Klarus G20 XHP-70 review

hazard2036

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
134
Location
Sydney,Australia
Klarus G20 Review


Hey folks I hope all is well! I have had a bit of time writing for no apparent reason well it was only a week. The last review I done was around 2500 words so as you can imagine it takes some times to write them up. I need to be more specific I guess instead of adding my life story like I am currently doing lolz.
On the bright side i have a few really good reviews coming up very interesting lights to review right now. This light was sent to me by Gearbest they said they will hook us up with a good discount on all these lights i am reviewing. So I will leave links and coupon codes following when I receive them. Even if you do not buy maybe just troll me by clicking my links.
Klarus G20 $81 USD (link is external)
Coupon: LIG18OFF


Today we will be reviewing the new Klarus G20 this is the XHP70 version. If you ever see some one walking around Sydney with like 20 lights. Its just a normal day for me lol! I do not have much experience with Klarus as a brand but I do own the CH1 charger made by them. That charger has been in my EDC kit for a while its not perfect but it has a lot of good features.
So why chose this light to review? Looking at it online I was a bit meh but having the G20 in my hand it all makes sense now in a weird way. I am happy with the Klarus G20. Review done and dusted! I wish! Every one except me has like 100 XHP-70 lights right? My only other XHP70 light is the Thorfire S70. So that makes this light very unique in my collection. What stops me from buying more XHP70 flashlights? Nothing really except to me XHP-70 flashlights are big and heavy or the small ones and have bad run times. So In general high output but lower run times for an amount of light that is not needed that much? I am more of a practical person if I have to carry gear like my fishing equipment I may take 3 rods and my tackle box and a net and a chair plus extras. If I am on the boat its a tad easier I guess. On this note this is why I love headlamps so much. I would marry one drum roll please. Because its the light in my life!
I will be here all week thank you!
My two highest output lights see no love they would be the S70 and Solarstorm T4. I have a few massive lumen monsters coming up for review stay tuned.


The Klarus G20 takes care of these issue its small and compact and fairly light. I can have it in my pocket and my pants will not fall down lol. The run time on turbo is acceptable about the same as you would get from a higher powered XHP-70 light using two cells. I have thought about building my own XHP70 flashlight in an X6 body. But using small cells I will get like 7 minutes run time max. What use is that unless I want to show of? Think of it as having a big down stairs but only lasting like 1 minute sorry if I offend you!
Me and pants have a hard time getting together lol. One time I was like 14 going to school and I had boxers shorts on and didn't realize until half way to school that I wasn't wearing pants hahahaha. Moral of the story kids do not stay up late or you will end out like me looking like a goof! I stayed up playing red alert.

The Klarus G20 is the complete package for a tiny monster it ticks all the boxes to be in this category. Coming in at a whopping 3000 lumen on turbo mode and only being just a tad bigger then a standard 18650 flashlight. Think of it as one and half times the size of a S2+ in width. What more can you ask for? If you EDC a convoy C8 you may find this light easier to carry then the C8. The G20 with the included 26650 weights an amazing 230 grams on my scale. A fully loaded EE X6 comes in at 176 grams and a fully loaded C8 is 193 grams. The G20 is 131 grams without the battery and is 124mm (12.4cm) the bezel width is 36mm (3.6cm) and the G20 body width is 34mm (3.4cm). The G20 is the same length as the BLF A6 and the BLF A6 is 24mm (2.4cm) in width.So you can see it is still classified as a EDC flashlight. Would you believe me if I said it even has a proper lockout feature just WOW. Klarus has an awesome lockout system probably the best one I have ever seen.



The Klarus G20 has an USB inbuilt charger which is protected from water by the rubber boot that sits on top of the USB charging port. So the G20 still has an IPX rating of 8 it is good for 2 meters underwater and 1 meter drop resistant. The built in USB charging port on the G20 is very unique it is able to charge the included 5000mah 26650 at a charging rate of 2000mah. This means your charging time will be cut in half compared to most chargers.
Also means the G20 will make an excellent gift for a none flashaholic. Usually I would not use the included USB charging port on a flashlight except to test the light. This time I have been through 4 charge cycles and so far the included charger has come up good every time. The termination is spot on at 4.209 volts close enough to 4.21 volts. The included charger is hard to beat being able to charge a cell at twice the rate compared to my other chargers.
I know most people only have charger that at max can charge at one amp hour. This built in high current charger by itself is a stand out feature. Just make sure your USB cable can actually do 2amps not all the cables can! Klarus include a 2amp charging cable in the package.
Front spring gold plated



Tail cap spring is massive and gold plated.

The package you get with this light is great. You get every thing you to use the G20 straight out of the box.
Which includes the following.

