Hi Guys.
I've been reading what the web has posted on the TM16 to see what others have had to say on the TM16. This is what I posted on my experience with the TM16 on Amazon. Hope it helps those who want a personal opinion of the TM16. Wishing all well.
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I received the TM16 this afternoon and tonight, took it outback and came away from the experience with a huge, ear-to-ear grin. This is the flashlight we've all wanted since childhood.
First things first. For the price ($200.00), besides the flashlight, the buyer receives two empty plastic 18650 boxes that are each designed to hold a pair of 18650s. The buyer also receives a light duty lanyard, a couple of extra "O" rings for the end cap and an instruction book. No belt carrying case was included. Bummer but I don't think this was an omission or oversight as the Nitecore EC4 has a belt case included.
Compared to flashlights of six to eight years ago, this is a tiny, compact searchlight. The head is 3.5" wide and 2.5" tall. The rest of the light consists of a handle (battery tube) that is 4.5" long and 2.125" wide. The handle fits an average man's hand well. My hand is neither large or small so I consider my hand to be an average size hand. With batteries installed, using a postal scale, the TM16 weighed 24.7oz or 700g.
The light should be used with high draw,
3400mAh, 18650 PROTECTED Li-ion (Panasonic inside) Orbtronic 3.7V Batteries. I use high draw 18650s purchased especially for use in this light. Pricey batteries? Yes. But at the same time, better batteries give a longer run-time and easily meets the amperage draw requirements (when on turbo) of a light like this so it's not always turning off.
For charging purposes, I recommend the
Nitecore D4 Charger. I've tried many chargers and in my opinion, the D4 charger is the best charger I've found. The display on the D4 automatically displays the amount of time the batteries have been on charge. Also, the display automatically toggles between charged voltage and shows how much current is being pumped into the battery at any one time and moment. By any stretch of the imagination, this is a sweet charger. I've had the charger long enough to say: I love it.
The TM16 is, despite its compact size, a potato masher size flashlight but it has a throw that makes everything in life better.
I took the TM16 into our backyard which backs up to BLM land, so there are no streetlights or houselights to ruin the dark. All one can see is the black of an unlit forest. For comparison purposes, I used a Nitecore EC4 (1000 lms) on turbo to fill the wilderness with light. Very nice. On Turbo, the EC4 is an excellent light but lights the fronts of trees, exposes close in shadows and doesn't get deep back into distant shadows. When one hits turbo on the TM16, everything lights up; trees, deep shadows, distant trunks.....quite literally, everything. The TM16 puts the term, "very nice," in the dirt. One comes away from the light comparison experience (EC4 vs TM16) knowing in the TM16, they have a "REAL" flashlight in their hands. Again, this is the flashlight we've all wanted since we were children and I'm not exaggerating.
The next lighting test was to go out front. In front, we have a long, straight, downhill stretch of road and the bottom of the hill is about a thousand feet away. When the TM16 turbo mode is used, literally, at this distance, in a pitch black night, one has enough light to be able to tell who is waving back at you. Yes, it's that powerful of a light and it's a light you'll be happy you purchased. It sure made me smile.
A final lighting test was to walk to a close by wilderness area and see how the TM16 performed as a search/spotlight in a forest setting. And the TM16 passed with flying colors. Yes, for me, walking a darkened trail is a spooky experience but the spill of the TM16 is about a hundred feet wide and the throw is as far as the road, trail, trees and underbrush allows. When walking with this light in front of you, on the darkest of nights, one doesn't feel they're walking in the dark. For evaluation purposes, everything close by, front and sides, is lit up. With freshly charged high output batteries, run time on turbo is about a full hour and the temperature of the light housing rises to warm, not hot.
The TM16 is a great search light which, at a hundred or more yards, is more than capable of easily filling in distant shadows when looking for somebody or something that one might consider important and due to well placed settings, the TM16 doubles as a walking flashlight with just enough light and throw to light up what's immediately in front of you yet with a couple clicks of the mode button, one immediately has enough light to flood a football field. For functionality, if one is needing much more than a football field of light, they're going have to purchase a much more powerful light and we all know they're coming.
Maybe a "quality" light with 16,000 lms?
If one is looking for a flashlight that can turn night into day at a hundred plus yards, the TM16 is a flashlight I feel very comfortable recommending. Out in the pitch black darkness of a nighttime forest, nothing is going creep up on the user (except from behind) as they'll easily see the reflection of a nighttime predator's eyes much further out than a thousand feet. Cougar in a tree? You'll easily see their glowing eyes and know not to go near that tree. Be it bear or human, at night, w/4000 lms, the strobe effect is certain to blind or confuse any attacker.
To paraphrase Paul Hogan's character, Mick Dundee; that's not a flashlight.......this is a flashlight. In my opinion, the TM16 is a beast and is a well priced beast that will definitely get one where they want to go.
