Weltool T2R

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Weltool T2R specifications

Brand/model	Weltool T2R
LED	?
Max. Lumens	1750 lm
Max. Beam intensity / distance	42,550 cd
Battery config.	1*18650
Onboard charging	USB-C
Modes	4
Blinkies	Strobe (hidden)
Reflector	Smooth
Waterproof	IP66
Review date	June 2022

Weltool has lots of interesting lights, ranging from small, pocketable UV flashlights, to the farthest throwing LEP flashlights. But their main focus has likely been Tactical gear. Most (if not all) of their flashlights are with a specific use case in mind, unlike other manufacturers that focus on just cramping as many features in a flashlight as possible… for fun.

The Weltool T2R is a tactical flashlight running on a single 18650 battery, which can be charged inside the flashlight with a USB-C cable. So let’s see what Weltool has been up to, lately.

Package quality.

The T2R was shipped in a carton box with adequate protection inside to protect the light from damage during transport. Besides the flashlight, mine included a USB-C cable to get started. This review is written before the flashlight is visible on their website, so I don’t know if it will include a battery by default or not.

So this is what I got (and may be different when they become available to the public)

• The flashlight: Weltool T2R
• Pocket clip (attached)
• USB-C cable

Of course, yours will have a manual included, but I’m not 100% sure about batteries.

The T2R has a forward clicky switch that lets you momentarily turn on a specific mode by pressing the switch momentarily. Tapping the switch will change modes, and a full click will activate that mode for continuous use.

Like all tactical Weltool lights, the T2R has very nice knurling on the tailcap and flashlight body. This helps with unscrewing the tailcap, as well as improving the grip. The pocket clip also helps in this regard, besides functioning as an anti-roll feature on flat surfaces.

The light is designed for tactical use, but it should also be good for an everyday carry if you don’t mind the size and the relatively aggressive knurling. Just be careful with the switch, because it can activate (momentarily) easily. It should also be okay for walking the dog, and doing some stuff around the house. It doesn’t tailstand, because the switch boot is protruding.

Weltool usually has aggressive knurling on its lights, and this one has it too. There is knurling on the battery tube and tail cap. All parts are coated in black, including the pocket clip.

The pocket clip has a lever, so you can easily clip it to your belt or pocket. And if you don’t like using a pocket clip, it’s removable, but will leave some wear when removed.

Weltool used some glue or thread locker so you are unable to unscrew the battery tube from the head. The crenelated bezel is also not removable by hand. You’d have to use force or heat to remove it.

Inside the switch, Weltool added a double spring to reduce resistance to increase the output of the flashlight. This has been a common improvement seen in Weltool’s flashlights lately, including the W65B, and the W4 PRO. So that’s nice to see.

The threads came lubricated and have a single o-ring to increase waterproofness.

There is 1 thing that struck me a bit, and that’s the name of the flashlight. Many of us know that Weltool names their lights, besides having a product name. This one has a spelling mistake and is called: Weltool T2R Elegent Tiger. (Shouldn’t that be Elegant?)

Weltool’s warranty, taken from their website:

From the date of sale (the serial number on the Lights body can show the date), the limited warranty for LED products is 5 years, and the warranty for LEP products is 2 years.

The above free warranty does not cover any damages or failure caused by:

• Problems caused by alteration, misuse, abuse, or unreasonable
• Battery leakage , improper operation or using poor quality battery
• The products do not purchase from Weltool directly or its authorized dealers or other illegal way
• Broken lens caused by external force
• Lamp, switch runs out of its lifespan
• rubber cap, O ring’s naturally aging
• normal wear and tea, imprinting, or color finishes
• Other problems caused by improper operation
• Discontinued products

If Weltool products don’t work because of your improper operation, we can provide paid maintenance. Labor is free but we will charge for parts. The total repair fee is assessed according to the cost of the replaced materials. Freight should be paid by customers.

Since there are no official specifications at the time of writing this review, I can only use my own measurements and observations.

So let’s start with the bezel, which is likely glued in place. I can’t get it to move just by hand. It’s crenulated and probably aluminum.

Behind the bezel sits a black o-ring keeping the glass lens in place. This lens has some sort of AR coating (anti-reflective) because I noticed a purplish hue when I tried reflecting light onto it.

