Review: Trustfire XP-E F23

Charged up a 10440 - the Ultrafire protected ones. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.30788. Claimed capacity 600mAh. That will be right! DX say 350mAh and that is quite possibly optimistic too.

Bunged it in the light and set it on high to discharge. Since stainless steel lights tend to get rather hot, pointed a fan at the light to help cool it a bit. 50% output is the convention for measuring runtimes. By that point, output is dropping like a stone anyway - you are at 90% or more of the time till the cell protection kicks in. Even with the fan, the light is getting pretty hot after 12 minutes. Not painful, but hot.

Got 54.6 microamps off the lightbox at start - dropped to 27.3 microamps (50%) after 14 minutes and 15 seconds. Cell protection kicked in at 18 minutes 5 seconds.

On low (22:32:28) it generated 5.4 microamps so 50% will be at 2.7 microamps. This will take a while. Will edit in the morning with graphs and runtime on lithium cells.

From the log, there is no real regulation at first - it is running in direct drive on a lithium cell I'd reckon. Generating the graphs takes time, it will be added later.

Runtime on high with a 10440

Runtime on Low with 10440

The runtime on low with a 10440 was unexpectedly good. Can repeat for NiMH if anyone wants.

On nimh the light output should be longer then on 10440.

It'll run cooler on NiMH too. Once the lightbox is vacated I'll do NiMH runtimes though Jay has them here

Nice graphs! What software do you use for data collection and plotting?

Nothing fancy. I've not looked at the raw output from the cheap meter - it came with some adequate software that timestamps each reading so I get an output of time and value. Needless to say, the software is Windows only and it's USB interfaced which tends to be a pain for finding drivers for other systems. Howeer, the maker of the USB chip has Linux drivers available. Graphing can be done with qtDMM on Linux. On Windows I just feed it into a spreadsheet and chart it from there. Then copy & paste the chart from the spreadsheet into a graphics app so I can save it as a .jpg and put it up on Photobucket.

It can be interesting trying to find out who actually made a given meter - mine appears to be identical to the PeakTech 4390 which is a German model, doubtless rebranded from the same Taiwanese/Chinese factory as all the others. It took quite a bit of looking at pictures and spec sheets to figure that out. Mine is supported by qtDMM.

Hi, first of all, this is my first post.

I am member of "forolinternas.com" and I have been following this site from some months. Very good site. Very Interesting and quality reviews and interesting help.

I have the XPE-F23 and I use protected 10440 on it, but want to buy the itp A3 as EDC, because has less weight and is smaller than the F23.

I have a question to brted about the itp A3 eos upgraded. Want to know if protected 10440 fits in the A3, like the TrustFire gray ones (DX sku.30788).... or there is any problem about inserting 10440 in the A3 (problems with lenght)

Also want to know if there is any problem in using the A3 with 10440 in HIGH mode more than 2 minutes (heat generated).

I have read but dont know if it is true: the A3 with 10440, in MED mode produces more light than the same flashlight with Ni-Mh on HIGH mode.

Thanks

Sorry, I can't answer but welcome to BLF -it is good to have you here

Hi fran82, welcome to BLF!

I know the question was to brted, but i can reply for him. My ITP does not work with protected 10440, as they are too long. 2mm long. When closing the cap on the ITP, it won't turn all the way it should and the light won't turn on. I use mine with these: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.974

Just regularly check them with a multimeter.

Depending on the weather I can run the ITP for 1-1,5 minutes on high. Dindn't experiment using it for more time, so can't say what would happen. Regularly use it on high, and when it becomes unconfortable, just turn to Low. Even on medium, after 5 minutes it starts to become hot. Not blinding hot, mas you certainly can feel it on the fingers.

About the output. Yes. Not by much, but judging by my eyes, the high with NIMH is not as bright as medium with 10440. But the high with 10440, is what shocked me the first time. Freaking wall of light!

So if I understood well, protected batteries will not work because of the lenght. When screwing the head, can not make contact between the battery tube and the "negative" pole of the driver. OK. Unprotected batteries fit with no problems.

About time using 10440. I have the F23, with no problems I use it for about 10 minutes on HIGH (cooled by my hands).

So using the itp in HIGH with 10440 and becoming very hot or dangerously hot for the LED and driver in less than 5 minutes looks very dissapointing to me. However I imagine that the A3 will be brighter on HIGH with 10440 than the F23 with same battery and same mode (Direct Drive). Remember that the A3 uses a Q5 and the F23 uses a Q3. So is easy to understand why the A3 is brighter than the F23 on DD.

However using the A3 with 10440 in MED, will be something good to consider. Probably will have about 90 lumens¿?

So, I continue asking me if to buy or not to buy........

Yup. Something like that.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3393355&postcount=57

About buying it. Go for it. It's an awesome light.

Aloha and welcome to BLF fran82 ! Smile

Sorry, I was out all day. I haven't tried protected 10440's, but I have used the blue ones that Juhha linked to. The A3 is definitely brighter, and I think that's about right that Medium with li-ions is about as bright as High on NiMH's. I thought there were measurements for the A3 on NiMH and li-ion at CPF, but they've got a new format for the sphere of truth and I can't find it.

OK, thanks to all for the welcome. And thanks to all for the help.

I will ask to my pillow, and if I have more dudes, I will post here.

Thanks a lot!

I, excuse me again.

I have been reading and I have seen videos explaining that the A3 eos is too weak in the zone of the threads and it can broke in that zone.

It is true? Are all the A3, or only a bad batch?

Thanks

I've had an iTP A3 EOS on one of my chains since March of this year and haven't had any problems with the threads whatsoever. Do you have any links to those bad reviews?

Yes, I have many, but a image is more than 1000 words:

Also you can read the comments in the video, it had happened to more persons. Not only the clip broke, but the flashlight body broken in 2 parts!!!!!!!

Even in CPF there are some guys with same problem.

I am searching the link

Ok, that's a Maratac AAA which I don't have any experience with. I have the iTP A3 EOS which looks similar but are from different manufacturers. When you mentioned A3 I just assumed you were talking about the iTP. I'm pretty sure someone here has a Maratac AAA and will be able to help you.

On other sites, they say that Maratac as better quality than itp.

Also I tought that the maratac AAA and the itp A3 eos is manufactured by the same manufacturer...

However I imagine that if this happens to the maratac, It will hapen too to the itp A3 or.................who knows?

In CPF people who have done comparisons between them, have noted that even the circuitry is exactly the same

I have my iTP A3 EOS on my 2nd set of keys so they are in and out of my pocket, in and out of my trucks ignition, dropped many times and it just keeps on working. I use aaa eneloops in it and it seems to last forever on low but you always have medium and high if you need it. I think that video was of a bad Maratec or maybe part of a bad batch but both are very good aaa lights and you can't go wrong with either one IMO. Smile

You've probably already seen this but here it is just in caes you missed it.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=240639