Tactical WML)

Fenix introduced a new line this year with the high-performance weapon-mounted tactical lights. Today we are looking at the brand new GL19R a midsize pistol mount light, with a TIR style reflector, onboard USB-C charging that runs off of a standard 18350 battery. With the name GL19R, I had to put this one on my Glock 19, it just seems it was meant to be. Thanks to Fenix for sending this preproduction sample to me to look at and review. 

 

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See more about the Fenix GL19R at https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-gl19r-rechargeable-tactical-light-1200-lumens/

 

Packaging and Accessories

Since this is a pre-production model I don’t have any samples of the retail box or the final accessories. It did come with a 1100mAh Fenix branded but standard flat top 18350 battery, USB-A to C charging cable, as well as two different rail attachment points to fit both Glock and 1913 sized rails. A quick note on the manual, I thought it was kind of interesting they included some basic gun safety instructions that were actually good such as “never point a firearm at something you are not willing to destroy”. 

 

Construction & Design

The light is made from aluminum and hard anodized in a flat black color. The overall design is similar to what I have seen from other weapon lights, nothing very revolutionary. The front untwists to give access to the battery. It has springs on bother sides, which is good. The front bezel has small crenulations and stands proud of the large TIR Optic. The optic is topped with glass which is great for cleaning and scratch resistance.

I will cover the mount in the section below. The user interface buttons are plastic, with a little texturing. They are hinged at the bottom and the actual button to press is at the top. I like this, as I rest my finger above the trigger on the frame of the handgun.

Labeling on my light is a little strange, there are sections on the head and one on the body that is shiny and it looks almost like they put a sticker or paint to cover up something, then did laser engraving again. I expect this is unique to the preproduction unit I have as they make slight label changes.  I do like that the engraving here is grayer than bright white and the required CE and No Recycling markings are made on the underside where they won’t be seen when mounted. 

 

Size and Weight

I measured the length at 70mm (not including the buttons) width at 30mm and height at 31mm including the top of the mount. The outside diameter of the head is 25mm. Weight with the battery came in at 3.50 ounces with the battery or 99.2g. The light is impact resistant to 1M and IP68 water-related. 

 

Mounting Options

As mentioned before the light is designed to be mounted on the rail of a firearm. It came fitted with the aluminum insert for Glock, but a 1913 piece was included. It’s secured with a small Torx screw. The light uses a quick-release system on the right side of the light, with an adjustment screw on the left side. It’s a little different from the system that Olight uses and doesn’t have as much range of motion. Once properly adjusted it does fit snugly but it’s not as easy to switch between firearms without adjustment. Probably not an issue for most people. The lock is pretty easy to actuate, while it does it flush I would prefer a bit more force needed to unlock it, just for extra security. 

As far as holsters, being such a new product I couldn’t find any with a search online and Fenix didn’t have any partners signed up at the product launch, so you will have to turn to the custom holster market if you want a holster for your firearm and this light. That is one of the problems with new companies getting into the market for the first time. 

 

LED & Beam

The GL19R is running a Luminus SFT40 LED. No official tint is given by Fenix here, but my Opple meter measured it at 5570k, and 62 CRI. The beam mostly spots as you would expect in this application, the TIR reflector helps increase the size of that hotspot and minimize the spill. On Turbo there is almost no PWM according to my Opple meter but there is a decent amount on High as visible from the meter. 

I have a calibrated Lumen Tube now from Texas Ace and this was the first light I put on it for lumen output and later runtimes. Official outputs put Turbo at 1200 lumens, I tested it at 1197 Lumens at 30 seconds, and on High, it’s rated for 350 lumens, I tested it at 339 lumens, so all very close to as advertised. 

 

Heat & Runtime

In Turbo mode, you can count on that full output for the first 30 seconds, before you see any declines, the decline happens slowly out to 3 minutes, where the light is making about 500 lumens. It holds this for about 50 minutes before a significant stepdown and shutting off right at 1 hour. During this time the hottest I saw was at 43C at the 55-minute mark. The light does have thermal protections at 60C according to the manual but I never saw that high of temp when I tested at room temperature. 

