MaleNurse REVIEW: Brinyte B158 zoom flashlight

Review: Brinyte B158

My Brinyte B 158 sample was provided directly and free of charge by Brinyte, after I made contact and expressed interest in testing and reviewing this exact flashlight. Their communication was very timely and polite. The flashlight was sent with DHL express and arrived well-protected in a box with lots of foam padding. Along with the flashlight they also supplied a 1*18650 charger and a Brinyte branded 18650 battery.

Positive:

  • Solid
  • Good throw when zoomed in
  • Waterproof IPX8
  • Good runtimes
  • Swappable pills and easy to modify
  • Value for your money

Possible improvements:

- Could be driven harder for even more output

- Twist to zoom takes some force

  • Could have had cooling fins

First impressions

As already mentioned, my review sample also came with a charger with EU plug and a Brinyte 18650 battery. It also comes with a mount for attaching the light to a gun. The mount seems very sturdy. I have not tested the battery or charger thoroughly, but they both seem to work fine. The battery tests to 2706 mAh on my Opus charger at 1 amp draw, and an internal resistance of 135 mOhms (minus 30mOhms that is caused by the charger itself).
My Brinyte B158 was even imprinted with the web address of my Norwegian blog (which has not yet been officially launched). Very nice gesture by Brinyte! :bigsmile:

The first thing that strikes me is the weight of the light. It’s heavy for its size. That may be a negative in some people’s eyes, but weight equals mass equals more heat absorption. It also means it’s capable of taking some abuse.
My sample unfortunately had a small scratch in the anodization at the bezel.

Other than that it was pretty flawless. It feels solid and well built. The zoom function is a little different then what I’ve seen before. Zooming in and out is done by twisting the tail. This works well, but turning the tail takes a bit more force then what feels comfortable.
The beam pattern looks nice when projected on a wall in flood mode. The even light distribution reminds me of why I used to like the light from my LedLenser P14 when I first got into flashlights. Zoomed out it makes a wide, nicely defined spot. When pointing it at a white wall you can also see a second, and third outer corona. The second one wide and the third one very thin. The light seems to produce a decent amount of light. In practical use it throws just as good as my best reflector based lights (but with tighter spot). When zoomed in, it gives a very tight beam painting a square point of light on objects … in a galaxy far, far away. Well, maybe not quite that far.
The tailcap threads are pyramid shaped and feel strong. I don’t worry about damaging the threads by screwing it on in the wrong angle. The tailcap is also tight enough that turning the tail when zooming does not unscrew the cap.

Official features and specs

Lumens when focused (ANSI/NEMA FL1): 380@high, 135@middle, 38@low.
Lumens in flood mode (ANSI/NEMA FL1): 900@high, 350@middle, 68@low.
Runtime: 1.3h@high, 3,2h@middle, 30h@low. Specifications does not state what kind of battery was used, but a 2400mAh Brinyte battery is depicted, indicating that this might be the battery used.
Beam distance: 480m when focused .
Intensity: 52000cd
Impact resistance: 1.5 meters drop
Waterproof: IPX8 / IP68, depending on where on their site you read. The 6 instead of the x just means that it is also dust proof grade 6. So both are correct.
Working voltage: 3-4.2 volt.
Dimensions: 54mm (head diameter), 30mm (body diameter), 170.47mm (total length)
Weight: 249 grams.
Accessories: Lanyard, O-rings, flashlight mount.

Measured dimensions

The official measures were confirmed. Total length depends on whether it is zoomed in or out. The 170mm length is when zoomed all the way in. When in flood, it measures about 147mm in length. The inner tube of the flashlight measures 25.5mm. The “knuckles” behind the head are 42mm. The lens has a 50mm diameter and is 17.5mm thick.

Size comparison

In this picture the Brinyte B158 is the fifth one from the left (displayed at maximum length)
The complete lineup (from the left): Ultrafire SK68, Nitecore EA11, Nitecore MH20, Imalent DM21, Binyte B158, an unbranded C8, EagleEye X6R, Olight Warrior M21X, Fandyfire X8, an finally a SkyRayKing clone.

Threads, grease and zoom function

The threads at the tail were well greased, pyramid shaped and look a little thin edged. It practical use though, it feels solid and leaves me no worries.

The threads at the bezel was not greased, but the head threads were:

Generally all threads seem good, but I’m a bit unsure about the internal threads that makes the flashlight zoom in and out.
The zoom function seems to be working simply by using one tube within another, threaded into each other. Zooming in and out is done by rotating the inner tube at the tail of the light. This does get the job done.

The zooming threads work fine, but you need to twist it many times to zoom from minimum to maximum. Too many. It also takes a bit of force to rotate/zoom it. Too much. Fortunately this doesn’t create any big problems with accidentally unscrewing the tailcap, as long as you have tightened the tailcap well. I guess it’s the design of the “zooming threads” together with the thick grease that makes it a little hard to zoom. It would be nice if this was a little easier. Altering the design might lead to other problems though, like becoming less waterproof. I think I’ll just leave this problem to the engineers!

