As many of you know, many of your favorite Chinese companies will be having 11.11 (Singles Day) sales. It’s kind of like Chinese Black Friday, but entirely online. This is a great time to pick up a new light at a usually a pretty good discount. Many of these are available now for a limited time.
If I have done reviews on some of the for sale models I will try to link my review video below.
Wurkkos has been a newer brand that has been hitting it out of the park. The FC11 is the first model that I reviewed and it’s a fantastic place to get started as a general purpose or EDC flashlight for many people. I will be reviewing more from Wurkkos in the near future.
FC11 Review (They have updated the model since then)
HD20 Review
Thrunite
15% off on the following Lights (Click the coupon on the listing)
10% OFF first order (new registered customer) CODE: UBK82QA7
15% OFF HS20 SC31Pro, D25S, IF22A,Q8Pro, LT1 CODE: Q82YOY1K
30% OFF TF84 CODE: WG379GP3
Discount codes don’t stack. If you have a 10% off discount, they can’t also use a “15% off” or “30% off”coupon. Only one discount at a time can apply to a single order.
Sofirn (Amazon US) Starts on 11/10/2021 at 0:00 AM.
Thrunite has a new light in their BSS (Black Scout Survival) series of lights this time focused on the compact small EDC market. This light produces 693 lumens from an SST20 LED and a 16340 battery. It has a deep carry pocket clip, and is available in two different colored bodies. It’s very similar to the Wowtac W1 I looked at earlier in the year with a few differences. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this too me to look at, if I have a discount for it make sure to check the description below.
Pickup the Thrunite BSS W1 from Amazon. Don’t forget to apply the Coupon code BSS202012 to get an additional 20% off
BSS W1 Green – https://amzn.to/3c4ra5r 20% off with coupon
W1 Blue – https://amzn.to/3oe0hyt (No extra discount)
Packaging & Accessories
Packaging here is a rather small cardboard box that folds up from the top. On the side it lists the option the light is in, interestingly a black version and NW is optional here but those options are not listed for sale currently. Inside you get the light itself, along with a 16340 battery. Mine here happens to say it’s a Wowtac (Sister company) so maybe they had some wrappers leftover? Other accessories include the pocket clip, microUSB to USB cable for charging, manual and a bag of 2 spare orings, 2 spare USB covers.
Construction
The W1 is made from aluminum and at current time is available in an OD Green and a Blue. I like the green color here myself quite a bit. The back end is mostly flat, it has a small milled center thats slightly lower with the Black Scout Survival logo engraved in the center. On mine the logo doesn’t really seem to be lined up at all with the head. The tail is magnetic and pretty strong, it has no trouble holding the weight of the light up.
The pocket clip attaches at the rear of the light only, it’s a non captured clip and the tail and body are a one piece design. The groves milled into the body section are nice, they give quite a bit of grip but should clean up much better than traditional diamond knurling. The body also tapers in, to give the light the feeling of thinness
The head section of the light is a decent amount larger than the body, especially around the button and USB port area. This does change how the clip fits the light, more on that in a minute. This larger section serves as kind of an anti roll ring. The button is slightly recessed and protected with the aluminum around it. There is a LED underneath to give a charging status. Opposite the button is the charging port. It’s covered with a silicone cover. Not the best design I have seen but effective for the price. The front has a very shallow bezel that’s smooth. It looks to be a 2 piece design but I can’t get it to budge. The lens is anti reflective coated and the reflector does have an orange peel. The LED centering isn’t perfect but this doesn’t seem to have a noticeable effect on the beam.
Size & Weight
I measured the length here at 67mm, maximum diameter at 23.22mm at the head, and minimum diameter at the body at 18mm. Weight with the battery and clip was 51.5g. The light is IPX8 water rated.
The Competition
The closest light I have to the Thrunite BSS W1 is the Wowtac W1. As you may or may not know Thrunite and Wowtac are sister companies, and these two lights are very similar in terms of physical appearance, design, and shared parts. There are some differences, most obvious is the body tube differences. The Thrunite BSS W1, has in my opinion a more attractive body tube, with its linear milling, it’s also a little slimmer by 2mm. The heads are the exact same design with the only difference being color, and accents. They have the same button, USB Cover, bezel, lens, and reflector. The heads are also interchangeable between lights.
The Olight S1R Baton II and S1 Baton Mini are both smaller then the Thrunite BSS W1, in terms of length, and as far as the mini has very similar maximum performance. One big difference is that the Olights carry bezel up, and the Thrunite is bezel down carry.
