DST TLR





DST is a new name in flashlights and the TLR is their first model. According to the manual they promise to deliver highly reliable lights, I am not going to test that, I will only do the normal tests! The light is a multimode AA light made in titanium (Called TC4). The light has 3 programmable slots and uses a reverse switch, more about the UI later on.



The light arrives in a black cardboard presentation box.



The contents of the box is a bit sparse, only the essential is supplied, there are the flashlight, one o-ring and extra screws for the clip. The manual is missing but I got it later.



The flashlight uses an OP (Orange Peel) reflector with an XP-G led in the center, usual it is possible to see the small circuit board with the led, but here it is covered to make a nicer looking front.



Both the head and the body has some very fine knurling, to improve grip on the light. The above picture is from the head.



Looking into the head, the battery connection can be seen, some metal is used on the circuit board, to improve durability. The ring around the center knot is raised and is working as polarity protection, a wrongly inserted battery will not connect.



The first part on the battery tube is the treads and the o-ring. The treads are very smooth.



A look into the battery tube shows the spring.



The stainless steel clip is mounted on the body with screws, making it possible to remove it.



The switch has a titanium button that is recessed, making it possible for the light to stand on the tail.



I could only split this light in two parts, the head and the body/tail.

Now to the UI (User interface) and modes, the light has 3 slots that each can be programmed to a brightness or a flashing mode, when turned on the same slot is always selected, i.e. no memory. To activate programming for a slot the light has to be on, the slot selected and then the user performs 3 half presses. This activates the brightness setting, one press more will move to the flashing modes setting. The light will change between possible settings, when it presents the desired setting, turn it off and the setting is programmed into that slot. For possible flashing modes, see below.



I like this AA titanium light, both design and functions. It has a easy mode selection with a good selection of modes and 3 slots for preselected modes. The maximum brightness is good for an AA light with a good beam for shorter distances. The finish on the light is good, but not as good as some of my other titanium lights, that just makes the light more designed for actual use, than as a shelf queen. There are a few details I would have preferred improved: a better ramp for brightness selection (Why do manufactures not make logarithmic ramps*) and the sos code (Not that I am ever going to use it).
*I know the answer to that one: More work with programming.



Technical specification and measurements



The light can use any AA sized battery, including 14500 LiIon. The LiIon will give a little bit of extra brightness.

With AA batteries the light is specified for 2 to 135 lumens for 50 hours at minimum brightness down to 70 minutes at full brightness.
With 14500 LiIon batteries the light is specified for 2 to 220 lumens for 60 hours for minimum brightness down to 45 minutes for full brightness.

Current measurement with 14500: Min: 11 mA, Max: 690 mA
Current measurement with NiMH: Min: 46 mA, Max: 2000 mA

Size: Diameter: 17 mm, length: 89.4 mm
Weight: 55.5 gram with AW 14500, 61 gram with eneloop, both measured with clip installed

Led is a Cree XP-G R5.




The light uses pwm at 52 kHz to regulate the brightness, these two curves are minimum and some medium level. At maximum brightness there are no pwm, i.e. the light is on 100% of the time.



The full brightness selection ramp, only the two flashes at 50% and 3 flashes at 100% can be seen, the single flash at low did not register. Note: To get rid of the pwm and only show the brightness I uses a smoothing circuit on my optical sensor, this also smoothed the flashes somewhat.



A full voltage/current/brightness shows that the light keeps a stable output from 2 volt and up to 4 volt, where it goes into direct drive. The lumen value is from the specifications.



The above graph shows runtime with a Eneloop NiMH battery and a AW 14500 LiIon battery. The 14500 is stopped by the protection circuit in the battery. The direct drive part can be seen at the start of the 14500 run.
Note the eneloop are only 2000 mAh, the light can reach 70 minutes with 2700 mAh AA batteries.





Strobe, 1 Hz to 15 Hz with 50% duty cycle. The traces show one of the slower and one of the faster strobes.



Locator/standby, low power 0.1 second pulse with 5 second between



Beacon, dual puls in 0,12 second with 0,5 second between



SOS, this exists in both a high and a low power version, dot is 0.28 second, sos is 7.4 second and delay to next sos is 2 seconds. But the spacing is wrong, i.e. this is not a correct sos.



Here is the full mode selection sequence.



Comparison to other Flashlights



I have selected the following lights for comparison (Same sequence as picture): DST TLR, Quark AA Ti, JetBeam E3P Element SS, Proton Pro, Quark NiMi AA Ti, NiteCore D10





The TLR is a small AA light, but has a good brightness for its size. Note that the Quark is runing on LiIon, with NiMH it would only be about half brightness.



With the programmable brightness settings, the output levels can be adjusted to anything, except extreme low values.



The TLR is not a thrower, it is designed as a more floody light.

Beam profile

DST TLR LiIon, Quark AA Ti, JetBeam E3P Element SS


Proton Pro, Quark NiMi AA Ti, NiteCore D10


Beam profile, reduced exposure

DST TLR LiIon, Quark AA Ti, JetBeam E3P Element SS


Proton Pro, Quark NiMi AA Ti, NiteCore D10



Lowest output
DST TLR LiIon, Quark AA Ti, JetBeam E3P Element SS


Proton Pro, Quark NiMi AA Ti, NiteCore D10


Dark reference:




DST TLR


NiMH minimum and maximum:


LiIon minimum and maximum:


NiMH minimum:


NiMH maximum:


LiIon minimum:


LiIon maximum:




Quark AA Ti


Each press on the button will change the selected brightness, loose/tight head select between two different sequences.
Read more about the Quark and see pictures and beamshots in my Danish review

Moonlight, low, medium:


High, turbo:



Moonlight:


Low:


Medium:


High:


Turbo:




JetBeam E3P Element SS


Loose/tight head select between two levels.

Low, high:


Low:


High:





Proton Pro


Holding the switch down will change brightness/mode. This light has both an white and a red led.

Minimum, maximum:


Minimum:


Maximum:



Quark NiMi AA Ti


Loosen and then tighten the head will change mode.

Low, medium, high:


Low:


Medium:


High:




NiteCore D10


Holding the switch down will adjust the brightness.

Minimum, maximum:


Minimum:


Maximum:



Notes
Light was supplied by DST for review.
Sorry about the pictures, but I had a light behind me that showed up on the snow.