Review: Brinyte B158 Aspheric Zooming Light. IPX-8, Solid Brass Pill with 17mm driver, 58,120cd!

Heya BLF. A while back Brinyte contacted me to review this light. I’m not really a guy who likes zoomers much, but this one looked pretty interesting- so I agreed. It features a bunch of stuff that isn’t typical of a zoomer. Things like: a solid brass pill- that can be easily and quickly swapped out, an IPX8 water rating, and mounts underneath the light so you could mount it to a weapon if you want. It’s also convenient that pill uses a common 17mm driver, and 16mm sized star, so mod away!

Anyway, I test its waterproof rating, spook some deer in the yard, drop it a bunch, pick up a Katydid, and wander around my yard at night shining it on stuff. Also there’s a hefty beamshot section complete with lumen output figures, and candela measurements. And the Meteor makes an appearance.

And here is a mod I did for the light by putting in the A6 FET Driver from Mtn. Electronics and an XPL HI emitter. It bumped the light from 58kcd to 170kcd.

Thanks! It’s about as nice a zoomer you can get. I’ll be swapping out the driver soon and probably the LED. I wonder what throws better in one of these? And XPG2?

Completely missed this - it must have slid off the front page pretty quick.

Looks like a good smiley zoomy; brass pill, factory Attiny based driver, good water proofing.

Do you know if the stars support different mode groups? Most of the folks who weapon mount probably would be put off by the standard mode group.

Another informative and fun review, not a flashlight for me, though i do like the look of the flood, cheers mhanlen :slight_smile:

Thanks for the great review (again). It is a very nice zooming aspheric light, and the fact that you can easily swap out pills is a great feature. Are loose pills available for this?

Being an AK-47 driver, it will have mode group options, but I'm not familiar with The AK-47 B, it could swap group by soldering stars or by clicking in low mode after a flash.

All depends on the firmware - at least it should be re-flashable.

FT have this light as of today's new listings, but don't list any mode group options. They list the lens as being plastic, though.

Good short review but outdoor beamshot stills are more to my liking. Noted times in the text where we can see steady beamshots zoomed in and out would also work for me; I just don’t have 10 minutes for this. More from me in the GB interest thread.

Phil

Thanks for another terrific review. That haunted house you were using as a back drop for the zoom looks totally scary. I'm glad I dont live near it.

Nice video review, as always. I also missed this when it was first posted but this looks like a really nice zoomie and I like how mod-friendly it is. What’s with the big machined “rings” around the base of the head? Are they just there for the weapon mount or do they serve another purpose? Are they in the way when you hold it in your hand? Are they removable?

Interesting light - thanks for the review. The coloured options may be useful for hunting.

As far as I know they don’t. I plan on doing a driver and emitter swap anyway. I don’t like the blinkies, and want a higher overall output.

They are not removeable. I’d wager to guess they’re there for just the mounting system, but they added them to all 4 sides to make it symmetrical. I don’t really fret over ergonomics as much in a flashlight like I would a knife. I know that tailcap switch lights are always a pain To change modes one handed. I actually like the studs on all sides, because I use them as extra grip, and it means it stays cooler than a smaller headed light. I don’t know, but I feel like the light isn’t too small, and I often find I hold lights around the head as much as around the battery tube.

It is plastic, for sure. Or polycarbonate. Or whatever it’s called nowawdays.

Yeah my reviews are a little different. I try to hold the light steady for several seconds in the beamshot section of the review. I also purposefully move he light around on fixed objects. I know I’m biased but since I rarely stand perfectly and keep the beam fixed on 1 object I prefer beamshots that move a little. It helps illustrate how a beam pattern looks when the flashlight moves around a bit.

I spend a lot of time making my reviews more real life than a standard table top or picture review. Everyone else does those. I spend 20+ hours on these so, I often don’t have much time left over to take photos, edit, and upload them. Plus I find video is a very accurate or even underwhelming compared to an overexposed still photo. Which I prefer. You can make any cheap light look great with a log enough exposure in a photo.

That’s my house! That’s what 1300 will get you in rent in northern Virginia. For fun look up the richest counties in per capita income in the US. And then note where half of them are located.

I will admit it looks awesome on camera. Now what’s not awesome, is that some houses still don’t have air condition or central heat.

Awesome review! Looks like a great zoomy. I’ll be waiting for the groupbuy. :wink:

What a review! This is Resident Evil camera... I just feel zombie will pop out of your flashlight movie...

I am one of the biggest zoomie fan on the planet and hunter. I would like to add my opinion for this flashlight. Sorry but I see few flaws :( :

- this flashlight goes slightly in overfocus (probably it can be solved by adding some kind of spacer)

- mounting system does not look reliable to me, and I am not sure how two tiny screws in aluminum could hold heavy recoil of centerfire rifles. OK even if they'll hold sometimes you want to mount it very high (to use high scope mounts), and this one can't be mounted with regular high scope mount cause it will loose de-focusing function so this is one more;

-loosing de-focusing function when you put regular scope mount on it (since it focuses by twisting body).

Otherwise great concept flashlight.

Thanks for the input! It didn’t work well on my rifle because the rail mount wouldn’t work. As far as the recoil test I’d be curious to know. The bolts go pretty deep inside of the light. Working in professional AV, I’ve seen 8 slightly larger than finger sized bolts hold up the entire lighting and truss structure of an upper part of a stage. When I was younger I grew up in a family of hunters, so I’ve shot many shotguns and rifles. So I guess, my point is, someone who has access to larger caliber guns and lives in an area where they can be used should try it out. It should hold up fine to smaller caliber rifles, like a 22. But again, it needs to be tested.

Since this light can be had easily for under $30, then it seems worth a chance.

I am probably wrong! Look that neck part is 1" so we can safely add higher scope mount :)

Someone will need to modd this and report kcd results with fet driver.

Hmmm... Is there any chance that we unscrew the switch while de-focousing?

I’ve got an XPL hi and BLF driver in order, so I’ll see what happens and report back.

Edit:

Hmmm... Is there any chance that we unscrew the switch unconscious when this flashlight is rifle mounted and we do de-focousing action? I think there is good chance for that... That would be annoying.

Please also try that and report :)

Thank you very much Sir ;)