Retention
The Thrunite BSS W1 uses a non captured dual direction clip that only fits on the tail of the light. It’s a pretty tight clip, enough so that it does scratch the anodizing, it’s very deep carry which is great and has enough space to fit over the pocket of my jeans to clip onto the pocket. The light also has a small place in the tail to allow a small diameter lanyard to be attached if you wish.
LED & Runtime
The Thrunite BSS W1 uses a SST20 LED in Cool White. No tint data is given directly. When I compare the beam to the Wowtac W1 it’s very similar, the SST20 in the Thrunite is slightly more neutral in tint to the Cree G2 in the Wowtac. The beam hot spot is slightly large as well. On this style of light I personally prefer a TIR style optic, because I think it provides a better overall beam for EDC use, that said the traditional reflector design here does throw further.
Thrunite lists the output specs of the BSS W1 as the following.
Firefly 0.5 Lumens
Low 7.5 Lumens
Medium 58 Lumens
High 215 Lumens
Turbo 693 Lumens with step down to 215 lumens after 1 min.
Heat & Runtime
Turbo runtime on the BSS W1 was 1:15 before step down, relatively short but this is a small light. Past here it seems to follow the curve of a non regulated driver. It ran at 30% relative output for right at an hour before slowly stepping down. Total runtime was 1:43:00 before the light shut off with the battery measuring 2.925v.
UI
UI here is extremely simple. From off, long press to enter firefly mode at 0.5 lumens. Once on long press to cycle through the 3 normal modes. Double press to go to turbo, or triple press to go to strobe. There is memory mode here. No lockout mode is here but you can mechanically lock the light out if you wish by a ¼ twist.
Recharging
Recharging is accomplished via MicroUSB onboard the light. The charging port has a small silicone gasket that’s hinged at the top at one point. It’s not the best design I have seen, not the worst either. Charge time took 1:21:00 in my testing, with the max charge rate being .46A which is safe for this small of battery. The fully charged battery measured 4.145V.
Pro’s
Very inexpensive (Less than $30)
Only a cool white emitter available at this time.
Blue and Green anodizing are available.
Con’s
Not a crazy amount of performance but it is small.
MicroUSB instead of USB-C
Bit of a green tint on lower power modes.
Conclusion
If you are new to EDCing a flashlight, and wanted to try something small out, this would be a great option to try without breaking the bank. If you just wanted a small flashlight to use on a hat, carry in a bag or purse, or just wanted an impulse buy in a color you liked this fits all those applications here too.
For EDC this is a decent light. The clip design allows for a pretty deep carry which I like, but the head design means I need to pull it out slightly to slip the clip over the side of my pocket. I like that it’s available right away in colors, and that they didn’t wait for a special edition with colors later on. It’s a little disappointing to see that it didn’t go to USB-C for the onboard recharging.
The Thrunite BSS W1 is very similar to the Wowtac W1 that I reviewed last year. The exterior designs are slightly different, and I prefer the Thrunite BSS W1 here. I like the two anodizing colors being offered here an OD green and a nice blue. The SST20 LED is a little brighter than the Cree emitter used in the Wowtac W1. For the minor price difference (Around $25 total price) here between the two models and the availability of body colors, I would say to buy the Thrunite BSS W1 over the Wowtac W1 at this time but I can’t say you would be wrong choosing either.
Pickup the Thrunite BSS W1 from Amazon. Don’t forget to apply the Coupon code BSS202012 to get an additional 20% off
BSS W1 Green – https://amzn.to/3c4ra5r 20% off with coupon
W1 Blue – https://amzn.to/3oe0hyt (No extra discount)
Today I have Thrunite’s newest model, the TT20. It produces 2526 lumens from a Luminus SST70 LED, a 21700 battery. It has onboard USB-C charging and has a rear tactical switch. It’s available in 2 color bodies too. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to look at and review.
Get the Thrunite TT20 for $55.96 (20% off) until October 31st by clicking coupon checkbox on the product page at Amazon.
The TT20 is using Thrunites standard heavy but minimal cardboard box. It’s lacking information like normal but that’s fine since it’s designed for online direct to consumer sales. Inside you get the flashlight itself, along with the proprietary 5000mAh 21700 battery, a basic holster, and a USB-A to C cable. The extras bag includes 2 Orings, a spare rubber tail boot, extra orings, 2 spare USB Charging port covers, and a branded lanyard.
Construction
The Thrunite TT20 is available in 2 colors currently, a standard black and a Red “Outsider” edition that I have here. It’s a really nice rich vibrant red, I always like seeing lights in different colors. This version replaces the TT20 model number engraving with the Outsider’s logo. (Youtuber).
