Tag: Thrower Flashlight Review

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Astrolux FT03 (Best value large thrower of 2019, Coupon Available)

Astrolux has a new lare thrower the FT03. It features a large deep reflector and a SST-40 LED to to give it throw. It’s mated to a 26650 battery tube (but it can accept 21700’s and 18650’s (With an adapter too) and features USB-C fast recharging. Thanks to Banggood for sending this too me. They do have a pretty aggressive coupon available for this if your interested.

 

Pickup the Astrolux FT03 SST40-W at http://bit.ly/31CYUzb and use Coupon Code: BGAFT03 to get the light for $29.99 USA ONLY

 

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

YouTube Version of this Review: 

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Packaging

The light came in a white sturdy cardboard box with minimal info on the outside. The light was packaged in foam on the inside. The included accessories were minimal, with a lanyard, spare orings, manual, and an adapter to fit 18650 batteries. No charging cable comes with this light.

 

Construction

The light is made from aluminium and has smooth anodizing, in a fairly mat finish. Starting at the tail cap the light does tail stand very well, thanks to the notch cut in it’s side to allow the lanyard to go through. It has an octadecagon milled in for grip. On the inside it has dual springs inside the simple tail PCB.

The body tube is directional (Threads and anodizing are different on each) with 12 panels of knurling. It has to flats milled on each side and a grid pattern milled in too. It’s a nice feel in the hand without tearing up your skin or clothing.

Moving up to the head section we have the e-switch with LED’s under that act as a way to find the light in the dark and as a charge status indicator when charging. It has minimal heat syncing milled in to the sides. Opposite the button is the USB-C charging port with a silicone cover that fits well and flush. It doesn’t get in my way. The bell of the light is smooth as is the top part of the head. The deep bezel piece has large shallow crenelations on it that allows a bit of light to spread when face down.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 170mm, Maximum diameter in the head at 70mm, minimum diameter in the body at 32mm on the flats. Weight with a 26650 battery was 396.7g.

The FT03 fit’s pretty well in my hand. To me the 26650 tubes feel pretty natural and I like the length and where my fingers and thumb fit. Ergonomics are good.

A bit of comparisons with the Thrunite Catapult V6

LED/Runtime/Beam Profile

The FT03 comes with a clear domed SST-40 LED in Cool or Neutral white. Mine is a NW example. It’s surrounded by a fairly smooth reflector that is deep and helps this light throw. The reflector leaves a decent amount of space around the LED, about ¼”. The lens is glass and double anti reflective coated. It’s using the Texas Star FET driver.

The beam profile is that of a pretty typical thrower. Small hot center where 90+% of the light is focused and then a spill. I don’t see any real undesirable traits. You do notice if there is anything on the lens that’s dirty or causes distortion.

Runtime

Since this is a FET driven light, a high drain cell is recommended for most performance. That means a high drain 18650 like a Sony VTC6 or Samsung 30Q would be good choices, or for a little more runtime a 21700 sized cell. I ended up going with a Sony VTC6 (3000mAh) for my runtime tests. Turbo steps starts stepping down after about a minute, until the 5 minute mark where you see the aggressive output step down to about 30% relative output. It held this for about 140 minutes. At this point it did more pronounced steps down to almost nothing at the 175 min mark. The light at this point is still on but only in moonlight mode, I left it for another 100 minutes and stopped the test, since it was clearly in need of a recharge. With larger capacity cells I would expect the time after the initial step down to be longer.

I didn’t do a lot of formal heat testing with this light but I can tell you that even with the fairly aggressive turbo stepdowns the head section of the light gets warm to touch as does the body. Nothing dangerous but it’s definitely normal.

 

UI

The Astrolux FT03 is using the enthusiast developed NarsilM Firmware V1.3 along with an e-switch which is great. By default it ships in the ramping mode which is what I like, it also has a stepped mode you can switch it in to if you want. It’s highly configurable and can be a little complicated depending on what you wish to do. The good news is there are lots of guides on Youtube and various cheat sheets on BLF forums that I will try to link to as well. A couple shortcuts I find myself using is double clicking to strobe.

NarsilM 1.3 Firmware Guide http://liquidretro.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/NarsilM1.3.pdf

 

Recharging

This light does have USB-C for recharging, but it won’t charge batteries that are at 4v or above which is a little strange. So if you need to top up a cell after a brief use you would need to take it out and use a charger. Frustratingly the light also won’t charge from a USB-C to C cable, it requires a USB-A to USB-C cable or a microUSB to USB-C adapter. When recharging the LED’s under the E switch turn red, and then go green when charged. Maximum charge rate I saw was 1.9A so pretty close to the 2A that’s advertised. This means charging speed is pretty quick even on larger 26650 and 21700 batteries. Terminal voltage was 4.149v.

Pro

  • Fantastic value thrower especially with USB-C recharging
  • Fit’s a wide variety of Batteries, 26650, 21700, 18650 (With included adapter).
  • Good LED and I appreciate the tint choices at this price range
  • NarsilM Firmware

 

Con

  • Only will charge via USB-A to USB-C cables, no C-C cables allow for charging.
  • Won’t recharge cells if they are above 4.0V
  • Not a small light, but that’s to be expected with most throwers
  • Aggressive turbo step downs but this can be modified with the firmware.

