A while back I made an offer to "Banggood" to write a review for a flashlight for them and after a few exchanges of email I was left thinking I wasn't wanted. Out of the blue I got an e-mail asking me if I'd still like to review a product for them and a matter of days later this Klarus XT12GT arrived. I think I might be one of the first with one in my possession as I've seen no reviews of it online nor have I seen many comments apart from one person who managed to get hold of a very early release.
I've only had the flashlight in my hands for ~90minutes and in that time I've snapped a few photos and I've made my mind up on the light already. Its awesome.
Unpacking the parcel. The light was in a grey plastic bag with my address on and inside that bag was the below. Not much wrapping but the box was fine and the light was perfect.
Parcel:
A couple of pictures of it in the box:
Top:
Bottom:
Once I'd taken these photos I thought "hey, I should do an unboxing video" but a few seconds later I was opening it up further like a kid at Christmas. Slide out of the cardboard and you see the torch and the magnetic connector thing. Initial thoughts was "this box is a bit empty" but a quick flip over revealed the manual, USB lead (which is a lovely quality cable) and a case. Inside the case is a lanyard and o-ring.
Top of box:
All items:
There is a little label on the belt clip that reminds you to take the plastic tabs out from the battery. They obviously ship with the tags in to stop them turning on in transport. I lifted the tag off and grab the battery out.
Battery in tube:
Close up of battery:
I then put the battery into the battery charger to check its voltage. It's 3.49v and stone cold. The light was in transport for a while and the van was clearly unheated as it was ~3c. I took a photo of it on the Opus BT-C3100 charger but it seems the photo I took was at the exact second the charger flashed the voltage and the slot for the battery was showing as blank.
I quickly grabbed the magnetic charger connector and light unit and noticed the difference in the tint of the torch to the light on the keychain thing. This is a very warm light - as if you've got a maglite solitare in your hand. The unit seems tough and the switch on the back is VERY secure. I bite my fingers so have no finger nails and I actually struggled to turn the light on.
Magnetic charger thing:
I plugged the usb lead into a USB power supply and noticed that it was charging the battery and drawing ~0.87/0.88A @5v.
USB Monitor:
I then thought I better check the Klarus's internal battery monitor so a short press on the mode switch and the magnetic contact ring lit up red meaning the battery was low.
Battery ring:
I took the battery out to finish charging on the Opus charger so I can have a proper play tonight with it. I doubt I'm going to get some proper beam shots from it tonight due to the fog that we've had in the evening but I'll get a shot in my street as an example and post it later this evening.
The reflector is impressive for the size of the light and the emitter seems well centered.
Reflector:
Emitter:
So, that's the pictures for now over with. Now onto my thoughts....
The light is a great size. It fits in my hand perfectly and feels well built. The threads are all silky smooth and there is no grab or drag on any of them. They're lubricated but not wet so when I touched them I wasn't left with goop on my fingers.
The magnetic contact for charging is awesome. I think this light might be my go to light from now on because I can keep the magnetic contact on my car keys so they are always with me (well, nearly) and then you can just top the batteries up using your micro usb cable from your laptop or car or power bank or whatever. I suppose you could even use this to charge up batteries that you've got in other lights that you've simply forgotten your dedicated charger for. The charge time shouldnt be too bad either because if it's drawing ~0.9A at 5v it should be giving a decent charge rate with losses and voltage conversion.
The user defined modes are funky. I admit I had to read the manual and I wont bother explaining it in here, just read the manual when you get one. You can basically have an "ON / OFF" switch and a momentary switch. Out of the box the momentary switch is set to strobe which is a crazy strobe. Brilliant for tactical stuff if you ever needed it but I honestly dont think I'd ever need it. I put mine onto the mode that allows momentary to be "LOW" and the main switch is "ON".
The beam seems brilliant. I've only tested it inside in the day time but the hotspot is a hotspot. It's a tight beam compared to some other lights and it certainly looks like it'll perform well in the wild.
I'll save the next post for myself for some beam shots tonight and I'll see what I can compare it against. I have a couple of dedicated throwers that I might step down to ~1000/1500 lumens to see what they can do. I might even bring out the TN31 and compare that to it considering its much bigger with a much bigger reflector it'll be interesting. I don't think the XT12GT will beat it but my gut feeling from the daytime tests says it shouldn't be humiliated.
Got a few hours before I can test it in the dark so any questions you've got before then let me know.
Size comparisons:
XT12GT in hand:
TM16GT in hand
XT12GT vs Thorfire C8
Collection....