Thrunite added a large mechanical tail switch on this light making it “tactical” It’s cover is grippy and you can connect the lanyard at either side of the tail switch. It has some straight knurling for trip to help remove the tail cap. Inside the center contact is slightly spring loaded.
Threads are anodized and square cut. The battery compartment has very tight tolerances with the battery, when inserting the battery it’s cushioned by a layer of air escaping, normally you don’t see these types of tolerances in production lights. It doesn’t suffer the problem of the USB port cover popping off either which you sometimes see when inserting batteries in lights. The surface of the light has a fairly tame grip level for a tactical light, it’s a similar milled pattern to what the TC15 and T2 have. The 2 way clip is reversible on either end of the light, I have switched mine from where it came preinstalled.
The head of the light is pretty plain, and glued to the body of the light at the front. You have an anti roll ring at the front. The e-switchis similar in shape and design to other Thrunites but this time black anodized and seems to stick out slightly more.It’s still got the LED indicator underneath for battery power levels. The battery charging port is opposite, and it has a fairly large silicon cover. The little pull tab can get in the way causing the flap to open unintentionally. The front of the light has a scalloped bezel that’s non tactical but allows light to escape when standing on the head. The lens is anti reflective coated, and underneath is a deep smooth reflector and the LED is nicely centered. The light is IPX8 water rated and had no issues with time in a bucket of water.
Size & Weight
I measured the length at 136mm, max diameter at 29mm, minimum diameter at 26.5mm. Weight with the battery and clip installed is 181.1g. For me I find it fits in the hand pretty well and it’s a decent size for a 21700. Not the smallest light in it’s class but not the largest either.
Comparison
The Olight M2R Pro is the most obvious light I have as a competitor. It also is a 21700 battery, tactical tail switch with front button, and a similar overall size. Weight wise it’s within 1 gram. I think the Olight is a bit more tactical, with the more aggressive bezel, more aggressive body section grip, it’s more focused beam, and the 2 stage tail switch. Clip wise I have to give the advantage to Olight but the TT20 is good too. See the pictures below for how it compares to the Thrunite T2 and TC15.
Retention
The TT20 comes with a lanyard that you can attach onto the tail cap if you wish. This is approaching the size of light where I start to use lanyards, but for now I will leave it off. It also comes with a holster, it does the job but is fairly basic, with just a D-ring and belt loop. This is one area where the Olight M2R Pro’s holster is clearly better.
The pocket clip on the TT20 is dual direction and pretty good. It allows for a fairly deep carry in the pocket with only about 10mm of the light sticking out of the pocket. The clip is mountable on the front of the body tube or the rear. I suspect most people will rear mount it like I have it here. It’s a non captured clip so it does rotate around the body of the light. The TT20 will fit on a hat if you want it to but with the 21700 battery it’s heavier then I normally want to do with a strap on clip.
LED & Beamshots
The TT20 is using the Luminus SST70 LED in cool white. This is my first light with this LED as it’s fairly new and new to the flashlight market as well. It’s an XM Size LED, Quad die LED so it would be a replacement for a Cree XHP50, but it’s physically smaller, more like and XHP35. With it installed here in the TT20 there is a small donut in the beam at distances less then 3”. At low powers, I get a bit of green/yellow in the beam, but these go away at moderate power levels and the beam is a cool but not cold tint. There is a moderate hot center and the spill is moderate. There is a small ring at the outer edges of the spill.
This gets a bit into the UI of the light but during ramping it’s not a smooth ramp. It seems as if there are a ton of small fixed steps as it’s increasing or decreasing in brightness instead of a nice and smooth ramp like you have on most lights with ramping. Once you stop it’s even and I don’t notice any PWM to my eyes or camera. My scope says there is a tiny bit, so no concerns.
Working voltage is 2.7V-4.2V which means you are only using the “proprietary” 21700 that the light comes with. FIrefly is measured at 0.5 lumens, infinity low starts at 31 lumens up to 1468. Strobe is 1294 lumens and Turbo is 2526.
Heat & Runtime
I did my runtime tests with the included battery at room temps of around 73F, non cooled. Turbo on the light lasts for 1:15 before it starts stepping down and it’s stable again at the 3 minute mark at around 23% relative output. I saw peak temps at 1:30 of 52C. The light was able to hold this 23% relative output for a long time, 3:30:00, total runtime was 3:36:00. LVP was measured at 2.849V. The standout for me is if you just skip turbo and run the light in infinite high, it’s around 1300 lumens and the light is able to hold this for a little over an hour (75 min).
