Thrunite TC12

Thrunite TC12 Review

The ThruNite TC12 v2 has been my everyday camping flashlight for the past year, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. It is a handheld, rechargeable flashlight, with 5 different brightness levels. Firefly mode (0.5 lumen) is great for looking through your bag in the middle of the night, without blinding everyone else in the tent. Turbo mode (1100 lumen) is almost certainly brighter than any other flashlight you have. Use it to light up a field, or any other open area. If you have trouble picturing how bright 1100 lumens are, and I know I do, picture a car headlight. A single headlight will range from 700-1200 lumens, so this tiny handheld light is just as bright as one of the headlights on your car.

The TC12 is a rugged, tactical flashlight. With an aluminum body construction, the TC12 feels incredibly hardy and durable. Impact resistant to 3 feet, and waterproof to 6 feet, this light will hold up to all the challenges you throw at it.

The light comes in two variants: TC12 CW and NW. CW stand for Cool White, and NW stands for neutral white. The CW will be similar to most leds, cooler than an incandescant lightbulb. The NW is a warmer white. Personally I got the CW, so I can’t comment on the NW.

v2

Thrunite introduced a v2 of the TC12. Besides the price difference, very little has changed. The most notable difference is the functionality of switching between brightness levels. In v1, pressing the brightness switch always increases the brightness by one level, until you reach the maximum level, where pressing the button again switches to the lowest level. In v2, 4 seconds after you press the brighness switch, it resets. So the next time you press it, it goes to firefly mode. This might sound weird, but you get used to it quickly. To go to firefly, press the button once; to go to low, press it twice; medium, three times; high, four times; and turbo, five times. Its a little annoying going from high to turbo, you have to press the button five times, but its not the end of the world.

Specs

The four brightness modes area:

  • firefly,
  • low,
  • medium,
  • high,
  • and turbo.

Holding down the brightness switch will activate strobe mode, flashing rapidly at the turbo brightness.

The maximum throw of this light is 800ft. It is impact resistant to 3 ft, but especially on soft surfaces, like grass, my experience is that it should be fine for any reasonable height. It is water resistant to 6 ft.

This flashlight comes with a rechargeable battery, a USB charging cable (USB micro – the same as a lot of other devices, phones, etc), the pocket clip (detachable) and a cloth belt holster. It also comes with a lanyard and 2 spare O rings.

Battery

This flashlight comes with a rechargeable, lithium-ion battery. The included battery has a capacity of 3400 mAh. In the table below, you can see how long the battery will last at various levels. You might be concerned that it only lasts 2 hours in turbo, or 3.4 hours on high, but in my experience this has not been an issue. I regularly take this flashlight on weekend camping trips, and I have never had the battery go out in the middle of a trip. I always charge it to full before I leave, but that’s it. If you’re concerned about it, you can always get a second battery (they’re as easy to swap out as double A’s). For most things around the campsite, I use the flashlight in Low mode, and I occasionally go to medium for some tasks. I really only use high for a few minutes at a time, then I switch back to medium.

  • Turbo: 2.2 hr
  • High: 3.4 hr
  • Medium: 8.7 hr
  • Low: 60 hr (2.5 days)
  • Firefly: 50 days

Charging

The li-ion battery in this flashlight is rechargable, using the micro-USB port. To charge, turn the flashlight on and plug it in to a USB outlet. The light will go off, and the led on the brightness button will turn red. This indicates that the light is charging. When the indicator goes from red to blue, that means that the battery is fully charged.

IMPORTANT: the flashlight must be on when to plug it in, if it is off, it will not start charging.

When using the light, the indicator will be blue. When the indicator starts flashing red, that means the battery capacity is between 10% and 20%. When the light remains solid red, that means the battery is under 10%, and should be charged immediately.

Cons

This is an incredibly good flashlight, but nothing is perfect. One downside to this light is that you can’t adjust the throw or the focus of the light. The focus works quite well, but sometimes you want to be able to adjust how tight or wide the beam is.

Another feature I wish this light had is a red light mode. Its not too common, but there are flashlights out there with this feature. When I’m out at night and I don’t want to ruin my night vision, it would be nice to have a red light that I can turn on for a second to look at something. On the plus side, Fenix makes filters that fit this flashlight. I find myself wishing that the filter had a magnetic attachment, because sometimes it will fall off, but its better than nothing.

Manual

See more specs at Thrunite.com
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