Amutorch BT35

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Amutorch BT35 specifications

Brand/model	Amutorch BT35
LEP	Shine through LEP
Max. Lumens	370 lm
Max. Beam intensity / distance	470,000 cd
Battery config.	1*18650
Onboard charging	N/A
Modes	2
Blinkies	N/A
Reflector	N/A
Waterproof	IP68
Review date	September 2022

I usually start writing the introduction of the review when I receive the package. This time, I finished all the testing, and I’m positively surprised about this light. It’s actually one I would really recommend getting, if you are new to LEPs, and are looking for an affordable option.

The prices of LEP flashlights have finally come down so much, that most people are able to afford one. And no, this is not the farthest shining LEP on the market, but it’s definitely a good performer, with a great beam and nice throw.

If you’re looking for a pocketable thrower, that reaches over 1000 meters/yards, you should definitely read this review.

Package quality.

No, we are not talking about Olight-style packaging, but the carton box this light was shipped in, is adequate. Nothing too fancy, but with some good basic accessories. So this is inside the box:

• The flashlight: Amutorch BT35
• Manual
• Rubber tactical grip ring
• Pocket clip with tactical ring
• 2 spare o-rings
• Manual?

The manal/paper is just in Chinese, so I don’t know whether it says anything about the UI.

For most people, LEP flashlights aren’t used for your daily carry, so a simple UI is quite important in my opinion. You don’t want to get stuck in some sort of configuration mode, or hidden strobe mode.

And that’s exactly what makes the BT35 so strong. An easy-to-use LEP flashlight that fits in your pocket with a forward-clicky switch and 2 well-spaced modes. Plus, however, you are holding the light, and that rear switch is easy to manipulate. This is a great feeling switch.

You don’t need much more than that in this type of tactical style lep light.

It handles very well, and the 18650 battery tube makes the light a bit slim. And even though there is no knurling on the battery tube, the included slide-on tactical ring +clip and tactical cigar grip ring make it easy to carry and use. I would go so far as to say, that the lack of knurling looks actually better on this particular light.

With the tail switch protruding, there is no way you can let it tail stand. The tailcap has to be removed to insert it into the slide-on pocket clip/tactical ring. And there should be some kind of accessory for this flashlight (remote switch perhaps?) because there are threads on the outside of the tailcap.

The grooves near the head, the tactical cigar grip ring, and the pocket clip work well enough to roll off an inclined surface.

In terms of use cases, this is not meant to reach maximum distance, but you could use it as a pocketable searchlight, for urban areas. It would light up things at a medium distance pretty easily without any spill.

Upon receiving the BT35, I didn’t think this was a Amutorch flashlight. Its design and look+feel are different from any of my other Amutorch lights. And in this case, that’s not a bad thing.

I was actually surprised it looks as good as it does, and the build quality is nothing to complain about.

It’s only available in black anodized aluminum, which seems to be pretty strong. I dropped it on the drawer of an iron desk, and I couldn’t find any damage.. well done Amutorch. However, the anodized threads on the battery tube have some damage. Fortunately enough, it’s just a little, and you can still unscrew the tailcap to get a double lockout. (Switch + unscrew)

The threads near the tailcap are generously lubed, which makes the tailcap (un)screw very smoothly. And to keep water out, there is a single silicone/rubber o-ring. This should be enough for the IP68 rating for this light.

There is a gap between the tailcap and the body. This is not a design flaw but is used to fit the slide-on pocket clip. It’s basically a tactical ring on 1 side, and a pocket clip on the other. This kind of clip is likely a copy from another brand, but it looks and fits well. However, it can spin around a bit, so if you want it to stay in 1 position, you’ll have to add some rubber to keep it in place.

If you pull very strong, the ring will disengage, and you can put it back quite easily. Very intuitive, and likely copied from the Switchback tactical ring.

Here’s what Amutorch has to say about their warranty:

1 year warranty – AMUTORCH offers free warranty work if the problem is caused by normal usage within 1 year after receipt.  
Lifetime warranty – For the life of your light, repairs will be made with no labor chargers and as long as parts are available 
from AMUTORCH. You will be charged for the parts needed to repair your light. 

Following situations are excluded from warranty—
Damage caused by unproper disassemblement, modification and unproper usage is excluded from warranty.
Battery is excluded from warranty. If the battery doesn’t work upon receipt, it could be replaced.
Accessories come along with flashlight such as lanyards, bag, o-ring, etc. are not covered by the warranty.  

The Amutorch BT35 (not sure what that stands for) is not an LED flashlight, but an LEP flashlight. That means that the light source is a laser, and not an LED chip.

There are currently 2 types of LEP flashlight modules. There’s a mirror type, and a shine-through type (or backlit type). The mirror-type LEPs can throw the farthest, but usually suffer from a not-so-nice beam profile. On the contrary, the shine-through types don’t throw as far but often have a more pleasant beam.

Every LEP uses a convex-type lens to ‘guide’ the light into a narrow beam. And on some flashlights, that convex lens is the first lens you see from the front. Meaning: the lens is exposed to damage, dirt, and stuff. Fortunately, Amutorch added a protective lens in front of the convex lens, which is easier and cheaper to replace… just in case. And the bezel isn’t crenelated but isn’t completely flat either.

The BT35 uses the shine-through LEP module and gives a pretty nice and even beam. No color shifts and artifacts are visible by the eye.

If you use a tool that measures light, you will be able to see a CCT shift, but that’s very hard to notice by eye. For testing, I used the Opple Light Master 3 (Pro), and measured at a 5-meter distance, as close to the center of the beam as possible.