When I compare the runtimes to the Olight M2R Pro, the Olight is able to withstand it’s turbo output slightly longer at about 5 minutes (while stepping down), and it’s bulk of the runtime was closer to 38% but for a shorter 2:33:00 and a total runtime of 3:15:00.
UI
The UI on the TT20 is different for a tactical light. It’s ramping with the use of the front button. It starts on low and if you long press from off the light comes on in firefly mode. Once on in normal mode you can press and hold and the light will begin it’s ramp up, as mentioned the ramp isn’t very smooth or fast. A full ramp from low to high takes 5.44 seconds which is a long time in my opinion. The light flashes at both ends 3 times and you can ramp in a loop low to high then ramping back down to low. It’s harder to start the light out in low especially if coming from moonlight mode. Double click on the front switch to jump to Turbo or use the tail switch to go to turbo at any time. Triple click the front button to get into strobe. There is memory as well for modes other than Turbo. When using turbo from the tail switch you can’t adjust the mode.
The light does have electronic lockout mode, if you are a subscriber here you know I rarely if ever use lockout through the UI. Thankfully mechanical lockout is an option by just breaking contact with the tail. This will prevent the tail from working but the E-Switch will still work thanks to that proprietary battery. The light basically has 2 physical paths for current to flow. I find myself sometimes turning on electronic lockout accidentally here if I press to long to get to firefly mode.
Charging
The TT20 has a onboard USB-C port for charging. It’s only compatible with USB-A to C, and not full C-C or USB-C PD unfortunately. Total charge time was 3:03 which is pretty good. Max charge speed I saw was 2.1A. The curve here is different from I typically see but it did decline as the battery charged. The battery measured as full at 4.199V.
The battery will charge in some external chargers too if you have a large or pointy contact to make it over the plastic spacer on the battery. Alternatively if you have a charger that accepts long cells like the VapCell S4 Plus I recently reviewed, then a 1mm rare earth magnet will work as a spacer if needed. With the S4 I don’t need a spacer it turns out.
As mentioned before the 5000mAh 21700 battery here is proprietary since it has both the positive and negative contact on the traditional positive end of the light, and it has small plastic spacer here. The battery is interchangeable with the Thrunite T2 and Olight 21700’s like what’s on the M2R Pro. The Olight battery will run in the Thrunite TT20, but not the other way around. This is done to reduce the lights diameter, so it can run without an inner tube, so the E switch and tail switch can both operate.
Pro’s
Body Color options, but I wish these were not cobranded.
Better value and longer overall runtime then the main competition.
It can sustain a high percentage of infinite high for quite a while.
New SST70 LED that I think we will be seeing a lot more from manufactures, hopefully in Neutral white soon.
Con’s
The red anodizing is a great color but doesn’t seem to be as durable as black.
Ramping isn’t steady and suffers noticeable PWM during the ramp. It’s also slow.
The UI here isn’t my favorite, it’s a clumsy mix of what I will call Everyday tactical.
Conclusion
My conclusion I come away with this light is, is it really tactical? The inclusion of the ramping suggests to me it’s more for general everyday use, with the tail cap being the more tactical feature since it allows you to go to full turbo instantly, but when using the tail option you can’t adjust the mode and it’s only turbo. I like how with the Olight M2R Pro, the tail switch is 2 mode, so it’s easy to get to but you have the option of if you want full power or not.
To me the TT20 more everyday tactical than full on tactical. The beam to me is more everyday than tactical too with it being less focused and more flood then the M2R Pro. That said the TT20 is a nice value compared to many othe the other 21700 lights in the price category. It’s nicely made and carries better than I expected in the pocket. The runtime on infinite high is great too, It’s easily able to sustain over 1000 lumens for over an hour. In my opinion I can recommend the TT20 for general use if you’re OK with the UI and slow ramps but I probably wouldn’t recommend it for a true tactical operator type situation.
Get the Thrunite TT20 for $55.96 (20% off) until October 31st by clicking coupon checkbox on the product page at Amazon.
Thrunite has a new headlamp it’s introduced with the TH01. It’s using an 18350 battery and Cree XHP50 LED (in Cool or Neutral white) and is capable of short bursts of upto 1500 lumens. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to take a look at and review. I will have a link to where you can pick this up in the description below.
Here is my shameless plug about following me on social media if you haven’t already. I have a channel fan page on Facebook and Instagram page as well. I try to share stories of things I am working on or have recently received there as well as post sales/discounts when I see something worth mentioning. Make sure to follow me on those platforms if you are a user of them.
