Sometime late last year I ordered the BLF GT, knowing full well that ultra throwers
are not a flashlight I really have a chance to appreciate, and that I really didn’t
need another light, so it was a pretty easy purchase.
Ok so I bought it to support the light building community over at Budget Light Forums.
Some members over there work with manufacturers, maybe because they enjoy enjoy talking to
rocks, or are making up for being a dick most of the time, but they work with them to make
lights people want to buy.
The GT is an extremely overbuilt light, with one thing in mind other than selling you a
4th flashlight this month, and that’s to throw a beam of light really far.
Just because a light it bright or expensive doesn’t mean it’s beam goes fa.
A flashlight would have to combine optics or
reflectors, and specific types of LEDs to make the beam travel far, instead of scatter
in front of you.
If you remember my Lance of Ra video, these sorts of lights are usually pretty large,
and really only become useful at distances where spotting scopes are necessary- or if
you’re the majority of people who bought this maybe from your couch to the wall across
the room.
However I do appreciate the occasional comment on the ultra thrower videos where someone
says it’d be nice if you found a place with no light where you could really test it out.
Sure I like most people have access to large unlit areas, with manmade structures thousands
of feet away with no ambient light.
Maybe if I lived out West, these would be better- but on the east coast I’d have to
drive about an hour to the mountains to find a place, and I don’t have that kind of time.
I know it’s hard to believe that Youtube isn’t my full time job.
So the BLF GT is a big ass light, that uses a Neutral White Cree XHP35 HI emitter, and
8 18650 lithium ion rechargeable batteries.
You can get a small optional tube for slightly less bulky carry and only 4 batteries, or
get the LED in a cool white version.
I want to say there’s also the 8,000 lumen version that is overall brighter but doesn’t
have quite the beam distance- you’ll have to look it up.
The one reviewed here is the Neutral White standard version, and mine was among the first
500 produced- so I only paid about $119 for it before batteries.
I’m not bragging but there may have been some tweaks in the year since I bought it,
other than the price going up.
Let’s take a look at the output settings… and see what I measured, unless you have something
else to do.
First moonlight mode.
A little brighter than I’d like.
Ok who am I kidding this light weights 5 lbs and is the size of my femur with meat.
Next, then variable output, which has discrete steeps spaced so close together it looks analog
rather than digital.
Then 100%.
Of note, I’ve seen people report as little as 800,000 candela and as high as 1,290,000
candela for beam intensity on 100%.
That said it’s my second throwiest light after my Lance.
Ok how does it operate- or how about you read the goddamn manual yourself.
… The user interface is designed to be easy to figure out like is 8 beers too many or
should I just stop at 7.
First put in the batteries.
Not that the battery carriers have polarity arrows, the arrow points toward the lens,
and make sure all batteries are placed correctly inside each of the two carriers.
I used Samsung unprotected, button top 30q batteries.
These cells are a sexy 66.5mm long, and I’ve tried protected cells up to 68.5mm long.
Flat top batteries can not be used due to the design of the battery carriers.
Ok, so when you have the battery carriers in, screw on the back.
You might also appreciate the fine machining and the ease at which the tail cap turns,
because if you’re buying this light let’s be honest unlike normal people you probably
have a strong opinion about machining.
A few blinks means its ready to go.
Shortcuts first.
Press and hold for moonlight mode.
Release quickly though.
Single presses turn on and off the light.
Now a double click for 100% output.
Cool.
Turn it off.
By default moon and 100% are never saved into mode memory because you access them through
short cuts.
100% can be accessed when the light is on or off, by double clicking at any time.
Moon can only be accessed when off, or that one time when you’re really high.
Ok so click to turn it on… press and hold to go up the brightness scale, when it reaches
the top, then release and press and hold to go back down.
The top of the brightness scale isn’t as bright as turbo.
To go the opposite way on the brightness scale, as you’re moving up release and quickly
press it again to go back down.
If you release it for more than a second it continues the way you were going.
And yeah it has a few fucking strobes… you’ll need to be in 100% mode to find it the though.
Double click… you’re in 100% double click to get to this one strobe.
And then double click again to get to this other strobe.
The user interface is configurable to be regular mode steps like normal flashlights, however
I don’t see why a sane person used to the more intuitive scaling brightness would use
this.
But I’m sure there’s one- just read far enough in the comments.
There is a manual online that shows you and bores you almost as much as I could about
all the ways it’s configurable, however I value your and my time a little so I’ll
spare you- I mean if I really valued it you wouldn’t be watching this.
Also note, on the underside there is a standard tripod mount like any photo tripod has.
In fact deep within the programming mode, you can turn it into a camera.
If you can’t figure out out though, it means you’re an idiot.
It comes with a plug you could lanyardized it too.
If I could change on thing about the UI is that the brightness scale moved a little slower.
The button has a very dim green LED that you can switch off by the menu… it glows a dim
green when the light is off by default.
Very hard to see in the light… which means it’s perfect.
Too often the LED lights under lit switches are bright enough to be used as their own
lights.
Not cool, and not tactical.
Ok runtimes.
For this I used Samsung 30qs and tested 100% and one a little under 1000 lumens, to give
you a basic idea what kind of runtimes you can expect on higher brightness levels.
