ThruNite Catapult SST-50 Thrower Review: Pics, Comparisons, Beamshots, and more

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I have been evaluating the one that csshih was given for testing, for the last 3 days. The beam is very beautiful, nice well defined hot spot. With the extension on it, the unit is too front heavy and somewhat difficult to operate the tailswitch in the overhand grip. The ridge of the tail cap so it can tail stand makes it difficult to operate that button.

I give it an A+ for beam and brightness, only with the extension on.
I give it an F for the user interface. Hate the strobe, especially the frequency. Not that I consider it effective strobing and annoying, just that its uselessly fast and annoying and meaningless for me on a light like this. It should be just on and off. Full power or nothing. The button should be easier to pulse on and off (stick out a little more or take away the sharp right angle ridge of the tailcap) so that if I want to pulse it on and off faster I can do that.

attempts to pulse it on and off quickly is impossible with the changing of modes.

Since its very front heavy this would not be a first choice flashlight for me to carry or use despite the beautiful beam.

Now if it had a mid body button which would change the entire dynamic of how it is held and used and a single on/off switch that would change everything and make it much easier to use, better than a 3 C or larger maglite and would be very handy to have.
 
Hey Gary,
the ui is different from my sample model.. It is now a 3 mode with no strobing, etc.
Thrunite took suggestions from reviewers. The newest model is also slightly brighter
 
I would love to know output lumens. I am on the fence because I think my L950 has similar output in a similar package, despite beam pattern differences.
 
MattK said:
Bring up you're L950 and test it side by side with a Catapult. 🙂
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Ooooh, tempting! How are ya, Matt? Haven't seen you in quite awhile it seems. Our hour chats always turned into 4! Good stuff. Hope all is well with you and your family!

On topic, I am a bit confused by seemingly conflicting posts elsewhere about which has greater lumen output at 2.8 - 3A power (assuming comparable forward voltages), the SST-50 vs P7/MCE. Do you have a definitive answer?

How do you like the Catapult vs some of the other lights you carry?
 
csshih said:
Hey Gary,
the ui is different from my sample model.. It is now a 3 mode with no strobing, etc.
Thrunite took suggestions from reviewers. The newest model is also slightly brighter
Click to expand...

Thanks for reminding me. I thought you said this one had the newer interface. Still want to voice my opinion on how much I hate strobe as an alternate on the same switch as full power on.

Much rather prefer rotating collar for hi to low functions and just on and off with the button on any light.


I would say that the Thrunight is brighter than the Solarforce 900 series with a better focused tighter beam. Even if they were the exact same total lumens this one would have the tighter hotspot and appear brighter I do believe.
 
Phaserburn said:
Ooooh, tempting! How are ya, Matt? Haven't seen you in quite awhile it seems. Our hour chats always turned into 4! Good stuff. Hope all is well with you and your family!

On topic, I am a bit confused by seemingly conflicting posts elsewhere about which has greater lumen output at 2.8 - 3A power (assuming comparable forward voltages), the SST-50 vs P7/MCE. Do you have a definitive answer?

How do you like the Catapult vs some of the other lights you carry?
Click to expand...

Doing well - just really busy in the lead up the Xmas!

I don't have a definitive answer on SST-50 / P7 / MC-E being brightest at a given input but the brightest would be the SST-50 or a high bin MC-E because SSC only gets Cree's 'large production' top bin and enthusiast flashlights are usually made from bins that aren't available in the QTY SSC would need to build their own product from.

Here's some extrapolations from jtr1962's excellent (epic) white led testing thread:
Seoul Semiconductor P7 Bin C
2.8A/3.59V =10.052W 765.3L
3.2A/3.64V = 11.648W 842.56L

Cree MC-E bin K tint 4A
.8A/13.04V = 10.432W 750.41L
.9A/13.4V = 11.826W 802L

Luminus Phlatlight SST-90
3A/3.46 = 10.38W 872.36L

I like the Catapult alot - it's the first large/multi die thrower we've gotten, it's incredibly bright and it's very well made. I'm a fan!
 
