Welcome to the review of the Recently updated TN36, now called the TN36 2017.
Sorry I'm out of funny intros right now... and someone's like oh they we're supposed
to be funny.
Ooohh... ok then.
So even though the hair gel guys got to it first, here is my take on the Tn36 2017.
As you can guess by the imaginatively named TN36 2017 it is an updated offering of the
TN36 and TN36UT, which changes up the UI and jacks ups the brightness.
So Thrunite can try to compete with the new lumen monsters that come out every damn month.
The new TN36 2017 comes in a brown box with a MCC-4S charger, 4 protected high drain 18650
lithium ion batteries, the light, a holster, some manuals, spare orings, and a lanyard.
Like the TN36 before it, it's made out of aluminum with type three anodizing that's
a little slick, but the knurling on this light is pretty good so it makes up for it.
It also uses a battery carrier, gots a glass lens, and boasts 3 cree xhp-70 cool white
or neutral white emitters.
Man I should have used boasts a while ago.
I am reviewing the cool white version, because winter has finally come.
Man I wish that came with a (Game of Thrones) royalty check.
Ouput levels.
My estimated figures and Thrunites are listed on the screen, courtesy our graphics department.
First is Firefly.
A very respectable low mode for this light.
Then is infinite mode, which starts at 48 lumens, and goes all the way up to 5,850 lumens...
with many many small increments in between, so you can find the right amount of brightness.
When I talk about figures here I'm referring to my estimations.
Then Turbo.
My measured value is less then Thrunites.
Remember my estimates serve as estimates only, with some DIY measuring techniques.
That I made a video about a while ago.
Oh and here's a beam profile shot, for those interested people whose main use of flashlights
is shining them on their apartment wall.
What about the charger?
YEAH WHAT ABOUT IT?
The charger is a fairly straightforward universal charger.
It charges your Nimh AA and AAA batteries like eneloops, and your lithium ion, and LiFeP04
batteries.
The display will scroll through charge times, voltage, and the rate at which it's charging.
You can select either a half an amp charging rate or an amp per each channel.
Just hit the red button.
It automatically detects most types of batteries except LifeP04 cells which the manual explains
you have to hit buttons to unlock that functionality.
Let's do a time lapse charger test so you can see how long charging took for 4 batteries
from a starting voltage of 2.9 volts.
I charged my lithium ion batteries at 1 amp and my eneloops at half an amp, when I charged
Nimh.
I found the charger reads a higher voltage on the ending charge than it really is...
I saw my lithium ion batteries were saying 4.22 volts... but when I checked them they
read 4.20 or less.
Translated, it seems to be a safe charger and you shouldn't worry it's reading higher.
On the downside, some people want an accurate voltage readout.
In that case buy a multimeter.
My Nitecore D4 does the same thing.
That's why I usually use my Opus BTC-3100 charger when needing an accurate voltage readout
for tests.
When I just need a dumb universal charger I use either this or my Nitecore.
The charger gets warm when charging 4 batteries at an amp, but never too hot to touch.
I read about 115 F or 46c on the sides and top.
Final charging time was a bit over 4 hours.
How about the user interface.
Thrunite has been putting this new UI on all of their new models, that I have reviewed-
which is good.
So you are probably familiar with it, if you've watch my reviews of their lights, but people
would complain if I didn't bore everyone with doing it over again.
It operates identically to the headlamp and the Neutron.
For those that get it, go get a beer, and come back in like 5 minutes.
Ok, have your batteries in.
Press and hold from off for firefly.
Firefly is not saved into mode memory.
Double click from on or off to get to turbo.
It's also not saved into mode memory.
To get to regular brightness levels, a quick press from off gets you there, and a quick
press turns it off.
Press and hold in regular brightness levels to go up and down the infinite scale.
I mean it's not really infinite, but the brigtness steps are spaced so closely together you probably
can't tell the difference.
As you press and hold it goes up the brightness scale flashes then slowly goes back down and
flashes.
If you release it at any time and press and hold again it goes the opposite way you were
going.
It saves any level you were in in the infinite brightness scale to mode memory.
Cool.
And for the one guy who was waiting for how to get to strobes.
You have to be in turbo, so double click to get there, then a second double click goes
to tactical strobe.
Said tactical so chug a beer.
Or two.
The light employs an electronic switch... as with any lights that employ an electronic
switch, please remove the battery when transporting in a bag or at least unscrew the battery tube
a turn to break electric contact so the light doesn't turn on.
This goes triply for any light above 1000 lumens because they can melt stuff.
Cool.
Funtimes.
For the runtimes I used the included protected 3100 mah cells.
The cells have a wrapper you can see through, and the appear to be Samsung 30Qs- which are
known to be 3000 mah cells.
The Thrunites are taller, but that's because of that extra protection circuit board.
First is Turbo.
About 30 seconds in my lux meter reads 263, since I measured 8216 lumens on turbo... let's
go with that.
