Review: ThruNite TN40 Rechargeable LED Searchlight

[sidecross]

@freeme

Kudos to Johnny for giving us an opportunity to preview this excellent thrower from Thrunite.

Indeed, most potential buyers will be concern of the proprietary battery pack but what bother me most is that SZ HeXinYu charger…

I think the future will be bringing more proprietary battery/charger lights like this one, and for me I will pass on this light for this reason.

Future buyers of flashlights most likely will not have the knowledge that many on this forum have gained, and people without the knowledge of lithium rechargeable batteries pose a block to market newer flashlight capabilities with current liability concerns.

I certainly hope flashlight design will not be ‘dumbed down’ in order to sell to a larger market.

[hIKARInoob]

Now, also available without built in battery pack as the TN40S, 190$

[bibihang]

TN40 performance is coming close to the FF4 HID flashlight lol.

[bibihang]

@hIKARInoob

Now, also available without built in battery pack as the TN40S, 190$

Does the TN40S come with the built-in charging feature?

[Rusty_Joe]

Great review — but here’s a question: Does this light drop in output the longer you use it like seemingly all of the rest of the modern lights it is up against in this category?

[JohnnyMac]

@Rusty Joe

Great review — but here’s a question: Does this light drop in output the longer you use it like seemingly all of the rest of the modern lights it is up against in this category?

IT does indeed, as one has to expect from any light that can produce a good amount of heat on Turbo. The good thing is that it is thermally controlled and not on a timer. I really hate doing runtime tests (probably because I don’t have the equipment to automate it) but Selfbuilt tested his and with no external cooling it didn’t step down until more than 10 minutes in Turbo. With a fan blowing on it he got around 20 minutes in Turbo.

[Rusty_Joe]

@JohnnyMac

@Rusty Joe

Great review — but here’s a question: Does this light drop in output the longer you use it like seemingly all of the rest of the modern lights it is up against in this category?

IT does indeed, as one has to expect from any light that can produce a good amount of heat on Turbo. The good thing is that it is thermally controlled and not on a timer. I really hate doing runtime tests (probably because I don’t have the equipment to automate it) but Selfbuilt tested his and with no external cooling it didn’t step down until more than 10 minutes in Turbo. With a fan blowing on it he got around 20 minutes in Turbo.

Ah, ok. But beyond heat issues (which I do understand), does it hold output?

[Theodore41]

Looking at Amazon.co.uk, https://www.amazon.co.uk/ThruNite-Rechargeable-Flashlight-Batteries-Included/dp/B01HI7Q23Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477121477&sr=8-1&keywords=thrunite+tn40 , I read from more than one feeedback,that the flashlight seems to have a issue in the battery indicator light.As a owner says, “unfortunately my flashlight the battery indicator stays constant red no matter if the light is fully charged or almost dead so I have no way of knowing if the battery is dying”.
Is this issue so frequent?

[Theodore41]

@bibihang

@hIKARInoob

Now, also available without built in battery pack as the TN40S, 190$

Does the TN40S come with the built-in charging feature?

Because the price difference from the TN40, is about $70.00,I think that there is not a charger in the package.I think that I will buy this one if there is some coupon from Martin.

[Nicolaas]

@JohnnyMac

@amaretto

@JohnnyMac

Thank you for your great review!
The reason for Bluzie’s question: In TLF we got a review sample with bypassed spring.
Our measurements: 412.500 lux

- Firefly ——- 1 lm

- Low ——- 110 lm

- Med ——–653 lm

- High ——–2.041 lm

• Turbo ——- 5.400 lm

ThruNite TN40 - Review / Test / Erfahrungsbericht | Taschenlampen Forum

My spring was bypassed as well. Looks like they all are that way. pretty sweet! Thanks for adding to Bluzie’s post. I took mine apart after your post and sure enough, I missed that damned spring bypass. I’ve updated my OP with photo and explanation.