The TH01 ships in a rather plain almost cubic cardboard box like other Thrunites. It’s not a retail package so it really has limited info externally. Inside there is a large piece of foam where the light is sitting and underneath is the head strap and other accessories. Included accessories is the headlamp itself, 1100mAh 18350 battery, Headstrap, microUSB charging cable with an extra long microUSB connector, an extra USB port cover and oring, and the associated paperwork.
Construction
The TH01 is made from aluminum and is anodized black. Build quality here is good but nothing over the top. Instead of being a right angle light, the lens and LED assembly is in the middle of the battery tube, making the light in this configuration short and stocky. The XPH50 is a fairly large emitter, and its surrounded by a wide and shallow orange peal reflector and topped with AR glass lens. A little closer to the body there are some bars milled in for grip to help you rotate the light in the headpiece assembly
Each end features knurled end caps, when on your head the left side is where you will find the single control button, which has a large raised silicone button, with LED’s underneath to give you a charge indicator during charging (Red/Green), and then the MicroUSB port for charging. One note on this USB port is that it’s recessed slightly deep. While I can use a standard cable (I tried with a Monoprice and Anker cable) the connection that resulted is poor and it’s easy to bump loose. If I used the cable Thrunite provided in the package the connection is solid. The difference is the Thrunite cable’s MicroUSB end is just a little longer. This is really an unfortunate design choice.
The right side is the side that opens to remove or replace the battery. There is a single large diameter spring in the tail cap that maintains electrical contact and keeps it from rattling around. Threads are a fine ACME cut, short and dry. Thrunite made an interesting design choice here and that the diameter of the tube is a good deal larger then needed for the 18350 battery. It has a small shelf that runs the length of the tube, and you can see they ran wires here as well as put a copper coin in here to dissipate heat. If the tube was longer here and the inside changed slightly I could see this morphing into a 21700 version of this light in the future.
Size & Weight & Comparison
I measured the following dimensions of the TH01. Overall Length was 67mm, diameter of the body tube only 27.5mm. Diameter of the lens 27mm and diameter of the body + lens assembly 34mm. Weight with the included battery is 78.9g.
A headlamp that I have that’s somewhat comparable is the Olight H1R Nova. It’s a smaller right angle light running a RCR123 battery with considerably less output and battery capacity but is somewhat similar in length. Diameter of the Olight is about ½ that of the Thrunite TH01. The Olight’s weight with battery is 46.2g so almost ½ lighter.
To me these lights kind of serve different segments of the market, with the Olight being a more limited use light, less capacity and output. I personally use mine in my car in case I have a flat tire with a CR123 so that it better handles the extreme temp changes. The TH01 i see used more for camping or around the house where you want more runtime but still fairly light weight.
LED | Beamshot | Night Shots | Heat
The LED being used on the Thrunite TH01 is the Cree XHP50, no generation number is given. It’s a fairly large LED in physical size. Lucky Thrunite continues to offer this light in Cool or Neutral white. I have the Neutral white version and the tint here is on the warm side which I personally prefer.
The beam profile is good for this type of task headlamp. It has a very wide overall beam profile (I would guess about 170 degrees), but it has a fairly large hot center with good spill. The beam tint in my neutral white example does shift in the very center to a more white tint. Overall the tint is slightly warm and a little green. The tint in the very center does shift more to a true white which can happen with the XHP50 LED.
Run-time
As expected a light producing upto 1500 lumens, can consume quite a bit of power. That said in the lower modes the runtimes are more reasonable. In turbo the light lasts for just over 5 minutes before stepping down to 450 lumens this then lasts for about 55 more minutes before the lights starts stepping down more aggressively ending up with an overall runtime of just over 60 minutes. This is short but the light gets much better battery life if you go with one of the lower modes. High mode outputs 450 lumens and it can sustain this for 3 hours. When the battery is low the light starts to flash to let you know to recharge the battery. Low voltage protection kicked in at 3.05V.
Heat is well controlled on this light. I started the light out on Turbo and at 1 minute it measured 83F, at 5 minutes 108F, at 10 minutes 95F.
UI
UI here is very simple and straightforward. One button to turn the light on, long press to cycle through the modes, double click to go to turbo. Long press from off turns the light on in firefly mode. Triple click to go to SOS. The light does have memory mode and will remember the mode you were last in with the exception of Turbo or firefly.
