Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional Clip-on Flashlight Review
The Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight offers a white spot and high CRI flood emitter, along with red, blue, and green outputs. Read on!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a referral link to the official product page.
Versions
Only one emitter array is available, but that can be had in three body colors: Black, Green, and Orange.
Price
The Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight sells for $29.99, and you can use this coupon for 21% off in the store: ZeroAir21
What’s Included
- Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight
- Charging cable
- Manual
Package and Manual
I will have to grab a scan of the manual later. I thought it’d be on the website!
Build Quality and Disassembly
The Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight is of good build quality and a typical clip light.
The internals are not very accessible. I’m not even sure how it’s put together. The back is possibly pressed in! (?)
One more note about build quality – on my review copy, the little switch on the side that is used to change output types has a burr. It’s manageable, and I could remove it, I am sure, but it’s a very annoying burr!
Size and Comps
64mm x 33mm x 26mm and 50.1g
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 namesake clip-on feature will be the main way to carry the Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight. Below you can see the clip in the fully-opened position. Both sides inside the clip have grippy pads.
The top portion of that clip has a magnet, too.
Power and Runtime
The Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight has a built-in 600mAh LiPO battery. Below you acn see output tests for the highest two modes of both white outputs.
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.
The Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight does blink when nearing the end of its power supply, and finally shuts off (presumably with low voltage protection). The switch also indicates the power level, as follows:
Green: 100-80% power
Yellow: 80-30% power
Red: 30-5% power
Red flashing: 5-1% power
Charging
The Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight features USB-C charging. There’s a port on the side of the head. The cover is a press-in type, but it is secure enough.
Charging works fine with the exception of that one test where not much seemed to go right (the red lines, below). Even in that case, termination was about right.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Super – Spot | 800 | 1h45m | 605 (0s) 586 (30s) |
| High – Spot | 155 | 3h | 130 (0s) 129 (30s) |
| Middle – Spot | 50 | 7h30m | 52 |
| Low – Spot | 10 | 48h | 4 |
| Super – Flood | 400 | 1m0n | 365 (0s) 355 (30s) |
| High – Flood | 90 | 230m | 84 (0s) 84 (30s) |
| Middle – Flood | 10 | 10.5h | 8.8 |
| Low – Flood | 1 | 180h | 0.77 |
Pulse Width Modulation
Below, the top row is the spot emitter, and the second row is the flood. Mode order is lowest to highest.
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 Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight has two ways of interaction. First is this switch that selects the output type – white flood, white spot, or RGB. This is the switch I mentioned above that has a bit of a burr.
The other switch, which is used for selecting the output level of the selected mode, is this e-switch on the top of the Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight.
Here’s a user interface table! The two white outputs share a user interface.
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off (either white output selected) | Click | Battery indicator on switch |
| Off (either white output selected) | Hold | On (mode memory) |
| On | Hold | Off |
| On | Click | Mode advance Either white output selected: LMHS RGB selected: Red Low, Red High, Green, Blue |
| Off | Double click | Flood output selected: Red Blue Flash Spot output selected: Spot strobe (Super mode) RGB selected: Red Green Flash |
| RGB on | Hold 3s | Enter RGB flashing modes (with memory) |
| RGB flashing modes | Click | RGB flashing modes advance: Red slow flash, Red fast flash, Red Green flash, Red Blue flash |
| Off | Hold >5s | Lockout |
| Lockout | Hold >5s | Unlock to on state |
LED and Beam
Trustfire does not state what these emitters are. Each has a very small TIR.
Below (first) is the blue output. Red has two levels (and is the only RGB mode with more than one level). Flood and spot are floody and spotty (respectively), but spot isn’t too throwy.
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
The flood channel is pleasantly high CRI. The spot is cool white and low CRI, though.
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 Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight excels in that the cost is only $30 (or less with the coupon mentioned above! I like that it offers RGB, especially that there are two red modes, and I love the high CRI warm flood light! I would prefer a user-replaceable battery, though.
The Big Table
| Trustfire Mini C Multifunctional clip-on flashlight | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Unstated white LED (Spot) |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $29.99 |
| Cell: | Internal |
| Runtime Graphs | |
| LVP? | Yes |
| Switch Type: | E-Switch |
| Quiescent Current (mA): | ? |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | USB-C |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | All modes |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | Spot: 800 Flood: 400 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | Spot: 586 (73.3% of claim)^ Flood: 355 (88.8% of claim)^ |
| Candela per Lumen | Spot: 2.8 Flood: 1 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | Spot: 80 Flood: 30 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | Spot: 131lux @ 3.748m = 1840cd Flood: 77lux @ 2.118m = 345cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | Spot: 85.8 (107.3% of claim)^ Flood: 37.2 (124% of claim)^ |
| Claimed CCT | Spot – Flood: – |
| Measured CCT Range (K) | Spot 5600-5900 Kelvin Flood: 3900-4000 Kelvin |
| Item provided for review by: | Trustfire |
| All my Trustfire 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
- High CRI flood light
- Simple user interface (same user interface for white outputs)
- USB-C charging
- Low cost
What I don’t like
- Low CRI spot output
- Burr on my selector switch
Notes
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
- Please use my Amazon.com referral link to help support zeroair.org!
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