Klarus xt20 led torch review 1200 lumens

[Steyr]

Klarus TX20

Overall, the Klarus XT20 is a bit unusual when it comes to tactical style lights in that it is a twin headed side by side shotgun configuration. It isn’t alone here – Fenix TK45 is a triple headed version but it is far chunkier and it doesn’t produce the lumen output that the TX20 can nor is it particularly gun mountable.

Whilst this light cannot be accused of being compact, neither can it be found guilty of being weighty or ungainly. In fact, it is superbly tactile and the only major omission I can see is the use of a side switch near the head. This is a common feature for the longer/bigger lights as anything that uses a tail cap on/off becomes ungainly to use one handed to turn it on and off or go through the interfaces if it is a multi function light.
This is a big criticism of the biggest light I have used – Thrunite’s V3 Catapault. Holding in-between the index and middle finger like a cigar and using the thumb to operate is not a comfortable experience. The XT20 is not as long as the V3 but it is a lot more slender and weighs a lot less so the cigar hold is a possible in my opinion.

One thing Klarus do include is a finger ring. Sadly it isn’t up to speed . For starters, it sits in-between the tail cap and the body tube which should be fair enough except it rattles. You are meant to put an o-ring in to take up a little of the slack but when you need to remove the finger ring, if shears a sliver of the main tail cap seal of compromising its integrity. It is also too small in diameter to allow fingers to register a defined grip and my little porkers struggled to get a tight pressure on it. The light does not benefit from this device so it either needs to be re-designed and a better position for fixing found or dropped completely in favour of side switch. The other issue is that the design of the holster means a finger ring makes extraction of the light tricky and no doubt, putting it back in too.

True, the body tube that holds 2 x 18650’s or 4 CR123’s is long – but I have longer. And it is slender and surprisingly light in weight. In fact, when the light arrived in the post, I thought the wrong thing had been sent when I picked up the unopened packet.

Happily, in the hand, it is quite well balanced – comfortable even. The head is broad but at the same time very shallow so I have to say that the size of the light is a little bit of a deception. Overall, it is a nicely made little package and if the Version 2 modifications are done right, I think it will appeal to a lot of LED light users indeed – particularly in my niche speciality – shooting lights for hunting rather than military use.

Out of the box (which is nothing too fancy) you get the body tube, the head, the tail cap and the holster. There are also additional seals, a spare tail cap boot cover and the Lanyard with reasonably decent instructions.

The engineering is very acceptable – sufficient to be confident whilst it is in hand yet not over engineered with knurling you could use to saw down oak trees. On my sample, the anodising – a likeable gun metal grey type colour is inconsistent and there is a very definite colour shift when held and rotated in certain light conditions. To me this is of little consequence but some will find it disappointing and Klarus should be able to maintain control of this to avoid any disappoints no matter how cosmetic or minor it might be.

Where the Klarus XT20 breaks the mold a little is in the twin head design that allows the broad shoulders but the shallow depth. Compared to my Thrunite Catapult V3, it is dainty – a bit “Long Tall Sally” but I really like it.

However, holding the light so your palm and fingers wrap around the body is the most intuitive way of holding this fella anyway. Tail cap operation therefore can stray in to a two handed affair unless you get imaginative with the tape switch and a little bit of Velcro which does work well.

The tail cap also has a twin button feature to it. The first and main button is the momentary on and forward clicky and is larger and prouder than the second. The other button which is smaller and protrudes less allows you to change output from high - medium – low. The low is not what one would call fire fly and it is still reasonably bright to work by unless compared with the max output in which case it seems a bit weak at first.

I confess that I am unsure about this set up as thumb operation cigar style is the easiest way but the cigar style is not the best hold for this light. If your holding the light like a joystick with the thumb on the tail cap, I found it tricky to select the right button each time every time.

Also the tail cap has a raised collar that is milled out to allow one digit to fall across it and operate the buttons, this light will not tail stand but it is no big deal for me. I also have reduced sensitivity in my finger tips so maybe others will not have this issue.

I believe Klarus should think about either adding another on/off button on the flat head section if there is room as well as the tail cap as it is at the moment. This way, thumb operation becomes infinitely more comfortable to use single handed.

However, the real reason for the light is the ability to get out 1200 claimed lumens from the twin heads running XM-L LED’s. The diameter of the twin heads is not that great and the reflector depth is also rather shallow compared to other throwers I have. However, be under no illusion for when that button is pressed, whatever lies in the darkness will be exposed. The reflectors are very small for a light of this type but the flood is exceptionally even and wide and the advantage of the XM-L LED is that it has a bit of a balance between flood and throw capability.

This is a flooder but at the same time, it has decent legs too. Where it really does score is that the twin beams look like 1 even close range. Using 2 x smooth reflectors, I was expecting to see 2 very distinct beams overlapping with artefacts and rings in the patterns. Not so. It is an excellent beam pattern so 10 out of 10 for that. Some twins and triples (or more) can suffer very badly from overlaying patterns especially around the edge of the beam and sometimes the centre beam suffers too.

As mentioned above, this light is all about 1200 lumens and how they get those lumens out of the front. I would recommend going to the edge of a wood for the very first time when it is pitch black. The wall of light in an even detailed coverage was just brilliant. Over flat ground where it has to reach far, the need for those big diameter reflectors as well as the depth becomes obvious. Because the beam is wide and even, it does not shut your retina down as a very tight beam would so it looks like you can see deep into heavy woodland. The closer you are to the source of reflection, the more your iris shuts down against the strong bounce back.

