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. 
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.
Thanks. C8 vs C12, which one should I get? Any opinions?
I think the C12 is uglier but has better heat dissipation .
I tried both the SMO and OP reflectors in the C8 and the beam pattern was cleaner on the OP as would be expected. The C12 has a different driver to the C8 but based on bikenber73’s comments it appears to be a 3.04A driver
I found the heat dissipation of the C8 quite good. I do agree the C12 is better on that point due to the larger fins near the head
Based on this review, I bought a KD C8. It works, not as bright as I imagined but works. However I had some mode switching issue.
For the flashlights that I got, their mode switching essentially works two ways. Either on-off-on will switch the mode. For some flashlights it needs to have two quick succession of on-offs to switch the mode. This C8 I received doesn’t work either way. It would stick on one mode and not switch in most cases. Sometimes, it will switch to the other mode then stuck there. This makes this C8 not convenient to use. Does anybody know what’s happening and how to fix that?
I contacted KD customer service but don’t know when they will get back to me because right now, it is Chinese National Day Holiday time.
Hi twinclouds. Can you provide a picture of the driver in your torch. Just unscrew the tube from the head to reveal the back of the driver. Otherwise if you do that and compare against the photos I includede to determin if the driver is a KD V2 or not. Also what brand and model of battery did you use in the torch?
The mode switching you describe isn’t consistent with what I found. The mode swicthing should be full press to turn on, then small taps/half presses to cycle through the modes. The driver memorises the last mode.
Thank you for your quick reply. I tried half push as well but they are still behave similarly. Sometimes it switches sometimes it don’t.
I use Panasonic (2000mah) taking from an old laptop and Trustfire 3000mah from DX. Both behave the same.
The photo of the driver is attached. Not sure if it is clear enough or not. (It didn’t show up so I provided the link.)
Thanks again.
Hi twinclouds, did you also try to do the half-press very quickly? From my experience some drivers require very quick tap on the switch in order to change mode, but they are mostly buck driver though.