Tailstanding

The flashlight tailstands, but not so well. The tailcap is cut at two of the sides. This makes it easier to access the powerbutton with the thumb, but also makes the flashlight less stable when tailstanding. If the lanyard is attached it tilts the flashlight making it difficult to tailstand. However, this light is marketed as a hunting flashlight, and has dedicated attachment system. Tailstanding isn’t really necessary in a light like this. It’s not what it’s built for. But if you really want it to tailstand, it definitively will.

The mount

The included mount consists of several parts. It’s easy to mount to a variety of things, including guns and the handlebars of a bike. Feels really solid, just like the rest of the light. Unfortunately I do not own any guns, so I have not been able to test it as a hunting light. It does however feel real sturdy when attached to the handle bar of my bicycle. The even light distribution serves well as a bike light, and using the tail of the light to adjust the zooming works well while riding the bike.
I recently visited my step father, who is a hunter. I then had the opportunity to test mount it on his rifle. I was not able to testfire the gun, but he has promised to test the flashlight while actually shooting the rifle. I will report back when this is done.

Screwholes for mount:

Interface

The interface of this light is pretty straight forward. The power button in the tailcap contains a forward clicky switch. Press it halfway in to select mode, then press it all the way in to keep it there. Or just keep holding the button half way there if you just want a short look at something. Then release. It’s possible to get the B158 in several configurations (1-2-3-5 modes and with different pills/color LED’s). The tested version was a five mode one, with a low-medium-high-strobe-sos cycle. For a hunting light, I think I would have preferred the one, two or three mode version.

A look inside

In the video below I disassemble the light and reassemble it. Disassembly and reassembly is easy to do. Nothing is glued in place. Except for the threads at the head/bezel, everything was greased up. In my last review (the Imalent dm21) these threads were also not greased up. I don’t know why the manufacturers don’t grease up the threads in all places? I usually grease them up myself anyway, so no problem.
The B158 has an easily exchangeable pill, and can be had with a green or red LED pill.

Disassembly and reassembly of the light can be seen in my video here:

The tailcap:

Tint and practical output

The tint of this flashlight was at the cooler end of the scale. This is no surprise having an U4 bin XM-L2. I have no clue how many kelvins it’s rated at, and at the time of finishing this review I don’t actually have my hands on it so I can compare it either. This is because my step dad is currently testing it on a rifle for me. I may update this part with tint comparison pictures when I get the flashlight back. I can however, report on the real world usable throw. I was able to do a quick test looking through my step fathers rifle scope with the flashlight mounted on the rifle. At 125 meters it lit up the field very well. At 450-500 meters it was starting to get pretty dim, but still bright enough to be able to spot animals. At any distance greater than 500 meters the light would be too dim to be able to shoot anything. But who shoots animals at this distance anyhow? Both me and my step father was impressed by how far away you could actually spot animals with this zoom light. The spec sheet on the B158 states 499 yards (=456.29 meters) beam distance and 299 yards (273.4 meters) useful beam distance.
So when looking through a rifle scope, brightness/beam distance claims were well confirmed.
Beam profile when zoomed in:

When zoomed out, the output works very well in a moderate sized backyard. The even light distribution is comfortable to use with no blinding hotspot. This makes it useful also as an all around flashlight.
Beam when zoomed out:

As you can see, it is not completely round in shape. I guess this is because of the shape of the bezel at the head. The first corona that forms at the edge of the beam is caused by the white plastic ring that lays around the LED. I painted my plastic ring black. This reduced it. Practical impact? None.

Runtime

Runtime test was done in a cold environment so I wouldn’t burn the flashlight (about 3 degrees celcius). It was run at high setting for the entire test. Relative output was measured using a Tondaj LX1010BS luxmeter. This meter has not been calibrated, so I did not care about the absolute lux values or distance to the lux meter. I only cared about the relative output as the battery was drained. The battery used in the test was a protected Panasonic cell NCR18650B (MH12210) 3200mAh. This battery tested 3232mAh at 0.5 amps draw and an internal resistance of 95 mOhm on the Opus BT C3100 v2.2. The test was performed by setting up a video camera, filming the flashlight and the lux meter, then examining the video.
I have not observed any stepdown when running on high mode. The output does however jump a bit up and down when regulating itself. For the first hour it kept pretty stable at around 1170 “relative units”. After 60 seconds it had a significant drop down to 996 units for a few seconds before it throttled back up.
After one hour in good regulation, the numbers started decreasing, but it still put out 829 units at 1 ½ hour. From that point, the output diminished quicker, all the way down to 367 units at 1h 53 minutes. At that time the B158 dropped suddenly down to approximately 30 relative units and started blinking every second or so. It kept this up for another 74 minutes before I just ended the test.

