Hey all, So been looking for some flashlights to throw in the jeep, stash around the house, have in my duty bag for my weekend warrior duty(military police), and for my reserve officer duties.

I have a surefire, and honestly NOT happy with the cost/run time ratio. Thing eats through batteries like crazy.

So, anyone have any experience with thrunite flashlights?

Never heard of them and they sound too expensive to bother looking up.
Check Amazon for Ultrafire Cree.  Get some rechargeable 18650 batteries and you're good to go.  They are cheap, but can take a beating, put out decent light and strobe.  Battery life is not terrible in my experience, I carry one in my toolbox and gets frequent use.

Thrunite are pretty decent. For the money I would go Jetbeam, Nitecore, or Fenix

The TN12 is 1050 lumens, 2 of the 18650 batteries, charger and case for $90-98. The flashlight itself is $49 on their website, a little cheaper on amazon.

hadn't heard of the jetbeam, but am looking at the fenix and nitecore's as well.

I'm a poor bastard and could never afford spending that on a flashlight that I will probably lose or break in less than a year.
ThruNite looks like good stuff, but until you mentioned them I didn't know they existed.  If I wanted a high-end flashlight I'd probably look at Fenix, Streamlight, or Inova.

I hear ya!!! They have flashlights for as low as $30, i've never been a fan of streamlights, to be honest. Kind of mark them up to the reason i dont like surefire. too expensive to operate.

500 lumens in a flashlight that is smaller than my girly ass hands and less than $40. not too bad

I used to use brands like Fenix, Jetbeam, etc. Never had a Thrunite but I will no longer trust Chinese lights for serious use. I keep a few to goof around the house with, but after having multiple Chinese brands break within a year of purchase, I'm sticking with Surefire, Streamlight, HDS. Might be buy once cry once type of deal, but Surefire now has some decent rechargeable lights, and Streamlights are nice as well. Warranty is top notch as well.

Here's a link to a recent video on Thrunite that reinforces my theory on Chinese lights.


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhj3XvW81V8[/youtube]

I've had multiple Thrunite's and they are my favorite Chinese brand. I've had a TN31 and TN32, and both were built extremely well, excellent machining, etc. Read some reviews with the tear-downs. My favorite is the single AA Archer. It is my EDC for work, and I use it with a 14500 lithium. It is extremely bright for it's size and is a little tank. It's probably close to 300 lumens with the lithium cell.

Of the Chinese lights, I've had Sunwayman, Fenix, Niwalker, Eagletac and Olight. The only failure was with multiple Fenix tk11's which were replaced quickly under warranty. The Eagletac is built like a tank, and I tore the whole thing down to upgrade the led and the internal build quality is solid. Olight's are very good, too, in my experience.

I'm seriously considering getting one of these.

I might not though because it is fairly expensive, however TITANIUM! The non Ti version is like $30 though and it puts out quite a bit of light for its size, and it runs on inexpensive AA batteries!

ETA: A brand I actually have experience with and would recommend is 4sevens...  They have several different sizes too...

fenix

SolarForce and fenix..   solarforce you pick the led and modes, different tail caps, bezels, bodies.  Surefire parts interchange too.

This is what I know about Thrunite Flashlights.

The two thru nights I have had both broke after one drop. I use Zebralight sc600 or want to get the sc62. My current sc600 gets used everyday for hours a day at work and has never missed a beat. Its been beaten to hell and keeps ticking. Stupid bright light at 1000 lumens and is super small.

Rechargeable CR123 batteries could be a great cost saving alternative.

I have not had good luck with Thrunite.  The switch on my catapult randomly goes to strobe.  I am extremely happy with Fenix, 4sevens, and Olight.

My Zebralight headlamp has been rock solid. It's even been used underwater for crawfishing with no issues.

I drive a truck and I work overnight. I use my light to check two fifth wheels at least twice a night. I've used a few different lights and my Fenix LD12 is the one I stick to. It replaced an LD10 that lasted a couple of years until the switch became unreliable. The rechargeable AA lasts most of the week and I always have a spare.

I looked at the Thrunites last weekend but the clip design threw me off. The only reason I still look at new lights is that I wouldn't mind more than the 120 lumens the LD12 throws.

When it quits I'll upgrade to a brighter Fenix with a rechargeable CR123 setup.

This. Except that I would put Thrunite at the bottom of the list.



Make sure you get a flashlight with the Cree XM-L or XM-L2 emitter. It's the most recent generation from Cree, and is vastly more efficient than the older Cree emitters. Higher output, and longer battery life. If the emitter has R2 or R5 in the description, you don't want it.



SureFire ALWAYS lags behind in upgrading their emitters. They are really nice flashlights, but way over priced for their features. SureFire is geared to selling to the military and LE, where they are spending tax dollars, instead of their own money.



In order, I would buy a Jetbeam, Nitecore, and then Fenix. But, they are all very good flashlights. There are some nice flashlights that run on a single AA battery. You can buy some rechargeable Eneloop AA NiMH  cells, and never have to buy batteries again. If you use up your rechargeables, AA alkaline batteries are available everywhere. And you can get some lithium Energizer L-91 batteries, to keep in your car. They have a 10+ year shelflife, and work in bot hot and cold climates. And they never leak. Ever.



If you want to go with the smaller and more powerful flashlights that runs on lithium CR123 cells,



http://www.batteryjunction.com



sells them for $1/ea. I've never had a bad one yet. If you spend $50 at batteryjunction.com, delivery is free. They carry a LOT of nice flashlights. I just bought a Sunwayman V11R from them. It can run on either lithium CR123, rechargeable Li-Ion 16340 cells, or any AA battery with a $15 adapter. There are VERY few flashlights that can run on Cr123 or AA cells. The only other one I know of is the Nitecore SRT3. Battery Junction sells both of them.



Battery junction carries a full line of Nitecore, Jetbeam, Sunwayman and Fenix flashlights. Among other lines of flashlights. Use the code CPF2011 and get 5% off your order total.



 

High Paul. I would say look into the Thrunite TN12. I've seen about 5 reviews sayings it is better than the Pd35.

Thanks for all the replies guys.