srs2000's Review of the Thorfire VG10S. 1x18650 / 1100 lumens / XP-L2 V6 3D / 4500k / Throwie

Thorfire VG10S



I was offered this light for review by Thorfire at 99% off.

They have provided this code for 30% off. If you wish to purchase one use this code at checkout: KBCXB5LI. With the current price of $22.99 that makes it a little over $16.


I received this light a little over three weeks ago. I’ve had time to find out what I like and don’t like about the light and even used it a lot in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

It was ordered and delivered by Amazon and the light came in the typical brown cardboard Thorfire box. The light was in a bubblewrap bag sandwiched between foam on the top and bottom. It came with extra o-rings and a small manual. Thorfire’s packaging is adequate but not a flashy retail style box.

I think a big selling point Thorfire’s lights is that they are sold at an accessable price and you can get them in 2 days with Amazon Prime from Thorfire. You do not need to wait weeks or even months like an order from China. If for any reason there is a problem you do not have to return the light to China. It is fulfilled by Amazon and the returns are painless as they are handled by Amazon. They offer an 18 month warranty and a 40-day money-back guarantee “for any reason”.

For official specs see their website or Amazon


See the full album of pictures

The Basics

The VG10S is a tail switch operated, 5 mode, 1100 lumen flashlight powered by a Cree XP-L2 V6 3D LED. It is designed with a larger reflector to be throwier than a standard tube light.

Thorfire has, in the past, used cool white LEDs. They got some criticism for that and I can say that they seemed to have taken the criticism to heart as this LED is probably around 4500k.

The Interface

The interface is simple and easy. The order is moonlight > low> medium -> high and it then resets to moonlight. The only hidden mode is strobe which you double click for. It does have mode memory. It is a good design for people who don’t want to learn an interface and just want a flashlight.

The Modes

Video of the modes

The moonlight mode on this light is the lowest I’ve seen. They claim that moonlight is 1 lumen but I believe that it is lower than that. It is great for at night but there is no shortcut to moonlight mode so you may end up killing your night vision cycling through to get to moonlight, if memory was not set to moonlight. Low is, by comparison, much brighter than moonlight.

The spacing may not be ideal for everyone. The mode spacing is as tested: Almost 0% / ~7% / 35% / 100%

Thorfire claims: .09% / 4.5% / 27% / 100%

It does not have momentary on.

Video of strobe mode

Step downs

This light did step down with a timer but it did not match with what Thorfire claims. The step down is much better than Thorfire’s TK15S, possibly due to more fins which allow it to shed more heat.

Thorfire claims: “Intelligent Power Saving: After 5 minutes working on high, the light will ramp down to medium mode in 15 minutes to save energy and protecting it from overheating.”

My light stayed on high for nearly 25 minutes before switching to medium. This caused the light to get to 150f near the head and 130f at the tail cap. Safe for the light but maybe not your hands. To remedy this you just don’t keep it on high for so long.

Step down test

This was done with a fully charged Samsung 30q 18650.

Battery

This flashlight uses 18650 cells and both flat top and button top work. I didn’t have any protected available but there is spring slack to allow for the longer protected battery.

Springs are on both the head and tail cap sides.

Waterproofness

They claim this to be IPX-8. They use an o-ring setup that seems wrong but it worked. The o-ring is not between the glass and the bezel but instead between the reflector and the glass. I was extremely skeptical that it would keep the inside dry but I was proven wrong.

Apart from using it in the pouring rain with Hurricane Harvey I did test it in the bottom of the shower for nearly two hours combined time. In the shower it generally is sitting in about 1/2 an inch of water, with water rushing past it and with it raining down on it. I left it running the entire time and there was zero penetration.

The Beam

This isn’t an amazing thrower but it is throwier than a standard tube light. The hot spot is much more intense than the TK15S. I do enjoy the extra throw.

This light uses the Cree XP-L2 V6 3D LED. While it is powerful and pretty efficient it does not have the prettiest beam. The bright hot spot is surrounded by a yellow-orange ring. I’m unable to currently provide accurate beam shots. I think they are misleading so it’s better to leave them out.

Low Voltage Protection

They mention nothing about low voltage protection (LVP) but there is, to a degree, LVP.

At 2.75v the light began to flash but it did not turn off. It switched to moonlight mode. Moonlight mode is so low that you can easily not know that it is on especially after having the other brightness settings on.

If you do not physically turn off the light it will continue to run in moonlight mode. I sacrificed a cell to see what would end up happening. The next day the flashlight was off and the cell was around 1.8 volts.

I wish it behaved like the TK15S which turned off when it reached its trigger voltage. Thorfire doesn’t claim LVP so it’s hard to fault them for including non-ideal LVP.

Some LVP is better than no LVP.

Some things worth mentioning:

  • It’s very easy to take apart. There is no thread-lock or glue. The retaining ring for the driver is hard. I think it is reverse threaded.
  • There is an annoying delay between pressing the button and the mode actually switching. I’d say about .25 seconds.
  • It has holes for a lanyard but does not include one.
  • It has a nice clip.
  • I like the anondized finish but some people may find it slippery when wet.
  • It has square cut threads.

Conclusion

Due to the size, I think this light would be a little hard to pocket EDC but it would be good as a simple flashlight at home or in a bag. It’s a nice powerful and throwy light for a little over $20. It’s not a perfect light but its negatives are mostly annoyances. It’s using a new generation LED and it’s driven well. It’s not old technology or counterfeit like many budget lights. It’s a solid light for its cost.

Thank you for your review.
Could you please tell me that it can tail stand or not?
Some of VG10 I bought before can’t do because of rubber covers are too thick.
Thanks.

I deleted my comment since I got side tracked and thought that I actually fixed the wrong light.

It doesn’t tail stand well the way it comes from the factory. It can be fixed.

Retaining ring turns left to come off.



Reverse boot

Cut off a sliver of the end

Leftover piece

Reassemble it.

It now tail stands perfectly. That center pole in the cover is just a little bit too long.

Thank you very much, Srs2000.

:beer:

Admittedly, it’s a subjective thing, but I really like the somewhat exaggerated debouncing of the tail switch for mode changes (the .25 seconds you mention). I have some cheapo no-name P60 drop-ins and a mini magled with apparently no debouncing at all, and they’re so annoying I refuse to use them. I think I’ve even had stock Convoy firmware change multiple modes on a “flicker” when I don’t hit the mode pressure quite right.

I don’t think a VG10S will ever run amok through modes on switch bounce, and if you wait the .25 s (it doesn’t seem slow), you’ll never accidentally double click into strobe. I think it is a plus for perceived quality, but it might be a little longer than it absolutely has to be.

Nice review.

NP. It was something that bothered me but I forgot about. Luckily it is an easy fix.

I think that a glow in the dark BLF a6 rubber boot would also work. Might have to be cut like the original to tail stand correctly.

If I find some good GITD ones I’ll probably order them to try.