[selfbuilt]

EagleTac T20C2 (Tactical RGB) Review: RUNTIMES, BEAMSHOTS, and more!

Reviewer's Note: The T20C2 was provided for review by EagleTac. Please see their website for more info.

UPDATE March 7, 2010: This model has been replaced with a new upgraded version, the T20C2 Mark II. Please see my new review for details on the currently shipping Mark II version.

UPDATE JULY 27, 2010: Eagletac has just released a new XR-E R2 drop-in for the T20C2 Mark II. Basically, you get the throw and output characteristics of the original T20C2 reviewed here - but with the build and UI improvements of the Mark II series.

Warning: Even more pic heavy than usual!

Manufacturer's specifications, condensed from EagleTac's website:

• Cree XR-E R2 LED (WD tint, Cool White) or Q4 (5A tint, Neutral White)
• Maximum 300 lumen / 60lumen / 5lumen, Runtime 1.5 hrs / 13hrs / 180+ hrs
• Three levels output, activate by twisting bezel
• Tactical strobe mode, operated by pressing rear switch
• Stainless steel bezel
• Syntax ultra-clear glass lens w/ harden and AR coating
• Type III finish / aerospace tough aluminum
• Smooth aluminum reflector
• Gold plates on all contacts
• Superior tactical knurling and griping aerodynamic
• Protruding tactical forward clicky tail-cap
• Polycarbonate cigar grip ring
• Heavy Duty Holster
• Para-cord Lanyard
• Glow-in-the-dark silicon tail boot
• Spare o-rings and EagleTac silicon grease for self-service
• Advanced RGB Filter System, including high output diffuser filter, Syntax coated red glass filter, and blue and green filters with mirror glass finish for minimized glare and true high output color.
• CR123A Battery Magazine for two CR123A Batteries
• Stainless steel pocket clip in black color, for "head-down" placement of the light
• Heavy duty nylon holster.
• IPX-8 o-ring system
• Self-service possibility allows maximum flexibility by allowing users to open the head (users can replace or upgrade the lens or reflector themselves)
• Optional upgrade to orange peel reflector.
• Optical tail-stand tail-cap
• Weapon mount support
• Length 5.9 inches (14.9 cm), Head Diameter: 1.38" (3.5 cm), Body Diameter: 1.0" (2.5 cm), Body Weight 4.25 ounces (120 grams)
• Supports two Lithium CR123A batteries (also compatible with one or two Li-ion rechargeables)
• MSRP $80 ($90 with RGB filter kit)

The T20C2 is the official release of the "Tactical RGB" light that EagleTac has had in development. As you can see from the fairly extensive specs above, EagleTac has thrown a lot in to this particular package.



By default, the T20C2 comes with manual, warranty card, spare o-rings, o-ring lube, extra GITD tailcap boot cover, wrist lanyard, good quality belt pouch with closing flap and lens diffuser attachment. Optional accessories are the RGB filter kit (shown above), OP reflector, and tailstanding tailcap (scroll down for pics).

Note that the green and blue filters have a reflective finish, just like the Olight filters. If I had used the flash and aimed the camera head on, they would look green and blue.





The first I thing I noticed about the light is the general similarity in external appearance to the Olight M20.


(from left to right: AW protected 18650, EagleTac T100C2 MarkII, T20C2, Olight M20, JetBeam Jet-IIII M, Raptor RRT-2).

T20C2: Weight 123.3g, Length 147.8mm x Width 34.9mm (bezel max)
Olight M20: Weight 120.1g, Length 143.2mm x Width 35.7 (bezel max)

While these external similarities may raise a few eyebrows, a quick examination of the internal components reveals that these lights are actually quite different:



As you can see, they are far more divergent than their external appearance might have let you to believe. The T20C2's battery tube is longer and more bulky overall. The tailcap of the T20C2 is actually common with the T100C2. And most significantly, the head of the T20C2 separates into two pieces, with the reflector actually screwing into the top portion of the head. The contact surface in the base of the head is also pretty different looking, consistent with its rather unique interface and EagleTac heritage.

Simply put, I would say the internal construction of the T20C2 and Olight M20 are as different as any two 18650-class lights are ever likely to be.