On the inside you can see a relative shallow smooth reflector with a Luminus SFT40 LED in the center. And according to the Luminus website, this emitter is only available in cool white 5000K – 6500K and low CRI (CRI 65)

I used the Opple Light Master III to measure the beam and got the following readings on Turbo mode:

• CCT: 6294K
• CRI: (Ra) 67
• DUV: 0.0050

The beam has a defined hotspot and a weak spill. There is a gradual transition from hotspot to spill, but it’s not as smooth as a TIR optic. The spill isn’t of much use for close-up work.

Dimensions: 

	Millimeters	Inches
Length	136 mm	5.36″
Head diameter	26.6 mm	1.05″
Rubber ring (widest)	30.4mm	1.2″
Body diameter	24 mm	0.95″
Tailcap diameter	27 mm	1.06″

Weight: 

	Weight in grams	Weight in Oz.
Without battery:	94.5 grams	3.33 oz
With Samsung 30Q battery	140.1 grams	4.94 oz

Tactical Flashlight comparison

Size compared to other tactical flashlights with 18650 batteries:

From left to right: Olight Warrior Mini, Olight Warrior Mini 2, Weltool T2R, Fenix PD35 Tac, ThruNite Tn12 v4, Fenix TK11 Tac.

Comparison shot with other Weltool flashlights:

From left to right: Weltool W35, Weltool M2-BF, Weltool T2R, Weltool W3 PRO, Weltool T11, Weltool W4, Weltool W4 PRO, Weltool W5.

I was scratching my head when testing this light first. At first I thought it was a 2-mode, but then I noticed it was a little different than usual. It’s not my favorite UI, and I’m a bit baffled about this. Also, I figured out later that it also had a hidden strobe mode.

Available modes:

• Low, High, Medium, Turbo (in that order)
• Strobe (hidden)

From OFF:

• Half-press: momentary On
• Single-click: Low (no mode memory)
• Tapping: switching between Low, High, Med, Turbo (in that order) a full click will activate that mode
• 4 taps: Strobe mode

From ON:

• Single-click: Off

Shortcuts:

• To Turbo: N/A
• To Strobe: 4 taps from Off (even though the preliminary manual I just received says 3 clicks)

Mode memory:

• No, it will always start in Low

Blinky modes menu:

• 4 taps will activate strobe momentarily
• 4 taps + click will activate the strobe mode continuous

Low battery warning:

• I tested it with a discharged Panasonic battery, and the light steps down when the battery is low and blinks a few times.

Lock-out mode:

• No electronic lockout. It has a mechanical switch, so there should be no parasitic drain

PWM:

• At least not visible to the eye

Firmware / UI Conclusion:

I think the choice of order: Low, High, Med, and Turbo is a little strange. I would have preferred a simple 2 mode, or 4 modes in order, starting from High (this is a tactical light). But maybe there are some tricks to this UI that I don’t know of…

After doing the Turbo runtime test, the USB-port cover (silicone ring) didn’t spin around very easily anymore. I don’t think it was so hard to move before I did that test… At the moment it’s not easy to turn at all. At least not just by grabbing the whole silicone ring. I can move it by poking my finger in the hole (of the rubber ring) and then moving it around. It might have become too hot after the runtime tests?

It uses 18650 batteries and works with button tops, and flat tops alike because it has a spring at the driver’s side and a double spring in the tailcap. It even has reverse polarity protection built in.. and this doesn’t seem to be physical protection, but is likely built into the driver.

Charging can be done with the battery loaded inside the flashlight. The T2R has a USB-C port, and the package includes a USB-A to USB-C cable. This is currently still the most practical cable for most people since millions of devices have USB-A ports.

If you have the light turned off, and you insert the USB cable, the light will turn on, and the indicator LED on the side will flicker. You have to activate the light to charge the battery inside. Why? Because you need to connect the positive and negative terminal. With the switch deactivated, there is no connection with the negative terminal.

During charge, there is a solid red light, which turns green when the battery is full. This indicator LED also functions as a battery level indicator, albeit not very precise. Max charge rate is about 2.3A on my USB power adapter, with USB-A to USB-C as well as my USB-C to USB-C. There is no real benefit of using USB-C to USB-C cables, because the charge current stayed the same.

Please beware that you should not use CR123 batteries in this flashlight, and never try to ‘charge’ them in it.

When powering the T2R, the battery indicator LED will turn on for 5 seconds. The color is either green: battery level more than 50% or red = battery level below 50%.

Weltool says that the flashlight will blink when the battery goes low. I haven’t noticed this during the runtime test, because I probably wasn’t looking, or I just missed it every time. I then tried it with a discharged Panasonic cell, and it stepped down, blinked a few times, and then continued running. So yes, there’s an LVP warning.

