Best 18650 only light: EagleTac T10L or Dark Tort ?

Which one is the better choice?

Valmet62

The eagletac has better regulation and longer runtime. The Darktort has a strobe mode, which I have no use for. Other than that, they are very similar. Both have type III anodizing, and are Ipx-8 waterproof (the highest level of waterproofness).
I personally have the T10L, but I did not know about the darktort when I was making my decision. Still, I am very pleased with it.

I've got an EagleTac T10L. no compliants! don't know about "darktort".

DarkTort has better throw and moon mode. Eagle-Tac is more efficiet especially on regular mode.

I have no Darktort, with T10L there are no problems, good Quality, but no Superthrower. The Throw is ok, so i think very good Universal Flashlight.

phantom23 said:

DarkTort has better throw and moon mode. Eagle-Tac is more efficiet especially on regular mode.

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Ouch I can't believe it is real... the Darktort thowrs 50% better than the Eagletac and the spill is no great difference. This light must be bright..

The spill may be brighter, but it might not be as wide. Since the darktort is advertised as 225 lumens, I can't imagine it being more than that (not many companies underrate their lumens these days). The T10L is rated at 255, and apparently their lumens claims are pretty accurate (the T10C2 is apparently 270 lumens). I would estimate that the T10L puts out more light overall.

Even if it doesn't put out more light fully charged, it has near flat regulation, while the darktort does not, which means that it will eventually put out more lumens as the batteries are depleted in each light. Of course, the eye won't be able to tell a difference anyways.

My vote goes for the T10L, which I own. The level of build quality is surprisingly high, for any flashlight, and the efficiency is close to unrivaled. The DarkTort does have more throw... but that does not mean it is brighter. richardcpf, what you're not thinking about is hotspot size - the darktort's is much smaller. The DarkTort also has poorer regulation and less efficiency, and besides, do you want to buy from somebody who posts completely BS specs?

If you want more throw it isn't hard to beat the DarkTort. The Dereelight CL1H, JETBeam JET-III Pro and Pro Ultra, Olight M20, and Fenix TK11 all use 18650 batteries and have more throw at around the same size flashlight. And if you're willing to buy a little bit bigger you can get over three times the DarkTort's throw. The T10L isn't much of a thrower, but does put out around the same amount of light.

richardcpf said:

Ouch I can't believe it is real... the Darktort thowrs 50% better than the Eagletac and the spill is no great difference. This light must be bright..

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I meant regular mode, not high T10L is too bright on "low" to call it low And it has brighter both spot and spill, and runs 3hrs longer.

I suppose they use "low" as a relative term, as it IS in fact "low" when compared to the "high" mode.

I'm thinking of an upgrade to single 18650 EDC and still looking. This thread raises these questions:

How do the throw and spill of the T10L compare to Fenix L2D Q5? I'd appreciate a bit more throw than I've got now, narrower spill wouldn't hurt either.

Is EagleTac planning an R2 version of the T10L?


Thanks!

Another EagleTac T10L owner here :wave: Like the others have said, it's a very nice light with top-notch regulation, exceptional brightness, and a good "all-around" beam. Compared with your Fenix, the T10L will out-throw it and beat it down in overall output. As an added bonus, mine also has a very nice neutral white tint.

Valmet62 said:

Which one is the better choice?

Valmet62

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Dude, forget that "Dork Tort", just go and get the Eagle 10L. It's tried and proven already.

An R2 version of the T10L would probably not make any difference. It already puts out more light than basically any other Q5 light (probably around 240-250 lumens out the front), so switching to an R2 would not have enough benefit to be cost effective.

My T10L also has a very nice neutral white tint. I think they are all this way; there doesn't seem to be a lottery at all on tints.

Now if it just had a smooth reflector, the T10L could put out a fair amount of throw.

How about modding the T10L? Different reflectors? What about putting in an MC-E in 4P? No throw, but imagine the highly efficient wall of light that would result, running on only ~280? mA per chip (if reasonably balanced)!!! You'd probably have about 390 emitter lumens!!! You could probably use just about any WC and still have the tint not be too purple!!!

Fenix TK11 R2
Runs regulated with 18650, 2xCR123 and 2xRCR123. Has slightly longer runtime than EagleTac and DarkTort. Hard to beat :naughty:

jirik_cz said:

Fenix TK11 R2
Runs regulated with 18650, 2xCR123 and 2xRCR123. Has slightly longer runtime than EagleTac and DarkTort. Hard to beat :naughty:

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It runs regulated with a single 18650? I had heard there were issues with that. If true, I would probably prefer the TK11 as it has more throw.

TK11 Q5 wasn't regulated. But I've measured runtimes of two TK11 R2 and both were regulated with 18650 battery.

jirik_cz said:

TK11 Q5 wasn't regulated. But I've measured runtimes of two TK11 R2 and both were regulated with 18650 battery.

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Thats great that its well regulated now! Thanks for runtime graphs. :thumbsup:

The EagleTac T10L is ugly, does that count? hehehe.

I'd say "how about dereelight" but I haven't been able to find runtime graphs on any of their latest drop-ins.

As for the efficiency of the DarkTort, it has a cut off where it drops in to moon mode for an indeterminate amount of time, so you'll never have to worry about the light just dropping off the edge of it's regulation curve and leaving you completely in the dark. So who knows how efficient it really is? As well it's an upgradable light, unfortunately there's no variety in drop-ins at the moment. As a minus, I find the DarkTort is too long and head-heavy. And the ergonomics suck a bit, but they seem to suck on all 18650 lights.

This is definitely a question that should be asked again in a month or two, see where DarkTort is at that point.