The BLF GT has become a whole product line for Lumintop. I’ve reviewed a couple already (the BLF GT, and the GT Mini). Here’s the newest iteration, the GT Micro, a 14500 light – basically a very small thrower, but with many of the features of the bigger siblings! Read on to see how it tests.

Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the official product page.

Versions

There’s just one body, but it’s available with a NW or CW tint. Of course if you’re interested in different cell sizes, the other bigger GT’s are options (GT, GT70, GT Mini).

Price

I recommend buying this from Neal at NealsGadgets. Here’s an affiliate link to click, even if you don’t end up buying! The price is $40 for the light, with cells available from $5-7.

(I should have a coupon for this light very soon.)

Edit: Here’s a coupon code! GTMICRO. Thanks!

Short Review

Ok, I’ll agree that this isn’t the most practical of lights. But how fun is a 14500 with >400m of throw. Ridiculously fun, that’s how much fun. Where else can you legally have ridiculous fun for $40? I rest my case.

Long Review

The Big Table

Standard measurement disclaimer: I am an amateur flashlight reviewer. I don’t have $10,000 or even $1,000 worth of testing equipment. I test output and such in PVC tubes!! Please consider claims within 10% of what I measure to be perfectly reasonable (accurate, even).

What’s Included

Lumintop GT Micro

Lanyard

Spare o-rings (2)

Package and Manual

Fairly typical packaging for Lumintop. Fliptop box, with custom foam inside.

I didn’t receive a manual with my package, but I expect that you will.

Build Quality and Disassembly

Like all the GT’s before it, the Micro is well made.

My single biggest (and really only) complaint is that I think the text printed on the side doesn’t look right-sized, and/or is not exactly where it should be. But that’s an extremely minor complaint.

The tail cap has ridges for grip. Knurling would be nice, but the threads on these GT’s are smooth enough that the tailcap removes easily anyway.

The head has come cooling fins, and they work well.

The threads are anodized and square cut, and just very lightly lubed. They’re very nice threads!

The cell tube is fully removable, and exactly the same on both ends. It’s fully reversible. Also note that the anodized threads make for a very easy mechanical lockout!

The tailcap has a double spring, but it’s not extremely stiff.

The head has only a brass button.

The button top cell I used in this light (Efest 700mAh 14500) had plenty of room. Any sized 14500 should work fine.

Size and Comps

Officially: Weight: Approximately 70g without cells

Dimensions: 36 mm Ø head x 105mm length

The GT Micro is surprisingly close to the Convoy S2+ in length. But it’s a thrower, so there’s 1″ of reflector or more willing to explain that. No big deal there.

Here’s the Mini beside the Micro. The Micro makes the Mini look huge! But neither is huge.

And here’s the family. I lack a GT70…. And yes I keep the GT in shorty mode. I’d run it with 18350×4 just for giggles, if I could source the tube.

Retention and Carry

I managed to carry the Micro in my pocket a little, but generally the best (and only included/intended) way is the lanyard. The lanyard attaches through a hole on the tailcap.

Power and Runtime

I tested exclusively with the Efest IMR14500 700mAh seen below. Since this is a FET light, on turbo you could get better performance with a better cell.

Having said that, even with this cell, performance was practically up to specification. 900 lumens on turbo is only ~10% difference from claim, which is (for me) “close enough.” There’s a heavy stepdown at around 3 minutes probably due to temperature.

The output on High looks much like the output on Turbo, except that there’s no discernible stepdown – the light never reaches the temperature required for a stepdown, so output on High just more or less tracks cell voltage.

The light does have LVP. At 2.7V the main emitter flashes to warn the user, and at 2.6V the light shuts off completely. In my tests I have “never shut off” because I stopped the test when the light hit the very low mode, long before the LVP would have kicked in anyway.

PWM

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor.

Stepped mode:

User Interface and Operation

There’s a single switch on the GT Micro. It’s a side, e-switch, and has an indicating emitter under. The indicator is green. The button is completely smooth, but reasonably grippy. Being familiar with the GT family, the photos below are deceiving. The button is small – maybe 8mm. Knowing the GT family, it’s tempting to think it’s much bigger.

The UI is exactly as on the GT, which I just reviewed. This will be a copy paste of that UI. I also always set these lights to stepped for testing, since it gives me something discreet to test. But ramping is all the rage, and I like it fine too, so it’s nice to be able to switch between the two.

The UI itself is a version of Narsil, by Tom E. The version my light shows is Narsil 1.3. (Check this by clicking 3x, then 2x, then 2x, and the version will be blinked. 1 blink, pause 3 blinks.)

The UI is much too complex for my usual table, and I’m not going to undertake that here. This Cheat Sheet is not my work! but is very useful, and thorough.

There are two groups. One group has ramping, one group has discrete modes. It’s possible to switch between ramping and discrete easily. The default is ramping, and to switch to modes, firs turn the light on, then hold the switch for 3.2s. It’ll blink twice, pause, and blink once. At that point, click once. This disables ramping. Once this is done, put the light down so you don’t change other settings (which is very easy to do.) There are other things you could do to expedite termination of programming, but just skip it, and wait.

Narsil is wonderful firmware. It’s extremely versatile, and possible to change many (most? all?) of the settings about the light.

Modes and Currents

This is just for the stepped modes.

Mode Mode Claimed Output (lm) Claimed Runtime Measured Lumens Tailcap Amps Turbo 1000 – 902 [FET]* High – – 419 1.50 Medium – – – 0.29 Low – – – 0.03 Moon – – – 0.01

I will no longer be testing current on the highest mode (or any full FET mode). FET lights will take all the current available to them, so it’s meaningless for me to say my bench power can pump 20A into this light, since I don’t know of any 14500 able to do that. Essentially, with FET lights, use the best cell available to you!

LED and Beam

The emitter chosen for this tiny thrower is a Cree XP-L HI. This has been the standard of choice for a long while for throwers, and it’s a fine choice here. Another neat choice would have been an emitter by Osram, which is making the rounds in throwers now, and would have probably given this little thrower even more punch, and made it just that much more ridiculous fun. But I happen to love XP-L HI’s, so it’s a good choice.

The light can be bought in NW or CW options.

These beamshots are always with the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.

Tint vs BLF-348 (Killzone 219b version)

As you can see, I ended up with the CW version. What better reason to throw in an Osram than that!

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348, because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Random Comparisons and Competitive Options….

Here’s a link to a relevantly filtered page on parametrek.com. I use that site a lot! There really aren’t any other 14500 throwers. There’s just nothing else like this light!

Conclusion

What I like

Ridiculously fun 14500 thrower

Narsil is a great UI

Indicating side switch

LVP

What I don’t like

Doesn’t support AA

At this point in size, it’s a bit weirdly shaped for the hand

Notes

This light was provided by NealsGadgets.com for review. I was not paid to write this review.

This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!

Whether or not I have a coupon for this light, I do have a bunch of coupons!! Have a look at my spreadsheet for those coupons. It’s possible to subscribe and get notifications when the sheet is edited!!