 

Conclusion

At this price point, especially with the coupon I have here, the Astrolux FT03 is the best value thrower of 2019 that I have tested thus far. It’s using the great NarsilM firmware that’s highly user configurable, it has onboard recharging via USB-C (Even though it’s not capable of C-C charging), and is available in Neutral White or Cool white for whichever you prefer. The short of it I recommend this one if your looking for a larger thrower light. Don’t forget to click that link in the description and check it out over on Banggod.

 

Pickup the Astrolux FT03 SST40-W at http://bit.ly/31CYUzb and use Coupon Code: BGAFT03 to get the light for $29.99 USA ONLY

 

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Thrunite Catapult V6 Review (26650 Compact Thrower, MicroUSB Rechargeable)

Today I have a review of the Thrunite Catapult V6. This the 6th generation in Catapult “Thrower” line from Thrunite. It’s compact spotlight style light using a 26650 battery, and is capable of throwing light out to 750 meters and upto 1700 lumens. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to review and evaluate.

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/K0bz2lc
YouTube Version of this Review:

Packaging
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 designation. In my case it was hand checked Cool White. Inside the light was encased in egg case 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, and a Micro USB charging cable.




The holster is nicely designed to fit the large head of this light. It’s lightly padded and made of the nylon. There is no DRing and the belt loop is permanently attached. The holster is the way to go if you were wanting to carry this light on your person. The multilanguage manual is brief but does a good job of going over the necessary info in 4 languages (English, German, Chinese, Japanese).

Construction
Construction of the Catapult V6 is on par with other recent Thrunite lights I have looked at such as the TC20. It’s made of nicely machined aluminium 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 isn’t super grippy but it’s a nice change from a more traditional knurling patterns. 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 polished steel 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. The head has minimal milled out areas 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.


LED + Beamshots, Runtimes
This light uses a Cree XHP35 HI LED in cool white. According to the box there may be a Neutral White Catapult V6 in the future, however as of now this has not been released. This is a 12V emitter so the light is using a boost driver to get the batteries voltage to that level. It has a working voltage of 2.75V to 4.2V

Supplied with the Thrunite 5000mAh 26650 button top battery. It’s capable of delivering the 8A this light requires when use of Turbo.The light will accept button or flat top batteries without issue.

Outputs are pretty impressive. Turbo is rated for 1700 lumens, high for 960, medium for 180 lumens, low for 22 lumens, and firefly at 0.5 lumens. The light also has strobe that is at 1200 lumens.

The Catapult V6 was able to maintain a longer runtime for quite a while, maintaining above 60% relative output for about 125 minutes. Turbo slowly fell to about 90% relative output over the first 20 minutes which is where the light stepped down and ran for another 40 before stepping down for the remaining 70 minutes. Fall off after that was pretty rapid.

Distance
The beamshot of this light is a spotlight thrower. I found it impressive that even on moonlight mode (0.5 Lumens) it ends up throwing quite well over 10ft on a dark night. Over a longer distance and with higher modes the light beam does spread some but it’s still a spotlight. The distance claim of 750 meters is reasonably accurate. The light does have minimal amount of spill with a hard cut off on the edges. Video is really the best to see this in action. See the YouTube version of this review above.

Compared to Klarus XT32 and other 26650 lights I have
When I compared it to my Klarus XT32 the tint colors are very similar. The Captapult V6 has a little bit larger hotspot and a harder cut off on the spill at distances over 100 yards. I think the Catapult V6 for me in my hand is better balanced and easier to manipulate. I also included a picture of the size of the Catapult V6 in comparisons to other 26650 lights I have.

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.

USB Recharging
The light also is capable of being recharged via microUSB. This is opposite the electronic switch and is covered with a rubber flap. I had no issues with the flap staying in place. Charge time was a respectable 3 hours 22 minutes from empty to full charge with a maximum rate of 2.14A.

Conclusions
This is one of the more compact throwers on the market for the sub $100 price. It’s a complete package including the battery, light, and recharging cable along with holster and spares. Some of the competitors such as the Emmisar D1S are sold as just the light. Combine the Thrunites fash shipping from the US and complete package I feel like it makes a pretty good value. I like the compact size for a thrower and use of one 26650 battery. I have other throwers that use 2× 18650 and these end up creating a pretty large light thats much less easy to put on a belt or bag. I like the extra diameter too in the Catapult V6.

This would be a nice choice for security guard applications, landowners looking to survey their property at a distance, or hunters trying to spot game. Due to that tight beam it’s not the best choice for a general EDC light or trail hiking in my opinion but that is to be expected. Overall it’s a very nice compact thrower.

Thrunite is offering 20% off if you order this light through their website through June 15th 2018. http://www.thrunite.com/thrunite-catapult-v6-mini-thrower-rechargeable-flashlight/ It’s also available on Amazon (at normal prices) but currently out of stock.