A stark contrast from the their initial miniature-sized TiKey, they now have the Catapult which is a heft, long-bodied thrower. Up the front is a removable crenellated bezel, which allows swapping out of either the smooth or textured reflector. Actually taking out the reflector can be harder than other lights which simple allow the reflector to drop out by tipping the head down. With the catapult, it requires a bit of force by pushing the reflector from the rear of the head. Following which, you'll also need to remove the gasket seal (not a regular o-ring) by hand before the reflector can finally drops out. This slight hassle may well be worth the improved moisture seal. The glass lens is also very thick, at about 3mm, it should also provide good shock/impact resistance. The AR-coating on in provides very good clarity and produces a deep violent tint when viewed from certain angles. Both smooth and textured reflectors are extremely well polished with surface finish consistent throughout. The LED dome sits perfectly aligned at the bottom of the reflector, however I noticed the die within the dome sits slightly off. This is due to the LED manufacturing process and noting to do with the construction of the Catapult. On the exterior, the head has a thin band of knurling with some subtle aesthetic touches, nothing too aggressive. The LED module and electronics are housed in a separate section which screws into the rear of the head. Threads between them are well-machined and mate well with each other. There was some slight squeaking, but nothing some lubricant won't fix.

The Catapult can be used in a variety of battery configurations. This updated version of the Catapult has both parts of its battery tube with the same diamond-textured design. As with the head and module sections, threads on the battery tube also produced some slight squeaking and requires lubricating. The black Type 3 anodizing is well coated throughout the Catapult's body and has a smooth and very light matte finish. The internal diameter is wide enough to fit protected 18650 cells without problems, although this also means that there's some slight rattle when CR123 cells are used. Threads between the rear end of the battery tube are anodized which allows the light to be locked out by loosening the tail cap. The tail cap is really robust with the switch mechanism securely held in place. The forward switching mechanism allows for momentary activations and has average travel with average tension. It also produces a positive clicking sound when engaged. The exterior of the tail cap has a similar design with that of the head. There are two raised lips which have wide slits machined through for lanyard attachments. They also allow the light to tail stand without problems.

If you're unfamiliar with any of the terms used in this review, click here for explanations on common flashlight related vocabulary.

The Catapult is one of the first flashlights manufactured using the Luminus SST-50 on board. The main difference these have over previous Cree or SSC LED's is that instead of having to use an array of small dice under the LED dome for increased output, the SST-50 manages this with a single, large surface area die. Potential benefits include less obvious beam artifacts in the hotspot when compared to multi-die LED's such as an MC-E or P7.

The Catapult was designed primarily as a long range thrower having a beam profile with a tight hotspot. The review sample came with both smooth and textured reflectors. While the textured reflector produced a smoothened out beam, the smooth reflector has some noticeable artifacts, especially around the corona. The nature of these artifacts seem to the result of slight issues with the reflector's alignment, and not the SST-50 LED. Output from the Catapult has a nice warm tint, leaning towards a yellow hue.

There are two user interface to choose from, the simpler of the two allows simply cycling between maximum output and tactical strobe. The second maintains the maximum output level, but replaces the strobe with a user selectable lower mode. The instruction sheet indicated 13 available levels, however I only managed to obtained 10 discernable user-selectable lower output levels. Including the maximum output, that results in a total of 11 output levels. ThruNite responded to my query regarding this and concluded that they might have sent me an older sample and will be sending one with newer electronics soon, this review will be updated again when it arrives. These levels provides good versatility with it's wide range of output brightness. The method of switching between the two user interface and selection of user-selectable level can be a little cumbersome though. Both require the light to be switched on, then off for 3 seconds, followed by 4 successive taps of the switch, keeping the switch pressed on the 4th. This can cause quite a few potential issues, especially when using the light momentarily as sometimes the light will not turn on because the successive taps required to change the user interface causes the light to remain off on the first 3 taps. Hopefully there will be improvements made by ThruNite on this front.

As you can see from the runtime graphs below, output performance on the maximum brightness level is a mixed bag depending on the type of battery used. The best obviously being the 2x 18650 configuration which maintains great regulation with average runtime relative to output. With 1x 18650, the regulation suffers as expected. 2x CR123 performance was surprisingly bad, showing similar signs of heat-induced performance degradation. This was despite the runtime being done with active cooling applied to the flashlight. With the exception of level 10 and 11, all other lower levels produced practically similar output brightness. More runtime tests will be added soon.

Update: 8 November 2009
The updated version of the Catapult has a simpler user interface with 3 levels of brightness and strobe instead of 11 levels. Regulation and runtime is pretty much maintained the same in relation as the earlier version, with the exception of the High level which puts out about 80 lumens more light when running on 2x 18650 cells. In addition, ThruNite also implemented a low battery warning which causes 3 rapid pulses when input voltage falls between 4.4v to 5.6v. Although useful when running on 2x 18650 cells, it causes false alarms when running on 2x CR123 cells.

The Good - Well machined and robust parts such as thick lens, tail cap and good water seals. Very wide range of output brightness.

The Bad - User interface has issues which may interfere with momentary operation.

The Relative - Beam has a warm tint. Some noticeable artifacts with smooth reflector installed. Uses a forward push button. Is able to tail stand.

Head, smooth reflector (front view).

Head, textured reflector (front view).

Head (side view).

Head (rear view).

LED module (front view).

LED module (side view).

LED module (rear view).

Battery tube (front view).

Battery tube (side view).

New battery tube (side view).

Battery tube (rear view).

Extended battery tube (front view).

Extended battery tube (side view).

Extended battery tube (rear view).

Tail cap (front view).

Tail cap (side view).

Tail cap (rear view).

Level 3