Joe Talmadge
Flashlight Enthusiast
Like most of you, I love to think -- and usually, overthink -- my gear choices. Frankly, I love my lights just for the face that you press a button and THEY MAKE LIGHT. But also live when I can actually justify a new purchase. What do you think of my choice and the reasons, and would you have bought differently? I knew I'd have to compromise some requirements to more closely match others, and here's where I ended up.
I was looking for an 18650 light, more E-series size than full 6p size, and it had to also be able to take 123s for reasons that will become apparent when I state my requirements. The three use cases are: EDC & utility use, tactical/defensive use, and earthquake/extended-blackout use.
EDC/utility: The way I use my light, I turn it on, then I turn it off again, and turn it on again -- though I can't guarantee that I won't turn it back on again very quickly. In other words, hard requirement that the button that turns the light on not be the one that changes modes. I'm fine with high, medium, low. Once I'm in a mode I tend to stay there, so I have some patience for the UI beyond this. Once I"m done with EDC use, I always reset the light to high for....
Tactical/defensive use, with or without a handgun: Simple requirement - when I push the on button, which must be rear-mounted, it must come on in high, and if it's a clicky, it must be a forward-clicky so I can have a momentary mode. Extra points for instant access to strobe, but not required. Light must have a bright center but still leave no hiding spots in a good size room or hallway, and bright enough to light up the entire yard.
Earthquake/blackout: Because there's a good chance that I'll be, say, out in the city, possibly without spare batteries, possibly without the ability to get home for a while, I've been thinking an extended-runtime low would be useful. A good low-low lets me run the light a lot, navigate at night, not attract too much attention, etc.
I winnowed the lights under consideration to Klarus XT2C, Fenix PD32 UE, and Thrunite TN12.
I ended up picking the Thrunite, despite the fact that it has, by far, the most cumbersome mode-changer UI. Its biggest advantage over both of its competitors is the moonlight mode whose runtime is measured in weeks, vs Klarus 20ish hours on low and Fenix about a week (though I wonder to what extent I've been fooled by different methods of measurement which just made Klarus artifically bad, or if Klarus runtime on low is really so much less efficient). In retrospect, Fenix's runtime on low is probably sufficient, and the button UI seems so much better than head-twisting. The Klarus has the ultimate tactical UI, but with 40% less brightness and such little runtime on low, I regrettably ruled it out. There were a number of other really interesting lights I didn't look at closely enough, like the Niteye MSC20, though its UI seems like it could be over-engineered.
I've happy with the TN12, especially its performance on high. The head twist UI in general, and the fact that sometimes I twist and the mode doesn't change, is a little bit of an annoyance... I can get very curmudgeonly about these types of things, so it remains to be seen whether I stick with it long-term
I was looking for an 18650 light, more E-series size than full 6p size, and it had to also be able to take 123s for reasons that will become apparent when I state my requirements. The three use cases are: EDC & utility use, tactical/defensive use, and earthquake/extended-blackout use.
EDC/utility: The way I use my light, I turn it on, then I turn it off again, and turn it on again -- though I can't guarantee that I won't turn it back on again very quickly. In other words, hard requirement that the button that turns the light on not be the one that changes modes. I'm fine with high, medium, low. Once I'm in a mode I tend to stay there, so I have some patience for the UI beyond this. Once I"m done with EDC use, I always reset the light to high for....
Tactical/defensive use, with or without a handgun: Simple requirement - when I push the on button, which must be rear-mounted, it must come on in high, and if it's a clicky, it must be a forward-clicky so I can have a momentary mode. Extra points for instant access to strobe, but not required. Light must have a bright center but still leave no hiding spots in a good size room or hallway, and bright enough to light up the entire yard.
Earthquake/blackout: Because there's a good chance that I'll be, say, out in the city, possibly without spare batteries, possibly without the ability to get home for a while, I've been thinking an extended-runtime low would be useful. A good low-low lets me run the light a lot, navigate at night, not attract too much attention, etc.
I winnowed the lights under consideration to Klarus XT2C, Fenix PD32 UE, and Thrunite TN12.
I ended up picking the Thrunite, despite the fact that it has, by far, the most cumbersome mode-changer UI. Its biggest advantage over both of its competitors is the moonlight mode whose runtime is measured in weeks, vs Klarus 20ish hours on low and Fenix about a week (though I wonder to what extent I've been fooled by different methods of measurement which just made Klarus artifically bad, or if Klarus runtime on low is really so much less efficient). In retrospect, Fenix's runtime on low is probably sufficient, and the button UI seems so much better than head-twisting. The Klarus has the ultimate tactical UI, but with 40% less brightness and such little runtime on low, I regrettably ruled it out. There were a number of other really interesting lights I didn't look at closely enough, like the Niteye MSC20, though its UI seems like it could be over-engineered.
I've happy with the TN12, especially its performance on high. The head twist UI in general, and the fact that sometimes I twist and the mode doesn't change, is a little bit of an annoyance... I can get very curmudgeonly about these types of things, so it remains to be seen whether I stick with it long-term
