Thrunite T01 short review

run4jc

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
3,794
Location
Sweet Home Alabama
Most of you are aware of Thrunite - pretty good stuff. I've been a fan of the little T01 forever. Still have a pretty good supply of the firefly/60 lumen and 3/60 lumen lights - unboxed - that I bought years ago. Great for gifts, SHTF, whatever.

Got an email from their store informing that the T01, 125 lumen single level was on sale for $6.95. In typical flashaholic fashion, I couldn't resist and ordered 3 in XPG2 NEUTRAL (yay!!) tint. With standard shipping I got 'em in 2 days.

Seems as though my search for the illusive holy grail of key ring lights is never ending. Phantom Ghost/Niteeye MINI-1; Fenix E01; Fenix UC1; Nitecore Tube; Surefire Sidekick; on and on. Probably never will be satisfied.

But the simple 'honesty' (?) of a light like an E01 or this T01 makes it appealing. Drop in a AAA cell, fire it up and off you go. We all know of the cockroach survivability of the E01, and I don't believe this T01 has that same robustness, but for $6.95, I don't really care.

So let's have a few photos and a simple run time test.

What do you get for $6.95? (By the way, the regular price is $9.95 and it's a pretty nice deal at that)

Packed in a tin box inside a cardboard sleeve:


Open up to find more paperwork than expected:


Packed nicely in foam and includes a lobster claw key ring attachment and extra o-ring:






While I'm personally not a huge fan of the XPG2 Neutral, I like it better than the cool XPG2. Compared to my favorite, the Nichia 219B, the tint is a bit orange/green looking. YMMV. Still, for $6.95 it's a decent tint and is easy on the eyes. Emitter is fairly centered for a cheap light (photo is taken at a slight angle):



What shocked me more than anything is the output - with a fresh Duracell Alkaline (I know, I know - normally there will be an Eneloop or an Energizer lithium) it turns on at 105 lumen. Considering the neutral lights are typically a bit lower in output than the cool variants, that's pretty darn good. The XPG2 is rated at 125. LOTS of good beam coming out of this pinky sized light.

So how long will it run? Video below... The result? You can watch it drop in output, but you have a decent amount of useable light for around 40 minutes. At 50 minutes the output is definitely 'firefly' at around .25 lumen...still useable in some situations.

After the battery recovers for a few minutes it'll fire back up at around half output, then drop off rapidly. Not going to take the time to milk the battery for all it's worth - at the end of the run it was showing .94V.

On the right is my iPhone with the time lapse app - the light is to the left - they are both in my gun safe so that the video would be captured in complete darkness



Finally, the video:

Started at around 5:29 and ended at around 6:20


So there you go...my thoughts on a Sunday morning about a neat little bargain.
 
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scout24

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 23, 2008
Messages
8,869
Location
Penn's Woods
Looks like a no-B.S. single mode light, bright enough to do a lot of things. Good for non-flashaholics, no UI instructions needed. On. Off. You can always make it dimmer if need be. Thanks for posting your thoughts, and the runtimes you got.
 

Javora

Enlightened
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Messages
224
It's the aluminum version with the same packaging as my Ti3 minus the clip. Same keychain to, speaking of which the links kept breaking on mine, almost lost the light because of it. Finally I removed the little clasp and threw away links, then I found a tiny key ring and attached the clasp and the light to it. Love my Ti3, just wish it didn't have the blinky/party mode.
 
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