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

Manufacturer specifications from btulight.com

* 3x Cree XM-L LED (U2) with a lifespan of 50,000 hours

* Battery: 3 × 18650

* 204 mm (length) x 52 mm(body width) x106 mm(head diameter)

* 1200-gram weight (excluding batteries)

* 4 levels of brightness: Turbo (3.8A*3)>High(2.2A*3)>Med(0.8A*3)>Lo(0.05A*3);with mode memory

* Brightness:Turbo(3000lumens)>High(2000lumens)>Med(600lu mens)>Lo(80lumens)

* Digital Current Regulation

* Capable of standing up securely on a flat surface to serve as a candle

* Tail cap click Switch

* Made of durable aircraft-grade aluminum

* Super deep Aluminum Alloy Reflector;Shotrange up to 800meters

* Premium Type III hard-anodized anti-abrasive finish

* Toughened ultra-clear glass lens with anti-reflective coating

* With mode memory

Notice: Turbo mode will step down to High mode progressively after constant running for 180 seconds to avoid over-heat problem.

Also note: It does not seem to have an anti reflective coated glass.

This is the first light to come out of the BTU company. This is my 4th triple emitter light, and although you may skim over the specs what is interesting is that is has the same head as the TK70. The head is going to favor throw a lot more than spill. It uses 3* 18650 batteries, which in this case in turbo, they will need to be able to handle at least 3.8A. The choice of a tail-cap switch is questionable, given this light will not be easy to maneuver with it weighing in at 1.2kgs (2.6 lbs) without batteries and the thick bezel on the tailcap.

Many have searched for a powerful light which combines throw and flood - and usually the answer is a HID, but can this compare? Let’s find out…

The light has options of CW, NW or WW tints. The model I reviewed was CW. As you can see, there is no purple tint which usually is indicative of an AR coating.

Left to right: Crelant 7G5V2 with collimator head, 2 SkyRay Kings, BTU Shocker, SkyRay STL-V2, Jacob A60, Solarforce L2M, 2AA Maglite
Shocker: 204 mm (length) x 52 mm(body width) x106 mm(head diameter)

This is the kind of light which will pull your pants down if you try to put it in your pocket. The 1.2kg (2.6 lbs) body and the 3 18650s makes for a very heavy, short blunt weapon. The weight however, may have some merit with heat sinking - we’ll find out about that soon enough…

The finish of the light was flawless, had a clean reflector and a clean lens. No chips whatsoever in the anodizing and feels very solid in the hand. It feels very solid in the hand with no moving parts once everything is screwed in. The bezel adds a nice aesthetic touch.

The knurling provides excellent grip while not being so aggressive as to feel uncomfortable. It is also waterproof to IPX-8 standard with doubled thick o-rings.

As you can see, the shocker has anodized, thick and very clean cut square threads.

It has thick walls which feel good in the hand.

It tailstands very well. It uses an reverse clicky switch to switch between modes. Lo 0.05A~~Med 0.8A>High 2.2ATurbo 3.8A (Note: these numbers are for amps per emitter, on turbo it pulls a whopping total of 11.4 amps~~ equivalent to a well driven SST-90, also note the Fenix TK70 pulls around 2.5A per emitter, or 7.5 amps total.)

All three wells overlap slightly unlike an Olight SR92, and are very deep which should attribute to its throwing capabilities - the integration allows each individual well to have a greater diameter, instead of having 3 separate wells which would significantly reduce the diameter.The design does not produce noticeable artifacts. The 90mm reflector looks absolutely beautiful with all emitters perfectly centered.

This is my first light to utilise an XML U2 beyond 3 amps, so I’m looking forward to testing what kind of outputs and throw we get! :slight_smile:

Comparison photos: Shocker is always on the right

SkyRay King left, BTU Shocker right

Crelant 7G5V2 with collimator head left, BTU Shocker right

85W “eBay HID” left, BTU Shocker right

Outdoor photos: Please note these are not indicative of what you see in real life, as my camera cannot capture such low light. Rather, use these to compare to each other.

Control:

BTU Shocker
Low:

Med:

High:

Turbo:

Crelant 7G5V2 with collimator head

85W “eBay HID”

SkyRay King

User interface and temperatures

The switch is just a normal reverse clicky switch, Lo -> med -> high -> turbo. No strobes or SOS.

Temperatures: It was interesting to see how this would fare, given it had a hefty amount of mass, and although the surface area could have been increased, by looking at the graph we can see that it isn’t entirely necessary and it did do quite well.

Initially turned on to turbo, then it kicks down to high at 3 minutes, then it stays on high for another 7 minutes. Tail standing with an ambient air temperature of 20.8C (68.6F), no air movement.

All in all, you will be able to hold this light while running it on high quite comfortably.

Centre of balance

The centre is the last fin, giving it almost perfect balance when in the hand. The light has a great smooth feel and the knurling is grippy, but not aggressive.

Performance

Note: These figures aren’t meant to be dead accurate, but it will give you a good indication of the output and throw relative to other lights.

Lumens over time:

As you can see, the Shocker is very well regulated, and on high will keep it’s output indefinitely for 10 minutes.

