Klarus XT12GT

A while back I made an offer to Banggood to write a review for a flashlight for them and after a few exchanges of email I was left thinking I wasn’t wanted. Out of the blue I got an e-mail asking me if I’d still like to review a product for them and a matter of days later this Klarus XT12GT arrived. I think I might be one of the first with one in my possession as I’ve seen no reviews of it online nor have I seen many comments apart from one person who managed to get hold of a very early release.

I’ve only had the flashlight in my hands for ~90minutes and in that time I’ve snapped a few photos and I’ve made my mind up on the light already. Its awesome.

Unpacking the parcel. The light was in a grey plastic bag with my address on and inside that bag was the below. Not much wrapping but the box was fine and the light was perfect.

Parcel:

A couple of pictures of it in the box:

Top:

Bottom:

Once I’d taken these photos I thought “hey, I should do an unboxing video” but a few seconds later I was opening it up further like a kid at Christmas. Slide out of the cardboard and you see the torch and the magnetic connector thing. Initial thoughts was “this box is a bit empty” but a quick flip over revealed the manual, USB lead (which is a lovely quality cable) and a case. Inside the case is a lanyard and o-ring.

Top of box:

All items:

There is a little label on the belt clip that reminds you to take the plastic tabs out from the battery. They obviously ship with the tags in to stop them turning on in transport. I lifted the tag off and grab the battery out.

Battery in tube:

Close up of battery:

I then put the battery into the battery charger to check its voltage. It’s 3.49v and stone cold. The light was in transport for a while and the van was clearly unheated as it was ~3c. I took a photo of it on the Opus BT-C3100 charger but it seems the photo I took was at the exact second the charger flashed the voltage and the slot for the battery was showing as blank.

I quickly grabbed the magnetic charger connector and light unit and noticed the difference in the tint of the torch to the light on the keychain thing. This is a very warm light - as if you’ve got a maglite solitare in your hand. The unit seems tough and the switch on the back is VERY secure. I bite my fingers so have no finger nails and I actually struggled to turn the light on.

Magnetic charger thing:

I plugged the usb lead into a USB power supply and noticed that it was charging the battery and drawing ~0.87/0.88A @5v.

USB Monitor:

I then thought I better check the Klarus’s internal battery monitor so a short press on the mode switch and the magnetic contact ring lit up red meaning the battery was low.

Battery ring:

I took the battery out to finish charging on the Opus charger so I can have a proper play tonight with it. I doubt I’m going to get some proper beam shots from it tonight due to the fog that we’ve had in the evening but I’ll get a shot in my street as an example and post it later this evening.

The reflector is impressive for the size of the light and the emitter seems well centered.

Reflector:

Emitter:

So, that’s the pictures for now over with. Now onto my thoughts….

The light is a great size. It fits in my hand perfectly and feels well built. The threads are all silky smooth and there is no grab or drag on any of them. They’re lubricated but not wet so when I touched them I wasn’t left with goop on my fingers.

The magnetic contact for charging is awesome. I think this light might be my go to light from now on because I can keep the magnetic contact on my car keys so they are always with me (well, nearly) and then you can just top the batteries up using your micro usb cable from your laptop or car or power bank or whatever. I suppose you could even use this to charge up batteries that you’ve got in other lights that you’ve simply forgotten your dedicated charger for. The charge time shouldnt be too bad either because if it’s drawing ~0.9A at 5v it should be giving a decent charge rate with losses and voltage conversion.

The user defined modes are funky. I admit I had to read the manual and I wont bother explaining it in here, just read the manual when you get one. You can basically have an “ON / OFF” switch and a momentary switch. Out of the box the momentary switch is set to strobe which is a crazy strobe. Brilliant for tactical stuff if you ever needed it but I honestly dont think I’d ever need it. I put mine onto the mode that allows momentary to be “LOW” and the main switch is “ON”.

The beam seems brilliant. I’ve only tested it inside in the day time but the hotspot is a hotspot. It’s a tight beam compared to some other lights and it certainly looks like it’ll perform well in the wild.

I’ll save the next post for myself for some beam shots tonight and I’ll see what I can compare it against. I have a couple of dedicated throwers that I might step down to ~1000/1500 lumens to see what they can do. I might even bring out the TN31 and compare that to it considering its much bigger with a much bigger reflector it’ll be interesting. I don’t think the XT12GT will beat it but my gut feeling from the daytime tests says it shouldn’t be humiliated.

Got a few hours before I can test it in the dark so any questions you’ve got before then let me know.

