Article - review of the thrunight TN 2016 flashlight

Up until just a few days ago I had never heard of Thrulight, much less the Thrulight TN12. Someone on youtube reached out and asked if I would be interested in reviewing the TN12. After looking at the light I said sure, I would love to see it.

Looking at the Thrulight TN12 on amazon, I asked myself how good could a $49 flashlight be?

First impressions are important. I liked the quality of the box and how the flashlight was packaged. It is “just a box” but first impressions are important. I liked the overall packaging, the light was held in place with padding.

Included in the package:

• Thrunight TN12 2016
• Belt / pocket clip
• Replacement on/off cap
• Two o’rings
• Lanyard
• Pouch – the pouch comes with a belt loop and a ring for attaching it to a pack.

Batteries are not included. The Thrunight TN12 2016 uses 1*18650 or 2*CR123 batteries.

The light works a little difference than other flashlights I have seen. To turn the light on push the end cap button. To select the brightness settings push a stainless steel button towards the front of the light. The brightness selector only works when the light is on. If the light is turned off on a certain setting, the light will turn on with that same setting.

The Thrunight TN12 2016 has the following settings:

• Turbo – 1050 lm estimated battery life of 95 minutes
• Strobe – 800 lm estimated battery life of 3.8 hours
• High – 370 lm estimated battery life of 4.2 hours
• Medium – 145 lm estimated battery life of 11.8 hours
• Low – 11 lm estimated battery life of 5.5 days
• Firefly – 0.4 lm estimated battery life of 74 days

I found the firefly mode to be like a single candle light. Perfect for looking in a backpack or around a tent without blinding yourself.
The Test

Freeze – The top of a one gallon milk jug was removed but the handle left intact. The jug was filled about half way with water, the Thrunight TN12 2016 was dropped into the water, then the jug was put into a freezer. The jug along with the Thrunight TN12 2016 was left in the freezer for around 14 hours at zero degrees fahrenheit.

The next day the jug was removed from the freezer and placed in the bed of my Toyota truck to thaw out. Once thawed, the light and all of its settings worked. There was no water inside the flashlight.

Why a freeze test? To see if the expanding ice would crack the lens, get through a seal, and just for the fun of it.

Impact – A pine 2×4 was found, then 3 12d nails were driven through the board using the Thrunight TN12 2016. A 12d nail, also called a 12 penny nail, is 3.25 inches long.

Why an impact test? To see if internal parts would break loose. I wanted to see if the bulb would stop working, if the lens would break,, or if anything would happen. I do not want to worry about dropping a flashlight and it stop working.

The Thrunight TN12 2016 passed the impact test with flying colors. The only thing that happened was the end caps came loose. This is no big deal and is no fault of the light. I plan on putting some blue loctite on the threads.

Tractor – Rather than running over the light with a truck or car, let’s go the extra mile and use a tractor. On top of that, let’s put the light on rocks rather than grass and dirt. The tractor is a Massey Ferguson 231. The tractor weighs around 4,000 pounds, plus attachment.

My son ran the tractor while I filmed. We ran over the light four times, but only three looked like they were good hits. One time looked like the tire did not hit the light very well, so that scene was left out of the video.

To make sure the bezel was tested for strength, it was placed on a rock so there was no give under the light. The bezel on top of the rock was then ran over with the Massey Ferguson 231 tractor.

After running over the light 3 times, and one glancing blow, the light worked fine. Nothing was broke and all of the functions worked.

Creek – Even though the light had been frozen in a block of ice I wanted to leave it submerged in running water for a few hours.

A string was tied to the light and then tied around a tree stump. The Thrunight TN12 2016 was tossed into the water and left there for five hours.

After five hours the Thrunight TN12 2016 had sunk into the sandy bottom of the creek. The light worked fine and showed no water leakage into the housing.

Overall

I was thinking if I should buy something to test the lumens of a flashlight. Would you rather know if a light puts out the “exact” lumens it is supposed to, or if it can take a beating and ask for more?

To me, a light working when you need it is more important than knowing if it puts out an exact lumen. So what if something is advertised at 200 lumens but it only puts out 195 or 190. When the dogs are barking in the middle of the night, I grab the AR-15 and go check on things, I do not want to have to worry about my weapon light working.

I am so impressed with the Thrunight TN12 2016, I am seriously considering replacing the Surefire on my AR-15 with it.

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Article - review of the thrunight TN 2016 flashlight