Fit and finish are excellent on my sample, no flaws in the black type-III hard anodizing (except for a few chips in the knurling, as is not uncommon on EagleTac lights). Consistent with other EagleTac lights, the knurling on the bezel and tailcap is quite aggressive. Identification labels are very sharp and clear, in bright white against the black background (perhaps unfortunately so, as there are a fair number of warnings on the bezel/head ).

Screw threads are anodized for head or tailcap lock-out. Due to the standard protruding forward clicky, the light cannot tailstand in its default form – but you can buy a tailstanding tailcap accessory (scroll back up for a pic).

Note that the black stainless steel clip and polycarbonate grip-ring are removable (although you will need to remove the o-ring to get the grip ring off). Unlike the Olight M20, the grip ring does not cover the attachment point for the T20C2's clip, so be careful not to scratch the anodizing when removing/attaching the clip (I find a little teflon oil can help).




The light uses the standard Cree XR-E emitter, with a R2 output bin in this case (WD tint reported). Also available from EagleTac is the relatively warm "neutral" 5A tint with a Q4 output bin. For those of you not familiar with tint bins, please see my Colour tint comparison and the summary LED tint charts found here.

One of the more interesting features of this light is how you can remove the bezel retaining ring and screw on the included diffuser (or optional RGB filter kit).



That's a fairly smart way to attach a filter/diffuser. The quality of the included filters and diffuser seem very good – on par with the Olight filter/diffuser material available for a number of their lines.

Here's how the business end of the light looks with the standard smooth reflector, optional OP reflector, and diffuser cover:





And now for the requisite white wall wanting hunting … all lights are on Max on an AW protected 18650, about 0.5 meters from a white wall.

First with default smooth reflector






And with medium OP reflector:






As you can see, there is not a huge difference in terms of the beam profile. I personally prefer the OP reflector, as it helps smooth some of the rings without affecting throw very much (reminds me of the early JetBeam Jet-II/III reflectors - some smoothing, with little loss of throw).

To help you compare the effects of the diffuser and RGB filters, here are some individual shots taken with the smooth reflector (~1m from the wall, 1/25sec exposure, f3.2)

Smooth reflector:


With diffuser:


With RGB kit:




Not surprisingly, the red filter seems to allow the least amount of light through (white LEDs are well known to be somewhat deficient in the red wavelengths).

Here's a few more shots, taken up close on a white cardboard box:






As with the Olight filters, you can see how the mirror-finish of the green and blue filters produces a bit of bounce-back color distortion up-close at the opening.

UPDATE: Some additional long-distance beamshots, to show you how the light compares to others in its class.

Please see my recent 100-yard Outdoor Beamshot review for more details (and additional lights).





User Interface

The T20C2 has a fairly unique interface. Tighten the bezel for Turbo, loosen for General mode. So far, so good – just like a classic Fenix or EagleTac 2-stage interface.

Where it gets interesting are with the "hidden" modes. There is a low output mode that can be accessed by rapidly switching to or from Turbo/General within a sec or so (i.e. a rapid Turbo-General-Turbo, or General-Turbo-General switch). The low setting is not retained if you turn the light off – it will come back on in Turbo or General mode, depending on how you left the head. Interestingly, the light doesn't just jump from one output mode to another – when going down in output, it rapidly ramps down instead.

The other (unfortunately not-so hidden) mode is strobe. This can accessed by doing a rapid twist from General mode to off and back to General mode again. Unfortunately, it can also be accessed by simply clicking off-on within 3 secs.

This removes the ability to rapidly signal in momentary mode, and means you will always strobe yourself if you turn the light back on within 3 seconds of it turning off. I would have preferred if strobe had been confined solely to a head switch instead of a simple off-on tail click.

Strobe frequency was measured at 8Hz, similar to the EagleTac M2-series lights.

No PWM (Pulse-Width-Modulation)

Consistent with other EagleTac lights, I was unable to detect any signs of PWM. As the runtimes clearly indicate, lower output levels appear to be current-controlled.

Testing Method: All my output numbers are relative for my home-made light box setup, a la Quickbeam's flashlightreviews.com method. You can directly compare all my relative output values from different reviews - i.e. an output value of "10" in one graph is the same as "10" in another. All runtimes are done under a cooling fan, except for the extended run Lo/Min modes (i.e. >12 hours) which are done without cooling.

