Imalent BTL50 Black Flashlight Review
The Imalent BTL50 Black flashlight features a focusable LED and five modes. It has an e-switch with a rotary control (read on to see what that’s for!)
Official Specs and Features
The product isn’t released yet, so there’s no official link.
Versions
I can speak to two versions. There’s this one with a black leather-like material around the side and one with a grey canvas layer around the side. Internally, they appear to be the same (with one difference. Read about that in the user interface section.)
Price
We don’t know the price yet.
What’s Included
- Imalent BTL50 Black flashlight
- Lanyard
- Charging cable
- Manual
Package and Manual
Build Quality and Disassembly
As I mentioned above, this version of the Imalent BTL50 black flashlight has a black leather (ish?) cover. The build quality and design are much like the BL50, which I tested a while back.
The build quality seems very good, but without being able to access the internals, that designation is made solely on how the light feels in hand.
Both the head and tail end have two TORX screws for accessing parts, but this does not make these parts “user serviceable.” (That’s disappointing.)
Size and Comps
34.96mm (thinnest diameter) x 38.56mm (thickest diameter) x 110.7mm (length)
Weight: 240.7g
Here’s the light in hand:
Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. The version below is a custom laser-engraved Convoy S2+ host by GadgetConnections.com. I did a full post on an engraved orange host right here! Or go straight to GadgetConnections.com to buy your Convoy S2+ now!
Also in the photo above, my Standard Reference Material (SRM) flashlight is the Hanko Machine Works Trident, an 18350 light. While I have not reviewed or tested the Gunner Grip version seen here, I have tested a Hanko Machine Works Trident Total Tesseract in brass. I love the Trident, and it’s a striking contrast to the inexpensive Convoy S2+, another great SRM.
Retention and Carry
The Imalent BTL50 Black flashlight includes a lanyard. The switch end of this light has a hole (on each side) where the lanyard fits nicely.
Power and Runtime
Imalent provides the cell information – it’s a 3000mAh 18650 lithium-ion cell. Below are the runtime tests.
The temperature lines in these charts are included as general context, not precise measurements. The values represent the range (min to max) during testing, but should not be taken as exact readings. A temperature sensor is not always attached to the bezel (or even the hottest spot, assuming that could be defined). Even with ideal placement, too many variables affect temperature to definitively state a specific max value.
When the built-in battery gets low, this indicator (seen in red above and green below) will blink in red.
Charging
Of course, with a built-in battery, there has to be charging, too! The Imalent BTL50 Black flashlight charges via a USB-C port on the tail end.
This charge port cover is better than the one on the similar-build BL50. This one presses into the light and feels MUCH more secure.
Imalent provides a C to C cable.
Charging works great and will use high current if you provide it – up to around 2.5A. A to C and C to C both work fine. C charging proceeds at 9V, and is much quicker than 5V charging. Still, either is respectably quick.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 3000 – 1000 | 1.5m+1h6m | 1963 (0s) 1757 (30s) |
| High | 1000 | 1h18m | 662 (0s) 652 (30s) |
| Middle | 550 | 2h16m | 342 |
| Low | 250 | 4h2m | 180 |
| ECO | 15 | 77h | 10 |
Pulse Width Modulation
None of the modes use PWM.
Click here to 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 Imalent BTL50 Black flashlight uses one e-switch, which is on the tail.
There’s also a rotary control that surrounds the tail.
Imalent sent two versions of the BTL50. This black one has one user interface, and the grey one posted yesterday has a different user interface. Imalent requested (full) reviews for each, but the only difference is the user interface (and the grey or black bit).
And here’s the difference. On this black model, holding the switch changes the output level (mode) of the light. Rotating the rotary switch changes between flood and throw for the LED. This black model is far and away the better user interface, and it’s what I recommended that Imalent go with for the BTL50.
Here’s a user interface table for the Imalent BTL50 Black flashlight!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Click | On (mode memory, excluding turbo) |
| On | Hold | Mode advance (excluding turbo) |
| On | Click | Off |
| On | Rotate selector | Focuses the LED from spot to flood |
| Any | Double click | Turbo |
| Turbo | Double click | Strobe |
| Off | Click 3x | Lockout (indicator red/green to indicate) |
| Lockout | Click 3x | Unlock (green indicator to indicate, light does not come on) |
LED and Beam
The Imalent BTL50 Black flashlight uses an unstated LED.
The LED can be very throwy with a tight hotspot or much more floody (though it still has a very specific hotspot, even in the flood setting). But this does add quite a bit of utility to the light!
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
The Imalent BTL50 flashlight has a surprisingly neutral-to-cool output (not cold white, that is). CRI is very low.
CCT (Correlated Color Temperature) refers to the measurement of the color appearance of light, expressed in Kelvins (K), which indicates whether the light is warm (yellowish) or cool (bluish). A lower CCT (below 3000K) is considered warm light, while a higher CCT (above 5000K) gives cooler, bluish light.
CRI (Color Rendering Index) is a measure of how accurately a light source renders colors in comparison to natural sunlight. Scored on a scale from 0 to 100, higher CRI values indicate that colors appear more true to life and vibrant, similar to how they would look under the sun.
Beamshots
These beamshots always have 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. These photos are taken around 18 inches from the door.
I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!
Summary and Conclusion
The Imalent BTL50 Black flashlight is a neat light. I like having a very throwy light handy on my desk, and I think the BTL50 is a good candidate for that. The build quality is great, the charging is quick, and the (right) user interface is very good. It would be nice to be able to swap the cell, and a light this big feels like it should be using a 21700 or even a 26650. But focusable modules are not small. Final judgement on the Imalent BTL50 Black flashlight will depend on the street price, which isn’t public yet!
The Big Table
| Imalent BTL50 Black | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | LED (unstated) |
| Price in USD at publication time: | ? |
| Cell: | 1xInternal (18650) |
| Runtime Graphs | |
| LVP? | Unknown |
| Switch Type: | E-switch |
| Quiescent Current (mA): | ? |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | USB-C |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | Yes |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | Throw setting: 3000 Flood setting: – |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | Throw setting: 1757 (58.6% of claim)^ Flood setting: – |
| Candela per Lumen | Throw setting: 58.4 Flood setting: 11.1 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | Throw setting: 916 Flood setting: 407 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | Throw setting: 2910lux @ 5.673m = 93652cd Flood setting: 547lux @ 5.676m = 17623cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | Throw setting: 612.1 (66.8% of claim)^ Flood setting: 265.5 (65.2% of claim)^ |
| Claimed CCT | Throw setting – Flood setting: – |
| Measured CCT Range (K) | Throw setting 6000-6200 Kelvin Flood setting: 6000-6200 Kelvin |
| Item provided for review by: | Imalent |
| All my Imalent 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 I like
- Solid build quality
- Very throwy, but has flood option
- Good user interface (with the right switch setup)
- Very quick charging
- Makes use of 9V charging when possible
What I don’t like
- Built-in battery
- No pocket clip (no great way to carry)
- Very low CRI
- Misses output and throw claims
Notes
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