So allowing for the fact that these are 2 small reflectors (both smooth on my light – they can be 1 x smooth and 1 x orange peel) comes up with a superb output that makes large area illumination a wonderfully easy achievement. It is also reasonably leggy bearing in mind the reflectors simply do not look capable of doing what they actually do. Even I was surprised at the output quality

The output setting are unashamedly for military/law enforcement use. When you hit that big button on the tail, it comes in on high and certainly announces its presence. By dabbing the smaller mode button, it will drop to medium and another press takes it to the much lower path finding level. A third press brings it back onto max.

To introduce the strobe, you just push and hold the mode button – it doesn’t matter what other mode it is in – it will flip to the strobe. It uses 2 or maybe 3 rates of strobe and at 1200 lumens is something I personally would prefer to avoid. The main button does not have to been pressed to operate the strobe on its own – just hold and press the smaller mode button. If the light is on in high, med or low, then pressing and holding mode will start the strobe.

I think Klarus have missed a trick here for not only is this an effective military/police light, but it would also make a very good gun mounted light for hunting/sporter use too. In fact, that is the reason why I have all my lights as I am a shooter first.

However, the user interface of come out with its full 1200 at the first press is the exact opposite of where sporting shooters and pest controllers (like me) need it to be. So maybe Klarus should consider a revised driver and 2 variants for this light – milspec/police cum search and rescue on High Med Low and Sporting/professional pest control with Low Med High dropping the strobe completely. Most animals do not respond to disco lights so it is a waste of time.

As I bought this for hunting/pest control, the user interface as it stands is pretty poor for me. However, the flat head is fantastic to mount compared to a stupid diameter head to clash with the scope or turrets and the front lens body of a large Diameter scope. Having said that, my Deben Tracer Max isn’t exactly small diameter and a Lightforce 140 or 170mm diameter light can be gun mounted too.

If looked at like this, even the bigger diameter tactical look attractive as they include the battery power and often have tape switch options and are pretty much wire free

The tape switch is pretty damned good in my opinion too. Some military tape switches need Arnold Swarzanager muscles in your thumbs to press and hold. Fine if your carrying a close quarter SMG and are all pumped up with adrenaline but with a bolt action rifle it is very undesirable and introduces a lot of undue influence on shot placement.

The tape switch on the V3 Catapault is like this so it will get the chop and get modified.

However, the REALLY nice thing about this is that the tape switch has two controls on it. A dome shaped button and a flat panel section. The flat panel is pure press for on and release for off and is light in the force required to make it work and it runs the 1200 lumens mode.

The dome will act as a momentary on as well but if it is pressed and held for approx 3 seconds upwards, it leaves the light on so you can remove pressure without the light going out. Pressing the domed button again after the 3 seconds will shuffle it between High Med and low. After the domed button has been pressed for the 3 secs to keep the light on, if you press and hold this button again, our friend Mr Strobe puts in an appearance after 1 or 2 seconds of hold and again, it doesn’t matter what level of output you happen to be on.
Pressing the mode button on the tape switch again returns to the High Med Low cycle.
Pressing the flat section of the tape switch turns the light show off.
The light does not have a memory mode so you cannot instruct it to come on in a certain mode. So if you want it to come on in low for a gentle sweep – forget it – its 1200 burst even if your quick at pressing the domed mode button.
Mounting to a gun proved interesting. The first reaction is to put the mount mid body (or somewhere either side of midpoint. However, this causes all sorts of issues if you want to use the holster that comes with it which is what I wanted to do. The mount would not work with the holster – even the finger ring makes this a difficult exercise. So I went back to the drawing board.
The solution I came up with was to put the mount on the tail cap of the tape switch. This means that you can use the standard tail cap in the holster, or change to the tape switch and gun mount with ease. The only downside of this is that the light is long so a little diligence needs to be afforded here to avoid damage through too much leverage being used by accident. With quick release gun mounts, the torch can be off the rifle and used as a search/path finding light with ease.
I generally prefer throwers with a very tight spot and some spill so this is a big departure for me. However, my permissions range from very wide open spaces where throw is king to woodland where being able to see the bigger picture may prevent an accident from arising because you did not have enough information to make your safety assessments. For this lower range work, the Klarus is definitely a tool to consider. The punch it delivers and its light weight and well balanced feel over-ride its actual size.
I do have one concern about the twin side by side shotgun style of this light though and that is it will require a dedicated filter solution and because the head section is not flat sided – it is scalloped out – a Number 8 or peanut style if you will. This makes it a little trickier. The peanut shape should be a flat sided oval to allow an easy filter solution to be produced. I guess the other way to do it is to unscrew the bezel and replace it with a screw in filter. However, I like flip up control so this starts to get complex in the engineering stakes. Possibly if Klarus made two deep bezels, 2 x butler creek style flip ups could be used. It is not without possibility but at the moment, there is no immediate solution for this unless you want to go DIY.
The battery should last for any shooting session – how long do you really want to be throwing 1200 lumens about in pitch blackness. I believe the light has a protection device that will drop output from 1200 Lumen to stop it cooking. I have not been able to run the light long enough to make it trip but I understand that simply turning the light on and off will reset it to max. So it seems to be fitted with a timer rather than a thermal protection device so if you need those 1200 lumens for longer, you can but you know the score.
I have really taken to this light. The anodising issue is a minor one to me and I can certainly use the light in the absence of the finger ring too. Function over form any day of the week as far as I am concerned. I have no build or quality issues with anything else about this light at all. I think it is a belter to be honest and will be getting one for myself.

Thanks to Rob at xxx for the loan of this light for review purposes.

If your into Fenix, then you can also get discount @ xxx but you need to call them first.

Don’t forget that the host of this forum also sells lighting solutions. However, my area is the more specialist LED lights that outperform stuff commonly found in the shooting suppliers.

[Steyr]

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