Atactical A1 vs Thrunite TN12 EDC Flashlights

Hello there, welcome back. This is unfortunately and fortunately another flashlight video I said to myself a few weeks ago that I'd had enough with flashlights unless there was something really really special I would not review them. I've had, I don't know, five or six different companies wanting to send me all their stuff Because the stuff is just so similar. Most people that are reviewing them are just doing them and i just turned them down flatly on a table top, which is just sackless. I mean, it's not a proper review, you know, I don't want to be lumped in with that. But, to say that, I was contacted by ThruNite, and as you know, I really rate ThruNite's products. I have had some of the smaller ones sent to me for review purposes, but I've actually bought quite a few of the ThruNite flashlights myself. So ThruNite contacted me, and they said, we have a sister company. Would you be interested in reviewing one of their flashlights? And initially I said no, because, as I mentioned before, I don't want to just review flashlight, flashlight, flashlight, flashlight. I want a bit of variety. But with this one, they basically said it is very, very similar to the TN-12, which is possibly one of the best EDC flashlights you can get, but it's half the price. So that piqued my interest because the TN12 in the UK at the moment is approximately £40 and it doesn't come with a battery. This one that I'm about to show you for all intents and purposes looks and performs pretty much exactly the same but it's half the price and it comes with a battery and there's something special about that battery. Now unboxing videos are the worst. I'll show you it in the box however, there you go. This is my idea of an unboxing video. It's out the box. That's it. There's not much to choose between these two. Both have pretty much the same sort of settings as well. Same switch on the back, but the mode button on the A-Tactical is different to the ThruNite. I actually think that is a better button. That reminds me of the one on the TN-36. It's just a better button. Definitely a better button on the cheaper flashlight. Now the A-Tactical A1 is apparently only 550 lumens, which is roughly half what the TN-12 is. Works exactly the same as the TN-12, you've got your on-off on the back, so that's on. Now you press the button on the top to cycle through the various intensities of light. So basically you've got medium, low, high, SOS and a strobe. So you'd press to shift through the various outputs. Next one is your SOS, and if you hold this top button down, it puts it into a strobe. Excellent flashlight, aircraft-grade aluminium construction, belt clip or pocket clip. Comes with spare seals, comes with a USB lead, and I'll tell you why it comes with a USB lead in a second. Waterproof, just like the TN-12, but as I say, it's half the price. Now, as I mentioned, this one comes with a battery, and it's a special battery. Now one of the drawbacks that I pointed out about the TN12 when I made the video about the EDC flashlights was that it used an 18650 battery which you needed either a mains charger to charge or something like the ThruNite C2 to charge that battery. Well this one is different. Although it is exactly the same size as the 18650 the actual battery part of it is a little bit smaller. And as such, it's only 2,600 milliamp hours compared to the 3,400 milliamp hours of the ThruNite battery. But I don't know whether you can see there, the light isn't particularly good, but just in the top of here, you've actually got a micro USB fitting. So to charge this battery, you could use a standard charger, including the C2, or you could just plug that in directly into the battery. No need for a separate charger. That goes to a plug or that goes to a solar panel or some other sort of charging device and that charges your battery. It's an absolutely excellent idea. And that turns these flashlights into something that is a 9 out of 10 for EDC to a 10 out of 10 because as long as you've got some sort of power outlet, you can charge them. Absolutely brilliant idea. So really in summary, you've got something that is as near as dammit a TN-12 Fully waterproof, shockproof, high output, with a battery that can be charged on the go. And I don't normally state the prices of things when I'm reviewing them, because they do tend to go up and down. But I think I really need to mention the price of this, because at £20, it's an incredible buy. You know, I don't know why you would consider anything else. And on top of all of those awesome features, this little red filter that I use on my TN12 for negotiating through woodland, fits on this one perfectly. The reason I use a red light for going through woodland is you don't get as much reflected light back off the trees. And in the last part of this video, I'll compare the A1 to the TN-12 at various distances in the dark. See what you think, and if you're interested, check out the link in the description. Right, we've got a lovely dark night, but the fact that we've got good cloud cover, no moonlight, Means that we're going to get a good test of this A1 tactical flashlight versus... The ThruNite TN-12. I'm going to split the screen whilst I'm shining these flashlights at various targets. On the left of the screen will be the A1. On the right of the screen will be the TN-12. See if you can notice a difference. First one is going to be approximately 35 metres across my pond. Okay, next target is going to be about 40 metres, up on an angle, looking towards the top of a very, very high tree. The next target is going to be a little bit further. It's approximately 60 metres away, maybe. I'm going to use my chimney pot as a guide, and it's the trees behind the chimney pot. I can't see much, if any, difference between these two. Apart from the fact that I think the ThruNite one has a slightly wider beam, it does appear to highlight more. I noticed that when I was shining it through those trees out towards that chimney pot and beyond. It was definitely getting lit up more by the ThruNite, but the actual target itself, which was the tree behind the chimney pot, it didn't appear any more illuminated with the ThruNite than it was with the A1. That's a strange one. When I'm looking at it on the viewfinder, The ThruNite definitely throws a much wider light, but when you're actually looking at it in real life as it were, you can't really tell much difference. The light chip on that is obviously picking up that tiny little bit of a difference. I don't think it's enough of a difference to justify spending twice as much on a flashlight that doesn't come with a battery. Well there you go, tell me that is not a good flashlight for the money. Hopefully I won't be reviewing any more flashlights in the near future, Unless they're sufficiently different to this one and the previous ones that I've reviewed. But if you've enjoyed this video, hit the thumbs up. I'll see you next time. Thanks for watching.