It doesn't have a hard brightness step down in brightness, because the light claims to
have built in thermal regulation.
About 5 minutes in there's a 28% drop in brightness and the lights temperature is about 150 F.
Feel free to double check my math.
10 minutes in it's about a half drop in brightness.
Ambient temperatures is probably about 70 degrees.
i hour in we're at about 40% of initial brightness.
That seems to be about too bright for what I'd expect.
Again my method ain't scientific.
And about 1 hour and 20 minutes in the runtime ends with about 39% of it's initial brightness.
Thrunite claims 85 minutes- and that's only about 5 minutes off.
Different ambient temperatures and slightly different charge levels of batteries will
affect this.
My testing charge levels are usually between 4.18 to 4.20.
Now high.
High over the first 10 mins or so its about a 10% drop in brightness.
Sorry you can't read the lux meter well, I used a different lens than I normally do.
I drops in brightness over the runtime and about 1 hour in we have had a 42% drop in
brightness.
The light cuts off at 1 hour 22 mins at 45% of it's initial brightness.
And as a side note I'm pretty surprised that both high and turbo sustain modes this high
without dropping down much further.
Almost to the point where I don't trust my lux meter.
And you're like, like government I hear ya.
On Turbo and High with this light, gloves might be a good idea if you're going to be
using it for extended periods of time on these modes- otherwise you're playing hot potato-
or just a tough guy.
Thrunite says it has temperature limiter when LED or driver temperature reaches 176 F or
80C.
Ok, and now I decided to check out a different level.
I waited till it got to the high end of the scale and as it started going down I counted
one Mississippi.
Just to demonstrate it ran at times longer than 1 hour and 22 minutes.
I guess I should have checked lumens, but oh well.
I actually had to do this twice because I forgot to record one time.
A while a few several people over on BLF asked why I do these instead of graphs.
Mainly it helps test the lights on highest modes, and allows me to see if there are any
weird quirks over the course of the runtimes.
Plus it helps you understand I have tested the lights, and I'm not BSing you.
Ok so basically over the course of 3 hours and 45 mins, it drops only from a starting
value of 107 to an ending value of 101.
That's only a 5% drop.
AWESOME!
> >Beamshots.
Let's do the dumb scale shot you saw in my last review the bamboo is about 120 feet away
or 36 meters ... often times when I'm reviewing like I try to do one beamshot section for
everything and cut out lights not needed.
Here are the lights I'll be comparing the TN36 2017 too.
The lights most similar to this are the noctigon meteor and the Olight X7.
First is my 1000 lumen context light.
You remember this one right, no matter how much you paid for your surefire it isn't brighter
than the Thrunite TN36.
You know unless it did actually come off a government helicopter.
Got that cool white tint right?
The TN36 is a bright light, and very comparable to the Olight X7 I reviewed last year.
The UI on the Thrunite is better because it gives you more choice in brightness and isn't
any more complicated.
The Olight is a bit brighter and throwier.
As you can see when I remind you by going back to the TN36.
And before I forget my eyes or camera detected no visible PWM on any mode.
Ok you think that's bright let's go to the Acebeam X45, which is almost twice as bright
as The Thrunite.
This was the brightest light available until Acebeam dropped the 25k lumen x80.
I prefer Neutral tints.
You don't have to but if you don't something is wrong with you.
Back to the Thrunite for a few seconds.
Remember when 1000 lumens was bright enough?
Is this the new normal?
Now the Meteor.
I remember when this was bright enough.
I was so innocent back then.
Once you get a taste of lumens you need more.
That's the saying.
The Meteor isn't quite as bright as the Thrunite but it's a touch throwier.
As you can see now that we're back on the Thrunite.
Which is your favorite big lumen light.
Sorry just making awkward small talk.
Now the throwiest of the bunch the Nitecore TM16GT.
Also a cool white tint, and it's also a much bigger light because of the big reflectors.
> >Ok let's finish up here.
The thrunite is a big capable monster lumen flashlight.
It's most comparable to the Meteor and the X7.
I prefer the Meteor mainly because it's smaller...
but the Thrunite has the best UI of the three... and comes with a charger.
It also has many more brightness level choices without being complicated to operate.
So from a user friendly standpoint it wins.
Oh I forgot the part where I do dimensions, so you can say I would have bought it, if
it fit in my pocket.
Waa-wah... better luck next time.
What else, the fine people at Thrunite provided this flashlight for review, so thanks to them.
Although that does not mean Thrunite as a company endorses any of my opinions, or laughs
at my jokes.
Sounds like I might be married to them!
Oooh..
I probably shouldn't have said that.
If you like this review please subscribe to my channel, follow me on instagram, and give
the video a thumbs up, and leave a comment.
And if you don't like it... you're a very committed hater- and that's pretty impressive.
I've got some cool knife videos coming up, and a review of the throwiest light I've ever
tested.
Thanks for watching.