I compared Turbo to High outputs and while High produces quite a bit fewer lumens about 340 lumens, the shape of the curve is a very linear decline out to 2 hours of runtime. In high mode, my meter did measure a decent amount of PWM too. 

There is a low voltage warning on the light with the battery indicator on the left side, it flashes red, but it also reduces the light’s output to only 50 lumens so it’s hard to miss. Fenix does recommend charging the light every 4 months if not used for peak performance. 

 

UI

UI here is a little different but logical. From off you can press the light to turn it on or off into the mode used last and this will turn it on constantly. If you long-press from off the light will go to momentary if held for more than 1 second. To select your different output mode when press one of the buttons and hold, and then click the other to toggle between High and Turbo and vice versa. Kind of difficult to do while mounted in a tactical situation especially if you follow Fenix’s recommendation that the light only is activated with the non-trigger finger and to use a two-handed grip. To get to the strobe with the light on press and hold either switch for half a second to enter or exit the strobe. This is momentary strobe only, not ideal for a tactical situation with ½ second being kind of a long time to activate. It’s worth noting the light does have a way to lock it if you wish and that memory mode works as long as the battery is installed, when the battery is removed the light goes back to default mode. 

 

Recharging

Recharging is accomplished via a USB-C port on the left-hand side of the light. The port is covered with a silicone port cover that fits well. The light is compatible with PD chargers however it does not charge in the PD mode. One thing to note is that the light will not work while charging. 

Using the onboard charging here from LVP at 3.074V, the light reported it was full in 1:44:00 and the cell tested at 4.160V. Max charge rate here was 0.72a during the constant current charge phase, with a small spike before it started to decline. Roughly a 1C charge curve here, good for overall battery longevity. 

LED Indicator on the side servers as both a charging status indicator (Red when charging, green when charged) and as a battery check. Check the manual for what the different colors and blinks mean. 

 

Conclusion

The Fenix GL19R is a solid offering from a company experienced with tactical lights but new to pistol-mounted lights. The build quality here seems to be good, and the mounting system works pretty well. The rear buttons are certainly better than some brands but it’s hard to beat Shurefire’s toggles in my opinion. I would say it’s as good if not better than the system Olight is using on their similarly sized models. I really like that they are using a standard battery size here, so nothing is proprietary and it will easy to get replacement 18350’s in the future. 

I think the UI here while it works could probably be optimized, the UI here means you have to go into a situation knowing what you want to use, for me that would be high mode, and then bump up to Turbo if I needed it. To do that while easy in theory I find is a little hard to actually reach. I would prefer a quick double or triple tap for turbo, and something similar with strobe. 

Other than the UI side of things I think this is a solid offering. Hopefully, Fenix is able to partner with some holster manufacturers soon and we see some support for that soon. 

 

Let me know what you think of the Fenix GL19R in the comments below!

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Fenix TK20R V2.0 Review (3000 Lumens, SFT70 LED, 21700, USB-C)

Today I have one I am excited to bring you, it’s from a New brand on the Channel with Fenix and the TK20R V2. Through the years I have gotten a lot of questions on Fenix and what I thought of specific models and I and I just didn’t have the experience to answer, so I was excited when Fenix reached out to start working together. This is the first of 2 reviews for Fenix you will see in the coming weeks. 

 

The TK20R V2 is an updated light that’s using a Luminis SFT70 LED, producing 3000 lumens, has onboard USB-C charging of the 21700 battery. You can check out more at https://www.fenixlighting.com/ The light I was sent is preproduction, and actually has a Luminus SST70 LED, however that has been changed in the production light to a Luminis SFT70 LED. 

 

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Here is a link to the USB-C Cable I used in the video https://amzn.to/3Dwt0rA

 

Packaging & Accessories

I received a preproduction light, and final packaging was not ready at this time. Accessories that came with mine included a USB-A to C charging cable, the light, and the branded button top protected 21700 battery (ARB-L21-5000). Mine came with a velcro patch as well, not sure if this is normal or not. Other things that are expected to come with the production model include a lanyard, holster, 2 spare orings, user manual and warranty card.

