Thrunite TN31 Review (1xXM-L, 3x18650): RUNTIMES, VIDEO, THROW, BEAMSHOTS and more!

[selfbuilt]

when i recived my light in the mail and took it out to hold it it was really hot because its 100 degrees today outside. I hope that dident do any harm to my light.

Don't worry, it gets a lot hotter inside the light during use - outdoor temperatures shouldn't be an issue.

Whats everyones opionin on ultrafire 18650 batteries?

You might want to take that over to the battery sub-forum here, but my opinion is not high. There is too much variability between suppliers to know what you are actually getting (ultrafire isn't really a defined brand, more a loose standard that is heavily duplicated). There have been plenty of reports of used/pulled laptop batteries finding themselves under ultrafire-branded wrappers. I would recommend sticking with a quality brand name - again, the batteries subforum is a good place to look.

 

[Alex1234]

I had a chance to compare the throw to my deree ez900 aspheric at a tree 500 feet away and they were pretty much the same. its kinda hard to tell because its kinda werid comparing a low luman ashperic to a 1100 luman throw monster. the low output of the aspheric just makes it not as impressive at very long distances like the tn31. overall the tn31 is awesome and that huge deep reflector is perfect.

 

[HighlanderNorth]

A few questions:

1. I assume the manufacturers send you the vast majority of these lights, so do you get to keep these lights after you do the reviews? You always seem to have LOTS of lights lined up for comparison purposes! If the reviewer gets to keep the lights after the review is finished, then I'll volunteer to do these for a while, and even though I dont have any of the equipment to do any of the measurements with, and I dont even understand some of it, I guarantee that my reviews will be 5-10% as thorough as yours are, and they will contain 'some' accuracy mixed with lots of subjective opinion!

2. Why is the Olight SR-90 now being listed at between 1450-1700 lumens, when it has been advertised at 2200L for a long time now. Is it really losing that much brightness through the reflector and lens?

3. Of these smaller, shorter 3 or 4 18650 lights with 1 or 3 LED's, which would you personally prefer between them? For instance, the TN30, TN31, TM11, SWM T60CS, etc? I am currently trying to decide between these lights, and I've never seen any of them in person.

4. Do you generally prefer a floody or throwy(is that a word?) beam? Or do you like a happy medium between flood and throw?


Anyway, good review again....

 

[selfbuilt]

2. Why is the Olight SR-90 now being listed at between 1450-1700 lumens, when it has been advertised at 2200L for a long time now. Is it really losing that much brightness through the reflector and lens?

ANSI FL-1 standard was not in commonly in use when the SR90 launched, so manufacturers typically reported specs however they felt like it. The "2200 lumen" spec referred to theoretical maximum output of the emitter. Olight has subsequently adopted ANSI FL-1, and refers to the light as "1750 lumens" (which seems believable for recent ones).

Part of the confusion comes from the earlier batches of lights (like mine) which underperformed relative to the newer "true" 1750 lumen ANSI FL1 lights. There seems to be a bunch that were closer to the 1400 lumen level. This likely reflects the wide variability in a given Luminus output bin (i.e. they bin in ~20% wide increments), and a possible bin upgrade over time.

3. Of these smaller, shorter 3 or 4 18650 lights with 1 or 3 LED's, which would you personally prefer between them? ... 4. Do you generally prefer a floody or throwy(is that a word?) beam? Or do you like a happy medium between flood and throw?

Hard to answer - it really depends on the situation. In general terms, I tend to like relatively throwy lights with a diffuser option. That way you always have a choice.

But for all these 3x, 4x 18650 lights, the output and throw exceeds any specific needs I have. I typically recommend people choose on the basis of preferred interface and build.

 

[veedo]

maybe i missed it somewhere, but does anyone know how much current the led is pulling on turbo?

 

[selfbuilt]

maybe i missed it somewhere, but does anyone know how much current the led is pulling on turbo?

You didn't miss it - for that kind of measure, you need to use a bench-top power supply (which I don't have) and directly measure at the head. Check out HKJ's excellent review of this light for those measures.

 

[bigchelis]

This Thrunite TN31 is really impressive.

