Ideas please for new edc 16340/18350

Dear fellow Jamies/ hive mind
For several years I have carried a Thrunite Archer 1c in a small pouch on my belt, it is used for peering into dark corners of cars, cupboards and drawers, and occasional navigating the night.
As a christmas treat I bought a Thrunite T1, the figures looked good but I didn’t really get on with it- the reasons were:
I didn’t like the side switch -prefer tail clicky (nearly all my other torches are tail click)
Didn’t really like the ramping UI
Although much brighter it was very floody.
the final nails in the coffin was I kept finding it flat when needed :frowning:
I tried buying a new battery, still randomly flat when needed, and the on board charger port became a sloppy fit- so that is now consigned to the office drawer -where it was flat until I wrote this.

What I would like suggestions for is a “brighter thrunite 1c”
Must have clicky tail cap
mustn’t be more than about 9.5cm (3.75 inches if you’re into that sort of thing)
doesn’t have to have onboard charging
doesn’t have to have a clip
doesn’t have to be a big brand as long as it’s reliable.

Thanks in advance
John

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Bonjour regarder la fenix pd25r !

I would say that you can take a look at the On The Road 311 and at the Eagtac D25C tail clicky.
Those are my most used flashlights (because of size and type ot battery), although I modified them with different drivers and LEDs.

For a size comparison

Here’s a collection of some lights that take 16340s cells, and some of them that take 18350s (Convoy S2 and S2+, Emisar D4V1 and FW3A).
Left to right
Klarus XT1C > Olight M1T Raider > Convoy S2 > Wuben TO10R > Convoy S2+ DT > Jetbeam RRT01 > OTR 311 > OTR M1 > Eagtac D25C > OTR M3 Pro > OTR i3 > RovyVon S3 > Acebeam TK16 > Emisar D4V1 > Olight S1R Baton II > FW3A

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Would any of the popular 18650 lights with an 18350 body work?

Ones that come to mind include Convoy S2+, Lumintop FW3A, Emisar/Noctigon D4/K4, … you’d have a choice of emitters, body colors, UIs.

> I kept finding it flat

maybe avoid lights with electronic switches, and stay with lights with mechanical switches

The EagTac D25C is basically the same as your Thrunite Archer 1C, I do not expect the D25C to be any brighter, since they use the same size battery (16340)

If you move to a light that can use 18350, it might be brighter, not sure, have no personal experience, but you could find out for low dollars if this works for you:

convoy S2+ w 18350 body:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832034819452.html

Hi Jon :wink:
I didn’t test the EagTac D25C nor the OTR311 in terms of brightness vs runtime to see how sustainable they can be, but both have specs indicating higher output than the Thrunite Archer 1C, meaning 281 lumens from the 1C vs 800 lumens of the ET D25C or 720 lumens of the OTR311.

The battery used is the same in all of the lights, but the Thrunite is not so recent, so the tech evolved and the recent lights will probably have higher output (independently of maitaining them for long periods) .

To OP, you can also check the Foursevens QK16L MKIII with 16340 tube (extra). And you can also check the Acebam TK16, which uses an electronic tailswitch, but that is a very nice light, too.

I have a plethora of 18650 lights including a newly delivered Nextorch E51 which has shamed some of my old favourites, and whilst I am more than happy to carry n 18650 torch when out after dark, it’s just a little to big for my edc needs - I had looked at the Convoy S2+ before posting this as it looked just what I wanted but just that bit to long.

Thank you -just ordered one, gotta be worth a punt at that price :laughing:

Thankyou everyone for the ideas, I knew you would help me feed my addiction. I have ordered the ConvoyS2+ in 18350 to have a play with, and will study up on some of the other options, whilst I wait for it to arrive.
I have also ordered a new headlight whilst hanging around here, it really is bad for my wallet! I’ll have to hope SWMBO isn’t in when the new parcels arrive :innocent:

S2+ with 18350 tube? Man I have a handful of 18650 lights smaller than that.

Hope that works out for you. I have a few issues with Convoy quality but, I still have 4 or 5 of them. Had to tighten them all up. No real thermal protection, unless they have updated the driver. Steps down from high at 3.6 volts. For what reason I have no idea. Again, they may have updated that as well. Tail switches like to fail a lot.

I haven’t really checked out any of their most recent lights. I may pick up one and see how it is.

Anyway, I hopeful that you don’t have any problems.

Congratulations!

this person is a skilled modder and highly recommends the light you just bought. I totally respect his opinion, which is why I suggested it.

I hope SWMBO loves it too! LOL

If you would be willing to go 14500, check out the Wurkkos TS10. A neat little light with Andruil 2. So super flexible. It is an E-Switch light, but has a tail switch.
It is at least 20% shorter than my other 14500 lights. Overall smaller than most 16340 lights. It does have some parasitic drain, but with the aux lights off it is small.
I have been running a check. an H10 cell that was put in at 4.16 volts about 9 weeks ago is now at 4.11 volts. So if you can remember to charge every 3 to 4 months, you would be fine.
It is floody, but maxing out at something like 900 lumens, it will be plenty for the tasks that you mention. For me it is a very usable beam for anything I use a tiny EDC light for.
It also has a very dim (Sub-lumen?) moonlight mode for when you need that.

A great little light that got the most votes for favorite light of 2022 by a huge margin. Worth checking out especially when it can often be had for ~$20.

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The TS10 is too fun to play with for parasitic drain to be an issue;-)

Late to the party and I see you already ordered, but like these last two fellas I was going to suggest that you check out the TS10. 14500 cells have improved (the 3-4 models from Vapcell being favored at present) and at this point they edge out 16340 for the most part. 18350 still has a little bit over the 14500. Anduril firmware isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but once you figure it out and maybe change a few things to your liking, it’s quite simple to use and has a lot of features that you can use if you want to (it has really good ramping, but you can change it to stepped modes instead, and even specify how many steps you want and at what brightness each of them are). It’s got a pretty decent beam…smooth but relatively balanced with a little throw (not as much as a single emitter in a reflector, though). The Lumintop FWAA 14500 is similar, bit more expensive, bit thinner.

The S2+ is only a “stop gap” :wink: until I decide what I really want, I haven’t ventured into 14500 cells before but the ts10 and the FWAA14500 both look really interesting, I knew there is a reason I stay out of these forums :money_mouth_face:

Thank you all for the help.

sofirn sc21 pro is 74mm
clicky side switch though [that makes it shorter than having a tail switch]

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you might like BLF A6 with 18350 tube

i do

though i like FW3A and SC 21 pro better

wle

good ideas

? did you post the correct link, I don’t need a pouch, I just wanted an updated torch to fit in the belt pouch I already have.

I second for Wurkkos TS10 & AceBeam TK16