Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper

Introduction

I am not really into tactical torches, as I prefer the EDC type, with many modes and complex user interfaces that the tactical ones usually lack. And to be honest, I was always wondering why can't tactical torches incorporate both the quick, simple, tactical operation and the versatility of more than 1 mode.

Apparently, Brinyte thought the same when designing the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper, which is a tactical torch with simple and quick tactical operation, without sacrificing multiple modes.

In fact, it looks like Brinyte made no compromises when designing this torch and included everything, so the question becomes, how well did they implement all the features and does the torch live up to its ambitious specs? Time to find out.

Unboxing

I received my review sample of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper in a plain brown box, which is the practice of Brinyte with samples, to minimize the shipping costs. The retail version comes in a nice box.

The light comes with a full accessory pack, which includes a holster, a charging cable, a couple of spare O-rings, a lanyard and the operation manual.

The operation manual comes in a unique format, written on 4 cards, held together with a small clip. It includes all the information needed to understand and operate the torch.

The holster is very well built. It has a Velcro closure, 2 side pockets that can carry extra batteries and a plastic belt loop with a 360 degree swivel.

The Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper comes in two colours, black and desert tan. Our sample is the latter and I find it to be a beautiful and practical design. It is definitely too large to carry in a pocket, but that is what the provided holster if for.

It features a large head, a side switch with LED indicator, a removable pocket clip (which is quite superfluous for a torch of this size), a tactical ring and what I will name a "claw ring", with an aggressive claw.

On the opposite side of the side switch, there is a pad for the magnetic charging cable. The tail cap features 2 large, rubber buttons, for the tactical operation.

The big head features a relatively deep and wide reflector, which is almost smooth, promising a beam with a lot of throw but also some useful spill, perfect for a tactical scenario.

The rubber tail cap buttons are easy to use, even with thick gloves. The tail cap also includes a hole to attach a lanyard.

The battery ships in the light itself, with an insulator tab preventing the negative pole of the battery from making contact. This has to be removed before the light can be operated. The battery is a Brinyte branded, button top 18650 Li-Ion battery, rated at 3100mAh.

I think the size of the light warrants the use of the more energy dense 21700 battery type and I hope Brinyte will make that change in the next version. That would provide better run times and the possibility for higher output as well.

After removing the tail cap, the claw ring can also be removed and, after that, the tactical ring, which features a lanyard hole. The clip just snaps on, and can be removed as well.

There are 2 O-rings on the tail part of the light, one for the water proofing of the tail cap and the other to stabilize the tactical ring.

The claw ring is very helpful at gripping the torch and getting it out of the holster both quickly and securely and also provides a very secure grip while operating the light. The aggressive claw is good looking and possibly useful in tactical situations but it will most certainly be illegal to carry in many countries, so Brinyte made it easily removable and the light can be used fully without it.

The part of the claw ring that goes over the tail cap has 2 internal ridges that have to be aligned with corresponding grooves on the tail cap, for proper installation.

The bezel of the light is also removable and the light can be used with or without it. It is not very aggressive and it is useful as it allows you to see if the light is on when it is head standing, so I see no reason to take it off. Maybe Brinyte is planning to release a more aggressive bezel, as an accessory or one made of stainless steel.

The light features thick, good quality springs on both sides of the battery, which should ensure uninterrupted use if the torch is bumped or dropped and also reduce the electrical resistance, maximizing the output.

The light fits in the holster comfortably and there are cut outs for the claw ring and for the part of the tail cap that is protruding from it.

The cut out for the claw ring is much too large, which is strange for a purpose built holster. I wish they had made it a closer fit.

The protruding tail cap, allows for tactical operation of the torch, even when it is in the holster and the cut out at the bottom of the holster allows the light to shine out of it. It seems like the lower part of the holster does not fit the head of the torch well, so the round hole is deformed quite a bit when the torch is in the holster.

Even though the holster has very nice features and good quality, it should be refined, to fit the claw ring and the head of the torch more closely.

Quality

The quality of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper is that of a premium production torch. The fit and finish is perfect and the anodizing is flawless.

My sample came with some paint chipping on the secondary tail switch housing and 2 small nicks on the back of the tail cap. As this is a review sample that may have been handled before, I cannot say if this is a common occurrence but I expect it is not. I am fairly certain that if a retail torch was delivered like this, Brinyte would replace the tail cap, under warranty. 

Specifications

The main features of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper, as found on the Brinyte website can be seen below:

Features

• Brinyte patented tactical ring design, easy to grab at top speed
• Compatible with one 18650 battery or two CR123A batteries
• Fast charging function
• Intelligent power indicator
• Regulated power supply maintains constant brightness
• Overcharge, over-discharge and overheat protection
• Reverse polarity protection prevents damage from improper battery installation
• Alloy aluminium reflector with professional optical analysis
• Aircraft-grade high strength aluminium AL-6061-T6 with premium Type III military hard-anodized anti-abrasive finish

There is not much one could ask that is not in there.

The technical parameters of the light, as found on the company's website, are as follows:

Technical Parameters

These are some ambitious numbers, for the size and type of this torch. We will certainly put them to the test.

User Interface

The user interface of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper combines the directness and simplicity that defines tactical operation with the option to have a more complex interface, controlled by the side switch, with more modes and usability.

There is a very clear diagram in the manual that explains the operation of the light, in detail: 

Beam-shots

The Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper produces a beam with a well defined hot spot that promises good throw. The hot spot fades into a greenish corona that whitens out towards the edge of the spill. There are numerous rings in the beam, which is normal for a smooth reflector.