  • Klarus G20 flashlight

  • Klarus 26650 5000mah battery

  • Klarus branded lanyard

  • Klarus branded Sheath

  • None branded USB cable

  • Instruction manual

  • Random Klarus design booklet

  • Spare O-ring

When you first go to use the G20 the battery has a plastic tab over the positive terminal. So you need to remove that and also the battery comes delivered at 3.7 volts some thing they are doing now for shipping purposes? Let me know what voltage your batteries arrive at? I think for storage purposes this the perfect voltage but it will need some charging first before use or else the light will be dimmer then its max output. Its easy enough to charge the battery just plug the USB cable in the light. Then depending on the voltage the side switch will be red until the battery is fully charged then once fully charged the light will be green to show the charge cycle has finished. Cut of voltage on my G20 is 4.21 volts so a perfect charge.

The Klarus G20 uses a Cree XHP-70 to get the massive amount of light out the front. The XHP-70 is a 4 die LED so you are getting 4 single LEDs joined together. Which is why this LED can output the massive amount of light. The tint of the G20 appears to be almost neutral white this could be for a few reason. The G20 has an orange peel textured reflector this could be one reason why the tint doesn't look so cold. Klarus doesn't say what bin tint is used in the G20 but the LED is a N4 XHP-70. The reflector is coupled with a tough mineral glass anti reflection lens. The lens is AR coated in other words they make it sounds so fancy. The LED and the other components are protected from heat by the Klarus thermal management system. This system is a basic thermal management system it measures the temp and keep on stepping down till the light is cool enough to run safely. The G20 does get hot while being used on turbo but nothing to extreme. The (ITS) thermal management system used by Klarus works well. The light doesn't have to much mass which is a good and a bad thing. Its great because you can EDC the light but bad for the cooling of the light. Now I am just finding a reason to pick on the light. Cooling vs size is a battle you can never win!

Lets talk about the output of the G20. The max output of the Klarus G20 is 3000 lumen the beam is super floody so the light is useable up to a certain distance only. I would say what Klarus says is right! Up to about 150 meters but by then the light is really spread out. Think of the beam on this light to be similar to using TIR optics. On my ceiling bounce test this light got 160 lux and the BLF A6 gets about 88 Lux. Which is where I would expect this light to be around 3000 lumen. The Thorfire S70 gets 240 lux on the same test that light is closer to 4500 lumen. The BLF A6 is a monster light! If I was to compare the beam profiles of the BLF A6 and the G20 I would say the G20 is much more floody.
!
Outputs for the Klarus G20 (these are the figures from klarus done with the included 26650)

  • Turbo mode: 3000 lumen @ 45 minutes

  • High mode: 650 lumen @ 4 hour 30 min

  • Medium mode: 160 lumen @ 19 hours

  • Low mode: 15 lumen @ 150 hours

  • Strobe mode: 3000 lumen @ 1 hour 30 min ( bound to make any one blind lol)

  • SOS mode: 160 lumen @ 51 hours

Usually I will have a cry right about now! Some one call the wambulance! All because I do not like the mode spacing. But these modes are good. This light has really won me over its like Klarus read my mind when making the G20. I do think all the modes could be bumped up to a higher level maybe make high mode 1000 lumen officially. It appears to be brighter then 650 lumen maybe more towards 850 lumen side. But overall I think these modes hit the nail on head. You have a good mix between EDC modes and then you have a monster emergency mode. Which can be accessed by simply holding one of the two switches down. That gives you momentary turbo mode. The light will run in turbo until you stop holding the switch. You can also access turbo from the normal menu.
You get instant access to low mode by simply pressing the real button quickly. If you chose to use the front switch you get last used memory mode. The light will turn on using the last setting you used.
True to a EDC flashlight you get a proper lockout mode! Press and hold both switches at the same time and the light will blink twice. This means lockout mode is working takes 5 seconds to activate you will also see the light in the button blink. Then to unlock the lockout mode you need to quickly press either button 3 times fast. I think this is a brilliant system this means you can accidentally hold the button down and the light will not turn on.

The Kalurs G20 has a great finish overall the anodizing is perfect and the threads are cut prefect. They will need some extra lubing the light came with no mark or scratches on it. I did drop mine from 1.5 meters high. I was testing the Knurling showing my gf that it works good lol. It is gripy and is cut very well. I was doing the trick where the light is between a finger and my thumb and I apply force. I cant be only one that does this right?
Its made out of the usual hard anodizing type 3. On another note I really like the USB cover its big and thick this light should have no problems keeping out water. The dual switch design looks awesome not many lights have dual switches so when you buy one that does it makes you feel warm inside. The G20 is topped of with a Stainless steel bezel which completes the light overall.

In summary this light gets top honors in my book. It is one of the most well rounded flashlight I have ever laid my hands on. Every thing is top quality and the research Klarus done while making the G20 shows with all the great features and the super build quality.

Today's picture are taken at bunkers that where made to protect Sydney in world war 2. Its great to see that national parks just took over the headland and they have already locked us out! Thanks!


This was my dog favorite spot we found her not to far from here.

Thanks for taking the time to read

Regards Chris
 

narmattaru

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
252
Location
Russia
skipped whole text (as there are already some other reviews) for final photos, they are ok thanx for work on this review.
 
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