Time / Relative output

30 sec /1135
1 min /996
90 sec /1167
2 min /1164
3 min /1175
4 min /1171
5 min /1189
6 min /1191
7 min /1134
8 min /1139
9 min /1190
10 min /1178
12 min /1158
15 min /1302
17 min /1255
20 min /1227
25 min /1179
30 min /1191
40 min /1162
50 min /1270
1 hour /1175
1h 10 min /1079
1h 20 min /967
1h 30 min /829
1h 40 min /641
1h 50 min /429
1h 53 min /367
1h 53 min 15 sec /30

I would say that visually, the useful runtime was somewhere between 1h 40min and 1h 50 min depending on how much light you actually need. Full output was upheld for one full hour.
After the test, I measured the battery (resting) at 3.2 volts.
In the specifications sheet I’ve got on the B158 it says that it has a runtime of 1.2 hours (translates to 1 hour 12 minutes). Specs do not say which battery they have measured with, but I’d say they keep their promise and then some.
The video below is a time stamped, time lapse video of the B158 runtime.

Cooling performance
When left running just standing on the table, the flashlight naturally heats up. But at the highest mode it took 20 minutes of continuous running before it became so warm that that it was too uncomfortable for me to hold. This was with no fans, room temperature of 22 degrees celcius, and no other kinds of heatsinking (like holding it in my hands or mounted to anything).
It heats up slowly compared to many of my other lights. I guess this is partially because of the relatively high mass (heavy!). The heat spreads out pretty evenly along the body, but the “knuckles” get a little warmer than the rest of the light. I think this light could handle more watts than what is currently draws.
With cooling fins cut into the “knuckles” it would probably dissipate the heat more effectively, and have even better heat handling. But I’m not complaining, this is good. Cutting fins into the knuckles should be fairly straight forward, except for the side where the rail mount goes.
At 900 (claimed) lumens the XM-L2 U4 is relatively lightly driven, at a “standard” 2.8 amps. I’m sure it can handle a bit more!

Waterproofing

Just like in the DM21 review I did earlier, this light was tested for over 30 minutes in the bathtub. The power button was pressed several times during this time, and I tried zooming in and out.
Result: The light survived. The only place I could find water when taking it apart was coming from the edges of the lens. No water seemed to have passed the oring behind the lens. The flashlight has also worked flawlessly afterwards, so I don’t think I missed anything.

Output and beam profile comparison

[pictures coming at a later time]

Conclusion

I like the feel of this light. It’s heavy and feels very solid. Before I got it I expected the unique zoom function to be the main attraction point. Instead it’s actually how solid it feels that strikes me the most. The rail mount also seems very solidly built. Actual test of using it on a fireing gun will be done later. It’s bright enough to be useful as a general use flashlight, and the lens and zooming function allows it to concentrate the beam to throw up to about 450 meters. This definitely makes it useful also as a hunting light. Mounting it as a bike light was also no problem. Runtimes were good, and it handles heat well. The swappable pill is a plus, and it’s easily moddable. You can even order separate pills with red or green emitters for it. It claims IPX8 waterproofness, and passed my “bathtub test” –even when clicking the power button and zooming while it was submerged. Not bad.
So what can be improved? I feel that it could have been a bit harder driven. The knuckles behind the head could have been used for cutting fins into it, providing even better heat dissipation. Also, the twist to zoom function works, but takes a little too much force to twist.
All in all, a darn good flashlight for its price. Quality seems good. It’s solid, waterproof, bright and throws well. I have no problem recommending this flashlight.

TEST VIDEOS COMING IN A COUPLE OF HOURS

two out of three videos uploaded

all three videos linked to now.

More pictures (of beam, tint comparison) will be added when I get my flashlight back from test shooting on a rifle.

Good review. Thanks.

Nice review with great pictures! I am in for one on mhanlen's group buy, looking forward to it a bit more even after this review :-)

Thanks for your review!

Also in a group buy, good to see that its a worthy light :)!

Nice review man!

Good review, thanks.

I got one with white, red and green pills and white like it. A very solid light!

I’m not keen on the hand grenade style blocks up behind the head, the light would be sleeker and lighter without them.

But otherwise it performs well.

The picatinny mount could be about 10mm higher to account for large scopes, but it works OK on my 40mm AO scopes.

Great review with great pics! Very comprehensive!

Thanks you guys for your engouraging responses :slight_smile:
MN

Excellent review. Thanks for testing the water proofness. Many reviewers do not do so :slight_smile:

edit: This is a standard mount which can be found at Gearbest I think…well just searched for it. No longer available there. Sold for about $3-4.

(* ̄3 ̄)╭ Thanks your detailed review and suggestion to us!!!

The mount in this review is a part of our mount K185. I think you can find this mount in some local shop because it is a hot product.:-D

Here is it complete appearance.

Great review! I have one of these now and I’m trying to get a battery for it…I live in Hawaii and getting one here is both difficult and expensive! I’m wondering if it requires a button top or will a flat top work also?
Thanks, Jnani

I tested it with both button top and flattop batteries and both worked.

Thanks, I’ll order right away.