ThruNite TN42 V2 Review (SBT 90.2, 4848 Lumens, 4X 21700, USB-C)

Today I have a review of something special from Thrunite, a flashlight that has a giggle factor for really anyone. It’s the Thrunite TN42 V2. It’s a mighty search light featuring 4x 21700 batteries, USB-C charging, and an impressive 4848 lumens from an Luminus SBT90.2 LED. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this out to me to review this beast of a light. 

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

 

Get the Thrunite TN42 V2 on Amazon and Save $89 by using my link https://amzn.to/3olu4qB and clicking the on screen coupon until 5/18/21

Packaging & Accessories

The large TN42 comes packaged in a large Thrunite style brown cardboard box with very minimal information on the exterior. ON the inside the light is nicely secured inside a bag and surrounded with foam. Accessories include a bag of spares with extra orings, port covers and a spare button. You get a shoulder strap that attaches right in front of the button and on the rear tail cap with clips, 4x high performance 4000mAh 21700 batteries, and an AC USB-C charger. The charger has an attractive texture on it, with foldable US plugs, but feels quite light. It says it’s capable of 5V DC 5A.

 

Construction

The light is made from Aluminum and is hard anodized in a smooth semi gloss black. Fit and finish here is as good as I have seen from Thrunite. The tail cap has 3 winglets with 2 openings in each, just large enough to fit paracord in it which I plan to make into a wrist strap since one didn’t come with the light. While it looks like a 2 piece design it doesn’t unscrew so I suspect it’s glued.

The body tube has blocks milled into it for style and grip. Not a lot of either in my opinion but it does the job decently well. There is a large oring at the base of the threads that create a very tight fit. Threads are square cut and nicely greased. Mine had 2 slightly damaged areas but I don’t think this is what makes it somewhat difficult to unscrew. The battery carrier has large diameter single springs at the base and an inner aluminum brace to keep the cells from moving around.

Inside the head is a simple brass contact ring, the light has batteries in parallel so it will run with just 1 battery or all 4. On the exterior of the head you have milling for heat dissipation, on the front you have the larger electronic button with the LED power indicator in the middle. The button has very little play and a good feel for an eswitch. On the back you have the silicon port cover for the USB-C charging port. It’s nicely recessed and stays out of the way. 

The light then grows substantially in diameter to fit the large smooth and deep reflector. The LED is centered well but has plenty of room around it before the reflector starts. The lens is antireflective coated glass and is slightly protected by a bezel with light crenulations allowing light to spill out. Markings are quite minimal on the light which I like, Just the model name on the front bezel and then the ROHS, FC, CE and SN on the back. On mine Kerning on the serial number could be improved.

 

Size and Weight

This is a big boy light, while not the longest I own, it’s does have the largest reflector and front diameter. Length I measured 191mm, Diameter of the body at 60mm, maximum diameter of the head is 104mm, or 4.1”. So it makes a baseball or a 50 BMG look pretty small when placed on the front reflector. Weight with the batteries installed came in at 959g, or 33.84oz or 2.1 lbs. Weight without batteries was 648g. The light is IPX8 water rated, and it’s too big to really test in my sink. 

Some comparison with some other Lights.

 

Thrunite TN42 V2 on the Left, Astrolux FT03S on the Right.

 

Retention

Your retention options here are limited from the factory. The light comes with a shoulder strap that clips into the front of the light above the button and rear tail cap. The front mount is kind of unique in how it mounts, it’s also close to the button but doesn’t interfere. While I am not typically a wrist strap person I think one here would be nice just do to the sheer size of the light and to add a bit more security when holding it. So I will build one with paracord. Let me know if you know of any good tutorials for this. 

 

LED & Beam Shots

The TN42 V2 is using the Luminus SBT 90.2 LED in 5700k with a CRI of 70. This LED is 3V on a single die with a large physical size. It combines high output with high lumens which makes for very high output and far throwing flashlights and in the TN42 V2 that’s exactly what you get. The beam profile that results on the TN42 V2 is a quite small hotspot, a small corona, and a large area of a dim spill. At a couple hundred feet you get a little bit of a donut shape in the very center but this isn’t super noticeable. 

 

Official output specs

 

There was no noticeable PWM with this light.

 

Heat & Runtime

Thrunite lists Turbo 4848 lumens, as lasting for 125 second before stepping down and in my tests it lasted 120 seconds before really starting the ramp down, so pretty close. At 145 seconds it was down to it’s steady 40% of relative output, an estimated 1737 lumens. It maintains this for 2:30:00 before declining down to firefly mode over the next 30 minutes. It will run in firefly for about 2:20:00 until low voltage protection kicks in at 2.89V. Total runtime from turbo to LVP was 5:16:00. FL1 was more like 2:42:00. Maximum heat I saw was at 2 places, First at 51C at 2:20 and then again at the end of output at 2:30:00.

I will throw up another graph here of the relative outputs comparing all 4 batteries to 1 battery so you can see the runtime differences. Realize that the outputs here are not identical but similar. 

 

UI

The UI here is simple and the same as many other Thrunite lights. From Off Long press to go to firefly mode. Once on just short press to turn off. Once on, a long press on the button will cycle the light through the 3 main modes and a short press will turn it off. Double click to go to turbo, and triple click to go to fast strobe. The light does have memory for the main 3 modes. 

 

Recharging & Power

The TN42 V2 uses 4x 4000mAh 21700 sized batteries in a parallel connection. While the batteries that are provided are of the proprietary nature, with positive and negative on the same end of the battery they are not required here. Any button top 21700 thats the correct length will work on this light. Because the light is using batteries in a parallel connection the batteries should be married to the light for safety. 

The included charger is light weight but seems to work just fine over the USB-C connection. I tested with it and a 45w USB-C charger from Aukey and got the same charging time for both. Charging from LVP at 2.89V to full at 4.18V with all for took 8 hours in my testing. Max charging rate I saw was 1.85A, and it will charge via USB-C to C or USB-C PD. While charging the light will work in Firefly and low modes. 

The LED in the center of the button is a power level indicator both when using the light and while charging. Double check the manual for the color codes that are being used here. 

 

Pro’s

  • Giggle Factor
  • Standard button top 21700 batteries work here.
  • Massive amount of Light at a long distance, very useable beam with the spill too

 

Con’s

  • Very large light
  • Expensive
  • I would have liked to see a small bag included to protect the light when not in use and for storage.

 

Conclusion

The Thrunite TN42 V2 has the giggle factor, both in terms of performance and size. It really creates a massive amount of light, with both the spill and long distance. No other LED light I have comes close. The 2 LEP lights I have have a more focused beam but no where near the number of lumens. I have other high lumen lights that create a ton of flood but no where near the distance. My Astrolux FT03S which has the same LED as the TN42 V2 has doesn’t throw as far or is quite as focused. 

While the TN42 V2 is big it’s really the best optimized SBT 90.2 light I have seen and it gets solid life out of the 4x 21700 batteries. It’s impressive both to flashaholics and civilians. While scouting out locations to film my night shots I had people come from the other side of the lake to check this thing out because they couldn’t believe it. 

The TN42 V2 isn’t going to be for everyone due to it’s size and price but if your budget allows, you won’t regret the purchase here. The light definitely would be useful as a search light if you have a lot of land, need to spot animal threats, or for search and rescue tasks. I can definitely recommend it! 

 

Thrunite is running a Coupon till at least 5/18/2021 to save about $80 off the cost of this light. No coupon code needed so if your thinning about this one it’s best to order now to get the best deal.