My usage of flashlights is generally for fishing. More specifically, trying to catch prawns, crabs, squid and/or fish while wading at night in shallow water up to about 1.5 metres deep.
Therefore my ideal flashlight has the following features:
- very bright
- uses 18650 or 26650 batteries
- long battery life on max brightness (2 hours+)
- stays on maximum brightness for the maximum time
- able to be carried and used in 1 hand (my non-dominant left as the scoop net is held in the right)
- waterproof to IPX8 (i dont deliberately ever submerge my light, but accidents do happen, more often when it’s my friends/family using my lights)
- has a wider beam if possible
I have tried many flashlights. My preference before trying the Thorfire S70 tonight was the Nitecore TM16GT.
The TM16GT is very bright, has long battery life, is big but not too big, has a nice shape/weight that is comfortable in my left hand, and is IPX8. It’s main drawback is that it’s beam is quite narrow despite being created by 4 LED’s - it is also not inexpensive at >$100 USD. It’s really designed for maximum distance, which is something I don’t need, but I love it anyway.
I recently bought my first 26650 capable flashlight, the Thorfire S70. I got it with the freeme group buy here on BLF for less than half the cost of my TM16GT.
Initial tests in the front yard before hitting the water were encouraging. Comparing the TM16GT to the S70 with the naked eye, their brightness seemed fairly equal and the beam thrown by the S70 was quite a bit wider. My key concern is the width of the beam when the light is projected downward at say a 45 degree angle from about 1.7 metres. The S70 threw a noticeably wider beam which is good for seeing fish on the edge of the beam.
Anyway in the water, I was a little disappointed. The S70 was bright on max brightness, but very quickly it warmed up (which I don’t mind) and it’s thermal management kicked it. When it kicked in, the light output dropped noticeably. It has 4 brightness levels and the output would drop from level 4 (max) to level 2 or 3 instantly.
I didn’t expect this sort of sudden, dramatic drop given the TM16GT does drop, but only by very small increments (say 1% at a time) so you don’t notice any sudden change. I run my lights continuously for periods of up to 3 hours, and ideally I want to run them on max brightness the entire time. I don’t mind if they get warm or even hot, as long as I can still hold them by their handle.
Anyway the S70 is adequate, and I don’t mind it’s weight/feel, but it’s thermal management behaviour means it was a major disappointment to me.
I am sure there are good reasons why lights have such thermal management - safety and longevity of the electronics most likely being the primary ones - but the S70’s sudden drops contrasts poorly with the TM16GT’s gradual drops.
I’ll keep the S70, but it will be given to family and friends to use, I’m sticking to the TM16GT until I find something better.
Any recommendations for something to try let me know…