Well, time for another review.
FlashlightZ reached out to me asking if I would like to review a Klarus light. I have never tried one before so I said sure, they look pretty good.
So they sent me a Klarus G35 to review.
You can see the G35 on their site here: FlashlightZ
They also have an amazon store here: https://www.amazon.com/s?marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&me=A1BN9Q9763VY8I&merchant=A1BN9Q9763VY8I&redirect=true
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072C8Y214
They are a USA based flashlight supplier and the shipping was extremely fast because of this.
Now onto the Light itself.
I selected the G35 as I really like the XHP35 LED and compact throwers.
It is well packed and secure in the box and the translations are all done pretty well. It comes with a spare tailcap o-ring and a pretty nice padded wrist strap in the box.
Included were 3x 2600ma protected button top Tenergy cells, they were tested here: Test of Tenergy 18650 2600mAh (Silver)
All testing was done with these cells as this light is not designed for un-protected cells and these are the only protected cells I own. an unprotected cell in the single cell slot seems to work fine but not in the other slots.
So first thing I did after opening the box was try to pull it apart and quickly found that the light is glued the heck together and will remain that way. Not sure what kind of glue is used but it won’t budge. So this is not a host light, which is sad, I was hoping to swap the LED out for something else and I wanted to bump the driver power up some. Sadly those were not meant to be.
Once I sucked up the fact the light would not be modded I then set about testing it as it came from the factory lol.
Here are some shots of the manual in case someone ever losses the manual and wants to see it, plus I don’t feel like repeating what is already said in the manual
First impressions were “it has a very tight beam”, surprisingly tight for the reflector size. I love the xhp35 for this.
The next thing that hit me was tint was actually pretty good, somewhere around 5500k if I had to guess, something even I could live with, although I still would prefer a warmer tint myself.
It has a unique design with both a side e-switch and a tailcap e-switch. Sadly I could not take it apart to see how it actually works but it does work.
Both switches do pretty much the same thing with the exception of mode memory. The side switch does have mode memory but the tailcap does not. It always starts in low.
The mode spacing is pretty good, no complaints there.
Overall the UI is average, I have no major complains but besides the dual switch design nothing really stands out either.
I am a bit spoiled by Narsil in all my other e-switch lights though, so take that with a gain of salt.
The biggest things I would change is make the double click turbo instead of strobe.
The driver is a Boost driver that can be used either either a single cell with about half the power or 3 cells with full power. I would really love to see how it works but like I said before, it is glued tight.
If you only use a single cell it must be inserted into the slot with the red sticker:
The tailcap also has some circuitry in it for the tail switch.
The threads are square and smooth, no complaints:
The Ano is good quality and feels pretty durable:
Now to the business end. The reflector is focused very well. It has a very very slight texture to the surface but that helps with the smooth beam, I like it:
Here it is next to some of my other lights that are in the same class and the GT for scale.
Fromt left to right:
G35
D01 with XP-L HI and TA driver
Convoy L2 with XHP35 HI and TA driver
GT “Giggles” with shaved dome XHP70.2 and resistor mod
I could not take my normal current and voltage readings due to not being able to get to the driver and not wanting to risk shorting it out because of that.
Here are the Lumen and throw readings I got with all 3 protected cells installed:
Low - 31
Med - 133
High - 428
Turbo - 1925
Here are the Throw and Lumen readings with 1 cell installed:
Turbo - ~1300lm
DB tested this light and got around 225kcd for ~950m of throw, my throw numbers never seem to match others so I don’t post them much anymore. Most likely due to me living in a city and all the dirty air that goes with it.
So the modes are generally a bit higher then stated with turbo and the throw readings being a tad lower. Overall pretty good ratings for a China manufacture and close enough that the exact measurement method would play a larger role then the output numbers themselves. I don’t trust any home made lumen sphere to be more then ~10% +/- accurate at best.
Now for some basic beamshots, I will try to get some outside shots later when I take the XHP70.2 GT out for a spin.
First here is a comparison shot between the above lights:
G35
D01 with XP-l HI 3D
Convoy L2 with XHP35
GT prototype with XHP70.2 sliced dome 4000k
All on the same manual settings.
G35 left - D01 center - Convoy L2 right
GT with slightly defocused centering ring:
Same GT shot except with a faster shutter speed so you could actually see the beam:
Here are some outside beamshots as well, really good results for the size:
Ok, now for some personal impressions.
In the factory setup it is a potent little thrower that has a pleasing tint and impressive performance for the size. It is very usable and I have no real complaints about it other then the fact it is glued together.
The lights I have that match the performance costs me about 2/3’s the price to build + the time involved.
I would have no problem recommending this light as a compact thrower.