Review Thrunite Catapult Mini

Review Thrunite Catapult Mini

Introduction

Certainly today we have a rather special flashlight, and it is not a phrase to attract attention, it is the truth.

And I say this because it is a specialized launcher, a flashlight that, I don't think I have any with its launcher characteristics. I have others that the manufacturer that launched said, but this is something else… 600 meters of range in the size that a small AA battery EDC would have.

Design, appearance and build quality

I must admit that I quite like its design, it seems very attractive to me, with a tiny size for what it is capable of doing and with that head bigger than the rest.

The build quality is what we usually find in a quality brand like Thrunite, very smooth threads, good finishes, without factory flaws.

This mini catapult, whose name already indicates how "thrower" it is (like a catapult), is powered by a 1100 mah 18350 lithium battery (included) to power the OSRAM KW.CSLNM1.TG led, offering us a maximum of 680 lumens, which may seem few, but they are not when they are concentrated in a small point.

The body of the flashlight is made of black anodized aluminum, waterproof IPX-8 (up to 2 meters underwater) with anti-abrasive treatment on the surface and resistance to falls up to 1.5 meters. There is a knurled grip area and a part for the heat sink. There is no type of clip in the box to be able to use it, nor, although the base is totally flat, a magnet, which is normal because this flashlight has a long-distance use, not to light up an area inside a house for a repair.

We have in the package usual things of the brand such as:

- A USB-C cable for charging the battery, a very favorable point to be able to charge it without having to open it and remove the battery, apart from the fact that we do not need an external charger.

- Two replacement rubber washers.

- A USB connector cover, which is a classic of the brand.

- The useful (for me) wrist strap to put on.

- 1100 mah 18350 battery.

Regarding the measures we find:

Total length	Width at widest part	Weight without battery	Dust and water protection
8.9 cm	4.04 cm	87.5 gr	IPX-8

In this model we do not have a sheath, and I would have liked a cover as with the BSS v5 model that we reviewed from the same brand.

Handling and use

Speaking of handling and use, we are going to base ourselves on the table of characteristics offered by the brand:

Here I think that what can attract attention is that in turbo mode we “only” get 680 lumens, or that in high mode it is “only” 235 lumens. If we think that is that we have not understood the purpose of the flashlight.

This flashlight is a specialist in throwing, so much so that I don't have any model like this one, so specialized, and although they may seem like few lumens, I assure you that even in low mode, it will cross many meters of distance from one side to the other, but Many. And it is that the objective of the flashlight is to reach the maximum possible distance, at the cost of concentrating all its lumens in a "small" point of light (hot spot) but flooding very little.

Having "low" lumens has a very important advantage in one thing, and that is the time that you can be in a particular mode without having to reduce the brightness due to heat. The problems with the high power of today's flashlights are not the batteries that do not last long, it is the heat, which can damage the LED if it is not dissipated correctly or the power is automatically lowered to reduce the heat generated.

Here even in turbo mode we have 70 minutes, which is a lot to be a flashlight turbo mode, and it is thanks to using "only" 600 lumens.

The modes seem correct to me, being well staggered and with 5 modes to choose from (see the table above with the modes, their power in lumens and their usage time), apart from the strobe. I like that from one way to another you notice the difference and that they do not seem almost the same.

The flashlight has a very flat and wide bottom and is perfect for use in candle mode, it is super stable and won't tip over easily (due to its short size and wide base) but in this case, it doesn't make much sense, because it is a pure launcher and you are not going to have a small and intense point of light on the ceiling, for that situation you would want a more flooding flashlight, but hey, I always like that the flashlights can be placed vertically without falling and have stability.

And we come to the raison d'être of the flashlight, a pure launcher of almost 600 meters. Here we barely have flooding, only launch, it's like having a zoom flashlight at maximum always. In fact you cannot see where the halo of the flood practically ends, it is non-existent or very very faint where it ends.

The light we get is basically a very concentrated point of light, made to be thrown meters and meters away. As a launcher it is incredible in its size, with a use that I would say is for outdoors, to search for something at a long distance, for example if you are in the field in a house, it is dark at night and you hear a noise in the distance and you go out , surely you will want to see in the distance and check what it is that you have heard and you are not interested in having light around you, here a flooder would not solve the problem.

On the other hand, although it looks like a flashlight to have at home, it is not its habitat, this flashlight illuminates as much as a launcher, that even in low mode it reflects on a white wall if you are close and can bother, I do not see it much to repair a wall socket with the light cut in the house or turn it on if the power goes out. I see it for the exterior, and what it promises to do it does very very well, but being so specialized, it makes it less useful for other things.

We have a top button that is used to turn it on and off, as well as to change modes. The way of use is the same as other Thrunite models and similar to other brands:

With the button pressed for a short space we turn on or off, the firefly mode is only accessed if we leave it pressed with the flashlight off. Once turned on, leaving it pressed we rotate through the modes, a double press takes us to the turbo mode whether it is on or off, three presses would access the strobe mode. If we leave the power button pressed we access the firefly mode. Come on, the same way of working as many of the models of this brand.

Of course, the battery warning could not be missing, with the typical colors of the brand, blue, red and red flashing, as it discharges. We have already indicated that it is charged through the flashlight's USB-C port, which is very convenient.

The TIR reflector and the LED are what make this flashlight a pure launcher and perform the feat of those 600 meters of distance with an EDC flashlight size.

In the following screenshots we can see the low, medium and high modes, it may be that the differences are not well appreciated due to camera sensor issues, but in reality they can be seen:

Final verdict

Flashlight with an appearance that I quite like, of a small size like an EDC, and that surprises with the number of meters of distance that its light can throw, almost 600 meters.

It is specialized in throwing light, so it floods little, it is what happens with very specialized things, they do their job very well but they are less versatile than when they are more balanced.

The truth is that its use for me would be outdoors, and always to see at a long distance, for inside the house I see little flooding and a "hot spot" so intense and small at close distance, that it bothers a bit when reflecting on a wall white or point at something reflective (metal etc.).

Of course, to take outdoors and see in the distance, it does its job, I think, without rival in the flashlights that I have in my collection.

If you like throwing flashlights and you like small sizes, this is your flashlight for sure.

Things i love

- General quality, materials, assembly, very well made.

- It is impressive to have in such a small flashlight a beam of light at a distance of 600 meters.

- I like that the battery can be charged without having to remove it, through the USB-C port of the flashlight.

Things i would change

- I wish it came with a pocket clip, not only to hang it but to keep it from rolling, it is very prone to rolling when you put it on a table.

- A carrying sheath like the BSS v5 model would be nice.

- Because of its size, I would like it to be more of a flooder, a balance between thower and flooder at least, but then it wouldn't be the Catapult Mini!

Moving

Where to buy it

Thrunite Catapult Mini : ✅ https://www.amazon.es/Catapult-Mini-recargable-senderismo-emergencias/dp/B097XSZPTV