Review: KD C8 XP-L Hi

I think you should measure a minimum of 6 meters….

O.K. Thanks. I will try it once I receive my Convoy C8.
Do you know the KD C8 that you reviewed has reverse battery protection?

Appears not. I checked the Kaidomain site and it lists the following comment for the driver

Do not short circuit, do not reverse battery polarity, warranty does not cover user damage.

See url http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S020073

I’ll aim to do that tonight outdoors and see what I measure. I’ll also take out the HD2010.

9-10 cm is a very tight disk. I tried my WF502. It can get over 12000 lux for such a small disk, so it is possible to get larger readings with C8.

It doesn’t appear to be correct. I’ll re-test outdoors at 5-6m. I’ll do some checking to see what should be expected from a stock HD2010 5A+. Do you know what Lux reading I could expect 1m?

I’ll try a couple of batteries too. The actual measurement was 6.3A on the HD2010 which amazed me.

In a thower If you look at the beam pointing to the sky you’ll see that in the first meters in the center beam has no light in the central part, for that reason is the error in reading a few meters…

My HD2010 standart xml was around 48/50 kcd std 18650 (not INR)

I’ve measure the Lux @5m and found the KD C8 scores 1260 and the HD2010 1590. These translate to results similar to what I list in the table. Both torches perform very well outdoors with a nice spot light. Possibly my light meter. I need to explore further to work out whats wrong.

You get 31.5kcd by measuring at 5 meters? That is strange. :~

I think your lux meter is fine. I always use my cheapo HS1010 lux meter from Fasttech to measure my lights and the readings make sense (I made comparisons with other forum members here), and I believe your LX1010BS is even better than my HS1010.

You use HE4 and measured 55kcd at 1m, but when you measure it at 5m it is 31.5kcd, something seems to be not right to me…

Anyway thanks for your effort to share and answer our questions here. :slight_smile:

Hi,

For the rings, can you adjust the position of the emitter relative to the reflector hole (without shorting things)? I don’t know if that matters since the emitter is dedomed, but might help.

Guys thanks for your feedback again. My lux figures seem too low. The torch visibly performs very well outdoors and throws almost as well as my HD2010 @ 6A. I’ll need to review my process as it’s not yielding results that are consistent with whats expected.

May be possible via removal of the white LED protector that covers the wiring terminals. I’ll have a look later to see if its ok to do so without shorting. It would only result in a very minor shift of the placement of the reflector relative to the LED. That may be all that is needed.

This can't be correct.

This means there is no advantage to the XP-L HI over a standard domed XM-L emitter since any really good C8 with a deeper reflector can visually compete with the throw of an HD2010, but not out throw it. Another mentioned his KD HI C8 out-throwing his stock HD2010 by some margin. I know that has to be true because I have the XP-L HI drop-in and it can throw about like a lesser C8 (with 41 mm head). Hmm.

The very good stock HD2010 I have draws 6A on a HE4. Visually my HD2010 has slightly more throw than the KD C8 XP-L HI. They are my findings.

There was a bazillion different HD2010 lights made with varying differences. I cant see how you can compare someone's findings with another. It just isn't going to be the same and only causes confusion trying to compare them. Keep knocking yourselves out if you like though.

I hear ya. Thanks for your contribution here, btw.

Next review I produce will have outdoor shots of the next torch and I’ll include this one too.
It’s probably the best way to demonstrate the real world performance(50meters, 100meters etc). Thanks again for all the feedback as it really helps.

I just got a C12 XPL-HI 3mode OP reflector and it looks the same internally as the C8 reviewed here but the beam profile is not ringey. The hotspot is not as defined but it is definitely less floody/ more defined/has better throw than my XML-2 C12's with an OP reflector. The OP might be the way to go with these budget XPL's since the mfg might not take the time and effort to focus them perfectly.

Which C12 XPL-HI? Link?

here I believe ;
http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S024327

Nice light, still has good amount of spill.
Pulls just over 3 amps on good cell.