Thrunite Archer Pro Flashlight Review

Thrunite has introduced the Archer Pro, a flashlight featuring a built-in 14500 cell, ramping output selection, and USB-C charging. Read on!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Thrunite Archer Pro flashlight product page.

Versions

A neutral white version is listed on the page, but for now, only this black cool white version is available.

Price

The Thrunite Archer Pro flashlight lists for $39.99 and that includes everything you’ll need!  If you want to buy the Thrunite Archer Pro flashlight through amazon.com (referral link), you can use the 15% off coupon that’s on the amazon page!

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Short Review

The Thrunite Archer Pro flashlight is a nice update and upgrade and even companion to the Archer Mini. This is a sleek light and USB-C charging works well. I like the bookend standard modes of Firefly and Turbo, but the addition of ramping in the middle is nice. I would love to be able to swap the built-in 14500, though.

Long Review

The Big Table

Thrunite Archer Pro Flashlight
Emitter:	Cree XP-L2
Price in USD at publication time:	$39.99
Cell:	1×14500
Turbo Runtime Graph	“Infinity High” Runtime Graph
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	USB-C
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	Lowest mode, at least
Claimed Lumens (lm)	1022
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	551 (53.9% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	5.8
Claimed Throw (m)	134
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	210lux @ 4.582m = 4409cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	132.8 (99.1% of claim)^
Claimed CCT	–
Measured CCT Range (K)	5500-6200 Kelvin
Item provided for review by:	Thrunite
All my Thrunite reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  I am an amateur flashlight reviewer.  I don’t have $10,000 or even $1,000 worth of testing equipment.  I test output and such in PVC tubes!!  Please consider claims within 10% of what I measure to be perfectly reasonable (accurate, even).

What’s Included

• Thrunite Archer Pro flashlight
• Charging cable (USB to USB-C)
• Manual

Package and Manual

Let’s take a moment here to just hate these new boxes…

Build Quality and Disassembly

I said “disassembly” up there in the heading but I didn’t do any disassembly of the Thrunite Archer Pro flashlight.

It’s quite resistant to disassembly anyway, but has a good build quality overall.

Size and Comps

96mm x 21mm and 65.5g.

If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo).  If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll show that here, too (usually the fourth photo).

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+.  Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple.  A very nice 18650 light. Also in the photos is my custom engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light.  I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.

You can see that the Thrunite Archer Pro flashlight and Archer Mini have very similar designs, but are still a bit different. Specifically, the Pro has ribs in the middle section.

Retention and Carry

There’s a two-way pocket clip attached on the tail end. The clip can’t go on the head end, but again, it’s a two-way clip.

While the clip can be removed, the light does look a bit naked without it. So naked I didn’t feel right showing it here.

Nothing else is included for carrying the Thrunite Archer Pro flashlight.

Power and Runtime

A single cell powers the Thrunite Archer Pro flashlight. It’s not [really] removable, and according to the documentation, is a single 1000mAh 14500 cell.

Here are two runtime graphs – Turbo and the highest ramping mode.

You can see after the very flat regulated output stops, the light begins blinking to indicate the cell voltage is low. Eventually, the light does shut off.

Charging

Thrunite put USB-C charging on the Archer Pro. To reveal the charging port, one just unscrews the head.

The head is “captured” though – it doesn’t unscrew all the way off. It unscrews to the point you can see below. You can also see the charging indicator in the photo at the right. This indicator is red while charging is happening, and switches to blue when charging is complete.

Both types of charging (A to C and C to C) work fine, but Thrunite includes an A to C cable.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens
Turbo	1022+191	1m+145m	1068 @initial 551 @30s
Infinite High	478+208	1m+150m	495 @initial 405 @30s
Infinite Low	13	37h	13.1
Firefly	0.41	15d	0.43

Pulse Width Modulation

There’s no PWM on the specific four modes. I did not test the intermediate ramps.

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor.  Also, here’s the light with the worst PWM I could find.  I’m adding multiple timescales, so it’ll be easier to compare to the test light.  Unfortunately, the PWM on this light is so bad that it doesn’t even work with my normal scale, with is 50 microseconds (50us).  10ms.  5ms.  2ms.  1ms.  0.5ms.  0.2ms.  In a display faster than 0.2ms or so, the on/off cycle is more than one screen, so it’d just (very incorrectly) look like a flat line.  I wrote more about this Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight and explained a little about PWM too.

User Interface and Operation

A single switch is used on the Thrunite Archer Pro flashlight. It’s a tail switch and has a rounded cover.

Despite the appearance of being a mechanical switch, I’m fairly sure this is an e-switch of some sort. I reason this because when you hold the switch down, the light will come on after about a full second. A mechanical switch would not do this.

The dome of the switch and also the rounded shoulders you can see above make it comfortable to click.

Here’s a UI table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Hold	Firefly
Off	Click	On (Mode Memory)
On	Click	Off
Firefly	Hold	Lockout to Off
Lockout	Hold	Unlock to Firefly
Any	Double Click	Turbo
On (Except Firefly)	Hold	Ramp up or down^
Any	Click 3x	Strobe

^The ramp here is fairly logical except for one thing – the direction is remembered, and the next iteration of ramp is opposite to what it was before. So if you ramped up then turned the light off and turn it back on again later, the ramp will be down this time. Seems like a reset to “ramp up” after 15 seconds or whatever would be more logical (and not essentially emulate “ramping mode memory”.) As it is, if you hold the switch with the light on, it’ll ramp up and down over and over. That part of the ramping is great. The light blinks at both ends to let you know it’s reached maximum or minimum.

LED and Beam

Thrunite has a Cree XP-L2 in the Archer Pro.  The emitter uses an orange peel reflector.

This all makes for a good beam profile, too.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

Thrunite doesn’t make any CRI or CCT claims that I can see (aside from “cool white” in the chart). The emitter here is in the cool range, and cooler the higher the output. CRI is also low, at aroundd 70.

Beamshots

These beamshots are always with the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I keep the test flashlight on the left, and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

 

Conclusion

What I like

• A nice companion to the Archer Mini
• Simple user interface
• USB-C charging (with C to C working, too)
• The rounded switch and tail end of the light are comfortable to press.

What I don’t like

• Not a mechanical clicky (potential for parasitic drain)
• The internal 14500 cell is not replaceable
• Stepdowns on the higher levels are fairly dramatic

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Notes

• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org.  Please visit there for the best experience!
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