Tiablo A9 Torch

The name Tiablo has become a familiar one to many night shooters over the last year or so, as they produce some powerful and compact gun-mountable torches. I have one of their A10-G kits with extended body (2 x batteries), remote and anti-spill hood, which I use on my 17HMR and 22 rimfire rifles for rabbit and hare bashing. It’s an excellent combo with good range potential and pumps out 260-lumens on one battery or 300 with two.

What I have here is the A9 U2 unit, which offers an improved output of 556-lumen, which is impressive, so let’s take a closer look! No real surprises on visuals and build, with a hard-anodized, Type III aerospace aluminium alloy T7075 body with fins and knurling in all the right places in black. However, it’s about time Tiablo started offering other colours too! Operation is by a standard tail cap, though their remote unit will also fit. It measures 158mm with a 42mm reflector in a 45mm head and weighs 5.5oz (less battery). Body diameter is 1” so no problems mounting it, as there are a number of options.

Belt & Braces

The switch offers two modes - full power (556-lumen) for 1.9 hours continuous, or low 65-lumen for 26 hours, so equally good for shooting or picking up. Power comes from either 2 x CR123 disposable or 1 x 18650 Li-ion rechargeable batteries, which is a nice option. I use the Li-ions in my A10-G but also carry spare CR123s just in case!

On HIGH power, I could get an easy 200-yards on a clear night. The tail cap switch comes on at LOW first and has to be clicked again to get HIGH. In some situations that could be enough to spook the quarry. However, with the remote fitted it only comes on at HIGH, which is ideal!

Spill Factor

Given the reflector design on all torches of this type you do get some beam spill (angled and sideways illumination) which will reduce effective range/performance of the light cone. The A9 U2 is no exception, so to counter this Tiablo now offers what they call a Collimator. This is a replacement 53mm head that screws on. Most noticeable is the large, convex lens, which increases performance to 66900 Lux at 1 metre. If you recall last month I looked at a similar torch (BRAND A), which offered the same function.

Compared to the standard A9 head the Collimator must be focused for best performance. Unusual is the fact you see the shape of the LED, which is square. All you do is point it at a flat surface and rotate the head until you see a crisp, rectangular image.

Electra Lux

Test results with BRAND A from last month showed that at times the beam was too tight, which could be remedied by re-focusing. The same goes for the A9 but in this case the sides of the Collimator head show six, equidistant holes in it. This I found gives a bit of spill around the target area, which actually works to its advantage, giving a degree of peripheral illumination, which certainly improves what you are seeing through the scope.

The Collimator ups both the effective shooting range and also the distance you can pick up eyes at, so expect 250-300-yards to shoot and up to around 500 for eyes. What I did find interesting was and despite the A9’s 556-lumen rating it did not seem to give any more illumination than BRAND A’s 300-lumen at quoted distances.

Design v Output

Looking at the Lux figures shows the A9 U2 gives 66,900 as opposed to BRAND A’s 100,000. This indicates to me that the Lux rating is perhaps a better guide as to what a torch is capable of. It is not my intention to play favourites, but it’s apparent that both makes achieve a near identical result but in slightly different ways. Which I guess must be down to the actual design of the individual aspherical lenses used.

That aside the A9 U2 is an excellent torch that in standard mode will suit rimfire and centrefire work out to 200-yards. The additional Collimator head allows you in seconds to convert it into a more longer range option, so making this design highly versatile for all night shooting needs.

For

Tiablo torches seem to be getting smaller and better

Against

Not a lot

Verdict

A9 U2 and Collimator make a versatile field package for all night shooting needs

PRICE: £99.90 (special offer price £79.95)
COLLIMATOR HEAD: £21.95 Remote switch £18.95