Review: Prairie Fire T6-D7 (1x18650 XM-L)

For review I have the Prairie Fire T6-D7 XM-L 1x18650 5 mode flashlight ... From DX

Now it only took some 4 months or so for DX to get this light out the door , so not impressed with the delivery time at all . Other online dealers seem to be doing much better , so vote with your $$ cash .

Anyhow , getting past DX .

Surprisingly nice little light I must say , little , well its not much bigger than a p60

And there are some very nice XM-L lights out there that could replace a p60 host if you wanted a XM-L that ran 18650 ...

My only (2) complaint , well there are two of them , is the insanely low PWM on low , I measured some 61.2Hz , thats so low you can see it pulsing with the naked eye .

The other is , you cant get the emitter centred in the reflector as one side of the reflector pushes off the neg wire , so as you tighten , the reflector gets pushed slightly to one side , ouch !

Other than that :

The light is built as 3 major components , the Head , the body , and the tailcap . Everything screws together well , very nice tolerances , very nice fits , generally this light is put together above average , and I must say , in the last year , budget lights have been much better made than say 2 or 3 years ago .

The battery fits really well

Here you can see the interesting way the tailcap was put together ...

Here is the head : The emitter and driver are in a pill that screws out

Now I kind of like this arrangement , as it makes life easy if you want to mod etc .

I have to say Im very pleased with the build quality of this light , some one went to at least some effort to manufacture a good product ..

There is nothing shoddy about this light , though some may make light of the name , this product has impressed with the build quality .

Lets check out the performance:

Fireworm 18650

First measurements were with the MM and light box at the same time , then I did light box + with the tailcap on so you can see how the tailcap affects performance .

High - 2.6A - 850L...........Lets do it with the Tailcap on = 735L

Med - 1.433A - 480L........" + Tailcap " = 394L

Low - 0.72A - 250L.........." + Tailcap " = 214L

Lets check out the Sanyo 2600 , an excellent battery ,

with the Sanyo I saw some 3.7A (thats 1.1A increase over the Fireworm) and some 1100+L which sagged to 1040L and seemed to hold (3.6A) less tailcap .

With the tailcap , I saw some 870+L which sagged to 825L and looked to hold ...

Moving to throw @ 1Meter ...

Fireworm = 20000Lux on High , 11200Lux on Medium and 5100Lux on Low

Sanyo 2600 = 23600Lux on High , 12400 on Medium and 6300Lux on Low

Beam is very typical XM-L , white hotspot , yellow greeny corona , with a sort of blue purple tint spill ... [ depending on how you see color ] , so Im being very general here .

So as one can tell , the tailcap does affect performance a lot , so simply working from current readings alone , would offer a false representation of the lights capability as its an important part of the equation , but one certainly can see there is potential if one were willing to seek a solution to the added resistance of the tailcap .

Beams tonight :

Low - Medium - High .... 3 different angles ...

Took the light for a walk , nice , not overly large or heavy ..

Shinning it into the local park , it threw ok but the beam spreads out a little faster than other lights .. But still a very nice thrower for size .

Low mode is a little on the high side (200L+) , the light does not tailstand well as the tailcap protrudes a little

Glass Lens

Aluminium Reflector (Smooth)

5 modes [ High - Med - Low - Strobe - SOS ]

No mode memory

Well cut threads

Nice even anodizing

Nice tolerances between parts

PWM = YEs , very low 61Hz on Low , around 120Hz on medium

Excellent review, old. :)

And a nice flashlight to boot, though it's a shame about the PWM.

Awesome review and pics as usual there old!

980L draws more current on High mode.

Great review, Old! I was wondering about that light. :)

Curious how did they manage to solder onto Aluminum? Is there a brass press-in collar inside the pill?

Nice review, looks like a very nice light. Too bad about the PWM though, I cant stand that. Low PWM is a deal-breaker in my book.

thanks for the review!!... and 4 months for DX shipping, I think thats a new all time low... even by their standards.

I have the same Prairiefire that I also bought on DX, took 3 months to get to my front door.

But it is a lot of torch for the money! I keep it by my back door, to "spot" rabbits in the yard for my Beagle. Never had any problems with it, I will have to check what it draws, but I think it was 3.1A.

Last time I looked it was no longer available on DX, but if you have $20 sitting around, this light is one of the best values out there, IMO.

Nice review. I was waiting to hear about this one.

Is it brighter as you Keygos KE5 and which of the two has more flood?

TY for he review. Seems like a really nice all round edc+ light. And certainly a goodie if pwm is no issue for you.

Pill / Driver = Looks to be press fitted , not sure , maybe some glue to [ cant confirm that ]

Keygos5 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/4305 No this one is brighter , throw is very close , Keygos has a tighter beam ... so will throw further [ by how much ? ]

Hi Old. Do the modes reset or continue? I have on on da way. Thx

Mine always starts on High, which is what you want if you have a reverse clicky with blinkies. Otherwise you would have to cycle past both the strobe modes to get back to High again if you shut it off in Low or Medium.

BTW, MIne tailstands perfectly.

Thanks troop. Im glad it resets. Cant wait to see how it compares to my c8 or x9.

Has anybody tried this version

The tear down images show it being completely different.

I’d guess it’s made by a different factory.

The golden is very tempting.

I had the black PF and it was crap. Sold the host to someone as it stopped working almost on day-one. But at $13+ bucks, they are still about worth it for host’s sake. I may try another from LightCastle in that coffee color just to see if I have better luck.

I must say that fiberglass fill to insulate the solder points looks VERY nice!

Arise old thread… :smiley: