Maratac Tri Flood Pro 21700

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Maratac Tri Flood Pro 21700 review

Maratac Tri Flood Pro 21700 specs

Brand & ModelMaratac Tri Flood Pro 21700
Flashlight categoryLumen monster
LED3x Cree XHP50.2
Max. output10,170 lumens
Max. beam distance320 meters
Max. beam intensity?cd
Battery config.21700 (or 18650)
Onboard chargingNo
Modes5
BlinkiesN/A
WaterproofIP68
Review publication dateApril 2023

Review intro:

The Maratac brand of flashlights are produced by/for a company called CountyComm. It’s a pretty neat company with a lot of awesome, high-quality products. In their own words: CountyComm designs, manufactures and sells select products to federal, state, and local government agencies. Specializing in EDC ( Every Day Carry ) or in other places, Limited GOV overrun tactical goods brought to the consumer market. So… they make products to meet the exacting demands of US government agencies and then sell extras (or additional batches) directly to consumers. While I’ve purchased items from CountyComm before (like their excellent glow tape), I’ve never had one of their Maratac flashlights.

If you take a look at the Lights section of CountyComm’s website, you might begin to notice that these aren’t 100% original designs. Rather, it seems like CountyComm partners with other known brands (Lumintop, Reylight, Acebeam). The Maratac light may share a similar layout as an existing light, but will have unique aspects like a different UI, materials, or knurling.

CountyComm was kind enough to send their Maratac Tri Flood Pro 21700 flashlight for testing. It’s a showy beast, boasting over 10,000 lumens in a compact package. It uses three Cree XHP50.2 LEDs to create a big broad beam. Can it back up those claims?

To get started with the Tri Flood Pro, you’ll need a battery and charger. While those aren’t included, CountyComm has some available to purchase alongside the flashlight. Just make sure you’ve got a battery that’s up to the task (that is, very high drain).

Package quality.

The Maratac arrived in one of the most unusual packages I’ve seen: a 2-part clear plastic square tube. It is minimal yet sufficient packaging with everything securely tucked inside. All told, there was:

  • Maratac Tri Flood Pro
  • 18650 battery adapter
  • Spare o-rings
  • Instructions / specs card

Flashlight in use

For a 21700-based light claiming 10,000+ lumens, the Tri Flood Pro seems very compact. The Tri Flood Pro seems to share more than just a few similarities with the Lumintop FW21 Pro. The Maratac version is much more than just a rebranding, though. Whereas the Lumintop FW series tend to be slippery little things, the Maratac adds super heavy duty knurling for plenty of grip. It also features a machined-in grip ring at the end of the body tube near the tail.

A pocket clip comes pre-installed. It’s the captive variety and is secured between the body tube and tail. You could remove it if you’d like, but be careful with the tailcap as it can come apart if you unscrew the tailcap. While there isn’t a lanyard included, there is a hole in the pocket clip that could be used as an attachment point for one.

The tailcap is nice and flat. You could definitely sit the Maratac Tri Flood Pro on a table to have the light bounce off the ceiling and fill a room. The tail is home to the lone e-switch, which is a similar setup as to what you’d find on the FW-series lights. The switch has a decent amount of travel and a positive tactile response. Do note that if you accidentally open up the tail end, some of the internals may get out of alignment and you’ll end up with a mushy feel and very little travel. If that happens, carefully disassemble the tail and put everything back in its proper place and be extra cautious when putting it back together.

There’s a lot of use cases for something like the Tri Flood Pro: hunting, hiking, dog walks, or turning the backyard into daylight. With its 3 lumen “moon mode” you could easily use it for a reading light, too – as long as you don’t mind cool white light.

Build Quality and Warranty

From my limited experience with CountyComm, tedhey really seem to focus on build quality with all of their wares. This Maratac is no different. There’s the usual aircraft-grade aluminum. But then they graced it with Type III anodizing. The coating is smooth, even, and looks great. The machining looks excellent, and the aforementioned heavy duty knurling is well executed.

Warranty:

The warranty seems simple and straight-forward, if maybe a little short. According to CountyComm: “Full 365 day warranty on all items we sell from defect or failure. We stand behind every product we sell 100% from watches to flashlights, we have you covered!”

LED, Lens, Bezel, Beam, and Reflector

The Tri Flood Pro has three shallow crenulations at the business end of the light. They probably aren’t much for striking, but they are effective at helping to make sure the light is off if you have it set face-down. CountyComm claims that the reflector is made of hand-polished aluminum. Oh, and the lens? This isn’t any ordinary AR-coated glass. No, this is AR-coated sapphire for “ultimate durability.”

As far as LEDs go, we’re looking at 3 Cree XHP50.2 emitters of the 6000K (cool white) variety. With the largish LEDs and small orange peel reflectors, the Tri Flood Pro is aptly named – it certainly is a floody light.

Opple Light Master reading on Turbo at 3 meters:

  • CCT: 6035K
  • CRI: 69.7 Ra
  • DUV: +0.0026

Dimensions and its competition

Dimensions: 

MillimetersInches
Length104 mm4.1 in
Head diameter41 mm1.6 in
Body diameter28 mm1.1 in

Dimensions are rounded to the nearest millimeter, and to the nearest tenth of an Inch.

Weight

Weight in gramsWeight in oz
Without battery:122 g4.3 oz
With battery (Samsung 40T)191 g6.7 oz

Weight is rounded to the nearest gram, and to the nearest tenth of an Oz.

Flashlight size comparison with its competition:

Group 1 compared to Lumintop flashlights: Lumintop FW1AA, Maratac Tri Flood Pro, Lumintop GTA

Group 2: Amutorch E3, Maratac Tri Flood Pro

Group 3: Lumintop GT3 Mini, Maratac Tri Flood Pro, Lumintop GT3

Maratac Tri Flood Pro UI: User Interface and Driver

Available modes: 

  • Moon, Low, Medium, High, Turbo

Available blinky modes:

  • N/A

From OFF:

  • Press and hold 2 sec: Moon
  • Single click: On, last used mode
  • Double click: High (note: CountyComm says “double click any time to access Turbo”, but in my usage it seems to go to High on a double click from Off)

From ON:

  • Press and hold: Off
  • 1 click: change modes
  • Double click: Turbo

Mode memory:

  • Yes, there is mode memory. Turbo and Moon are not memorized.

Shortcuts:

  • To Moon: hold 2 seconds from Off
  • To High: double click from Off
  • To Turbo: double click from On

Low voltage warning:

  • The light will blink several times when it initially hits LVP
  • It then runs at a lower brightness for a while before eventually shutting off

Strobe/blinkies

  •  N/A

Lock-out mode: 

  •  N/A

PWM

  • There is 21 kHz PWM present

Additional/summary info on the UI: 

  • The UI is about as simple as it gets. I’m not a huge fan of “hold for off”, but it works ok if you get used to it.

Maratac Tri Flood Pro Charging and batteries

The Maratac Tri Flood Pro does not come with a battery, so make sure to pick one up if you don’t have a spare sitting around. CountyComm recommends the Lishen 4000 mAh 21700 battery, or for the best performance, the Molicel P42A 21700. Both of those cells are available on CountyComm’s website. And there is no built-in charging, so if you don’t already have a charger, you’ll want to pick one of those up, too.

The Tri Flood Pro does ship with a Delrin 18650 adapter, so while 18650’s may not be ideal due to lower capacity, you can definitely use them if you have them sitting around. Do not use protected cells. They’re probably going to be too long, but you’ll also trip the over-current protection.

In my testing, I primarily used a Samsung 40T battery. That cell is a good balance between high-discharge and moderately high capacity. I did test with a Molicel P42A as well, but my cell must be worn a bit, as the 40T actually provided better performance.

Performance test

Lux was measured by a UNI-T UT383 BT at 5 meters. Lumens were measured in a homemade lumen tube using a VEML7700 sensor, calibrated with a calibration light provided by 1Lumen. Unless otherwise noted, a Samsung 40T battery was used for testing.

Lumen measurements (for each mode)

ModeSpecs@turn on@30 sec@10 minutes
Moon23 lm3 lm3 lm
Low8543 lm43 lm42 lm
Med600729 lm728 lm715 lm
High2,4501,410 lm1,412 lm52 lm
Turbo10,170 lm6,371 lm7,112 lm51 lm
Turbo at 3.6V3,632 lm3,621 lm

Parasitic drain:

  • Couldn’t test due to the dual-tube design 

Well… I tried a few Turbo tests and used a couple of different batteries (Samsung 40T and Molicel P42A) and I couldn’t get anywhere near the factory spec for lumen output in Turbo. The thing is, theoretically the Tri Flood Pro probably could hit 10,000 lumens. The XHP50.2 LEDs are capable of 4,000+ lumens each. With three of them, that’s 12,000 lumens. But there’s more to it than that. There are springs, MOSFETs, and other things adding in resistance – especially when running at 3 volts. Honestly, the biggest restriction is probably the battery.

I don’t have exact numbers at hand, but some back-of-the-napkin math says that we’re looking at 35+ amps. And while some 21700 batteries are rated for that, it’s an awfully lot to ask of a single battery. With a brand new Samsung 30T or something like that, you may be able to momentarily hit 10,000 lumens, but it will only stay in Turbo for maybe 30 seconds before dropping down due to the heat.

Another thing worth noting: this light produces some really strange runtime graphs. The light actually gets brighter as it warms up. I forget the specifics here, but I think one of the components (the battery?) has less resistance when it gets hotter. Less resistance translates to more light.

Battery Life: Runtime graphs

ModeSpecified runtimeMeasured runtime ANSITime till shut off
Moon3 weeks
Low12h
Med4h2h 29min3h 42min
High1h 15min6m1h+
TurboN/A, “thermally regulated”3m2h+

The light stepped down in Turbo and High rather quickly, as expected. What I didn’t expect, though, was that after running at 52 lumens for quite a while, the output never went back up. So when it decreases output due to heat, it will never go back up on its own – you need to increase the brightness if you want to. After watching the Turbo test chug along at 52 lumens for a couple of hours, I stopped the test. The light was only 22°C and the battery was still at 4.06 volts.

About ANSI FL1 standards: The runtime is measured until the light drops to 10% of its initial output (30 seconds after turning 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.

Peak beam intensity and beam distance measurements

Intensity was measured at 5 meters after being turned on for 30 seconds. Since candela values for the Low mode was relatively low, it was measured at 2 meters. A UNI-T UT383 BT lux meter was used.

ModeSpecsCandela measured MetersYards
Low10020 m22 yd
Medium1,62581 m88 yd
High3,250114 m125 yd
Turbo25,600 cd*13,650 cd234 m256 yd

Note that CountyComm doesn’t provide intensity in terms of candela. They only mention that it has a 320m beam distance in Turbo. The math works out, though, to the number provided above. Just like with the lumen output numbers above, the intensity measurements are well below the factory spec. As stated above, I think there are several factors that play into this such as the strength of the battery and resistances from components like springs. Using a battery stronger than my Samsung 40T almost assuredly would result in higher measurements.

About peak beam intensity: 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). The columns ‘Meters’ and ‘Yards’ use rounded numbers.

Beamshots

Camera settings and distance: 

Beam shots of the building are taken at 30 m (33 yd) using a Pixel 7 set to ISO 800 with 1/10 second exposure time

Beamshots of the following flashlights compared:

  • Maratac Tri Flood Pro
  • Speras P4
  • ThruNite TC20 Pro
  • Nitecore P20iX

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

Final Verdict

Pros

  1. Very nice build quality
  2. Attention to detail (sapphire lens!)
  3. Good looks
  4. Rugged, grippy knurling
  5. Packs a big punch

Cons

  1. Output was measured well below spec
  2. Output is heavily dependant on the battery being used
  3. No auto-increase after thermal throttling

Explanation on star ratings:

1: Avoid: a match would be a better choice – 2: Poor: significant defect or issues; almost unusable – 3: Average: some defects or issues; but still usable 4: Good: recommended (minor issues) – 5: Great: highly recommended

Reviewer Gabriel
Author: Gabriel

3.5 stars: ★★★⋆

There’s a lot I do like about the Maratac Tri Flood Pro. It’s like having the elegance of a FW-series light, but with some ruggedized features like heavy duty knurling and a sapphire lens. Oh, and Anduril-haters rejoice! They swapped out the UI for something much simpler. I mean, I like Anduril; but I know a lot of people that don’t. About those 10,000 lumens, though… I couldn’t get near that with my tests. Under just the right conditions (eg, a much stronger battery) or with some tweaking, you might be able to get there. That’s disappointing, for sure. However, having 7,000+ lumens in a compact light like this is nothing to scoff at. Aside from me not being able to hit the factory specs, the Maratac Tri Flood Pro has a lot going for it.

Buy your Maratac Tri Flood Pro 21700

1lumen selects and reviews products personally. We may earn affiliate commissions through our links, which help support our testing.