Amutorch BT60 LEP Flashlight Review
The Amutorch BT60 is a LEP flashlight that uses a single 21700 cell (included), has just two modes, and an astoundingly tight beam! Read on!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the Amutorch BT60 LEP flashlight product page.
Versions
There’s just this one version.
Price
MSRP (and going price) for the Amutorch BT60 LEP flashlight is $199.95. That includes the Samsung 50E 21700 seen in this review, as well as the neat little 2-bay charger.
Amutorch sent over a 25% off coupon, too! Go through this link for the Amutorch BT60 LEP and then enter this coupon at checkout!
Z25B60
Short Review
The Amutorch BT60 LEP flashlight has just two modes, but that honestly seems fairly reasonable for a LEP like this. The beam is incredibly thin and tight – maybe more so than other LEP lights I’ve had. It’s fantastic. The user interface is good. Despite output “not hitting the claim,” the point here is throw and the BT60 certainly does that. Around 94% of the claim was measured, so don’t worry about the lumen numbers. Throw is incredible.
Long Review
The Big Table
| Amutorch BT60 LEP flashlight | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | LEP |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $199.95 |
| Cell: | 1×21700 |
| Runtime Graphs | |
| LVP? | Yes |
| Switch Type: | Mechanical |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | Bay charger |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | – |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 400 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 200 (50% of claim)^ |
| Candela per Lumen | 245.7 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 2560 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 33500lux @ 6.521m = 1424535cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 2387.1 (93.2% of claim)^ |
| Item provided for review by: | Amutorch |
| All my Amutorch reviews! | |
^ Measurement disclaimer: Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.
What’s Included
- Amutorch BT60 LEP flashlight
- Samsung 50E 5000mAh 21700
- Amutorch 2-bay USB-C Charger
- Charging cable (USB to USB-C)
- Lanyard
- Tactical ring
- Spare o-ring
- Nylon pouch
- “Manual” (that is not in English)
Package and Manual
There isn’t a manual.
Build Quality and Disassembly
Build quality of the Amutorch BT60 LEP flashlight is good. There’s no much more to say about it than that.
The head (above) has a flat spring but the tail end has a beefy springy spring. Both ends have anodized threads, and the cell tube is not reversible.
Size and Comps
165mm long x 60mm head diameter x 26mm body diameter. Weight not specified.
If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo). If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll also show that (usually in 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 above on the left is a new feature light!! Laulima Metal Craft sent this titanium Todai for some size comparison photos like the ones above. Laulima has bunch of incredible items. I’ve tested one (the Laulima Metal Craft Hoku) (the official site for Hoku is here) that was a Friend Fund Friday review. I was impressed enough by that Hoku that I bought a Laulima Metal Craft Diamond Slim (also in tumbled aluminum) (review is upcoming!) These lights by Laulima have impeccable build quality and not only that, they’re quite configurable. There are some (great, actually) default configurations, but Joshua Dawson (of Laulima Metal Craft) is open to ideas and emitter options and the like. I haven’t reviewed this Todai, but I have to say, it feels absolutely fantastic and I love it thus far. (Notably, I love how warm and eggy those emitters look through the TIR.)
Retention and Carry
A lanyard is included with the Amutorch BT60 LEP flashlight package. This lanyard attaches through the tailcap holes, seen below.
The lanyard is good, with a couple of nice touches.
Also included is a tactical ring. This ring is flexible silicone and slips over the tailcap.
I’m actually not completely sure how it goes on, but this seems about right.
Finally, there’s a nylon belt pouch included. This pouch is directional, and only for carrying; the light can not be used while inside the pouch.
Power and Runtime
Amutorch provides in the package what you’ll need for powering the BT60. It’s a lithium-ion cell, specifically a 21700.
The cell is a Samsung 50E, a 5000mAh cell, and has a flat top. The cell goes into the light in the usual orientation – positive end toward head.
The Amutorch BT60 does shut off with low voltage protection at around 3V. Aside from just the shutoff, the emitter also blinks. That blinking can be seen in the runtime graphs above.
Charging
While the Amutorch BT60 LEP flashlight itself doesn’t have charging, nor does the included cell, the package I received (and you can purchase as an option) includes this Amutorch TC2 charger.
The TC2 is a 2-bay charger suitable for only lithium-ion cells. It’ll certainly charge this 21700, of course, but it’ll go up to 26700 as a max, and down to 16340 as a minimum. The charge rate is 1A, and I don’t really think that’s able to be changed. But it’ll do 1A on both bays at once.
The TC2 accepts USB-C input and will work from a USB-A source or a USB-C source (still with 5V input, though – it’ll negotiate all that.)
I love the size and simplicity of this charger. A previous iteration of the TC2 overcharged the cells to around 4.3V but this one kept the final charge under 4.2V. So that’s perfect.
One more thing about charging – I ran this cycle overnight and I’m nearly certain that the “eyes” from the owl logo turned green WELL before the charging stopped (technically I am not sure charging ever actually stopped). So if you were paying attention (unlike what I was doing) then you could (and really very much should) pull the cell off the charger when the indicator turns from red (charging) to green (complete or “bay not in use”).
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | 400 | 2h | 200 | 2.25 |
| Low | 100 | 6h45m | 84 | 0.78 |
Pulse Width Modulation
Neither output uses PWM.
Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.
Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.
User Interface and Operation
The Amutorch BT60 LEP flashlight uses a mechanical tail switch. In this case, it’s a forward clicky. The switch is very clicky, with positive action.
Being a forward clicky means that momentary output is possible by just holding the switch a bit.
Here’s a user interface table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Click | On (Mode Memory) |
| On | Click | Off |
| Off | Tap | Mode advance (Low > High) |
LED and Beam
The Amutorch BT60 is a LEP flashlight, and I’m not sure how to distinguish past “LEP.” LEPs are a different breed, and do use lasers in some way. You should be careful when using them, but they’re not dangerous in the specific way lasers are also dangerous.
The bezel has a bit of shape, which I appreciate.
The beam is so very tight!
I really believe this is tighter than other LEP lights I’ve used. Not that most spread out all that much, but this seems especially tight.
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
Because of the intensity of spot on the BT60, I was unable to test the CRI and CCT. It’s just too concentrated, and saturates my sensor. I can think of plenty of ways to attenuate the output, but I’m not sure that they won’t also affect the readings for CRI and CCT.
Beamshots
These beamshots are always with the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.
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
- Very tight beam
- Fantastic(al) throw
- Extremely simple user interface (with no extra stuff like strobe)
- Charger works well (and is a great size) (and doesn’t seem to overcharge like previous versions of the TC2)
- Cost – for a LEP, $200 is not that costly
- Complete package includes charger and very high-quality cell
What I don’t like
- Just 2 modes? I don’t really wish for more than 2 modes but I can see how someone might.
- There’s really no “low” mode, because of how the beam is. k
Notes
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
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Neat light!