Your test results are quite a bit higher than mine. A quick note about my stresses during this review, at first I was seeing 567.7kcd and 6600 OTF lumens. I was like, “WTF?!” How is this possible? Then I dug out an old light to calibrate against and sure enough, all my readings were off. I couldn’t understand how my readings could change since nothing in my testing had changed. I thought my light meter had shit the bed and was ready to get another one but I decided to change the battery first. Glad I did. Just like that all my readings were exactly as they were when I first calibrated my testing rig. My numbers are still a hair higher than ThruNite claims but not by much and can be accounted for with variances in individual LEDs. Long story short, as I’ve just learned, if you think your numbers are out of line with everyone else’s figures, check your light meter battery. Apparently they read high when the battery gets lower. Not saying it’s the case with your figures, just trying to save you the same stress I went through with my issues on the outside chance it is.

—> The German forum tested/measured throw at 5 meters. I think this is not enough distance to test the throw of multiple emitter throwers.
So, your measurement will be closer to reality. Which makes this light even more impressive!

Grzt
Nico

[Theodore41]

I tried my today arrived TN40S, finding only 313Kcd,at 4.7m.

[Nicolaas]

That’s not a lot - for a light like this.

4,7M is way to close for this light to accurately measure its throw.
Try 9m or beyond, if you have the space to do it.

Example: my BTU shocker needs at least 9m to be measured accurately.

Grtz
Nico

[Theodore41]

I swapped the 30Qs to GAs,and the intensity dropped from 313Kcd,to 283Kcd.

[Nicolaas]

That was to be expected.
Only cells I know of with better performance then the Samsung 30Q are the Sony VTC6, but they are quite expensive.

My guess: you really need to measure over a longer distance.

Cheers
Nico

[Theodore41]

@Nicolaas

That was to be expected.
Only cells I know of with better performance then the Samsung 30Q are the Sony VTC6, but they are quite expensive.

My guess: you really need to measure over a longer distance.

Cheers
Nico

Thank you Nico,I’ll try.
Edit.
If I send the light to a friend to bypass all the springs,(if it is possible),would the light benefit of this?

[Nicolaas]

(Almost) every light benefits from bridged springs, but especially those that use only one cell (low voltage), those that have multiple cells which are parallel (also low voltage) and those that consume so much energy that they would burn the springs (in that case the springs act as resistors).
For me this is a standard “light mod” on all my “low voltage” lights.
.
Example: my Olight M2X UT Javelot stock with one 18650 did around 110Kcd.
With bridged springs it does 143Kcd. (with two 18350 it does 164Kcd).
Nice improvement with little work.
.
Good luck!
Nico

[Franz]

@JohnnyMac

@Rusty Joe

Great review — but here’s a question: Does this light drop in output the longer you use it like seemingly all of the rest of the modern lights it is up against in this category?

IT does indeed, as one has to expect from any light that can produce a good amount of heat on Turbo. The good thing is that it is thermally controlled and not on a timer. I really hate doing runtime tests (probably because I don’t have the equipment to automate it) but Selfbuilt tested his and with no external cooling it didn’t step down until more than 10 minutes in Turbo. With a fan blowing on it he got around 20 minutes in Turbo.

OMG, I dont read this before order this light…….

I’m VERY glad by order that tn40 :heart_eyes:

Johnny, if the light was cooled it will return to max output without switching off and turn on again?

[Majoroverkill]

Because of amazing reviews like yours, thank you , I will be buying the Thrunite TN40S in the next couple weeks. Wish I could afford the TN40. Does anyone know where the best place is to buy this light or if there are any codes coming up for it. If not I am just going to buy it from the Thrunite wed site. I feel even at 189.95 it’s worth it. :heart_eyes: This will be my first real high lumen flashlight

[Theodore41]

I have a TN40S,with 4pcs 30Qs in it.I had measured it with two luxmeters,and found 313000Cd.Wanting something more,I sent it to a BLF member to bypass the 4 springs,and when I measured it again after this bypass,I found less Cds,ie from 263 to 285Kcd.The batteries were full charged and these measures,done with two luxmeters also.
Any suggestions?

[start90a]

Why bypass springs? In a regulated light i’m not sure that it will increase output…

I suggest you to measure lux at least 10 meters. Where the beam is probably well focused.