Beamshots will continue tonight..........
If you want to grab yourself one of these please use the below:
https://goo.gl/8MKaHR
.......... actually, beamshots might appear here: http://budgetlightforum.com/node/51637
I've only had the flashlight in my hands for ~90minutes and in that time I've snapped a few photos and I've made my mind up on the light already. Its awesome.
Unpacking the parcel. The light was in a grey plastic bag with my address on and inside that bag was the below. Not much wrapping but the box was fine and the light was perfect.
Parcel:
A couple of pictures of it in the box:
Top:
Bottom:
Once I'd taken these photos I thought "hey, I should do an unboxing video" but a few seconds later I was opening it up further like a kid at Christmas. Slide out of the cardboard and you see the torch and the magnetic connector thing. Initial thoughts was "this box is a bit empty" but a quick flip over revealed the manual, USB lead (which is a lovely quality cable) and a case. Inside the case is a lanyard and o-ring.
Top of box:
All items:
There is a little label on the belt clip that reminds you to take the plastic tabs out from the battery. They obviously ship with the tags in to stop them turning on in transport. I lifted the tag off and grab the battery out.
Battery in tube:
Close up of battery:
I then put the battery into the battery charger to check its voltage. It's 3.49v and stone cold. The light was in transport for a while and the van was clearly unheated as it was ~3c. I took a photo of it on the Opus BT-C3100 charger but it seems the photo I took was at the exact second the charger flashed the voltage and the slot for the battery was showing as blank.
I quickly grabbed the magnetic charger connector and light unit and noticed the difference in the tint of the torch to the light on the keychain thing. This is a very warm light - as if you've got a maglite solitare in your hand. The unit seems tough and the switch on the back is VERY secure. I bite my fingers so have no finger nails and I actually struggled to turn the light on.
Magnetic charger thing:
I plugged the usb lead into a USB power supply and noticed that it was charging the battery and drawing ~0.87/0.88A @5v.
USB Monitor:
I then thought I better check the Klarus's internal battery monitor so a short press on the mode switch and the magnetic contact ring lit up red meaning the battery was low.
Battery ring:
I took the battery out to finish charging on the Opus charger so I can have a proper play tonight with it. I doubt I'm going to get some proper beam shots from it tonight due to the fog that we've had in the evening but I'll get a shot in my street as an example and post it later this evening.
The reflector is impressive for the size of the light and the emitter seems well centered.
Reflector:
Emitter:
So, that's the pictures for now over with. Now onto my thoughts....
The light is a great size. It fits in my hand perfectly and feels well built. The threads are all silky smooth and there is no grab or drag on any of them. They're lubricated but not wet so when I touched them I wasn't left with goop on my fingers.
The magnetic contact for charging is awesome. I think this light might be my go to light from now on because I can keep the magnetic contact on my car keys so they are always with me (well, nearly) and then you can just top the batteries up using your micro usb cable from your laptop or car or power bank or whatever. I suppose you could even use this to charge up batteries that you've got in other lights that you've simply forgotten your dedicated charger for. The charge time shouldnt be too bad either because if it's drawing ~0.9A at 5v it should be giving a decent charge rate with losses and voltage conversion.
The user defined modes are funky. I admit I had to read the manual and I wont bother explaining it in here, just read the manual when you get one. You can basically have an "ON / OFF" switch and a momentary switch. Out of the box the momentary switch is set to strobe which is a crazy strobe. Brilliant for tactical stuff if you ever needed it but I honestly dont think I'd ever need it. I put mine onto the mode that allows momentary to be "LOW" and the main switch is "ON".
The beam seems brilliant. I've only tested it inside in the day time but the hotspot is a hotspot. It's a tight beam compared to some other lights and it certainly looks like it'll perform well in the wild.
I'll save the next post for myself for some beam shots tonight and I'll see what I can compare it against. I have a couple of dedicated throwers that I might step down to ~1000/1500 lumens to see what they can do. I might even bring out the TN31 and compare that to it considering its much bigger with a much bigger reflector it'll be interesting. I don't think the XT12GT will beat it but my gut feeling from the daytime tests says it shouldn't be humiliated.
Got a few hours before I can test it in the dark so any questions you've got before then let me know.
Size comparisons:
XT12GT in hand:
TM16GT in hand
XT12GT vs Thorfire C8
Collection....
Beamshots will continue tonight..........
If you want to grab yourself one of these please use the below:
https://goo.gl/8MKaHR
.......... actually, beamshots might appear here: http://budgetlightforum.com/node/51637