 

Construction & Design

I am only going to hit the high points here, and let the photos and video do the rest of the talking. The light is made from T6061 aluminum and nicely anodized black. At the tail cap you have 2 protruding buttons, a larger round mechanical switch that takes a good amount of force to push, and then a smaller rectangle mode button. The light does not tail stand as a result.

The pocket clip only mounts on the rear of the light. The body tube has concentric ring knurling like texture on the body, this provides a good amount of grip and looks nice I think. 

The recharging port cover is worth noting here, instead of using silicone rubber covers like many manufactures do to seal the USB-C ports, Fenix’s solution on the TK20R V2 is to have a retained aluminum cover that twists one full revolution to reveal the port. It has orings at the top and bottom and lots of anodized threads, so it’s silky smooth. Also under this port cover is the battery level indicator and recharging status LED. This just makes sense to me and has nothing to catch, or get in the way like the silicone covers sometimes do. 

 

Internally there is a stiff spring at the front of the light as well as in the tail, threads are smooth, square cut and a bit dry. Up front the head is glued in place but the bezel is removable. There is a crenulated bezel made of aluminum protecting the AR glass lens, deep smooth reflector and nicely centered LED. 

 

Retention

Since this is a pre production prototype I don’t have the lanyard or holster that the light will ship with in it’s final form. What I can talk about is the pocket clip. It only attaches at the rear of the light and is relatively narrow for the lights size. It’s stiff and does a good job of retaining the light in my front pocket, with about 1” of the light sticking out. 

 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 152mm, maximum diameter at the head at 34.1mm, minimum diameter in the body at 26mm. I measured the weight here with the battery and clip at 203.2g or 7.17oz so a little on the heavy side. The light is IPX8 water rated and drop resistant to 1.5M.

LED & Beam

The Fenix TK20R V2 is using the Luminis SFT70 LED in cool white. The light I was sent is preproduction, and actually has a Luminus SST70 LED, however that has been changed in the production light to a Luminis SFT70 LED. My Opple meter shows it as 6035k and 67 CRI when on in turbo. In lower lumen modes it warms up slightly to around 5600k and has a notably green tinge to the beam to my eye. The beam has a pronounced hot spot in the center and minimal spill with some tint shift noted. Parasitic Drain was measured at a very low 1.8uA. There was very minimal PWM here, it’s basically constant current. 

 

Below are the official outputs from Fenix. I will note the mode spacing is pretty good to the eye here. 

Official Total Outputs for the SFT70 verison

  • Turbo – 3000 Lumens
  • High – 1000 Lumens
  • Medium – 350 Lumens
  • Low – 150 Lumens
  • Eco – 30 Lumens
  • Strobe – 3000 Lumens

 

Heat & Runtime

For all of my runtime tests I used the included 5000mAh battery and measured the % of relative output change, not total output (lumens). Starting with Turbo it lasts for about 2:20 before reaching equilibrium. During this time the light peaks at about 45C. It runs at this equilibrium very steadily out to the 3 hour mark.

I ran the same test and compared turbo to high and to medium modes for total runtime. You can see in the graph that High in green had a few more stepdowns but ended up at a very similar total runtime as turbo. Medium is a very flat output curve out to 7:40:00 mark where it begins stepping down several times, eventually shutting off at 9:18:00 when LVP on the battery kicks in at 2.89v.

 

UI 

UI here is very simple. The light has 2 buttons on the rear tailcap of the light. There is the larger power button which Fenix is calling the Tactical switch, it’s a forward clicky switch with momentary, and then the smaller button which they are calling the function switch. You can half press the tactical switch to turn the light on in the last mode used before locking fully on. Once on you use the function switch to cycle through the 5 modes in a linear manner. The light does have memory mode. At anytime you can press and hold the function switch to get to strobe mode. 


Recharging

I already talked about how the recharging port works on the TK20R V2, it’s under the aluminum nut that unscrews from the base of the head. It’s nice robust design. Also inside that port is your LED battery status indicator and charge indicator. When recharging it starts as red, and goes green when charged. The light is not capable of being used when charged. It does support C to C charging but has no PD charging support.  

