Review Thorfire TK4A (4 cell AA powered)

This is the Thorfire TK4A sent for review from Thorfire and NO other compensation other than keeping the light.

You can find the TK4A at Amazon (Thorfire) for $39.99 at the time of this review and also at the time of this review there is a 20% discount code EHSQSZAA………
(Link is non-afilliated)
https://www.amazon.com/ThorFire-TK4A-Flashlight-Powerful-Batteries/dp/B01L92O5NK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488340241&sr=8-1&keywords=thorfire+TK4A

I know there is already at least a couple of reviews out on this light but it was already sent to me and I have had alot of personal things going on that delayed my review time on this light. I usually do not take so long to get my reviews done as I have with this light and posted , so I would like to apologize to Thorfire (and everyone else) for this delay.

With that being said lets get to the main purpose of this post.

The TK4A is a 4 AA powered light and works fine with both the regular alkalines and the NiMH cells. It uses a XP-L V6 (cool white) emitter that is not a dedicated thrower , but not a pure flooder either. I would say it does throw more than flood though , kind of a 60/40 balance of the two combined and more of a general purpose beam. It is a very compact little light to have 4 cells , but also powerful for the small size with good output. The Modes are Low / Medium / High / Turbo and hidden strobe (strobe with a quick double click) a quick press back too the last used mode and Strobe is activated from any mode (other than moon light) and can be activated from “Off” with a quick double click. When the light is off a long press (or press and hold) will activate the moon mode and the light has mode memory (memorizes the last used mode when turned off) Other than Moon and strobe.
The UI is pretty simple really and the modes are well spaced on this one. For the super low Moon or Firefly lovers this one will probably fit the bill, as it is really dim in the moon mode. There is a Turbo timer also that will step the light down at 3 minutes to High mode.
This light has the voltage indicator in the middle of the side switch button that is listed as , Red under 15% , Orange at 15% to 60% and Green above 60% .

The machine work and the anodizing are good on the light I received and the threads are well cut (other than a few small ripples on the edges of the tailcap) but they are not bad really at all. The threads are not what I would call a true sqaure cut , but a semi square cut thread and they were sufficently lubed. The knurling is well done and I have not found any sharp edges on this light. The TK4A also has a good feel in hand and is smaller than what would probably be expected by most. The tailcap has pins that go into holes to align the polarity right when it is put in place , to prevent getting the polarity crossed when putting the tailcap on. The tailcap actually spins freely around this alignment piece , which is held by a retaining ring between the outer part of the tailcap and the retaining ring so that it can spin freely inside. (still pictures in slide portion of video)

This is one of those lights that I would not worry about handing to kids or someone older that might have problems remembering the Li-ion safety rules , since it does use the AA or NiMH cells and it would give them plenty of light at the same time. After 5 cycles of going back into Turbo from the step down , the light never got to the point that I was worried about it burning me , although it got pretty warm.

Overall I feel this is a very nice light , but it is not one for the modders. It is glued very tightly everywhere other than the tailcap , as I could not get anything to budge otherwise.
Other than that I really have no complaints with this light.

The only run time testing I got in , the light was started on Turbo and left running until I had to terminate the test to leave the house at that time.
I terminated the runtime test at 240 minutes (4 hours). At that time the Green indicator light was still on for the voltage and the cells were at an average of 1.26 volts on the Eneloop Pros with 151 lumens from the light. There was only a 10 lumen drop from the 60 minute mark until I terminated the test at 240 minutes , so I am thinking there was still a good bit of run time left on the light at that time , although it would have dimmed more as time went on of course.

Testing Charts………….

Again I will mention my cheap video camera does not show quiet as true to what I see out there as the still beamshots do in the slide portion of the video.
For those who do not want to watch the whole video , the Stills of the light and the beamshots start at 5:51 in the timeline and the outside live footage starts at 10:44 of the timeline.

Video followed by listed specs and features…………

Specifications
Modes: Low/Mid/High/Turbo, hidden Strobe and Moonlight
Lifetime: with a lifespan of 20 years
Battery: Uses 4*AA Ni MH / Ni Cd/Alkaline(Not Included)
Material: Made of Aircraft-grade aluminum
Size:approx 115mm(Length) * 41mm(Body Diameter)
Weight: 178.5-gram weight (Excluding the battery)
Water resistant: IPX-8, underwater 2m
Impact resistant: 1m
Intensity: 11600cd (Max)
Distance: 460m (Max)

Battery Capacity Display
The switch button have a battery indicator light. The light will displaying “Green”, if the battery capacity is higher than 50. If it is lower than 50, it will turn to “Orange”. When it less than 15%, it will changed to “Red”.

Operation
Click the side switch to turn on, keep on clicking to change brightness levels from Low-Medium-High-Turbo, double click to activate Strobe mode, and another click goes back to the previous brightness level, press and hold the switch to turn off. When the light is off, press and hold to activate Moonlight mode, click to turn off.With the light OFF, press and hold the side switch for 1 second goes to Moonlight.

Intelligent Memory Circuit
The flashlight will memorize the last used (more than 3 seconds) brightness level. The next time you turn the flashlight on, it will activate on the last used output.

Package includes
> 1 x ThorFire TK4A flashlight
> 1 x Use Manual
> 1 x Lanyard
> 1 x Carry Pouch
> 2 x O-ring

Thanks for the review.
sweet light IMHO!

Always glad to do the reviews.

It is a pretty nice little light .

Nice robo, looks like one I might just have to look up… my kid would love it! :slight_smile:

Thanks Dale.

Yea it would be a bright light that would be pretty safe for him.

Nice review Robo, I got one of these too and tried the Energizer Ultimate Lithiums. They worked at first, then the light would blink and not come on. Tried cleaning all the contacts with q-tip and iso alcohol, nothing. Then I noticed the batteries seemed really smooth on the contacts, almost like they were coated with something. Took some 600 grit sand paper and roughed up both ends of each battery, and bingo, the light worked.

Brand new batteries. Weird, since they worked in everything else before sanding.

Thanks Robert,

I have noticed on the new Duracell stay charged and the Rayovac the same slick coating or whatever it is , don’t know what they are doing to them , maybe a cheaper metal used?

Also I think a lot of times the cells get a clear type of tarnish on them that we don’t see and the “sanding” gets that layer of tarnish off there.

I have even used a rough eraser one time and got the cells to work better just cleaning ends with that.

I noticed the video had dropped for some reason from this post and I don’t have a clue why it did that.
My apologies to anyone who had tried to watch the video while it was down.

Everything should be working again now , as I checked the Youtube link (where the video was originally uploaded) and everything was fine there. I reposted the video here and all seems to be working now.

Feel free to let me know here , or through PM if you notice the video not working again , Thanks.

Nice work. Thank you for the contribution robo819.

Thanks,…… always glad to do the reviews.

If they help even a couple of people make a decision due to the good OR bad of the light , then my job is done.