SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting Flashlight Review
The SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight (dual switch interface and USB-C charging) has a Luminus SFT-42r emitter and smooth reflector for long throw!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight product page.
Versions
The SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight itself has just one version, but two packages are available – standard (seen here) and Pro.
Price
The Standard version of the SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight is priced at $159.99 and is available for order now.
What’s Included
- SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight
- Carry case
- Holster
- Battery
- Charging cable
- Spare o-rings (2)
- Manual
Package and Manual
Build Quality and Disassembly
Build quality of the SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight is very good. I didn’t receive any mounts, but the product photography does show the light mounted to a long gun. The dual springs support that idea.
The head has a spring way down in the cell tube. This cell body does not come apart from the head.
The tail also has a beefy spring. Threads are also very smooth.
Note in that tailcap, there are two little printed icons. Two plus symbols. I am not sure why those are there, but they absolutely do not have any relation to the cell orientation. The cell still goes into this light in the normal way. By that I mean that this spring will normally touch the negative terminal of the battery.
Size and Comps
250mm x 63.6mm x 25.4mm and 230g without the battery.
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 light ships in a firm case with a handle. It’s a very good case. The standard package also includes a belt holster.
The head of the SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight slips into the holster and the cell tube and tail hang out.
Power and Runtime
The SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight uses an 8.4V battery. The battery is included with any package level you get (Standard or Pro), so no worries there. Speras states this as a 10,000mAh battery.
They call it a “21700 battery pack,” but it’s shrink-wrapped and in series. This probably means you’d be able to use your own cells, but be very careful to use married cells of the same exact type.
Again, the battery goes into this light in the usual way – positive terminal (in this case, the button) toward the head. The cell is marked (on the sticker) with positive/negative.
Below you can see three runtime tests. After an initial stepdown from over 2000 lumens, the SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight holds steady at around 1000 for a long while.
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.
Charging
The SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight offers USB-C charging. There’s a charge port on the head. It has a press-in cover.
Speras includes a USB to USB-C charging cable. (But A to C and C to C both work just fine.)
Charging is steady for a while, but once charging switches toward the CV phase, there are some dropouts. They don’t seem to cause any problems for charging, though.
While charging, the switch is red. It turns green when charging is complete, or orange when something is incorrect.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps at 8.4V |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 3000-1050 | 2m+4h | 2672 (0s) 2410 (30s) |
5.81 |
| High | 900 | 5.5h | 746 (0s) 743 (30s) |
0.78 |
| Medium | 200 | 26h | 180 | 0.15 |
| Low | 10 | 416h | 9.5 | [low] |
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 SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight has two switches for control. First is the mechanical tail switch.
It’s a good switch with a big pad and nice action. A pretty standard mechanical tail switch.
Next, there’s an indicating e-switch on the head. This is on the opposite side of the light from where the charging port is.
This switch has a nice big pad as well, and a good action.
Here’s a user interface table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Half press tail switch | Momentary mode memory |
| Off | Click tail switch | On mode memory |
| On | Click tail switch | Off |
| Off | Double half click tail switch | Momentary Strobe |
| Off | Double click tail switch | Strobe |
| On | Click side switch | Mode advance |
| On | Hold side switch | No change |
| On | Double click side switch | Strobe |
| Strobe | Double click side switch | SOS |
| Strobe or SOS | Click | Previous mode |
LED and Beam
The SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight uses a Luminus SFT-42r emitter and a smooth reflector. This combo causes great throw with a very tight beam!
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
The tight beam prevents me from testing the higher modes with my CRI testing equipment, but here are the lower two modes. It’s cool white and low CRI. Both of those are pretty usual for this type of light.
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 SPERAS T217 V3 Long Range Hunting flashlight is a very nice light and suitable for the role of “long range” and “hunting.” The Pro kit offers other things a hunter might need, like red and green filters, gun mounts, etc., and is worth considering for that role. But simply as a thrower, the T217 v3 really stands out too! The user interface is simple enough but versatile, and while it does run a proprietary battery, I’m fairly sure it can run standard 21700 cells, too.
The Big Table
| Speras T217 v3 | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Luminus SFT-42r |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $159.99 |
| Cell: | 1xIncluded |
| Runtime Graphs | |
| LVP? | ? |
| Switch Type: | Dual |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | UBS-C |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 3000 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 2410 (80.3% of claim)^ |
| Candela per Lumen | 217.2 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | 1500 |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 15160lux @ 5.999m = 545578cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 1477.3 (98.5% of claim)^ |
| Claimed CCT | – |
| Measured CCT Range (K) | >6300 Kelvin |
| Item provided for review by: | Speras |
| All my Speras 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
- Great throw
- Good build quality
- Simple user interface
- USB-C charging
- Dual springs (necessary on a weapon light)
What I don’t like
- Price
- Proprietary battery (but doesn’t seem required, just use a button top if you order your own.)
Notes
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