If you want to grab yourself one of these please use the below:

Size comparisons:

XT12GT in hand:

TM16GT in hand

XT12GT vs Thorfire C8

Collection….

Beamshots……

Sorry for the crap quality. I couldn’t be bothered to go somewhere really dark and I was in a bit of a rush to do these.
Canon 7D, 47mm, F5.6, 2s exposure, 200ISO

The tree is exactly 100m away - I checked it with a laser measurer and it was right on the 100m line - 100.056 to some of the leaves at the top.

1 = Control

2 = VG15

3 = EA41

4 = Thorfire C8

5 = XT12GT

6 = TN31

7 = TM16GT

Then cropped in on the tree
1 = Control

2 = VG15

3 = EA41

4 = Thorfire C8

5 = XT12GT

6 = TN31

7 = TM16GT

Comparing it against its closest size rival I’ve got it’s basically up against the C8 and it absolutely obliterates it close up or at distance.

i don't pics :(

I posted before I uploaded them. Give me ~2mins…

I’m thinking of comparing it against the TM16 GT and the TN31 tonight for throwers. The TK75 will probably make an appearance too but I think its unfair pitting such big lights against this little thing.

I think the next photo that needs to appear will be of the light in my hand and I’ll be fair, I have quite small girly hands. I’m an IT monkey so dont need big hands.

Hi chrisc,

I Was Gonna' Say 'Didn’t Happen If There’s No Pictures'

EDIT: Nice pics chrisc!!

the pics are worth waiting - nice review!

I also made a bit of an excuse about the fog. It’s Christmas and I’m not working so I may have had an alcoholic beverage or two with lunch which means I can’t drive to any dark places.

One bad thing I’ve noticed is if you start it on low via the momentary switch and then turn it up to high its got a slight whistle to it. If you was outside you’d not notice but I was standing in a silent kitchen at the time and noticed. If you turn it on to high directly it is silent. Rather odd.

It might be the fact I’m using some rubbish old samsung batteries whilst the supplied light charges up, It is taking its time at the moment - 4.05v, 1hr 59mins charging and 1980mAh charged. I can test it with the supplied cell later.

Thank you for the review.
Can you tell as are the reflector sealed and vacuumed and what is the color temperature of emitter?

Colour temperature seems to match the tm16gt and my tn36.

As for sealed I thought I’d lob the light into the bath with the kids tonight. It’s been in the bath, covered in soap, turned on/off many times and it’s inside is bone dry. It’s well and truly sealed unlike my tn36 that when in a bath for 10mins condensated like crazy and I needed a replacement

I gave it a quick go tonight and I’m chuffed to bits with it.

Updated the pics in the second post to show the beamshots. I’ll try and get out and about in the next few weeks to get a few more comparison shots of various lights but when you hold the C8 in your hand and light up a tree 100m away and think “yeah, this is quite good for the size” then you light the same tree up with the XT12GT you suddenly laugh at the C8. - when you grab the TM16GT and light the street up you think that its all a bit silly and you need to go back indoors :smiley:

thanks for the review. is the thorfire c8 a xml2 or xplhi?
is the strobe on the xt12 just as bright as turbo? or is the strobe as bright as high?
hows the main switch? is it squishy with some play?

Nice review. Mine came yesterday too.

Thanks.
I have C8 with mode, so I do not expect much from X12GT as a trow.
But X12GT has better quality.
When you use X12GT outside in winter conditions, in there a small moisture ring on the center of gals lens, but inside reflector?
I have with my L2 and L6.

There was zero condensation in the XT12GT when I used it yesterday. It was ~3c outside when I tried it out. All of the lights went from 20c house and were left outside.

The XT12GT is constructed better and has far more throw than the C8. The C8 was the light I left in my car for emergencies… it probably wont be now.

Do you think Klarus are vacuumed reflector and there is no air inside?
My C8 are with XP-G2 mode, does 1300 lumens, 150 000 candela, 4500K tint, so it is not “out of the game” yet and still kicks well.

I have had my xt12gt for about 10 days bough from battery Junction (shorepower wholesale) for a very good price. I have to say, I have a new companion. This light rocks! very nice user interface, output is VERY GOOD.

Interesting website, but can you make individual orders from them? I tried signing up but it shows some error.

shorepower is a wholesale only distributor. You must sign up and there are minimum monthly purchase amounts required. Battery Junction is their normal sale site and their pricis are very good.

you can buy through me and I ship same day to the US only.

Thank you for the review!