I have a BK-FA01 on the way Should be here on Wednesday, I would guess.
According to this review of the production versions of the BK-FA01 and BK-FA02 on the site of smug and moderation, they have deeper reflectors than the TN31.
I would also like to say for the record that I just put both my TN31 XM-L2 and TN30 XM-L2 in the mail yesterday to send back to Thrunite for repair/replacement because the magnetic rings on both of them have failed me. The TN31 wont turn on with mode 4 or 5 and the TN30 wont turn on with mode 5 and flickers on mode 6. I think the Niwalker BK-FA02’s magnetic ring seems to be a bit more robustly built, after owning it for a month. It just seems to be more well constructed. We will see in another few months how it holds up. I honestly think the Niwalker BK series lights seem to be better than the Thunite TN series, but we will see. Anybody up for modding the Niwalker?
It sucks that your TN30 and TN31 have had problems. Personally my TN31 has met and exceeded my expectations in terms of quality, performance and finish.
The TN30 on the other hand, feels much more different. Firstly the threads were a little rough which caused a lot of metal shavings to dirty up the lubed threads and secondly the magnetic dial seemed to not be lubed and makes a scratchy sound every time I twist it.
Performance on both are great, but the finish on the TN30 was a bit disappointing. I’ve been in contact with Thrunite however, and they have been quick to respond to my emails and are going to send out a replacement.
I would definitely like to see a modded BK-FA01. It really does look like a robust light, and robustness is a really attractive quality in torches for me.
Every TN31 I've worked on, I put a generous amount of Nyogel inside the magnetic ring, and it seems to make it nice and smooth. There's a tiny spring and a small ball bearing that sits on the spring. This ball bearing pops into holes for each level adjustment, so the area where the ball rolls over, when greased, makes it feel much smoother. Not sure on yours if it's the mechanism or intermittent contact issues with the carrier, because that's a common problem with these as well, and maybe only an issue at high amps - high modes. vinh, I noticed, sands down contact surfaces on the carrier end caps, and I've started doing the same thing. Also I've been using CRC 2-26 on these surfaces which I think helps.
For the mag ring, of course you can't get to it unless you break open the threads for the head which are usually blue LockTite sealed - another benefit of the mod, since I got the strap wrench's to open it up, and then I clean up the threads, then lube them up with Nyogel.
Awesome information here Slewflash! It really goes to show that once you really start to get into the higher range 50kcd here and there really doesn’t mean a whole lot. imho something like this and some other info charts like it should end up in a sticky for future reference sake. Very interesting to see that 250k gets you 1km range but 500 only adds another 41%. So when someone talks about 1Million cd (seems to be like breaking the sound barrier) what are we talking about for actual distance with that?
Love this forum, learning so much new information. Now I just have to try and restrain myself as I have a wedding and house/home to save up for!
These could be like the EagleTac SX25L3 series that Vinh did. I thought I remember reading that he modded one and did not got much of an increase in performance since they were getting driven pretty hard from the factory. I guess even just the de-dome would get you close to 400K though!
Well looking at the pictures af selbuilt’s photos of the BK-FA01 vs the TN31 at 100yds in throw I would say the TN31 throws just as good or maybe even better. Don’t know if this picture will work here, but this is the one I’m talking about. And just looking at the photos of the BK-FA01 I would say it doesn’t have a deeper reflector than the TN31.
According to the chart in the same review using his NIST certified lux meter, the TN31 XM-L (not XM-L2) does 112,800 lux. The production BK-FA01 did 154,500.
The TN31 is going to be WAY different than either one of those. I stock TN31 is fairly similar to a stock SR90. I’ve done those comparisons in the past and the TN31 is like a SR90 junior. But now with these hard driven TN31’s, totally different ballpark. We just got back from doing a ton of beam shots. It will be morning before we can get them all loaded up, but you will a very wide variety of lights to compare its beamshot with. We’ll start a new thread for them.
You can email Vinh about details, but generally he charges roughly about $65 to covert your light or he will get one for you and sell you the whole thing. Not sure what is is currently charging for that.
Should be here on Wednesday, I would guess.
Very interesting to see that 250k gets you 1km range but 500 only adds another 41%. So when someone talks about 1Million cd (seems to be like breaking the sound barrier) what are we talking about for actual distance with that?