Recharging
This light charges via a micro USB connector on the body of the light. Unfortunately it’s recessed slightly deeper then standard, meaning the standard cables I tried to use from Anker and Monoprice resulted in a loose connection. The ThruNite cable that was included’s male end is just slightly longer and this makes all the difference to lock in that connection. Recharging on this light is pretty conservative at 500mA, meaning it took 2 hours and 41 minutes to charge the included 1100mAh battery. I would have liked to see a bit more speed here, 750mA would be perfectly save and save 25% off the charging time. Charging stopped at 4.163V. The light will come on in Firefly mode (0.6 Lumens) while recharging.
Pro’s
Neutral and Cool White are both available! It’s great to see Thrunite still offer this while other manufacturers seem to be stopping.
Pretty affordable smaller headlamp with a battery
Con’s
Deeply recessed MicroUSB port means a standard cable makes a poor connection. I would prefer USB-C anyways.
While it doesn’t rattle, the body tube’s diameter is a good deal larger than needed.
Charge rate is quite conservative, and some would argue slow, since its max charge rate is 500mA, and charging takes about 3 hours. This is like 0.5C so exceedingly safe.
Conclusion
An 18350 headlamp I think is a little bit of a strange size here, It’s significantly more battery capacity and max sustained current then an RCR123, but at least on the TH01 it resulted in a light that is kind of fat and longer then I feel like it needs to be. It seems like this design would scale up to an 18650 battery and almost be a better size to weight ratio as a result. The diameter of the tube seems more appropriate for a 20700 then a 18xxx battery.
Either way this puts out a significant amount of light on turbo and can sustain it for a reasonably long amount of time. However doing so really does consume quite a bit of power, so you would be better suited to only using the brightest mode you need in order to get the most runtime needed here. With the 3 strap design I could see this being useful for a runner or someone doing camping etc, provided they used high instead of turbo so they could see the 3 hours of runtime instead of 1 hour. Lastly, this ends up being fairly affordable for this level of output and Thrunites good customer service and 2 year warranty. I can recommend it with reservations.
You can purchase the Thrunite TH01 on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2S0kUlj or at http://www.thrunite.com/thrunite-th01-1500-lumen-cree-xhp50-18350-rechargeable-led-headlamp/
Thrunite is running a promotion for people who purchase this light and write a review to revive a free Ti3. Contact Customer service to take advantage of this promotion.
Today I have the new Thrunite TH30 Headlamp on my review table. This is a fairly slim profile headlamp that can also double as a EDC type light. It has a impressive 3350 lumen turbo mode, is USB rechargeable and ships with a Thrunite IMR battery. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to take a look at.
Packaging
Packaging is typical of what we are used to from Thrunite, simple, and functional. It’s a small brown cardboard box with minimal details printed on the outside. Unfolding it from the front cover reveals the headlamp packed in white foam. The battery is preinstalled with a protection disk. One of the nice things is that the head strap is already assembled and attached to the light. Underneath are the accessories which include a Micro USB cable for charging, pocket clip for the light (Can’t be used while in the headlamp mount), extra head mount, usb cover, manual, and branded black and red 3 piece head strap.
Construction
The TH30 itself is made from aircraft grade aluminium and is anodized a fairly shiny black. The light comes into 3 basic pieces, the head, body tube, and tail cap. Starting at the tail cap, the bottom is flat, and non magnetic. Knurling matches the body tube in a fairly aggressive diamond pattern. Threads under the cap are ACME style, and were lightly greased. The body tube has a pretty minimal diameter, and it has the same knurling as the tail cap. The pocket clip can mount onto the body tube either near the head or tail. Unfortunately the clip isn’t very deep carry when mounted near the head , but is reasonable when at the back of the light.
The head itself is fairly typical of a right handed light but it has been slimmed down where possible. As a result it only has cooling fins opposite of the emitter, and the sides are flat which is where the writing on this light are located. The only button is on the top of the light surrounded by an uncoated aluminum accent bezel. It’s a large, domed textured silicone rubber button that is semi transparent. Underneath are charge status indicators. The button stands a little proud and as a result the light won’t slit flat on it’s head.
The mount and stap were nicely preassembled. The mount itself is made from a black silicone rubber and is the style where you pass the light through silicone rubber hoops. This means the light stays put pretty well and isn’t the easiest to remove or add back. The head strap bands are black with red Thrunite lettering woven into the fabric. It’s a fairly basic strap and doesn’t include any of the silicon strips on the inside to keep the strap in place on helmets.
Size/Weight/Water Rating
I measured length at 106.5mm, minimum diameter at 23.6mm and maximum diameter at 28.2mm. Weight of the light with the included cell and head strap was 172.3g. The light is IPX8 water rated.
