Long time lerker, first time posting. Everyone does such a great job at answering feedback that I wanted to post my impressions about the Zanflare F1. So far it’s proving to be as good as everyone says and I love the capability of it. I made a video of some tests and wanted to see what y’all thought. Please let me know!
This is a great EDC. For the price, amazing!
I have a lot of flashlights, and for EDC purposes, I could not be more happy with this light. It is so functional and useful for my purposes, I feel spoiled with it and it has set a new benchmark for me.
Pros:
Waterproof:
I don’t have to worry about being out in the rain, or when camping, dropping it into a puddle or stream. This is IPX 8 rated for 2 meters for 30 min. I have tried it out and it works!
Slim design:
this light does not flare out at the bulb, making it very comfortable to put into a pocket.
Non Focusing, Wide beam:
it does not have a sliding head to focus the beam, instead, the light is recessed down and has a great orange peel to reflect the light offering a good tight center and a broad flood function at the same time. Down range the center does lose focus around 200 feet, but for my purposes, that is plenty far. Most of what I use a light is for much closer than that and the spread of light is amazing and simple to use.
Light function cycling:
This light is turned on and off from the back, but the light mode is cycled on the other end near the bulb. What is great about the functions is that it goes through the moonlight, low, medium, high, torch without the strobe or SOS. To go to the strobe or SOS, one has to hold the mode button down for 30 seconds. I really like this as I hated on other lights I have to cycle trough the strobe function and annoying other people.
Light settings:
From moonlight to torch, all the settings offer a purposeful way to use the light. The moonlight setting is good to use when hanging the light from the top of the tent or when reading at night trying not to disturb others. My favorite is the high for backyard animal feedings. The medium offers plenty of light to walk around the campsites and not blind people. The torch setting is great to use for longer distance. The torch setting does only go for 30 seconds as to not overheat and drain the battery too much.
Charging:
I love how this can charge without taking the battery out. This also allows me to charge using a power bank when out camping. There are not many lights that can charge when camping, but this is one of them, and a great one. I can attach this to a power bank during the day and it is ready to go at night. I have solar panels that I can use to charge this with, or how I do, charge a power bank, then charge this. This ability makes it perfect for camping!
Lanyard:
Usually this is just an ok add on for most flashlights, but this one has a clip so that it can be disconnected quickly meaning that if I wrap the lanyard around a loop of my backpack or gear, I can quickly disconnect the light from the lanyard. This allows me to not need a carrying case and keeps the light accessible at all times. Perfect for an EDC!
Other accessories:
The kit does include extra O rings to replace if the ones installed start to fail to keep this waterproof. Also included is the charging cable, standard micro USB, and a pouch to keep everything including the light in. The pouch does not work too well to use on a belt as it is cumbersome to get the light into and out of, but it is a great way to throw into a bag and keep some extra batteries in for the “just in case” scenarios.
Cons:
Glass breaker tip:
Seems good, but on a trip to a local scrap yard the workers let me try it out on a car and I was unable to break the passenger side window. I did blunt the tip of the glass breaker and made it loose, almost to the point of it coming out, as it bent the aluminum whole that it sets in on the flashlight.
Given all the Pros that this light offers, especially at this price, the fact that the glass breaker did not work does not merit a reduction of stars, given only 5 star rating. This is a 9/10 package deal and execution, 5/5 for sure.