This is the Brinyte Spectra T5X a flashlight made especially for hunting at dark conditions! It features a special feature: Blood Tracking mode, that makes red colors “Flash” and get your attention. It also has a dedicated Red and Green modes, a magnetic rotating mode selector, USB-C charging on the main body and also on the included 21700 cell, type III hard anodizing and more!
• My opinion:
The Spectra T5X is a cool flashlight, it has a lot of features made for hunting. The Blood Tracking mode is the best and most interesting feature of this flashlight, it really works, and not only with blood, but with everything red, making the red colors “flash” when you use it. The Red and Green modes are pretty useful for staying hidden from animals, but I think it lacks a proper moonlight mode of arond 1 or 2 lumens that would be pretty useful for up close uses, as the red and green modes are too bright for this. Charging it very easy and can be done on the main body USB-C or directly on the battery USB-C.
I think this light would benefit much if it had a throwy main beam, and the warm white emitters had a separate mode from the blood tracking that would be used for close distances. Also, the absence of a glass lens in front of the TIR and the IPX7 rating (instead of IPX8) really makes this light more fragile.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Type III hard anodizing | No glass in front of TIR |
| Blood Tracking mode makes red colors really highlighted | No Moonlight mode |
| Silent buttons | Beam full of artifacts |
| Easy operation with one hand | IPX7 rating only |
| Powerful Green and Red modes | Only 2 levels (High and Low) of white light |
| Light doesn’t throw much (only around 100m) |
• Box contents
- Spectra T5X
- 21700 Brinyte battery
- USB-C Charging Cable
- 2x Extra O-rings
- User manual
• Price
Coupons: Brinyte provided a 15% coupon to be used on their website: BRINYTE15
The T5X is priced at $89.85 right now on the Brinyte Official Website. Price may vary depending at when you are reading this review.
• Body and build quality
Colors/Material Options: The T5X is offered in 2 colors: Black with red details, and red with black details. It’s only available in aluminum.
Main Body: The main body feels very solid and high quality, especially as it has type III hard anodizing. But it has no grooves or knurling on the battery tube, so the body is a little slippery.
Material: The main body is all made of aluminum 6061-T6 alloy. The anodizing is pretty good, it’s type III hard anodizing, so it is very resistant and durable, the only problem with it is that it’s smooth, and there are no grooves on the body to enhance grip, so the body is kind of slippery.
Threads: The threads are squared and not anodized. Only the head side of the battery tube is unscrewable.
Clip: The flashlight comes preinstalled with a stainless steel clip with a black coating. The clip can be easily removed as it’s a pressure fit clip.
Tail stand and rolling: The flashlight can tailstand and head stand, it does roll without the clip, but the grooves on the mode selector usually stop the rolling.
AUX lights: The flashlight doesn’t have AUX lights, but on the main button there is a LED indicator of battery level and charging.
Buttons: The flashlight features a main e-switch that turns the flashlight ON/OFF and a silent magnetic rotating mode selector on the head to select the secondary light modes: Red - Green - Blood Tracking Fast - Blood Tracking Slow. The rotating selector and main button make almost no noise, this means you can easily change modes without alerting animals.
Battery contact: Contact is made with the battery by 2 nickel-plated springs.
Bezel: The bezel is made of aluminum and is crenelated, as it’s made of aluminum, I do not recommend using it to break things, although it can be used to do it.
Water Resistance: It has IPX7 rating, which is decent, but IPX8 would be better for a hunting flashlight that will certainly see water and soil constantly. The lower IP rating is probably due to the rotating selector.
Size comparison: On the left is the Convoy M21K (21700), on the middle the Brinyte Spectra T5X, on the right the Convoy S2+.
• Weight and size
Weight:
- Without battery: 160.5g
- With battery: 235.3g
- Battery (Brinyte 21700 protected cell): 74.8g
Size: 136.8mm x 48.8mm x 28.0mm (height x head diameter x tail diameter)
• Battery, runtime, and charging
Battery: The T5X is powered by a single 21700 cell, it comes out of the box with a Brinyte 21700 5000mAh protected cell, but normal cells can also be used.
Battery Indicator: The LED on the main button serves as a battery indicator when the flashlight is turned ON, it will turn off in 5 seconds. It has 3 colors to indicate 4 battery levels as it follows:
| Color | Battery Level | Voltage |
|---|---|---|
| Green | 75-100% | 3.8-4.2V |
| Orange | 50-75% | 3.4-3.8V |
| Red | 25-50% | 3.1-3.4V |
| Flashing Red | 1-25% | <3.1V |
Charging: This flashlight features USB-C charging on the body, and comes with a 21700 battery with USB-C port, so you can charge it by any of the ports. The maximum charging input is 5V 2A. The indicator shows red while charging and green when charging is complete.