I stuck with the factory configuration because I’m not that guy- but you can change stepdowns
and thermal regulation that would affect runtimes in the menu- so knock yourself out.
100%.
We start out at 2293 lumens, and it begins dropping.
5 minutes in and we’re still above 2200 lumens with a 3% drop in brightness.
10 minutes in we’re just under 2200 lumens…
30 minutes in we’re still over 2000 lumens.
1 hours in we’re about 2,026 lumens or a little over a 10% drop.
2 hours 1,756 lumens.
3 hours 1167 lumens.
3 hr 55 mins in we hit emergency light, and maybe some brief self reflection on how we
choose to spend our time and then at 11 hours :34 minutes I stop the test with emergency
light still coming out.
Assume it’s around the moonlight mode level.
Ok one more, your still around at this point so why not.
I measured this to be about 973 lumens.
A little under 50% overall brightness.
We’ll make this go quick.
You’ll notice the light meters moves slightly in the first 10 minutes which explains the
1 point difference… but assume it stays continuous for at least 10 hours, as the cricket
crawls around in my furnace room.
At 11 hours the light is moonlight level.
I ended the test in this moonlight mode about 19 hours in, because that’s where we’re
at in internet video production.
Beamshots.
Ok this section will be a little more informative than usual.
Ok no it won’t I shot some of this, this summer.
At the same place where I shot the Lance of Ra review.
First is the backyard though, with my 4 ultra range throwers.
First is the BLF GT.
A fairly tight hotspot.
This isn’t a super bright light, but at close ranges there is enough spill to light
the ground right around you, but most light is concentrated in the hotspot, there is spill
here around it, but it just doesn’t show up well on video.
Now the Acebeam K70.
Less throwy, as evidenced by the larger less intense hot spot.
A little more of a practical light in terms of closer distances, and just being easier
to hold.
The BLF GT is such a large bulky light, it’s not one you’d take on walks- unless you’re
trying to convince yourself yeah I could get use to this- when you really shouldn’t have
spent the money.
If it had a handle or you didn’t own it- that might make it easier.
I like the tint of the BLF GT.
It’s not a perfect Neutral white, more of a slightly off white creamy tint.
Like miracle whip, with the tinest drop of blood mixed in well.
Now the Storm of Ra.
Huge intense hotspot, third throweist light here.
It’s large but has a handle, and much brighter than the rest too, however runtimes are short
and limited by the two cells.
Now the Lance of Ra.
My throwiest light by far, and maybe one of the top two or three throwiest lights made-
surely the cheapest and easiest to hold.
However this light is no longer produced.
Ok to the beach.
Should I be doing this?
I think so.
Is it annoying to people on the other end of the light absolutely.
Not as annoying as the guy showing up in the comments asking me to have found a better
place to film this with less ambient light.
I’ll aim it at a few places on the beach- when I shot this I didn’t know how far they
were away at the time, but that’s what google earth is for.
First the wide shot and now with a longer lens.
That building in the distance is about 6,900 feet away- I didn’t chose the distance it
chose me.
I’ll be honest this distance is a little too far, but as you can see, there is some
light on the building.
The Lance just lights up portions of the building, with little spill.
I’m using a 50mm lens here at a 1.4.
I don’t have any faster longer focal length lenses sorry- this is a budget outfit.
The BLF GT hits a wider portion of the building, it’s not as accurate at this far out.
Note how hand shake is very apparent without a tripod stabilizing
the light.
My Acebeam K70 catches more of the foreground and is a cool white.
Here is a split screen, showing all four together- although I found it was more useful to throw
an unlit frame between them, since the light hitting the building was dim.
Really at this distance they all are kind of similar… kinda dim, some with more spill
than others… the light hitting the foreground on the acebeam is kinda distracting though.
Now let’s look at them at 14,00 feet at this building.
Looks to me like they all three are useless at this point.
However it is useful look at the atmosphere, and seeing how far the beams appear to go.
The Lance goes furthest, still doesn’t light up the building.
The GT goes 2nd furthest and has a tighter beam for longer than the Acebeam K70.
Roughly speaking, and rounding heavily the GT is twice as throwy as the Acebeam and the
Lance is Twice as thrown as the GT.
Here’s that water tower… when shooting this the camera flaked out… my Black Magic
has been dying a slow death for years now.
So I have a screen going out and only had 2-15 minutes of shooting per battery… my
point being is that I didn’t quite know what I was getting until I got home and had
to color correct.
And working on some B-roll the past few days….
Looking like I need a new camera too.
Youtuber problems.
Now if I had to make a broad statement about the GT in relation to the Lance and Acebeam…
It’s like a middle of the road light between the two in performance.
However it is limited by it’s sheer bulk.
It’s extremely well built, and has a great UI, tint and performance… but you need good
conditions to appreciate it.
Clear air, unlit structures in the distance, and strong arms- in other words nothing seen
in this video.
Sorry dudes.
The light was built to also serve as a host… it has so much aluminum that it can be further
turbo charged and modded.
I’m not really into that, but I do like supporting projects like this, that push the
boundaries of usefulness.
Anyway if you like this sort of review, subscribe to the channel- give the video a thumbs up,
check me out on Instagram, and thanks for watching.