Thrunite TC12 Review
The ThruNite TC12
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.
Table of Contents
v2
Thrunite introduced a v2 of the TC12
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.