Acebeam T21vn - Best 2*18650 Thrower

[Skylumen]

Got my 2x18650 T21vn with Black Flat in today. Here are some pics of its emitter on moonlight and a low-exposure white-wall beamshot.

Fingerprints on the inside of the glass lens is a little disappointing.

remove bezel
clean lens with micro fiber towel
reflector is glued so nothing will move.

 

[Skylumen]

Got my 2x18650 T21vn with Black Flat in today. Here are some pics of its emitter on moonlight and a low-exposure white-wall beamshot.

Fingerprints on the inside of the glass lens is a little disappointing.

remove bezel
clean lens with micro fiber towel
reflector is glued so nothing will move

 

[twistedraven]

The lens stays on there pretty good even after removing the stainless steel bezel. I'm assuming I'll have to get a suction cup to get the lens off.

 

[ateupwithgolf]

Didn't read entire thread but how does this light compare performance wise to olight m3xs-UT? Thanks.

 

[MAD777]

Didn't read entire thread but how does this light compare performance wise to olight m3xs-UT? Thanks.

M3xs-ut = 1200 lumen, 250k lux
T21vn = 900 lumen, 500k lux (Vinh's conservative stats)
Plus Vinh's warranty..... T21vn = Winner

 

[Bdm82]

Didn't read entire thread but how does this light compare performance wise to olight m3xs-UT? Thanks.

I have both, though my t21vn is the xpg2 led version.

M3XS-UT is 1200 lumen (I've verified) and rated at 1000 m throw. It has 3 regular levels and a hidden moonlight mode. It has a backlog side switch with low battery warning. Tint is slightly green but the beam is consistent. It requires 2 18650 batteries, or in short form, 3 CR123As.

My T21vn has about 900 lumen and 1400 m of throw. (With the Oslon Black led in it as sold today, more like 750 lumen and 1600 m throw.) It has 5 levels of output in a rotation with the mode spacing between the top 3 modes being too close. The side switch is orange rubber and not backlit/etc. Tint is cool and clean, but the beam has petal-like artifacts around the hot spot. It can take 2 18650s or in short form, 1 18650. The t21 reflector is a little bigger than the M3XS-UT. The t21 is built a little tougher (based on metal thickness, etc).

I'll be honest... I like the M3XS-UT better because of the mode rotation and side switch. The t21 outperforms it by a real amount though.
I'm considering asking what it'd take to swap the xpg2 to black to see if the beam petals cleans up.

I got carried away in response... but performance goes to the t21vn hands down... to the tune of 60% more throw...

 

[twistedraven]

You'll probably get a cleaner beam with the Black Flat as opposed to the XPG2, because the Black Flat is factory dedomed and the XPG2 is sliced from Vinh. Getting perfectly clean dedomes is an art in of itself.

Being so tiny though, it will never be easy to center and tune for the Black Flat.

 

[Lumenwolf]

Hope they bring back the T25 but with integrated charging port [emoji4]

 

[Bazar]

You'll probably get a cleaner beam with the Black Flat as opposed to the XPG2, because the Black Flat is factory dedomed and the XPG2 is sliced from Vinh. Getting perfectly clean dedomes is an art in of itself.

Being so tiny though, it will never be easy to center and tune for the Black Flat.

I recently got the black flat Olson version. I own no other T21vn version.
I can say this for the flat black, it is called flat not because of a dedome, but much more wonderfully, this LED is produced FROM the LED factory without a dome, making the lack of dome absolutely flat, which has lots of automotive lighting purposes, while posing as a ridiculous thrower for flashlights. This factory-flat LED is extremely intense also because of it's size, even moonlight mode is too much for my eyes and will cause dots even if looked into at full daylight hours. I can say my version seems to have no abnormalities in the corona and a perfectly centered LED. Critical for the beautiful hotspot it has.
Although aware of the following before purchase, there are too problems I didn't anticipate from such a narrow beam, the beam is very narrow, with a tight hotspot of minimum range of 100 meters (the spill is wide enough to walk around with) > ; the unknown was; 1) the spot jiggles around like binoculars and is tough to keep centered on a target, and ; 2) I rarely use the turbo thus, maybe, the normal version with twice the lumens and half the intensity makes more sense for most people/situations.

But, I stand by that for me, and hobby purchases, this is an incredible light.

 

[eekazum]

I also rarely use turbo in any pf my lights but it's good to know its available if you need it

As for the usefulness of a pencil beam, I can say if you work in say a warehouse, the pencil-beam is more useful than a laser since you can use it to point AND to read small labels on boxes over 30' above you. Lighting up the entire surrounding environment makes it harder to read due to glare so having a 6" or foot-long hotspot really isolates what you want to see/read. Just my opinion on how I use my lights.

 

[Newlumen]

Hey I like t21 host over t30 regardless of the reflector. That's my opinion.

 

[MAD777]

I have the XPG2 version which I love, but that's as small a hot spot as I am willing to go. Even that is useful only past 300 meters.
As my flashaholic nature matures, I'm into the largest hot spots possible while maintaining good throw. My TN40Svn for example.