This is the gear I used for testing:

Gear	Purpose	Link to buy
Hagner E4-X	Measuring beam intensity (throw)	Inquire at Hagner.se
Extech SDL400	Lumens and logging runtimes	Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk,
Leica Disto D2	Distance for throw measurements	Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk,
Uni-T UTi260B	Thermal camera	Amazon.com,

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 255 lumens.

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

Mode	Specs	turn on	30sec	10 min
Low	65	61	61	60
Med	640	552	546	528
High	1070	964	935	845
Turbo	1750	1589	1486 lm	843 lm
Turbo (low battery)	–	1027	–	–

NOTE: The output is lower than advertised at Weltool, and it’s likely because of the battery I used for testing. It’s a non-protected, flat top battery. It may not compress the springs enough to maximize the current flow. Weltool says it should be able to do 1750 lumens at 30 seconds, and even sent me a video to show.

According to ANSI FL1 standards, the output should be measured after 30 seconds. So the column @30 sec is the litmus test.

I also tested to see whether Turbo can be activated when a battery is discharged to about 3.7V. And yes, it reactivates, but the light steps down within a minute. The red light also started blinking to indicate a low battery level.

Parasitic drain:

• There shouldn’t be any, since it’s using a mechanical switch and no electronic switch.

Runtime: Battery life

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

Mode	Specified	Measured runtime (ANSI FL1)	Time till shut off
Low	31h14min	29h42min	29h42min
Med	1h50min	1h50min	2h17min+*
High	1h	59min	59min+*
Turbo	56min	55min	2h28min+*

During the test, I started to smell something… and it turned out to be this flashlight. A quick check with my Thermal Image camera, the temperature was close to 80 degrees celsius. This was about 35 minutes into the runtime test. A few minutes later I added a fan, that would reduce the temperature. It’s probably the little bump towards the 45 minutes mark. (My thermal image camera’s clock may be a bit off).

The runtimes for High and Turbo are about equal. I just let the Turbo test run for longer than the High test. That’s why the difference in Time till shut off.

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 with certain drivers, firmware, or batteries. At least we tested runtime according to ANSI FL1 standards.

Throw Measurement: Peak beam intensity and beam distance

Measurements were taken indoors with a Hagner E4-X Lux Meter.

Mode	Specs	Candela measured	Meters	Yards
Low	1675 cd	1675	82	90
Med	15825 cd	15100	246	269
High	26775 cd	25850	322	352
Turbo	42550 cd	41750 cd	409	447

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

Weltool T2R vs other 18650 Tactical flashlights

Some of the best Tactical Flashlights we reviewed: These numbers are NOT from the specifications but are measured by our team. I removed the LEP flashlights that could fall into this category but aren’t comparable.

Flashlight	Max. Output (lm)	@30sec (lm)	Candela (cd)	Distance (m)
Armytek Dobermann Pro	1071	1068	31,606	356
Armytek Predator Pro	1206	1193	40,850	404
Armytek Viking Pro	1999	1958	29,069	341
Brinyte PT18 pro	1981	1925	45,675	427
Brinyte PT28	1705	1636	17,800	267
Cyansky P20	1740	1665	14,405	295
Fenix TK11 Tac	1556	1488	27,600	332
Malkoff MDC Bodyguard	872	211	2,650	113
Nitecore P20 v2	893	893	13,900	236
Olight S2R Baton 2	1318	1289	7,500	173
Olight Warrior Mini 2	1721	1658	12,250	221
Olight Warrior Mini 3	1724	1643	14,075	237
Powertac E5R-G4	1718	1602	21,700	295
Speras EST MAX	2400	555	17,250	263
Streamlight Stinger 2020	2183	2141	25,450	319
Thrunite BSS v4	2336	2190	14,775	243
Weltool T12	2000	1846	126,500	711
Weltool T2R	1589	1486	41,750	409
Wuben E12R	1426	1200	10,575	206

Interactive graphs (hover your mouse over the lines for more info

Here’s an interactive comparison graph with some of the best 18650 tactical flashlights I reviewed.

Mobile phone? Hold your phone horizontally for a full graph. If still not clear, click this link to open the interactive graph in a new window.

And here is the same comparison, but then focused on the first 10 minutes. (Max. output only). Or open this link for a closer look at the graph.

And here a comparison of the first 60 minutes

In terms of sustained output, it performs very well, compared to its competitors.

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

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

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