Review: TrustFire TR-J18 (7 XM-L T6, 2 or 3 x 18650 / 26650)

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

Summary:


Pros:

• Lots of light with a reasonable amount of throw.
• Well Spaced H-M-L modes.
• Excellent machining, smooth threads even when dry.
• Great quality all around.
• Incredibly mod friendly.
• Tailstands very well for a long tube with a big head.
• Last Mode memory after approximately 1.5 seconds in the off position.
• Versatility with either two or three 18650 or 26650 cells.
• The annodization is quite nice; I foolishly placed it in my hoodie pocket (3ft high roughly) while taking comparison beamshots and it plummeted to the frozen rock solid earth and came out with a slight mark that vanished (no visible marks) after wiping it off a few times.

Cons:

• Nowhere near the stated 8000 lumens. My estimate is around 3000.
• Tailcap clicky is a bit awkward on a long light.
• Extension tube machining doesn't aesthetically match the normal battery tube.
• 18650 Spacer inserts are slightly too short and will cause some noise sliding back and forth.
• Included flashlight holster is a bit snug and would inhibit a 'quick draw.'
• Flattop cells will need a solder blob to function.

Pictures:
It arrived in a plain cardboard box. It was wrapped in a few layers of 1/2 inch bubble wrap.

Inside the box is a 2x 18650 spacer, 1x 18650 spacer, an extension tube, and a thick plastic trustfire bag (Also came with a holster that is shown later)...

And the flashlight, of course!

With my longest cells (69.7mm), the tailcap has to be just slightly loosened. I imagine with some of the longer 26650 cells length will likely be an issue with 3 cells, perhaps not with 2 though.

Here is the holster first with the extension, then without, and then showing the back side.

Logo on the opposite side.

Close up

Size Comparison

Here we have the SRK, TR-J18 and a standard 3D Maglite.

SRK, Defiant 3Up from O-L, TR-J18 with extension, Maglite 3D, DST 3C

Showing the Head sizes / Emitter setup with that beautiful 7 emitter TR-J18 in the center.
SRK, Defiant 3Up from O-L, TR-J18, Maglite 3D, DST 3C

BreakDown

Head, 2x tube, 1x extension, tailcap.

Nice, clean, and smooth threads, single O-ring on every threaded connection.

Above view of the head and tailcap both fully assembled.

Bottom of the tailcap. Firm Omten clicky, tailstands very well for such a tall light.

Disassembled tailcap. Definitely some resistance issues here, but all easily fixable if one were so inclined. Very nice threads makes it extremely easy to take apart and reassemble.

Partial head breakdown. Again, very nice threads making everything easily accessible. First light I've taken apart that came stock with good quality wire with ample thickness and pliability. Very simple to mod.

Opposite side of the driver.

Looking inside the driver cavity you can see the head is solid, a great feature I love to see in a flashlight. 2 Screws hold the reflector down on top of the emitters.

The screws stay in the emitter shelf when unscrewed from the reflector so there is no fumbling about with loose screws.
Here the head is further disassembled. The glass is held firmly in the bezel via the o-ring so there is no fumbling about with a piece of glass either.

Closeup of the beautiful smooth reflector. There are some blemishes on the flat parts, but these have no effect on the beam.

Here is the underside of the reflector.

And finally the 7 cree xm-l t6 emitters in series glued onto the emitter shelf.

Beamshots!


1/10, ISO 200, F4.0

TR-J18: H - M - L

SRK, Defiant 3Up from O-L, TR-J18

TR-J18: H : 1/10, 1/50, 1/200

SRK: H : 1/10, 1/50, 1/200

Defiant 3Up: H : 1/10, 1/50, 1/200

1", ISO 200, F4.0 Approximately 50 yards
SRK - Defiant 3Up - TR-J18

1", ISO 400, F4.0 Approximately 100 yards
SRK - Defiant 3Up - TR-J18

The focus on the last 2 series of pictures was on throw, the spill is more intense in the pictures than in real life, but the hotspot is near real life. The TR-J18 really forces a decent amount of lumens downrange even with the shallow reflector wells.



Conclusion:

The Trustfire TR-J18 is a very nice quality light with a lot of the features I look for in a flashlight, though it does have some flaws. If this is someone's first multi-led light they will likely be blinded by the light; however, if you already have a few 3/4/5 emitter lights you likely wont be impressed by the output. If you are into modding there is quite a lot of potential for this to be a real lumen launcher. With just a simple driver swap you should be quite a bit closer to the stated 8000 lumens.

Light Provided by Tmart for Review.

Here are the beamshots in gif form. It's much easier to see the comparison between the beam profiles.


Each light on High

~50 yard beams

~100 yard beams

The TR-J18 has a slightly larger hotspot, but throws a decent amount more than either of the other two lights. At the same time the TR-J18 also spills more light in a wider beam. You can also see the variations in tint between the lights, the SRK is a somewhat bluish cool white, the Defiant 3up is closer to neutral white, and the TR-J18 is a pure cool white (1A) tint.

Thanks for reading!

Really appreciate the review.

Any idea exactly what lumens the lo - med - hi levels are?


:thinking:

liam_995 said:

Really appreciate the review.

Any idea exactly what lumens the lo - med - hi levels are?


:thinking:

Click to expand...

I'm actually in the process of calibrating my PVC tube for lumen measurement. I'm hoping to have it finalized soon, just not really sure how long it's going to take me.