Review: Unbranded 18650 XM-L U2 Flood to Throw Flashlight / Headlamp Combo

specifics on the lens would be great if you have calipers - outer diameter, diameter of convex portion, focal length

also wondering what the (non switch) end of the battery tube looks like when in headlamp config

thanks

That’s a pretty unique setup there. Thanks for reviewing it, pretty cool it you ask me!

I like the concept .

Thanks, interesting light.

Great review.

Outer diameter - 28.3 mm
Convex diameter - 21.0 mm

How do you measure focal length? Would be happy to oblige….

Here are some better shots of the end of the battery tube when in headlamp configuration.

You can see how the O ring holds the battery holder in place. It is extremely stable.
The curly tail wire goes around the left side of the headband to the emitter.

The top of the plug adapter. This replaces the emitter head, which then moves to the front of the headband.

The inside of the plug adapter.

It is a relatively narrow flood beam, but very even.

Compared to other pictured lights at 1 foot from the wall:

  • WF-501B - 15 inches
  • HD2011 - 17 inches
  • UF-H3 - 19 inches
  • Combo unit - 12 inches

Beam shots to follow, if I can get my wife’s camera to work….

Hey, thanks!

Can you post the pictures of the flashlight head, when it’s removed from the body, as well as the wire connector on the head side?

Viktor

Here are some more pics of how the head attaches to the headlamp base.

It basically just screws on like it was the flashlight body.

In this one, you can see the pivot bolt and wire connection into the back of the emitter base.

Aaaaah, very cool concept!

Thanks for the detailed pics! :slight_smile:

Wow,really appreciate this…

thanks for those measurements.

If moving the head all the way forward gives you a focused emitter image for a beam (ie you see the lines in the emitter) then to measure focal length you can unscrew the bezel, remove the lens and measure from the edge that the backside of the lens sits on to the top of the emitter’s dome (edit: or to the pcb is fine too…)

but be careful so you don’t ding the top of the dome!

Ok, I give up on editing the placeholder above. Here’s your beamshots!

Taken from 24 inches from a (mostly) white wall (I have small kids). All units on high.

WF-502B

HD2011

UF-H3

Combo Unit in Full Flood

Combo Unit in Full Zoom

a bit more narrow flood than I’d prefer, but I’m pretty sure I’ll end up buying this one.
thanks for all the details.
I bet I’ll end up ditching the headband and attaching both parts to a hat.

I think my next steps on this are:

1) Replace all the O rings with something a little higher quality.

2) Use the straw trick described on another thread and paint the area around the emitter with matte black paint to get rid of the “Ring of Fire” effect seen in the above throw picture. You can really see the machining marks on the emitter head in the beam up close. At distances, you can’t see anything.

3) Per Viktori’s excellent thread on dismantling the head on a Keygos M12, I did the same on this unit to find same metal ring around the inner tube. I’ll probably try a couple of different O rings here to find one that makes the Zooming smoother and gives more resistance.

Viktori, did you find a good size O ring that makes for a good replacement?

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Very nice first review! Thanks a lot for your time and effort. I moved this into the “Headlamps” category since it’s rather unique.
Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

Thanks for the review Sharpthangs!

Excellent review. I’ve seen the same light on Manafont and was interested in it overall build. Looks like I may order one for winter shoveling duty. Thanks for all the review work.

Wanted to give a quick update.

Took this camping this weekend, and it has solidified itself as a favorite.

A few points:

  • Really wished it had memory. It is too bright to turn on High mode every time. I learned to cover it until I could click it down to low, which wasn’t too bad.
  • Very comfortable in headlamp mode long term, and only used one battery all weekend.
  • Shining across a lake, it out threw my 501B XM-L 2.8 A in High.
  • Really wished it had a lower low. The low is usable for reading, but still too bright.
  • Was worried that the zoom would shift while wearing in headlamp mode, but it didn’t move once, even during some night hikes around the lake.

For the money, this thing is great.

Can it outthrow a sipik sk68?