Review – When assembling a home defense kit, one of the most important considerations after deciding on the platform is lighting. Whether you choose a pistol, shotgun, carbine or other platform, the installation of a flashlight on the weapon of your choice is critical to the effectiveness of the setup. If you don’t see the threat, every piece of equipment in your toolkit will be useless. The most popular industry standard flashlights cost about $100 to $300. These flashlights are very reliable, there are many options, and most of them are specially made for pistols or carbines. If you run multiple platforms for home defense, it can be expensive to equip each platform with a flashlight. Fortunately, there are many affordable flashlights available on the market, such as ThruNite TW10. The price of TW10 is only $50, and it can provide high-end flashlight functions without significant impact on your wallet. You did sacrifice some of the TW10 options and still need to determine long-term reliability, but if you want to build a home defense kit within your budget, this may be for you.
What is it?
ThruNite TW10 Weaponlight is a 900 lumens LED rechargeable flashlight, mainly designed to be mounted on a Glock pistol or any gun with a 1913 Picatinny rail. TW10 is manufactured by ThruNite and is compatible with Black Scout Survival.
TW10 is well packed by ThruNite in a thick cardboard box with a magnetic flip top.
The device itself is safely tucked into a custom foam cutout located on top of the other accessories included with the TW10.
What’s in the box?
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- ThruNite TW10 Weapon Light
- ThruNite 1100mAh rechargeable battery
- USB-A to USB-C charging cable
- 1913 Rail adapter with screws
- Allen wrench
- Spare USB port cover
- Spare O-ring
- user’s manual
Hardware specifications
- LED light source: OSRAM P9 LED
- Battery source: 1100mAh 3.7V 18350 rechargeable lithium ion battery
- Beam distance: 410 feet/125 meters (maximum)
- Light intensity: 3960 cd
- Output: 900 lumens ~ 427 lumens
- Running time: 195 seconds (900 lumens) / 130 minutes (427 lumens)
- Waterproof rating: IPX-8 (can be immersed in 2M)
- Body material: aluminum alloy T6061-T6
- Weight: 2.75 ounces/78 grams
- Length: 3.03 inches/77 mm
- Width: 1.02 inches/26 mm
- Height: 1.28 inches/32.5 mm
Design and features
ThruNite TW10 adopts a barebones, simple design, which reflects its economy and single-purpose function. This is a light specially designed to illuminate the target, while being firmly fixed to your gun, it achieves both goals brilliantly.
The body, mounting base and cover of TW10 are all made of anodized aluminum alloy with a textured surface.
TW10 has the ThruNite name and TW10 model on one side, and the joint logo of Black Scout Survival on the other side.
The serial number of the device is printed on the spring-operated bracket on the top of the TW10.
The TW10 comes with an adapter for mounting to an already installed Glock pistol, and includes a 1913 adapter, which can be used with any firearm with a 1913 Picatinny rail.
To replace the mount, simply use the included Allen key to unscrew the Glock mount adapter, then replace it with a 1913 adapter and screws.
TW10 has two soft button switches, one on each side. The rubber switch has a good tactile click, and has the function of constant opening with one click or the function of clicking and keeping it turned on instantaneously.
ThruNite uses a 1100mAh 3.7V rechargeable lithium-ion battery to power the TW10.
The battery charging port is located on the back of the device. There are four screws on the back to fix the back plate to the body of the TW10.
The rubber port plug helps provide the TW10 with an IPX-8 rating, which means it can be completely immersed in water for up to two meters.
The charging port is a standard USB-C connection and can be used with the included USB-A to USB-C charging cable. TW10 fully charged me in about 90 minutes.
Next to the USB-C charging port is a small LED that can indicate power and charging status. When the power of TW10 is between 21-100%, the LED is always blue, when the power is between 11-20%, it is always red, and when the power is less than 10%, it flashes red. When the LED flashes in purple, it means that the charging is abnormal. I will cover this in detail in the performance section, but being able to read the battery level from the LED when the device is mounted on the gun is a great feature for such a cheap lamp.
set up
After the battery is fully charged, the only setting required for the TW10 is to install the device on your firearm. This is another area where this low-cost lamp surpasses some high-end lamps. Of course, before installing TW10, please clean up your gun and make sure that the barrel is empty by visual and physical inspection.
You first need to determine whether you will use the installed Glock adapter or the 1913 adapter. I tested the TW10 on a pistol with a Glock bracket, so I was able to install the GL adapter. As I mentioned in the design section, the adapter can be easily replaced by removing the two adapter screws using the included Allen key and installing the correct adapter on the mount.