LED/Runtime
This light uses a Cree XHP 70.2 LED available in both cool and neutral white. My example here is in neutral white which is my preference. The LED is quite large but nicely centered in the reflector. Lens is glass and anti reflective coated, the reflector has a orange peel on it that does a good job of smoothing out the beam.
Runtime on the included 3100mAh IMR battery totaled 110 minutes from Turbo. When starting on high the light really steps down after about 5 minutes due to heat and is only running at about 25% relative output where it ran for the majority of the time. I saw very little difference when I ran a cooled output for 20 minutes compared with uncooled as well suggesting it’s a timed/voltage decline. Stepdowns were smooth. The last 10 minutes of runtime the light will start flashing to let you know the battery is depleted and ready to shut down.
Total Runtime
Uncooled 20 Minutes
Cooled 20 Minutes
Heat is a bit of a concern with this light on turbo since it produces up to 3350 lumens. During my test, the head easily reached 120F while on turbo within about 3 minutes. This is hot, but it won’t burn you. When being warm as a headlamp the silicone rubber mount does a good job of insulating your skin from the heat. The manual does say for the safety battery, driver and LED they recommend not using the light at the maximum for more than 10 minutes.
The beam is mostly flood and quite smooth. The center is slightly hotter but it’s nicely diffused thanks to the orange peel reflector. This light really isn’t a thrower but because of it’s power it does a decent job out to about 100 yards or so.
Battery and Recharging
Included in the package is a 3100mAh Thrunite Branded high drain, button top IMR 18650 battery. While not officially mentioned, given the performance characteristics it’s believed this battery is a rewrapped Sony VTC6 with protection. Working voltage of this light is 2.75V to 4.2V so 2x CR123A batteries will not work in this light.
Recharging is accomplished via a microUSB port on the very top of the head of the light. I like this location as it’s out of the way. The usb cover is attached with a decent amount of material as well and an extra is included in the packaging just in case. A red LED is under the main operation button will let you know the light is charging and it turns blue when charged. I measured max draw during charging at 1.5A which matches ThruNite’s claims, and a full recharge took 2 hours and 34 minutes. The light can be powered on to low mode during charging via USB.
UI and Mode Spacing
Changing modes in this light is easy. When the light is on pressing and holding the button will cycle through modes. The light starts on low, and progresses linearly though Low, Medium Low, Medium, High, and SOS. To get to turbo at anytime double click, and to use firefly when the light is off just long press. The light will remember the mode you were last in except for Firefly, Turbo, or SOS.
Turbo (3350 lumens for 1.5 min then 1050 lumen after step down)
High (1275 lumen; 90 minutes)
Medium (352 lumen; 5 hrs)
Medium-Low (130 lumen; 14 hrs)
Low (25 lumen; 60 hrs)
Firefly (0.5 lumen; 32 days)
SOS (645 lumen; 305 minutes)
The light can be mechanically locked out by just breaking contact with the tail cap or body tube. Given this lights power I would recommend doing that.
Pro’s
Available in Neutral or Cool White
Mode spacing is nice, and it has a simple UI but I wish strobe was not part of the main group.
Very smooth floody beam, not much noticeable tint rainbow to me.
High quality included battery that is non proprietary.
2 Year free replacement warranty, with a limited lifetime warranty after that
Con’s
Pocket clip is reversible but not very deep carry
The button cover protrudes a little so it won’t stand on its head very well.
Wish it had active thermal controls
Conclusion
If you have followed my reviews for a while you will know I am a fan of headlamps, for me it’s probably in the top 3 types of flashlights everyone should own. The Thrunite TH30 is a very nice high lumen headlamp option. Understandably Turbo doesn’t last too long, due to the immense amount of heat 3350 lumens creates, but the lower modes are sufficient. I really like that this headlamp uses non proprietary batteries which makes getting extra’s or a replacement easy and less expensive than some other brands. I like that the light comes with an excellent and safe battery as well, I think it’s an extra layer of safety to have a protected cell when your using one on your head. I think it’s safe to say this is my favorite headlamp of 2018 so far.
I have enjoyed the previous lights from Thrunite that I have taken a look at and they asked if I would be interested in looking at a current model of the Thrunite 2C V3. The Thrunite 2C V3 is an all in one light with onboard charging and it’s flexible in its physical size and with the batteries it can use. Thanks to Thrunite for sending it for me to take a look at.
What’s in the package
The box is similar to other Thrunite’s I have reviewed recently. It’s a sturdy brown paper box with limited markings and information. The goodies are all in side. Included is the Flashlight itself, pocket clip, lanyard, MicroUSB charging cable, bag of spares (Oring, 2 USB port covers, and button diagram), and Thrunite button top protected, high discharge 3400mah 18650 battery. The holster is made for this light and it fits nicely. There is a plastic d-ring at the top and the belt loop is fixed.