Conclusion

The shocker is the first flashlight to come from the new BTU brand and it definitely doesn’t disappoint.

As evident from beamshots and relative output figures, the shocker is quite a bright light at close to 3000 lumens, while also being able to throw further than an aspheric. Although it still doesn’t quite reach a HID in terms of output or throw, it still manages to be quite an ultimate light, giving insane flood and throw.

It is quite heavy, but it also feels quite solid and sturdy which is satisfying.

The turbo mode of 3.8A is definitely nice and is very impressive, and kudos to the BTU designers on that part, bringing together all the benefits of other lights into one. This is well driven (high high, and low low), has high raw output and throws extremely well. I’m not kidding when I say it has a high raw output and throws extremely well - for it’s size it kicks some serious ass. It has great heat management, great threads, great anodizing, great UI, great regulation, no PWM, very high output and throw. This throws further than most (if not all) commercial aspheric lights, while having several times the lumen output.
Usually one has to compromise between high output and flood, or lower output and throw - multi-emitter and single emitter respectively. However the Shocker combines a high output multi emitter light that has dazzling flood AND throws better than most single emitter lights. This would be most suited for a Search & Rescue light, or when one is outdoors fishing or in wide open expanses.

Now this may not a replacement of an HID in terms of output or throw, But if you feel you want something smaller, lighter and safer then this would be a viable option.

If we can expect BTU to continue making lights of this calibre then they are definitely lights to be considered.

If you liked my review leave a comment :slight_smile:

Thanks Slewfish you lucky bugger. You will have to get it out tonight.

Thanks Slewflash, mine should be in my hands by this Wednesday. I just love the look of the light when it’s standing on it’s head. Thick, no nonsense, ultra heavy duty sledgehammer appearance. If what you say is true that it uses the exact same head and reflector of the TK70. Then it should have the beam pattern I personally prefer over the TK75, judging by the beam shots that the Fenix dealers posted comparing the 2. More narrow and concentrated, less clover leaf artifacts, and hotter spot. Also because the BTU is driven harder than the Fenix TK70………………….Ooohhh Yeah.

:santa: came early this year! Nice review! We need beamshots though. Hurry!!

Thanks for the great review Slewflash! It nicely confirms my impressions (documented in my review of NW version) and shows how good the U2 CW version is. Good job!

Yours is also with the regulated driver, right? Do you have plans for testing the DRY driver in it?

Yeah the U2 CW version seems to have more output than the NW version, but that’s expected of course. Mine is indeed with the regulated driver, no PWM on any mode. I don’t have the DRY driver so I can’t test it. The website says the DRY driver is 4A+, but doesn’t specify how much because it’s dependent on batteries due to direct drive. I am curious about how it would perform with the DRY driver though.

135kcd is similar to other tests , very nice. I think we can confirm the lux region now.

3k lumens, big hotspot and still have 735m calculated throw. Now, that's a very respectable result.

Those 3k lumens are only at turn-on. After three minutes, you lose out 1k lumens. The question is, can you tell that you’ve lost 1k of lumens going from 3k to 2k?

Also, is there any chance to do a longer run-time test to determine how regulated the driver is, say to 50% light output? As you say though, between 3 minutes to 10 minutes, the regulation on the BTU looks great.

From my review:

It's very well regulated. Low voltage warning kicked in at about 1:22.

Awesome, thanks. Does look tempting. Always wanted something that’s over the 2k+ lumen mark and has the best of both worlds of throw and flood.

Only problem is, I’m off on my holiday this Saturday and if I were to order this light, I won’t get a chance to play with it, in say, until December 2013 or January 2014. :stuck_out_tongue:

You lose those 1k lumens because the Turbo mode steps down after 3 minutes. You can turn it back on if you want though. Also, the difference between 3k and 2k is not very big (visually), at least indoors.

Both your review and the’s seem to indicate that, even if you were to turn on Turbo again, the light is so well heatsinked, that it handles the heat quite well. If that’s the case, why only limit it to 3 minutes worth of Turbo? Well, if I have to answer my own question, it’d be more likely be for safety reasons than anything else (unless I were to read again that long’ish BTU pre-order thread, the answer might be there :laughing:.

Slewfish. Its dark outside now. What should you be doing?

I usually take my shots past midnight, because I might accidentally shine it on the road where cars pass by.

Bugger. I sleep that time of night. Tomorrow.

This is more like it. I’d agree with your figures, plus the Crelant and 85W HID Ebay (still a bit low but ok ba as it varies quite a lot)….

Just press it again for Turbo. 3 mins is plenty, I mean i play with lasers. :slight_smile: (try that with some lasers and nasty things might happen at the 5th minute mark, some less).

It has a timer so that people do not accidentally burn it up while tailstanding.

BTW, it doesn’t really lose 1k lumens after the 3rd minute. Just press again for that close to 3k lumens output.

BTW Slewflash, your lumens are OTF/Out The Front correct? :slight_smile:

Wonder if i should get one. I am keen on the Solarstorm L3.

Yes they are OTF.

Thanks very much for the review! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.