TW10 does not find some complicated installation mechanisms on most weapon lights, but has a simple spring-operated screw and latch that can be engaged without any tools.
If necessary, use your fingers, a coin, or a large flat-head screwdriver to loosen the screw head on the base.
After the screw is loose, push it in to widen the rail enough to slide the TW10 onto the gun rail. After the TW10 is locked in place, tighten the screws to secure it. You can fasten the TW10 firmly to your gun with only your fingers, but it is always good to turn it a few times with a coin or screwdriver to make sure it stays connected.
Performance
I tried the TW10 on full-size pistols, compact pistols, and pistol caliber carbines, just for fun. Of course, before I conduct any tests, I cleared all the guns and made sure that the chamber and any inserted magazines were empty.
The full-size pistol I used for testing is my HK VP9 Tactical. The front rail on the VP9 is similar to that of Glock, and the size of the gun is similar to that of Glock 17.
The TW10 is tightly attached to the trigger guard of the VP9, and the small rail can accommodate the entire device, only the barrel extends below the barrel.
As I mentioned before, one thing I really like about TW10, you can’t fully see from the photos, when it is installed on the gun, you can see the battery level LED. This is a great feature, especially in home defense situations.
But what I don’t like is that although the location of the battery LED allows me to see it during installation, it also prevents me from charging the TW10 without removing it from the gun because the port is blocked by the trigger guard NS. This may be a small annoyance because it is easy to disassemble and connect the device, but it would be great to not have to disassemble it at all. Positioning the charging port at the bottom of the device can solve this problem.
The TW10 looks very good on the full-size VP9, and does not add too much weight or affect balance. I can use buttons, but it’s a bit cumbersome. For others with smaller hands, this may be a problem.
Since the room is well lit, it is difficult to tell from the photo, but once activated, the 900 lumens LED is really impressive. When simulating a home defense scenario, the instantaneous turn-on function of the button is most useful, but it is also nice to have a continuous turn-on option. Once the constant on is activated, TW10 will emit 900 lumens of light for about 195 seconds, then it will gradually decrease to 427 lumens to protect the device and run at this level for another 130 minutes, until it turns off or runs out of battery.
I also tested the TW10 on my Springfield XD-M Elite 3.8 inch compact pistol, which is a bit smaller than the standard Glock 19.
I was able to connect the TW10 firmly to the smaller XDM rail, but a small part of the mount did stick out below the front.
This did not prevent the TW10 from running perfectly, and I never worried that it would fall off the mount.
Accessing the TW10 controls on the compact XDM is definitely easier than on the larger VP9, and the added weight of the device during operation or shooting is not a problem. I really like the feel of TW10 on my XDM and VP9, and the operation is very intuitive.
The projection and shape of the TW10’s LED is excellent. It illuminates the area in front of the gun, just as effective as my expensive Olight and Streamlight devices.
For fun and to ensure that the 1913 adapter works well, I also tried the TW10 on the lower front rail of the KRISS Vector CRB.
Normally, I use larger side-mounted flashlights on guns like Vector, but I just want to see how the stylish design of TW10 works on the same stylish Vector.
I admit that it looks pretty cool, although placing the TW10 so far under the long barrel of the Vector is not very effective.
In general, I found that ThruNite TW10 is a powerful and affordable weapon light. Even after hundreds of rounds of testing, TW10 can easily connect, stay installed, and run flawlessly. TW10’s powerful 900 lumens LED can illuminate any threats you may encounter in a home defense situation. I can definitely see this little lamp included in one of my future kits.
what do I like
- Rechargeable batteries are a good choice
- Easy to install without tools
- Excellent low-key design
Areas for improvement
- When mounted on a pistol, the charging port should be easy to use
- For some people, the side-mounted buttons may be difficult to reach
- Lack of options for high-end weapon lights
Final thoughts
ThruNite TW10 has some excellent qualities in weapon lights, and its cost is three to four times that. The TW10 is priced at $50, and its powerful 900-lumen LED is mounted in a minimalist aluminum body, and its weight far exceeds its weight. There are some design failures, such as having to remove it from the weapon to charge it, and a little enough to activate the button. However, for a solid and reliable weapon light, the discount is so large that it is definitely worth considering for the next budget build or kit.
Price: $50.35
Where to buy: overnight Either Amazon (Use the promo code to save 20% off: TW10202108 deadline is 08/20/2021 11:59 PM PDT)
source: The sample of this product is made by Straight through.
