ThruNite TN30
ThruNite has made many lights, this is their most powerful light to date. It has 3 XM-L leds and uses a magnetic ring for mode selection and standby, on/off is controlled with a tail switch.
The light is made of aluminum with hard anodized (Type 3) finish.
The light is delivered in an aluminium case.
It contains the light, a lanyard including a split ring, a holster, spare O-rings and a manual.
The light uses a smooth reflector with 3 XM-L leds.
The head designed includes a some heat sink fins.
Just below the heat sink part is the ring to control the light. The ring turns smoothly and has good clicks.
The light has six brightness settings, standby and strobe on the ring.
The backside of the head has a spring for connection to the battery carrier.
The battery tube has triangular threads with anodizing and a O-ring to seal the connection.
The knurling has some bite to it.
The tail has not one, but two springs. This is because the light has an electronic switch. This electronic switch reduces the wear on the mechanical switch, and the price is an insignificant current draw (20uA-50uA).
The switch is a forward switch, i.e. press it half way down for momentary on.
The light uses a battery carrier, that holds 3 18650 batteries in series. The carrier can handle batteries up to 70 mm long, but the fattest batteries are a very tight fit (See my battery size measurements).
It has a small metal plate on the plus contact, i.e. it can use flattop batteries
The carrier is symmetric, i.e. it can be used both ways in the light.
Here is all the part the light can be disassembled in without tools.
A look at the leds.
The supplied holster.
I am impressed with this light, it is bright and works very well. The ring is a nice way to select brightness and it covers a very wide range of brightness settings, from the 1 lumen "moonlight", up to a very revealing 2700 lumen setting.
Technical specification and measurements
The light is rated for use with 3 18650 LiIon batteries.
Measured size and weight:
Length: 179 mm
Diameter: 49 mm to 64.4 mm
Weight: 611 gram with 3xIO18650-31
The light uses a 3 Cree XM-L U2 leds.
In the above table I have collected all modes. The current is measured at 11.1 volt. All the estimated runtimes are with a 3100mAh LiIon battery.
The first voltage sweep is done in high mode. The light uses a buck regulator and because the brightness starts dropping at 10 volt my guess is that the leds are in series. To find the battery that gives longest runtime on full brightness, check my battery comparison and find the longest yellow bar in the 3.4 volt chart.
To reduce heat and increase runtime the light will drop slightly in brightness after 2 minutes.
There is no surprise in the lower brightness settings, they uses less power and has less brightness. They do also stabilize the light at a lower voltage.
When doing the runtime it can be seen that the light reduces the brightness after about 2 minutes, this is done to reduce the heat. At the high setting the light can run about 70 minutes before it is down to 50% brightness.
The strobe is a "random" strobe, with 6.8 hz and 14.5 hz
The turn on in the strobe is a bit slow, but not anything visible.
The light is current controlled, but on the #2 setting there is some 1.2 kHz noise ion the light. I did not see any noise on the other settings.
Comparison to other Flashlights
ThruNite TN30, ThruNite TN31, ThruNite Scorpion V2 with turbo head:
Fenix TK70, Klarus XT20, NiteCore TM11:
For the full comparison to other lights with graphs and beamshots see here
Notes
The light was supplied by ThruNite for review.
