Trustfire T30R

Trustfire T30R
LEP type / classClass – / shine through
Max. beam intensity (candelas)302,000 cd
Max. beam distance (meters)1,100 meters
Max. output (lumens)460 lm
Modes3
Avg. Price$169

Affordable LEP flashlight when on sale

TrustFire provided lots of accessories with the T30R LEP flashlight. Ranging from a rechargeable 18650 battery, to a lanyard, cleaning cloth, a pouch, and more. Depending on the price you will pay, if below $100, it would be a good deal. At the MFG price, I would probably look at other options.

Size wise, the T30R stands a bit out from the crowd. It’s sleek and long, compared to other 18650 flashlights.

The user interface is very easy with a rear switch for power, and a side switch to run through the 3 available modes. So I think, TrustFire did a pretty good job with their first LEP flashlight.

However, there are still a few other things they could improve upon, and that includes adding a protection glass in front of the convex lens, and a more stable output. The output in High increases, and drops, and increases and drops.. And that’s a little pity, because that influences not just the measurements, but the overall performance as well.

The protection glass lens would be adding like $0.50 of cost, but reduces the headache of finding a suitable convex lens if it gets damaged.

Batteries, and more

The T30R comes with a claimed 3,000mAh 18650 battery. I measured it about 70mm long, with a button top and protection board. At was shipped charged to 4.08V, which is a bit high in my opinion. They normally get stored and shipped around 3.6-3.7V.

The flashlight also accepts non-protected, flat top 18650 batteries due to springs on both ends. It’s also compatible with 2CR123 batteries but not with 216340 batteries, as specified in the manual. The built-in USB-C charging charges the included battery in 2 hours and 15 minutes with a maximum current of 1.9A. The charging process is indicated by a red LED in the switch.

Performance

The beam is the first thing you’ll notice when powering the T30R. It’s a bit green when seen in person. And that makes it a bit less appealing. But that’s not always the most important aspect of a flashlight. But important to note.

Lumen measurements:

ModeSpecifiedMeasured at turn on30sec.10min.
Moonlight8 lm28 lm25 lm
Med95 lm109 lm106 lm99 lm
High460 lm316 lm105 lm97 lm

And then move on to Runtime / battery life:

ModeSpecified runtimeMeasured runtime (ANSI FL1)Time till shut off
Moon58h
Med6h 30min3h 26min3h 26min
High3h 30min3h 29min3h 29min

It’s interesting to note that Medium has about the same total runtime as High. And that Medium was supposed to be almost twice as long. So I tested medium mode two times, and both were about the same. I can’t explain why TrustFire used a much longer runtime for medium that I tested.

And lastly, measuring the beam instensity, and beam distance:

ModeSpecifiedCandelasMetersYards
Low39,250 cd396 m433 yd
Med54,756 cd149,750 cd774 m846 yd
High302,500 cd147,500 cd768 m840 yd
High (turn on)400,000 cd1,265 m1,383 yd

The reason why the measurement in High was so low, was because of the output dropping so quickly. I have a feeling this to be a quality control thing, and other T30R may not have this problem. So I also added the measurement I got around turn on.. Which was about 400,000 cd, not bad.

Get the flashlight here:

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