Brinyte offered to send me the B21 complex to review.
Thanks Brinyte!
Since Gchart already did a review I decided to field test it and go from there.
Specs according to Brinyte:
LED colors: Red-Green-IR850-White
Voltage: 2.5V-8.4V
Battery: 1*18650/2*CR123A
As happened with Gchart, they swapped the IR850 for a UV LED unfortunately. The IR850 would have been perfect for my InfraRed nightspotter. I use my modded B158 with IR850 pill for that.
This B21 light could have been perfect for that, being able to use other LEDs as well.
According to Brinyte the production version will have the IR in stead of the UV LED.
I did a total teardown. I have more pic’s on request, but most important are the LEDs
Some observations:
Thermal path seems bad, but I had no heat problems yet.
Also the switch is housed in a plastic threaded piece that screws in the tailcap. It is a total pain in the * to get back in. Hopefully the final production is metal.
Tailcap to body has nice square threads.
No blinky modes :+1:
You can lock out the light by unscrewing the tailcap slightly.
Instant on for any color or white due to double switch at tailcap.
Possible to operate with gloves.
Final production seems to get a remote tactile switch option but I have no info on that.
It is advertised as a hunting light, so let’s see how it performs!
Since we all like pictures:
It can either be fired up with one LED at a time:
Or 1 color LED combined with white
Comparison picture:
It takes both protected and unprotected 18650’s. Didn’t test CR123A. Oh and .30-06 rounds don’t fit
Now time for some beamshots & beam comparisons to my other hunting lights B158 and Nitecore HC65 :arrow_right:
Testshot
B21 Green
B21 UV
B21 Red
Nitecore HC65 Red
Left B21 on High, Right my modded XPL-HI FET-DD B158 on High
Some more beamshots at 25mtr about 30 min’s after sunset
Testshot
B21 Red
B21 UV
B21 Green
B21 XPL-HI Lo
B21 XPL-HI High
Left B158 Right B21
During night:
Testshot
Nitecore HC65 on High
B21
Conclusion:
The light looks a bit awkward but is actually built quite well. Feels sturdy however lacks the high quality seen on the B158. This is possibly due to prototype.
I would like to see batt.check mode.
It lacks a proper moon mode unfortunately both in white & red.
The UI with 2 switches works very well.
White as well as red & green are remarkably bright.
It is quite throwy (But obviously is no match to the B158 throw wise)
It packs a lot of light options in a very decent way in a small and light package.
When fitted with IR led, it’s the most all round hunting light I know of.