I tested the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper over a distance of 70m, which is what I would expect a tactical scenario usage would be.

The following video shows a comparison of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper with 2 very well known contenders, the 1800lm Olight M2R Pro Warrior and the 2200lm Olight Warrior Pro. I think the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper is holding its own very well against the two very strong contenders. I will let each of you decide which one you prefer.

Driver

The driver of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper provided a steady beam, without apparent PWM on all 4 output levels of the light.

It also features constant brightness levels (as we will verify in the runtime test) as well as overcharge, over-discharge, overheat and reverse polarity protections.  That seems like a complete set of features and a very well designed driver

Tint

In the following photos you can see the tint of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper in comparison to the Olight Warrior Pro and the Olight M2R Pro Warrior.

The pictures were taken with a manually set 5500K white balance. As you can see, the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper has a cool white tint, while both Olight torches feature warmer tints.

Charging

The Brinyte branded, button top, 18650 Li-Ion battery that comes with the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper is rated at 3100Mah. I measured the actual capacity at 3003Mah, using the Opus BT-C3100 smart charger. The internal resistance of the battery was measured at 92mΩ.

The charge level of the battery is indicated on the side switch, as depicted below.

The charging cable has a blue light on it that makes it easy to find in the dark and illuminates enough to help you locate the charging pad on the torch. As soon as you get the charging cable close enough to the charging pad, it snaps on magnetically.

The indictor LED on the side button will turn orange momentarily...

...and then red, as the charging begins. When the charging is completed, the indicator LED will turn to green.

If the indicator light remains orange, that indicates something is wrong. It could be dirt / debris on the charging surfaces or a malfunction.

The under voltage protection will turn the torch off, as soon as the battery voltage drops below 2.8V. The charging from that level until full, took 2 hours, 5 minutes and 15 seconds. The diagram of the charging can be seen below. The charging terminated when the battery reached 4.19V.

1 minute after the light is turned off, the indicator LED on the side switch will turn on, to make it easy to find the light in the dark. The brightness level is perfect for the purpose of helping to locate the light in the dark without being distracting and is comparable to tritium vials.

The power consumption of this function is negligible and it will take many months before it has any serious impact on the battery level. It can be turned on or off by holding the side switch down for 10 seconds.

Current Draw

So let us measure the power consumption of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper when it is off and also in all output modes.

The clamp meter was calibrated first.

The power consumption when the light is off is just 6mA.

The torch consumes 119mA on low, which is rated to produce 10 lumens.

Medium is rated at 60 lumens and consumes 206mA.

High is rated at 450 lumens and consumes 937mA.

Finally, turbo mode is rated at 2000 lumens and draws 6.5A.

Here is a table with all the measured values and outputs.

Output & Runtimes

I measured the output and runtime of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper in my home made integrating tube. A high quality electronic thermometer with 2 probes was also use to monitor the temperature. One of the probes was placed near the side switch and the other on the battery tube.

The Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper outperformed its own specs in both brightness and duration. The temperature regulation worked flawlessly and kept the temperatures very low, not exceeding 35.2 Celsius.

I think the temperature setting is quite conservative and it could definitely allow for higher temperatures, which would in turn allow for longer turbo runtimes.

The only measurement where the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper fell slightly short of its specs was the light intensity. The Specs say it has an intensity of 32000cd while I measured 31567cd. This means that the throw is 360m in the specs while I measured it to be 355m. This is very close and can be attributed to differences in environmental conditions, which influence the measurements.

Conclusion

The Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper is a tactical torch, with dual tactical tail switches, offering Turbo and Strobe modes at the touch of a button. It also features a side switch, with a battery level and charge indicator LED, that allows for 4 output levels, Strobe and SOS functions. That is an excellent combination of tactical and EDC functionality, with no compromises in either.

It features a deep (for the torch size) and almost smooth reflector which provides a well balanced beam with excellent throw and useful spill. The tint is a cool white.

The quality of the machining is very good as is the anodization and the light is IP68 water proof rated. The feel of the switches is very tactile and the tail switches are easy to locate and use, even with thick gloves.

The light comes with a full set of accessories, including a holster, a lanyard, spare O-rings and a pocket clip. It has both a tactical ring and a claw ring, which is easily removable, as it is probably illegal to carry in some countries.

The magnetic charging is very easy to use and the provided battery is a Brinyte branded button top 18650, rated at 3100mAh, which I measured to be 3003mAh. I believe that for this size light, Brinyte could have used a 21700 battery, which would provide even better run times and output. That said, the light already exceeds its specs and the output and run times are very good.

The driver has a full set of every protection possible and provides a stable and PWM free output.

There is not much that can be improved on the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper. The only possible upgrades would be the use of a 21700 battery and a better fitting holster. Well done Brinyte.

The cost of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper comes to $135, which is justified for the build quality and multitude of features.

Let's list the Pros and Cons of the Brinyte PT18pro Oathkeeper:

Pros

+ Combination of tactical operation dual tail switches and multiple-mode side switch

+ High quality fit and finish

+ Flawless anodization

+ Magnetic charging

+ Constant current driver with full set of protections and no visible PWM

+ Well balanced beam, good for tactical use

+ Removable claw ring and tactical ring

+ Power and charging LED indicator

+ IP68

+ Battery, holster, lanyard and spare O-rings included

+ Compatible with all 18650 batteries

+ Two CR123A batteries can be used if needed

Cons

- A 21700 battery design would be better, for this size torch

- The included holster should have a better fit around the head of the light and a smaller tactical ring cut out.

Thanks to Brinyte for providing the light for review

Polymeros Achaniotis 01/02/2021