• Modes, Runtimes, Throw, Candela:
Modes: The T5X has only two modes of white light, which is a bad thing in my opinion, also, the warm white LEDs cannot be turned ON individually or with the main white LED. The Red, Green have a single brightness level, and the Blood tracking has a fast and a slow mode. If the warm LEDs could be turned ON alone or with the main white, and there were more brightness levels this light would be way better. The modes are as it follows:
| Mode | Brightness (Lumens) | Runtime |
|---|---|---|
| White High | 1000 - 450 | 2min - 4h30min |
| White Low | 120 | 21h30min |
| Red | 170 | 5h20min |
| Green | 350 | 5h30min |
| Blood Tracking Fast | 680 | 4h10min |
| Blood Tracking Slow | 680 | 4h10min |
Blood Tracking: This flashlight features a special mode that is the Blood Tracking modes, while they were made for blood detection, they work with anything red. On this mode the Green and Blue LEDs are constantly lit, while the Red and Warm White LEDs alternate blinking at 5Hz on the Slow mode and 10Hz on the Fast mode. This makes Red objects “flash” when the flashlight, giving a really cool effect and getting your attention to red objects.
Red and Green: The solid color modes are pretty useful to stay hidden from animals, especially the Red one. Red is dimmer and for closer uses, while the Green one has almost double the lumens and is less “stealthy” as it will alert animals and insects way more, but it goes farther and is still better than using a white light for this use.
High: This flashlight actually has no turbo, but it has the high mode, which has 1000 lumens for 2 minutes before stepping down. It’s a decent brightness, but I expected more for the size of this light.
Moonlight: The T5X doesn’t feature a moonlight mode, which I think is a downside, as a moonlight mode is pretty useful in a lot of situations, although it has a red beam it is too bright for using it from up close.
Blinkies: It has the Blood Tracking modes as blinkies, but no strobe or SOS.
Lockout: The modes on the magnetic ring selector can be locked and will not turn ON if the selector is on “OFF”, while the Cool White LED cannot be locked and will always turn ON if the main button is pressed 2 times.
Throw: The flashlight is floody, but manages to throw around 100m on the highest modes.
• Emitter, reflector and CRI:
Emitter: The T5X has 9 emitters: 1 main cool white, 2 warm white, 2 red, 2 green and 2 blue. The Warm white and blue emitters cannot be turned ON outside of the Blood tracking mode. I didn’t find any information about them.
Beam profile: From upclose all the beams have light rings and very noticeable artifacts, so I would avoid wall hunting and using it from up close; but with a little distance the beams become more uniform.
CRI: I assume all the white LEDs have standard 70 CRI, as there is no information about them.
Lens: The flashlight doesn’t have glass lens in front of the TIR, so the TIR is exposed and can be easily scratched.
Reflector/TIR: The TIR is clear and improves the throw of the LEDs.
• Beamshots Camera settings:
- 18mm lens 1" F8 ISO800
- (The trees at the back are at a distance of around 100m)
Spectra T5X - High (1000 lumens)
Spectra T5X - Low (120 lumens)
Spectra T5X - Red (170 lumens)
Spectra T5X - Green (350 lumens)
You can see the High white beam and the Red/Green modes reach the trees at the back, so they can reach around 100m and still light up things.
I always try to match what my eyes can see on the beamshots, so camera settings may vary. All pictures were taken immediately after the flashlight was turned ON.
• Driver and UI
Driver: No PWM on any mode other than the blood tracking. This flashlight has an efficient regulated driver, although Brinyte does not specify it.
UI: The UI is easy to understand: Clicking the main button one time will access the magnetic rotating selector modes (Red, Green, Blood Tracking Fast and Slow), clicking it 2 times will access the White light on High, clicking it 2 times again will go to Low white mode. If the flashlight is ON and you click it one time, it will turn the flashlight OFF on any mode.
Low Voltage Warning: It has low voltage warning and will turn OFF if the battery voltage is too low.
Temperature Control: The T5X features overheating protection and will stepdown when the temperature is too low, which is curiously stated to step down at 48°C surface temperature, usually the temperature stated is for the driver, but in this case the 48°C seem to be about the external head temperature. The flashlight gets hot fast on the High white mode and on the Blood Tracking modes, as almost all LEDs are ON at the same time.
A special thanks to Tara and Brinyte for sending this flashlight for me to review!
*I am not being paid to do this review, everything here is my honest opinion.
Thank you for reading my review <3