Construction
This light is made from aluminium and is hard anodized with a smooth gloss finish. Some interesting design choices have been made to keep this light short and flexible with it’s battery sizes. Starting at the back the rear is flat and non magnetic. There is a small hole drilled for the lanyard and below that is the only place a clip attaches to the light. The clip itself is very deep carry and works well for both length of the light. The body tube is 2 pieces with square cut threading and an O ring. This design allows battery size flexibility which I will talk about more in a few minutes. The knurling is a diamond pattern and is deep and aggressive.
The head portion of the Neutron 2C has the anti roll ring which contains the electronic button with LED charge status indicator in the center. The button sits pretty flat and has a nice audible click. The microUSB charging port is opposite. It’s standard depth so any standard cable should work well. The charging cover is a smart design. It uses a larger looped piece of rubber that goes around the entire head of the light and this is what the door sealing out moisture is located. The result is it’s super easy to replace if needed.
Size & Water Rating
Length in long configuration 125mm
Length in short configuration 94mm
Width at it’s maximum 26mm
Width at it’s minimum 24.5mm
The light is IPX8 water rated. Short Long
LED/Runtime/Parasitic Drain
The LED used here is a Cree XP-L V6 in Cool White, Neutral White is available as well and is my personal preference.The reflecto is smooth and fairly deep. LED centering is nice, and everything sits behind a antireflective coated glass lens.
This light can use a variety of different sizes of lithium batteries. It ships with a Thrunite button top, protected, high drain 3400mAh battery which is how I will most likely use it the most. It will also work with 2X CR123A, 1X 18350, 1× 16340, or 2× 16340. Button tops are recommended. I had some minor issues getting my flat top 18350’s working with small magnets. Working voltage is 2.7-9.0V.
Short Long
Beam Pattern
The Neutron 2C throws quite well for an EDC. It has a small hot center with a moderate spill and hard cut off. It’s a pretty useful beam pattern.
Runtime
I ran my runtime test with the included 3400mAh 18650 battery. In Turbo mode the light will last about 10 minutes before you see a large decline to about 65% relative output. This will go for about 60 seconds before a slow gentle decrease down to 10% relative output when the Low Voltage Protection cut in. Low Voltage cut off with the included battery was 2.93V. I measured parasitic drain at 0.3uA.
UI
UI on this light ramps. That means there isn’t defined modes for the most part. Using a long press from off and the light enters firefly mode at 0.5 lumens. Long press again and you get to what Thrunite is calling Infinity Low at 12 lumens. Here is where the ramping begins. Long pressing again and the light begins increasing in brightness slowly. It takes 6 seconds to reach Infinity high at 650 lumens. Double click at any time to reach Turbo at 1100 lumens, and double click again to reach strobe. When in the ramping modes you can stop at any time at the desired brightness. If you long press again it will begin decreasing. The light will flash at both high and low ends to let you know you have reached the maximum or minimum.
Recharging
Recharging is accomplished via the microUSB port opposite the switch on the light. Unfortunately the light only recharges at a maximum speed of 1A. This means it’s a bit slow to recharge. In my test it took 4 hours and 52 minutes to recharge from 2.93V to 4.2V. The LED button contained within the button of the light acts as both a battery level indicator while the light is in use and a charging indicator while charging based on the color and blink pattern.
Pro
Available in Neutral and Cool White emitters
Flexible in output to whatever level desired, but the ramping is a little slow.
Flexible in length and battery
3400mAh high drain 18650 battery is included.
Con
1A recharging is a little slow. It would be nice to see this move up to 2A.
The ramping output of the light doesn’t cover the entire range. Nothing between 650 lumens and 1100 lumens. Ramping is only available between 12 lumens and 650 lumens.
Conclusion
The Thrunite Neutron 2C V3 packs a lot of features and flexibility into one small package with a nice UI. I would like to see ramping be a bit faster and cover the entire range of the lights output ability. That said it’s an all around nice light that really give the user a lot of flexibility in what battery they they want to run (Or what’s available), flexibility to in the length of the light without any extra parts to buy, option of the emitter tint, and flexibility to charge onboard via microUSB. Overall I think this is a light that will appeal to both enthusiasts and non flashaholics. Pickup the ThruNite Neutron 2C V3 on Amazon at (Affiliate Link) or from Thrunite Direct http://www.thrunite.com/thrunite-neutron-2c-v3-1100-lumen-flashlight/
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.
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.
