Klarus XT12GT

Hi chrisc,

I Was Gonna' Say 'Didn’t Happen If There’s No Pictures'

EDIT: Nice pics chrisc!!

the pics are worth waiting - nice review!

I also made a bit of an excuse about the fog. It’s Christmas and I’m not working so I may have had an alcoholic beverage or two with lunch which means I can’t drive to any dark places.

One bad thing I’ve noticed is if you start it on low via the momentary switch and then turn it up to high its got a slight whistle to it. If you was outside you’d not notice but I was standing in a silent kitchen at the time and noticed. If you turn it on to high directly it is silent. Rather odd.

It might be the fact I’m using some rubbish old samsung batteries whilst the supplied light charges up, It is taking its time at the moment - 4.05v, 1hr 59mins charging and 1980mAh charged. I can test it with the supplied cell later.

Thank you for the review.
Can you tell as are the reflector sealed and vacuumed and what is the color temperature of emitter?

Colour temperature seems to match the tm16gt and my tn36.

As for sealed I thought I’d lob the light into the bath with the kids tonight. It’s been in the bath, covered in soap, turned on/off many times and it’s inside is bone dry. It’s well and truly sealed unlike my tn36 that when in a bath for 10mins condensated like crazy and I needed a replacement

I gave it a quick go tonight and I’m chuffed to bits with it.

Updated the pics in the second post to show the beamshots. I’ll try and get out and about in the next few weeks to get a few more comparison shots of various lights but when you hold the C8 in your hand and light up a tree 100m away and think “yeah, this is quite good for the size” then you light the same tree up with the XT12GT you suddenly laugh at the C8. - when you grab the TM16GT and light the street up you think that its all a bit silly and you need to go back indoors :smiley:

thanks for the review. is the thorfire c8 a xml2 or xplhi?
is the strobe on the xt12 just as bright as turbo? or is the strobe as bright as high?
hows the main switch? is it squishy with some play?

Nice review. Mine came yesterday too.

Thanks.
I have C8 with mode, so I do not expect much from X12GT as a trow.
But X12GT has better quality.
When you use X12GT outside in winter conditions, in there a small moisture ring on the center of gals lens, but inside reflector?
I have with my L2 and L6.

There was zero condensation in the XT12GT when I used it yesterday. It was ~3c outside when I tried it out. All of the lights went from 20c house and were left outside.

The XT12GT is constructed better and has far more throw than the C8. The C8 was the light I left in my car for emergencies… it probably wont be now.

Do you think Klarus are vacuumed reflector and there is no air inside?
My C8 are with XP-G2 mode, does 1300 lumens, 150 000 candela, 4500K tint, so it is not “out of the game” yet and still kicks well.

I have had my xt12gt for about 10 days bough from battery Junction (shorepower wholesale) for a very good price. I have to say, I have a new companion. This light rocks! very nice user interface, output is VERY GOOD.

Interesting website, but can you make individual orders from them? I tried signing up but it shows some error.

shorepower is a wholesale only distributor. You must sign up and there are minimum monthly purchase amounts required. Battery Junction is their normal sale site and their pricis are very good.

you can buy through me and I ship same day to the US only.

Thank you for the review!

Just a little bump. I was correct when I said that this would be my go - to light. I know a few people who have ordered one of these since playing with mine and this light has made a few of my other lights obsolete.

The simplicity of the charging is amazing.
The UI for the power modes at first is odd but now I know it I wish other lights had the same.
The throw for the size is epic. The photos show that it can reach out a fair way but they dont quite do the light justice.
The magnetic charging keychain is great. It’s tiny but so useful.

I know that I was provided this light to do a review but this review isn’t tainted by the fact I got it at a reduced price. It really is great.

reminder of where you can get it - thanks BANGGOOD :slight_smile:

Also, if I’m going to do more reviews of lights what else would you look for in a review? I’ve just ordered a lux meter so I can test all of my lights against each other.

A small update, this time not a happy update. :frowning:

Last night I was playing with a new toy a - lux meter and I wanted to answer the question of how the light performs on different cells. I tested it with a number of 18650’s to check ceiling bounce and there was a few moments where the light flickered a bit, I was in a dark room and at the time I was making notes and the light was my only source of light so it was quite obvious to the eye that it was flickering.

The strange whistling noise I mentioned when I first got it was present but no more than normal. Maybe it seemed louder because I was in a small room on my own in a quiet house. So, on with the testing and the light decides to completely cut out after ~5seconds of use. I swap the battery over and it lights up for ~1second and goes off completely. Odd?! I take the battery out and smell something. I poke the spring on the tailcap and its red hot, hot enough to burn my skin which blistered up instantly and left white patches. Not so fun.

I put the light back together and nothing. The light is dead and I’ve got the lovely smell of burnt electronics.

One thing to note is that the lights onboard power indicator still works. I press the power on the bottom and the light goes green.

I’m tempted to run a battery down and see if it charges it but at the same time I dont like the idea of using something I know is faulty to charge an 18650 cell. Something about that sounds dangerous.

So here is the thing, I got the light to do a review, will they swap it out? Will they say tough luck? Who knows.
Whatever happens will make up my mind on this light. I think I was one of the first people on the forums with one in my hands so maybe I had a early model that was faulty. Maybe I’ve just been unlucky but I’ll let you guys know the outcome.

I’m also taking the chance to do a capacity test on the supplied battery. I didn’t get a chance to do it before so i’m leaving it on the Opus charger to see how it scores later.

Disappointing for sure, :person_facepalming: … Hopefully an isolated case.

Well I got a chance to do a charge test on the cells and they’re pretty darn decent.

Not quite the 3600mAh as claimed but near enough for my liking. I want more of them now!