Recently I had reviewed the ThruNite Archer Mini. Now ThruNite has sent me its “big brother”, the ThruNite Archer Pro.
This review is also available in German on my website: SammysHP Blog › ThruNite Archer Pro
Supplied parts and hardware
Already the box has a very similar appearance to the Archer Mini. You’ll get the flashlight, an attached dual-way clip, a USB-C charging cable and the manual (CN, EN, JP, DE).
Compared to the Archer Mini, the Archer pro is larger and heavier, even compared to some other 14500 flashlights:
| Archer Mini | Archer Pro | |
| Length: | 83 mm | 97 mm |
| Diameter: | 16.7 mm | 21 mm |
| Weight: | 36 g | 65 g |
Due to its elegant design it still feels small, though.
The dual-way clip is mostly identical to the one from the Archer Mini, just larger. But the Archer Pro is almost too heavy to use it clipped to a cap and the small opening makes it hard to use one-handed. You can observe the trend to include dual-way clips with large flashlights with many manufacturers. Don’t know what the use-case of this combination is.
As with the Archer Mini, there are no other ways to attach the flashlight. Nothing to attach a lanyard, no magnet.
For charging the internal battery you can unscrew a sleeve around the head to expose a USB-C charging port. This is a secure way to seal it against water and dirt. Apropos: ThruNite rates it as IPX8 (2m depth).
A status LED on the opposite side of the USB port shows the progress: red while charging, blue when finished. The internal 14500 battery with 1000 mAh is charged at around 1 A and it takes 1.5 h to fully charge it. While it is possible to turn the flashlight on while it’s charging, the user interface doesn’t work as expected. It does something, but not predictably.
Because there’s no indication for the state of charge, you might end up with an empty battery in the dark. Because the battery is built-in, the only solution is to charge it regularly or have a powerbank nearby (or another flashlight).
User interface and handling
The Archer Pro has the same rounded tailswitch that I already loved at the Archer Mini. It feels really great, has a nice click after some springy travel. Not tailstand possible, of course.
The user interface is different from the Archer Mini, which is mostly a result of having more than two levels. There’s a firefly mode with 0.41 lm and a turbo with 1022 lm. Inbetween is a mode with smooth ramping from 13 to 478 lm. So it’s not seamless and most importantly: You can’t ramp up from firefly without first turning off the flashlight and then turn it on again in the ramping mode with the last used brightness (which might be 478 lm).
The ramping itself takes around four seconds and starts one second after you pressed the button. A bit slow for my taste. At the highest and lowest brightness the flashlight will flash three times and reverse the direction. The direction is reversed also every time you release the switch. The next time it ramps in the other direction – even if the flashlight was off. This makes ramping slightly nondeterministic.
Also there’s a strobe mode and a lockout (which works very well this time because you have to hold the button for two seconds instead of 0.5 seconds for the Archer Mini).
| State | Action | Function |
| off | 1 click | Last used brightness of ramping mode |
| off | hold | Firefly |
| off/on | 2 click | Turbo |
| off/on | 3 click | Strobe |
| on | 1 click | off |
| on (except firefly) | hold | Ramping |
| Firefly | 2s hold | Lockout |
| Lockout | 2s hold | Firefly |
Illumination
The Archer Pro comes with a Cree XP-L2 in an orange-peel reflector. This is different from the Archer Mini which came with an SST-20 in a TIR optic.
The small reflector results in a large spot with smooth transition into the bright spill. Clearly you can see the tintshift from center to the outside.
Although the flashlight is labeled as “cold white”, it’s more like 5500 K – with a very ugly green tint. I mean, the SST-20 was bad, but usable. This XP-L2 is just pure green. Slightly better in turbo, but still visible.
Here’s a comparison between the Sofirn SP10 Pro (Samsung LH351D 5000 K), ThruNite Archer Pro (Cree XP-L2) and ThruNite Archer Mini (Luminus SST-20).
Driver and runtime
The runtime is slightly disappointing. After less than half a minute the output drops significantly, although the flashlight feels only slightly warm. You can enable turbo again, but it will drop quickly again. The manual says turbo will run for 1.5 minutes, but this seems to include the ramping time as well. This is also true for the high mode. Basically this is a 200 lm flashlight.
The Archer Pro uses a buck driver without any PWM at all. When the battery gets empty and the buck regulator isn’t able to keep the current constant anymore, the flashlight starts blinking every 10 seconds. Eventually it turns off completely, so LVP is working in this sample (it wasn’t working in my Archer Mini).
Conclusion
Nice design, feels great in the hand. The UI is mostly positive, but with room for improvements (full ramping range, ramp up from firefly).
Sadly the tint of the LED is a nightmare if you don’t like green. Turbo is not really usable and the built-in battery makes the flashlight less flexible.
I think this light is poorly designed, but has possibilities. If it took a standard 14500 and AA’s, it would be a keeper in my humble opinion. I would still like to know how much a spare battery for it would be, but I do not see it listed anywhere on Thrunite’s website. If a spare was available for a good price, I would consider keeping it.