The light is powered by a Fenix branded button top, protected 21700 battery (ARB-L21-5000) with a capacity of 5000mAh. I tested the capacity with my Vapcell S4 Plus charger and came away with 4863mAh. I tried the light with an unprotected button top battery and had no issues. 

Charging itself using the onboard USB-C port and included battery from LVP at 2.89v to full at 4.226v took 2:38:00. The light has a soft start charging when the battery is low before it jumps up to about 3A at the very beginning, and it falls as the battery charges. So a bit of a different curve then what I typically see.

 

Final Thoughts

I am excited to see Fenix on the channel. It’s a brand that I can find locally at two different sporting goods stores, and a LGS, which I think can be appealing to many people if you need something of quality and don’t have the time to wait for an online order. Of course they can be found online as well. 

As for the Fenix TK20R V2, It’s a pretty nice semi tactical light. The controls are easy to use, and strobe is easy to access if you want it. It has a useful beam that’s a good combination of flood and throw without making too many compromises. That said it is still cool white, and at lower tints the LED does have a pretty strong green tinge neither are my personal preference but at the higher end of the consumer market where this light is aimed won’t care like enthusiasts do. The USB Port cover design here is really nice, and I am surprised more lights don’t do something like this.

You can pickup this new release and other Fenix products at https://www.fenixlighting.com/ I will have a link in the description.

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Acebeam P15 Review (1700 Lumens, EDC, Tactical all in one)

Acebeam has a new dual purpose tactical weapon light that can also double as an EDC with the new P15. It’s designed to easily transition between the two uses and features a number of optimizations to work for both uses. It’s available in 4 colors with a variety of accessories too. Thanks to Acebeam for sending this to me to look at and review.

 

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Pickup the Acebeam P15 from Acebeam.com and save 10% by using the code ACE10

P15 EDC Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-edc

P15 Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-tactical-light

P15 Limited Edition https://www.acebeam.com/p15-limited-edition

Or Amazon at https://amzn.to/3nQLi03

 

Versions & Packaging & Accessories

The P15 comes in 4 colors, Black, Orange, Green, and Dark Green which is what I have here. The colors are really nice, Packaging is well done, with a full color magnetic closure box but not much info on the outside. Inside on my standard edition light I received an Acebeam Lanyard, 2 extra orings, allen key, 2 extra screws, the dual contact (proprietary) 18650 battery, and a proprietary charging cable. 

 

Construction & Design

Let’s talk about the design elements and construction on the Acebeam P15. Construction wise this feels and looks like a nicely built light in my opinion. Everything is nicely machined and finished. Edges are chamfered and the anodizing is flawless. This Dark Green color that I have here is my favorite, I wish more lights were finished this way. There is a good amount of laser engravings on the light, something is visible from almost every angle.

Let’s start at the tail, the light does tail stand, the switch is electronic, metal and flush. It’s hard to feel with gloves on but you can stab blindly and it generally works. There is a rotating locking ring in the rear as well to lock in your various accessories like the charging cable, tactical ring, or remote pressure switch on the side of the light. 

The body tube is smooth except for ribbing in the middle that adds a bit of grip and style. Threads are square cut and raw (but with grease). Internally there are springs on both sides. The head is pretty minimal in design with some basic milling for style mainly. The front bezel has some crenulations that allow light to escape when head down. Inside you have that double AR glass, and a smooth reflector.

 

Retention

Retention is one of the main differences on this light with it’s dual purpose design ethos of being weapon mountable and quickly converted to EDC. Starting first with EDC, there is the large pocket clip that dominates the light. It’s not a traditional pocket clip at all, it stands proud of the light quite a bit more then what we are used to seeing, that’s because it’s mounted on a “Scout” mount. As a result it’s not deep carry, but fairly secure. Given that I think it’s a better fit on a vest than in jeans pocket. The included lanyard can be attached at the rear of the clip or in the middle. The scout mount can be removed by taking the hex screws off the clip and then using your own smaller allen keys to remove it from the light if you wish. Acebeam sells a tactical ring that can be used in place of the clip if you wish too.