Low mode

• CCT: 6457K
• CRI (Ra): 61.3
• DUV: 0.0101

High mode

• CCT: 7239K
• CRI (Ra): 65.0
• DUV: 0.0064

Funny to see that the calculation I did with the DUV calculator, is so different from the graph in the pictures.

Dimensions: 

	Millimeters	Inches
Length	133.5mm	5.256 “
Head diameter	32mm	1.262 “
Body diameter	25.5mm	1″

Weight: 

	Weight in grams	Weight in Oz.
Without battery:	116.3 grams	4.10 oz
With 30Q battery	162.6 grams	5.73 oz
With battery and ring	174.5 grams	6.15 oz

Amutorch BT35 Flashlight comparison

Size compared to other LEP flashlights

Image 1, from left to right: Lumintop Thor 2 v1, Lumintop Thor 2 v2, Mateminco FW2, Amutorch BT35, Lumintop Thor 1, Lumintop Ant Man, Samsung INR18650 30Q battery.

If you use a flashlight on a daily basis, you will easily remember all the UI options there are. But if you have multiple lights, or don’t use a flashlight on a regular basis, you are likely to forget how many clicks you need to enter a certain mode.

Scrap all that. This Amutorch flashlight doesn’t make you remember all that stuff, since it only has 2 modes that are easily accessible.

Available modes:

• Low, High

Blinky modes:

None

From OFF:

• Half-press: momentary on
• Multiple half-presses: switching between Low and High mode
• Single-click: to last used mode, with mode memory

From ON:

• Single-click: Off

Shortcuts:

• No shortcuts

Mode memory:

• Yes, but it only has 2 modes, so you can easily switch between them.
• I would have preferred to have no mode memory, so it would always start in the same mode

Blinky modes menu:

• None that I could find

Low battery warning:

• No

Lock-out mode:

• It has a mechanical clicky switch, so not necessary

PWM:

• Not visible by eye

Firmware / UI Conclusion:

The UI is extremely simple, just like it needs to be for this kind of light.

Amutorch decided not to go with onboard charging and kept it as foolproof as possible. This makes it more waterproof as well as more endurable.

You can find springs on both ends of the battery, with a shallow spring near the driver, and a normal-sized spring near the tail.

I tested it with unprotected Samsung 30Q’s, which work great. But the BT35 doesn’t accept the longest, protected 18650 batteries. I tried fitting a Fenix 3500mAh with USB port, but it wouldn’t work.

So, stick with non protected, flat tops, and you’re good to go.

Lumen measurements:

All output numbers are relative to my homemade Integrating Sphere. It is set up with an Extech SDL400 Lux Meter for measurements including a Kenko PRO1D ND-16 filter. The base measurement is done with a Convoy S2+ that has been tested at 252 lumens.

All of my readings were taken from a fully-charged Samsung 30Q .

Mode	Specs	turn on	30 sec	10 minutes
Low	–	103	101	97
High	370lm	298 lm	300 lm	135

Amutorch BT35 Battery life and runtime graphs

The runtime test was done with the 50cm integrating sphere, including the Kenko Pro1D ND-16 filter and Extech SDL400 data logging Lux Meter.

I wrote down the highest output after several seconds as the first output, so the graph looks clearer. but it actually ramps up a few lumens from turn on. The lux meter just misses that turn on point.

Mode	Specified	Measured runtime (ANSI FL1)	Time till shut off
Low	4h30min	3h26min	3h32min
High	1h20min	2h34min	2h34min

The runtime numbers in their specifications are with a 3200mAh battery, which is slightly higher than the 3000mAh with my tested battery.

But still, the Low mode ran much shorter than expected.

ANSI FL1 standards: The runtime is measured until the light drops to 10% of its initial output (30 seconds after turn on). This does not mean that the flashlight is not usable anymore. The last column shows how long the light actually works till it shuts off. If there is a + symbol, it means that the test was stopped at that particular point, but the light was actually still running. This happens on certain occasions, with certain drivers, firmware, or batteries.

Amutorch BT35 peak beam intensity and beam distance measurements

Measurements were taken outdoors at 20 meters with a Hagner E4-X Lux Meter.

Mode	Specs	Measured candelas	Meters	Yards
Low	–	150,000	775	847
High	470,000 cd	402,800 cd	1269	1388

It didn’t reach the claimed beam intensity, but it’s still pretty good at over 1200 meters (almost 1400 yards).

Extra info: Peak beam distance according to ANSI FL1 standards: The calculated value of distance in meters at which the flashlight produces a light intensity of 0.25 lux. (0.25 lux is about the brightness of a full moon shining on an object).

Amutorch BT35 vs Lumintop vs Mateminco vs Nextorch

These 2 graphs are interactive.

Again, but then zoomed in to first 30 minutes

For the tower beamshots (450 meters) I used a Canon EOS 5D Mk2 and a 100mm lens. manual settings: ISO1600, .5sec , F4, 5000K

For the closer beamshots I used a Canon EOS 5D Mk2 and a 50mm lens. manual settings: ISO1600, 1/4sec , F4, 5000K

The shed is about 65 meters / 71 yards away, and the reflective fence 200 meters. 

Compared to the following flashlights, and to give some idea about the difference between LED and LEP

• Amutorch BT35
• Mateminco FW2
• Nextorch T7L
• Noctigon DM11
• Olight Warrior X3
• Manker MC12 II

Disclaimer: This flashlight was sent to me for review at no cost by Nealsgadgets. I have not been paid to review, nor have I been holding back on problems or defects.