Trustfire TR-J1 review

[phoenix31tt]

i to am searching for a couple of lights... i already have a couple of intova 220lms...

i was checking out the tr-j1 (35usd with battery/charger) and the dris 1000(70usd with battery)...

from what i'm reading in this thread the tr is a no brainer... am i right? or would i be missing out on some quality/reliability feature by not getting the dris?

 

[Jak Crow]

$35 for a 500lm dive light is definitely a no brainer

 

[chrpai]

I own both and have pro's and con's for both. Neither is a "wrong" decision. Still, looking to see what comes out next year.

 

[Around]

Just got my tr j1 over the mail today. Batteries are still charging so no telling wether the light actually works or not yet. Can't seem to get the stupid crown of though. The front bezel keeps coming off each time i put some counter clockwise force on the crown..

 

[chrpai]

I took mine to a watch shop. The guy wouldn't even accept $5 for it.

 

[undrwater]

Just got my tr j1 over the mail today. Batteries are still charging so no telling wether the light actually works or not yet. Can't seem to get the stupid crown of though. The front bezel keeps coming off each time i put some counter clockwise force on the crown..

If you have a strap wrench, you can use that to hold the bezel while removing the crown.

---------- Post Merged at 03:34 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 03:26 PM ----------

Side by side comparison to my 10 watt HID, I prefer the HID for mud hole diving. The Trusfire had too much (very bright) spill that created a lot of backscatter. Still, I will bet for high vis dives, I will prefer it to the HID.

We shall see.

 

[Mantra]

Hi all.

Took this video of the tr-j1 in action, daylight diving, a couple of days ago (the 7th).

cod hole 7 oct 2012 trustfire tr-j1 test - YouTube

This vid was shot at the cod hole, julian rocks, byron bay Australia. A very sunny day topside, but shocking viz underwater. Very murky, 3-7m viz. Here you can see the trustfire as it performs at 20m, going through a little swimthrough. Compare it to the torch another diver is carrying.

The attack bezel is still in place as it is very firmly attached. Spill is a little reduced due to this.

You can see this thing does very well, but the backscatter in water with particulate is quite noticeable. At the end of the swimthrough you will see I target some rocks a fair distance away, and it hits them even in daylight. I consider this light $40 well spent. It has survived about 5 dives so far, all to 25m or less depths only.

Hope that's of use to someone!

(Shot on a gopro hero2, no filters etc)

 

[Jak Crow]

Mine has been fine sine I got it some months ago, but a friend bought one and it didn't work out of the box. The seller refunded him immediately without asking for the light back, which was nice.

 

[Daiika]

After 4 dives prior to my 5th dive the light was intermittent on land. I thought there might have been salt in the contacts of the magnetic switch. I soaked it for a while but it still didn't help. I switched the battery, clean the battery contacts, cleaned the magnetic switch but no improvement. I re-soldered the emitter wires, didn't help.

I noticed that it worked facing down but not horizontal or facing upwards. - Gravity. Something was rattling in the head. I took the whole head apart. The aluminum ring that holds the CREE emitter was loose. I tightened it and the rattling was gone. The light works fine again.

Don't know how it would get loose, I suspect it was rushed during assembly.

---------- Post Merged at 11:35 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 11:32 AM ----------

Pretty narrow beam. I took the crown off with 2 big vice grip pliers.

 

[Ed Palma]

Interesting. I'd wonder if the light is currently as bright as it originally was. I would imagine that if the emitter wasn't screwed down properly onto the pill, then there would be a chance of burning out the emitter considering the lack of a proper thermal pathway. I'm also curious as to what you meant by saying you soaked it to remove salt in the contacts. If you disassembled it enough to get be able to resolder the wires, then you'd have noted that the light uses hall-effect sensors.

___________

Edit: Re-examined photos Sucnip posted on CPF. I realize now that the ring referred to refers to the locking ring for the entire pill and not just the emitter. I imagine that if not properly screwed down, contact with the rest of the light body (which becomes the cathode) becomes intermittent, leading to the irregular performance of the light.