To convert to a weapon mount, you simply remove the two clip screws to reveal the standard scout mount you can then slide into any compatible mount. While easy to convert it’s not a tooless design.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 129.7mm, maximum diameter at the at the tail near the clip 34.5mm, minimum diameter on the body at 21.7mm. With the battery and clip installed the light comes in at 5.26oz, or 149.2g. The light is IPX8 water rated. 

LED & Beam

The P15 is using the Luminus SFT40 HI LED in an advertised 6500k tint with an advertised maximum 1700 lumens resulting in 330 meters of throw. On my unscientific Opple meter I recorded 6000K in turbo with a Ra (CRI) of about 65 and no measurable flicker. The beam is what you would expect, from a flat top LED, very throwy with a focused hot spot in the center and minimal spill. The crenulated bezel’s edges are visible in the spill but just a little. 

 

Official Outputs

    • Turbo 1700 Lumens – 27,225 Candela
    • High 600 Lumens
    • Mid 200 Lumens
    • Low 45 Lumens
    • Ultra Low 2 Lumens

 

Heat & Runtime

Let’s talk about the runtimes of the P15. Tubo lasts for 2 minutes before stepping down to 40% of relative output. It then continues on like this for 2 more hours till it takes a sharp decline for a total runtime of 2:18:00. During this time peak temp was 50C which is pretty controlled. I also ran a medium mode output and it’s very stable for 2:50:00 and then declines and shuts off for a total output of 3:12:00. 

 

UI

UI is simple on my version here without any of the accessories. From off, long press to turn on in firefly, long press to go into low, and the light will keep cycling up to medium and high. Double click to go to Turbo while on, and triple press to go to strobe. You can’t mechanically lock the light out due to those anodized threads but it does have electronic lockout that works pretty well. The quick function switch and pressures sensitive switch add other UI elements, but since I don’t have those I won’t comment on them directly. 

 

Recharging

Let’s talk about the battery in the Acebeam P15. It’s a 3100mAh 18650 that’s dual polarity on the one end with the plastic separator ring. We have seen other manufactures use these same type of cells usually on larger lights. I think Acebeam is doing it here to facilitate charging and the remote pressure switch without a dual tube light design to keep things slim. The bad news is it’s semi proprietary. 

So charging is accomplished via the pogo pins style connectors in the rear of the light. It comes with a special cable that plugs in via USB. It slides in from the rear and is a tight fit. It definitely takes some effort to get it there since the connector is a softer rubber/plastic. Once in place you can lock it in by turning the mechanical switch on the rear switch. This is also used for the other accessories. 

Charging took 2:27:00 to charge from LVP at 2.945V to full at 4.215v, so right where Acebeam claims. Fastest charging rate I saw was about 1.4V. The light will not turn on while charging.

 

Final Thoughts

I like the P15 EDC Tactical and the concept that Acebeam was trying to achieve with it. I like that they brought out multiple colors of the light from the beginning instead of dribbling them out over time. That said the light does make concessions in it’s design to do both tasks. Mainly the clip for me isn’t deep carry enough to create a light that I want to EDC in my front pockets, for me it’s more of a jacket light or something to go on a bag, that’s ok. As a weapon light I think this would do pretty well, they seem to have thought of most things, and it’s probably a little better as a weapon light than an EDC in my opinion.

This is the first light I have tried with the Luminis SFT40 HI LED. It’s pretty great for being cool white, without any major tint shift at lower outputs and creates a nice tight beam to throw well for its size. Hopefully we see this in future lights and from other manufactures.

The numerous different accessories with this light are nice as well, something for everyone aimed at both the tactical side if you wish, the P15 Defender kit will be the model you want to pick up, or the P15 EDC Tactical for more EDC uses but still have the ability to mount if you wish. With the P15 the choice is up to you and I can recommend it with those reservations about EDC use. 

 

Pickup the Acebeam P15 from Acebeam.com and save 10% by using the code ACE10

P15 EDC Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-edc

P15 Tactical https://www.acebeam.com/p15-tactical-light

P15 Limited Edition https://www.acebeam.com/p15-limited-edition

Or Amazon at https://amzn.to/3nQLi03