I got to test a sample and side by side with SR90 domeless which net me 200K lux the sample we had gave us 115K lux. The Stanley XM-L fatmax with 3A current to LED net 77K lux.

Awesome overall brightness and really great thrower.

bigC

 

[selfbuilt]

This Thrunite TN31 is really impressive. ... the sample we had gave us 115K lux.

That result is quite believable. Beginning last month, I've started providing new summary tables that reflect a new measuring protocol - all my Peak Intensity/Beam Distance measures are now done with a NIST-certified Extech EA31 lightmeter. See that thread for more info, but you will able to tell the new tables because they have orange highlights for the new throw measures.

Here is how my TN31 compares to the competition:

As you can see, a very comparable ~113K lux @1m equivalent. :thumbsup:

I'm not planning to go back and revise all the old reviews (well, except this one ), but the new numbers will show up all in all new reviews going forward.

 

[DanM]

Thank you Selfbuilt I love your reviews and your charts.

Has anyone tested the Thrunite NT31's throw at any of the reduced outputs.
For example would the NT31 at 620 lumens be close in throw to the lets say the Catapult V3 or the Sunwayman T40CS.
The reason I ask is that as lumens rise with these new lights many can only maintain there high output for a shot time
before dropping down a level.

 

[Landshark99]

Thanks for the review, ordered a TN31 yesterday, should be here tomorrow

 

[selfbuilt]

Has anyone tested the Thrunite NT31's throw at any of the reduced outputs.
For example would the NT31 at 620 lumens be close in throw to the lets say the Catapult V3 or the Sunwayman T40CS.

Sorry for missing this earlier. I just checked, I measured nearly 76,000 lux @1m equivalent with the NIST-meter on the ~620 lumen L5 of the TN31. So that makes it a better thrower than the Catapult or T40CS for roughly similar output.

 

[rustlerdudr987]

For anyone looking to buy the TN31 there is a new modded TN31 for Saabluster it has a lux rating of 240 lux!
http://www.onestopthrowshop.com/ThruNite-TN31-TN31.htm

 

[ma_sha1]

Wow,

the new NIST numbers match up my Extech EA30 meter perfectly. MY SR51 does 51K lux, always wondered why your old numbers of SR51 was so low, in the low 40K lux range. I can consider my EA30 meter indirectly NIST certified ?

I have a SR95 UT coming in, can't wait to measure it. Almost 200K lux with a big SBT die, yeah!

 

[DON KIDIK]

Good evening,i just wanted to say what a kewl review as usual and an awsome product.

Mostly also to say thanks for the information and attention to detail.I have read quite few of your reviews now and sorta feel like we are mates:wave:almost.Its great to have this forum as refrence,Very welldone sir.



I have a TN31 on order,Cant wait now .


Have a goodn all

DON...

 

[DENGOH]

Is it my TN31 having issue as I found problems below seems like no one mention about it:
1.The hottest location is on the magnetic rotary switch. By looking at it, the LED is indeed sitting on the same level on the rotary switch. But then after using the light for long hours, the battery tube get quite warm. If I take out the battery at that time, the batteries are quite hot. Temperature on the heat sink on the head seems to be not doing good job as they are much cooler.

2.The rotary switch has some play to it, it is not purely rotating when touching on it and rotate, seems to be a little bigger than ideal gaps between the rotary and body.

This is very good flashlight. Just want to make sure is this something Thrunite should improve for their future flashlight. Or it is isolated mechanical problem or my batteries problems.

 

[xed888]

Re: Thrunite

There's a slight play in my TN30 so it's normal

 

[rednek]

I just revived my TN31 that i ordered a week ago. it looks like a real cool light the only problem is i cant find anyone locally that has 18650 batteries?

Any suggestions on were to order from? :shrug:

 

[Yourfun2]

I bought mine from Goinggear.com, Eagletac 3100 mah.

 

[biglights]

I bought mine from Goinggear.com, Eagletac 3100 mah.

That is what I am using also, don't forget the discount code! I have never seen 18650 batteries in stores.

 

[rednek]

Of all the places I found 4 18650's at a yard-sale. Not the best place to pick up batteries but they will get me thru till I get some good ones.