Thrunite Catapult vs. Olight M20 - beamshots

Hi everyone! :thumbsup:

My Catapult arrived today, and I took some beamshots. I have an Olight M20 R2 for a year, and am very used to it. I guess most people around here have flashlights around 250 lumens, mid sized, in 2xCR123 or 1x18650 size.

For those who are thinking about upgrading to the bigger lights with MC-E, SST-50 or SST-90 emitters, here are some comparison shots.

I got the exposure time basing solely on how the picture looks compared to my naked eye. What you see in the pictures is what matches closely what I see with my eyes. EXIF information is in the files.

Distance is 100 meters, on a building one block away from my yard. Behind my yard tree there's a street lamp, don't misunderstand the light from around the first building as spill, it's not accurate. The comparison is more for throw.


Olight M20 - OP reflector



Olight M20 - SMO reflector



Catapult - OP reflector



Catapult - SMO reflector

As you can see, the M20 is dim next to the Cat. All your other lights will be, sadly :shrug:

Comments are welcome.

Thank you for the attention.

Nice quick comparo!

Can you see any clear greasy cooling fluid around the emitter? This issue seems to be quite prevalent with the Catapult at the moment. I just wonder what triggers the issue for some Catapult owners? Overheating? How long do you run your light for before it gets hot?

Nice pix.

I hope the folks in the building are understanding...

Did you have the Catapault in these shots with one or two 18650s?

I find that the Catapault is brighter and throwier than any other torch I have - and even with one cell in it - plus I prefer the 'pocketable' size of the single cell config.

It really is a great light.

Wow, nice beam on the Catapult SMO shot. Thanks, you're weakening my grip on my wallet.

Thanks for the beamshots!

It's much brighter than Olight N20. The question is how it compares to Fenix TK30/40? Because of the deep reflector I guess that the beam width has to be narrower with a brighter spill as a result. Do you have any TK30/40 available for comparison? It would be nice to see the comparison to a non-thrower.

Regards, Patric

Fusion_m8 said:

Nice quick comparo!

Can you see any clear greasy cooling fluid around the emitter? This issue seems to be quite prevalent with the Catapult at the moment. I just wonder what triggers the issue for some Catapult owners? Overheating? How long do you run your light for before it gets hot?

Click to expand...

Yes, when it arrived, the first thing I checked was the fluid. It was all around the emitter and circuit cap, and it had reached the reflector (see the pic on the other thread). I cleaned the fluid as best as I could and after a few hours of use it hasn't reappeared. Thrunite is also arranging with my dealer (www.goinggear.com) to send me a new SMO reflector. But the fluid on the reflector doesn't seem to affect the beam, because it's very clear.

Thanks for the input guys

Swedpat said:

Thanks for the beamshots!

It's much brighter than Olight N20. The question is how it compares to Fenix TK30/40? Because of the deep reflector I guess that the beam width has to be narrower with a brighter spill as a result. Do you have any TK30/40 available for comparison? It would be nice to see the comparison to a non-thrower.

Regards, Patric

Click to expand...

I don't have a TK30/40. But according to beamshots I've studied before, it would be almost equal to the Cat using the OP reflector.

Nyctophiliac said:

Nice pix.

I hope the folks in the building are understanding...

Did you have the Catapault in these shots with one or two 18650s?

I find that the Catapault is brighter and throwier than any other torch I have - and even with one cell in it - plus I prefer the 'pocketable' size of the single cell config.

It really is a great light.

Click to expand...

Actually there was a window half open when I began the tests, and someone appeared and closed it right after... oops but the test was really quick.

I was using 2 x 18650. The single cell option is something I really like, it turns to be a small but powerful light.

Nice beamshots. My Catapult has not shown a trace of fluid leakage (knock on wood), and I've run it repeatedly on high for more than 10 minutes at a time. My car, on the other hand....

My guess is that the fluid leakage is not related to how much time it's turned on. Mine was in transit to my country for 15 days in the mail. When it left the store, I asked the seller to check the LED dome, and if it had any fluid on the reflector he would have seen it.

Most probably it flowed during shipping, because it was excess fluid. Maybe it depends on how much and what positions you handle and move the flashlight. Once the excess (if there's any) flows out and you clean it, there's no reason to happen again (knock on wood).

I have had my Catapult for about 2 weeks now, no signs of leakage. It is an impressive light.

Yay first CPF post!

Welcome to CPF OKWalker!

so how is the tint of the catapult? ive heard theres a yellowish, greenish tint, but from all comparsion beamshots ive seen it looks to have a cool tint i would actually prefer the warmer tint. especially for a light primarily used outdoors.

It's a bit greenish/yellowish, with a yellow corona around the hotspot, star shaped using the SMO reflector, but not symmetrical, a bit weird at close distances, but it gets a nice spill after 20 or 30 meters. At first you think: these artifacts are strange, the beam is not smooth like the reviewers said... but at longer ranges it turns out pretty good. At least it doesn't have rings.

The Olight is almost pure white compared to the Catapult, and my Nitecore D10 R2 is cooler.

I'll try to get the three of them on a white wall for tint comparison.