Review: BTU Shocker (3* XM-L U2 CW, 3* 18650) - comprehensive (picture heavy).

I don’t think BTU can out throw TK70 based on what I have seen so far as below:
1.Temperature is not rising high enough on heatsink in Turbo mode, this shows that heat is trapped inside.
2.Based on pictures, I find that its reflector is not as shining as TK70.
3.BTU doesn’t have AR lens, this will cut the light a few percentage.
4.I saw a picture with TN31 in another review, to me, it clearly shows that TN31 out throw BTU. It is never so clear for TN31 vs TK70.

This is nice light but I personally think it should have done below:
1.Selling at about USD100 to USD120, more expensive than Trustfire X6 is still fine since it is new product.
2.Use 4 18650 instead of 3 as in Turbo mode, it will be drawing 3.8A. It pushes many batteries to their limit.

Perhaps you’d like to check out the measurements first, both OTF lumens + lux (candelas)

Lights with quite a bit of mass esp around the head area just do not heat up that fast. Unless if we are talking about a TF X100 7 x XM-L with that crazy KD driver (esp if you heatsinked the driver so it sustains the crazy output longer) or something. Even the DRY does not heatup that much in the first 45 seconds in a tropical country @ 30 deg C.

1. The Shocker weighs 1,200 grams without batteries, the TK70 weights just 769 without batteries - Perhaps if I ran the test for longer we would see a more significant heating up.
2. The reflector does appear to hang slight rings, although it’s not a big problem.
3. Yes, the lens may cut a few % off the OTF lumens, however it also has more lumens (3000 vs 2200), so shouldn’t be considered while comparing the two.
4. There is also a thread on a German forum where the Shocker out-throws a TN31. Who’s to say one is definitely correct?

1. It’s more worth it than the TrustFire X6 in almost every way.
2. I agree that 4* 18650s could have been used. I do not know their reasoning, but if you want to run this at maximum output, don’t cheap out on the batteries (you never should anyway, they are the ‘life’ of your flashlights)!

Ok. I could be wrong about it since both of you are so confident about BTU. If most of the weight is in the head, the only thing that makes BTU so much heavier will be the aluminum reflector as TK70 is using plastic reflector. Unless the reflector really share a lot of the heat and cause the heatsink temperature to be so low. Also I forgot it kick down after 3 minutes, so it is not really on Turbo for 10 minutes.
Can you share the German website? I would like to see how is the comparison is done between TN31 and BTU.
One more thing is that Fenix official intensity spec is 130.5kcd. So it is very close to what is measured here for BTU.

Sure: Kurzreview BTU Shocker | Taschenlampen Forum

Thanks. Unfortunately I can’t see any pictures. Maybe it is blocked or I need to register an account.
And wonder why the German measure 1033g with 796g for the head, and you mention 1200g.
Nevemind, it could be error in manufacturer specification. Let me measure TK70 head weight when I have time.

I just measured with my scales, 1032g total, 820g head; 1200g loaded with 4 Panasonic 3100s

Thanks for the review! I can’t to get my hands on mine tomorrow. Very impressive numbers and heavy duty construction. Awesome!

Well done…Good to see some major points substantiated.

Is that true? Have you opened a TK70 head to verify?

The Fenix TK70 never was measured to be 130k….think i saw over 10 numbers including mine. It is quite a fair bit lower.

Someone I know who has a pretty accurate test instrument has tested the TK70 at 114Kcd.

Ooops, now it’s really Sticky’d and Frontpage’d. Thanks again!

To be honest, SS L3 looks to be way more advanced. Straight off you have a more comfortable size, double side switches, advanced UI, 4led battery level… and that gorgeous look. It won’t outthrow this monster but will win on everything else.

This is not a flame on BTU, but to me it looks exactly like “just another clicky light”. A big oversized one. I mean, they design it from ground up, and they just HAD to put the switch on the butt. I mean, it’s electronic switch man, you can put it anywhere you want. Side switch on a big hunking humongous body should be a no-brainer.

But they just HAD to copy the Ultrafires. Sheesh.

I agree the decision on the tailcap clicky wasn’t really thought through. If I had to list the things I didn’t like with it it would be lens, reflector, placement of switch.
The SL3 does look much more advanced, but the two are quite different - one has 3 emitters in a large head, the other 7 in a small head. Obviously if you want throw you opt for the Shocker, and for flood the SL3.
Being someone who usually favours flood, I would normally have picked the SL3, but the output on the Shocker is just so impressive that the spill is enough to satisfy my ‘flood requirements’.

Thanks for a great review. While I think this light is a bit bulky for me, I like how it puts out around 3000 lumens.

Hopefully, this is a sign for designers and manufacturers to look into the parameters that matter now - heat sinking, efficient circuitry, thicker springs and wires to get higher currents through, etc. After all, if a single XM-L can do 1000 lumens, you shouldn’t need to cram lots of them into one light to get high output.

Just got my BTU U2 today. Awesome light. Fast shipping. Only 3 business days via DHL. First impressions are good. Very hefty & well built light. Very deep reflector -more than I expected since my previous experience with triples is with the SRK. I’m using Keeppower 3400mah in this baby for proper amperage.
Just shining around the neighborhood sofar and its impressive. Houses and trees at 300-400yds are child’s play for it. Lights them up like a floodlight at that distance. Only issue is this beast puts out so much light in front of you it’s sometimes hard to see your target. I accidentally pointed it at a big dead-end road barrier at 200yds tonite and it almost blinded me. In the next couple weeks ill take it out from the city lights and do some good testing of the BTU vs my SR90 at much further distances. Should be fun.
Anyway slewfish, I fully agree with your praise of this light. It rocks!

Any idea what the pricing looks like? Didnt see it at the source website, just the specs.

The price is 180

You mean the plastic reflector on TK70? I didn’t open my TK70 to verify, but it was discussed by aku1979 in shoudian forum.
My TK70 head weight is 558g, tube 224g. So it is about 250g difference in head.

Slewflash, can you measure just the aluminum reflector weight and maybe also the lens? TK70 lens seems to be very thin, it looks like no lens at all if it is put to off especially after cleaning.