I checked both vendors web sites and the Thrunight's. It still has strobe according to all three sites. This is the new UI:

"The Catapult has four output levels: High, Medium, Low, and Strobe. To cycle through the modes, just quickly half-press the tail switch from the off position. Being a maximum output light, there is no memory mode... it always comes on in high, ready for action! Of course you can always quickly select any of the other modes at startup by half-pressing the switch as mentioned above. "

Are you certain there is no strobe anymore?

BTW Thanks for the great review. I might well be getting on of these, but I need the strobe for my particular application, so I want know for sure if it has the strobe or not.
 
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strobe = :sick2: :ohgeez: :thumbsdow 🤢 😡 :shakehead :barf::dedhorse:

So that makes it have 3 out of 4 modes I don't want.
 
I have the newer one and like it a lot. Th strobe i could do with out but i can deal with it. The only nit pick i have is without the extension tube on, med mode looks exactly the same as high.
 
MattK said:
Since it comes on to high you never have to USE lower output levels or strobe though...
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Excellent point. While I prefer low-mid-high i'll consent that a mega thrower, like this sst-50 based 'catapult' start on high.
 
Niteowl said:
Couldn't agree more. Unfortunately multi-mode seems to rule the day.:shakehead
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Not in my house they don't. My Wildcat is on and off. If I want low I twist the Bezel. My Maglite with Nailbender MC-e is on and off. My wallet still does what I say and I ain't buying none of these multimode lights. Most of my lights are on and off. I have one Fenix P2D that is multimode, not planning on buying any more.
 
I don't see the issue here. You turn it on, it's on high. No memory so it ALWAYS starts on high. You don't have to use other levels/modes.

Multi-modes are ruling the day because the vast increases in LED capability - when your typical LED maxxed out at 80L you needed all the power you could get. Now that it's easy to make a 225L flashlight multiple output levels make a lot more sense so that users can balance their light needs with their runtime requirements.
 
MattK said:
I don't see the issue here. You turn it on, it's on high. No memory so it ALWAYS starts on high. You don't have to use other levels/modes.

Multi-modes are ruling the day because the vast increases in LED capability - when your typical LED maxxed out at 80L you needed all the power you could get. Now that it's easy to make a 225L flashlight multiple output levels make a lot more sense so that users can balance their light needs with their runtime requirements.
Click to expand...

The problem is I can't use it for momentary on and off because it cycles through modes. It only starts on high if you wait the appropriate length of time between clicks. I don't want any flashlight to dictate to me how long I have to wait to press it to keep it in high mode. If I do a momentary on/off and then 1 second later I choose to do it again, I don't want it coming on medium, then low, then strobe. Which this light does.

If a multifunction light has 4 modes then you only have a 1 in 4 chance of getting the mode you want for any given press of the button. I don't buy those kind of lights period.

I liked the Tiablo A10 in that it had 2 completely set of tail switches. You can put in the one you choose. One was a simple full power on and off and the other one had multimodes. I took that one out and put in the single mode switch only and never looked back.

When the marketing people realize that there will always be guys like me (and lots of us) who want what we want and don't compromise, then maybe they will offer lights like this with 2 tailcaps or the option of one or the other tailcap. Or better yet. The tail cap version can be multimode and a mid body button version that's just on and off for us stubborn guys who don't care to buy a 700 lumen light so we can turn it down to 70 lumens.
 
MrGman said:
When the marketing people realize that there will always be guys like me (and lots of us) who want what we want and don't compromise, then maybe they will offer lights like this with 2 tailcaps or the option of one or the other tailcap. Or better yet. The tail cap version can be multimode and a mid body button version that's just on and off for us stubborn guys who don't care to buy a 700 lumen light so we can turn it down to 70 lumens.
Click to expand...

+1 for my high output lights. For some others a multi-mode WITHOUT STROBES are also nice.
 
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