Throw values are the square-root of lux measurements taken at 1 meter from the lens, using a light meter.

Throw/Output Summary Chart:





As you can see, there is relatively little difference in throw between the smooth and OP reflectors. Max output of the T20C2 is a little higher on 2xRCR/CR123A compared to 1x18650 – and it currently the brightest 2xRCR/CR123A light in my collection.

Output/Runtime Comparison:









As previously noted, the T20C2 is brighter on Max on 2xRCR or 2xCR123A than any similarly equipped light in my collection. Regulation and runtime performance is very good, consistent with a current-controlled circuit

Performance on 18650 is as expected for a multi-power, current-controlled R2-equipped light. By that I mean that an 18650 on Max is direct-drive, with a slow decay over time (as opposed to full regulation). You will see from above that this pattern is common on maximally-driven, multi-power lights.

Please keep the above in mind when comparing lights – invariably, these sort of results trigger hand-wringing from those who want perfectly flat regulation on 18650. If you really want that, you will generally need to go with an 18650-only light, or a multi-power light that isn't driven as hard on 18650.

And while on this topic, please remember that all current-controlled, multi-power lights tend to have similar runtime performance for a given output and emitter. I am sure the Fenix TK11/12 lights would look similar if I had them to test. In my experience, EagleTac, Olight, and Fenix circuits tend to have relatively equivalent (and excellent) runtime performance.

Potential Issues

Strobe mode is easily (and potentially inadvertently) accessed by clicking off and back on within 3 seconds. This prevents momentary signaling.

Like all maximally-driven, multi-power lights, the T20C2 is direct-drive on Max on 18650.

The light features physical reverse polarity protection in the head, requiring the use of button-top 18650 cells. Some of the newer high capacity flat-top 18650s (i.e. protected 2600mAh) may not work in this light without modification.

General Observations

EagleTac has done a very good job on the T20C2 – this light plays quite comfortably in the same multi-power 2xCR123A sand box as the "big boys" (i.e. the Fenix TK11/12, Olight M20, and JetBeam Jet-III family).

Runtime performance is as good as the other current-controlled lights (e.g. Fenix, Olight), and Max output on 2xCR123A/RCR appears to be highest in my collection at the moment. Well done.

User interface is somewhat different, with the "hidden" Lo mode (and not-so-hidden strobe mode ). I found the regular output modes fairly intuitive and easy to use – but I dearly wish they would change it so that the strobe doesn't get activated by a simple off-on click as it currently does. This defeats the whole purpose of momentary signaling with a forward clicky.

Build-wise, the T20C2 is a solid feeling light. While it shares the same tailcap as the base-model T100C2, it has a more sophisticated UI feature set and body design (particularly in regards to the head design). Fans of aggressive knurling will be happy to see EagleTac has kept that feature unchanged, while adding extra elements like the removable clip and crenelated stainless bezel ring.

Also upgraded from the basic T/P100 series EagleTac lights are the extra goodies that come standard with this light (e.g. o-ring lube is a nice touch). Everything included appears to be of high quality, and I particularly like the bundled diffuser. This really is a very useful tool - I wish more manufacturers would make one available for their models.

When you consider all the available optional accessories (e.g. RGB kit, tailstanding tailcap, OP reflector, etc), the flexibility and versatility of this light is impressive. Not to mention the price is right – I don't usually comment on this aspect of lights, but it seems to me that it would be hard to top the value you get for your money with the T20C2, among this class of lights.

At the end of the day, I'm impressed with this foray by EagleTac into the premium level of lights. I don't know if overall build quality is quite as high as the Olight M20 or Jet-III M (two of my favorites in this class) – but it is certainly close. With a little tweaking of the interface (i.e. strobe!), I think this light would be a real top contender in this class.

UPDATE Oct 24, 2009: FYI, EagleTac has come out with a newer offering with the same interface as the T20C2, but is much smaller in build - the P20C2. You might want to check out my P20C2 review if you are in the market for this class of light.

UPDATE JULY 27, 2010: Eagletac has just released a new XR-E R2 drop-in for the T20C2 Mark II. Basically, you get the throw and output characteristics of the original T20C2 reviewed here - but with the build and UI improvements of the Mark II series.