Huh, maybe LumaPower is not so bad deal for 30 bucks...
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=179065
Hrvoje
Unless I made a mistake this is the complete list at the current time:
Tanks brted and Nil Einne for doing these lists. That took more patience than I had today. The lights that i didn't already have and actually interested me didn't seem that good a deal. I sort of fancied a WF-502D but not at those prices. Had they genuinely offered anything like 30% I'd probably have spent quite a bit.
The new C3s are actually quite good - I got one just a couple of days ago and it is much better than the old ones.
Definitely a fail for me.
I uploaded my spreadsheet to Google Docs as it may be more convenient to view https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0As3RCFSpBNgrdC1IY0gyQU14eTBiS0NtdjdDRTNocmc
Many many thanks Nil Einne. Very good job.
Thanks for that excellent report Nil Einne. Also thanks to brted!
I think this has left egg on the faces of those that manage DX by creating lots of animosity from potential customers. It should come as no surprise though. We've seen this type before with another Chinese vendor that visits us here frequently and produces next to nothing. I just love wasting my time on false expectations and unanswered questions. To date, his company hasn’t received a single American penny from me because of his extremely poor customer service.
For those looking for deals in general, there are many forums that list them. My favorite is www.slickdeals,net Speaking of that forum, here's what users (representative of a good cross section of regular - i.e.: "non-flashaholic" people think about this 33% off deal and the cheap Chinese manufacturers/dealers in general.
Was that a stainless version? It looks like these might be shipping with xr-e's this time around. Can you please confirm this? How do you like the tint and brightness? Also, can you please get a tailcap reading with a full nimh? Just high mode would be fine. Im waiting on an xp-g to replace the current xr-c in the one I have now. The SMO reflector works well with the xr-c and is said to work well with the xp-g beam pattern. Not so sure how it would be with a xr-e. Probably ringy beam pattern.
Might be a decent deal if it were a real LumaPower 
.
Well spoken. This should be stickyed
Someone actually bothered to post this to CPF? I didn't see any point. I also have to admit the moment I read the coupon which said "up to 33%" I sorta guessed most would be much less so I wasn't exactly that surprised although I was hoping they'd mostly be at least 5% .
No, it's the normal aluminium version. Mine is a single mode. The multimode C3s and clones I have had have not been very good. I didn't want to tempt fate that much.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.44254
It is definitely an XR-E and an EZ900 die - here's a pic.
Ignore the white dots, they are the LEDs used to illuminate the shot.
The beam colour is a little cooler than the creamy vanilla colour of my favourite AA/14500 beam the Trustfire F22. The C3 is on the left running on 2 Eneloops, the Trustfire on the right on a 14500. Ignore the blue patches, my eyes certainly couldn't see them.
There is a visible darker ring round the hotspot at 60cm but it is gone by 2m. Output is pretty good - 244 lumens at switch-on with a 14500 down to 206 at 2 minutes. The (short, early batch, good performing and hideously hot) stainless steel C3 manages 250 at turn-on down to 201 at 2 minutes with a 14500. Or it is about 2.5% down on the good stainless steel C3. But it doesn't set fire to your hands unlike the stainless one. At 2 minutes it is only 50 lumens down on the crazy bright R5-A3.
Here are the numbers:
| Light | Battery |
| Ultrafire C3 Grey Q5 | AA NiMH |
| Ultrafire C3 Grey Q5 | 2AA NiMH |
| Ultrafire C3 Grey Q5 | Li primary |
| Ultrafire C3 Grey Q5 | 14500 |
Currents are:
AA NiMH 2.34A
2AA NiMH 1.58A
14500 1.2A
When I pulled the pill out for a look at the LED, it seems that the reflector is very tightly fitted to the LED. Not wanting to break stuff, I didn't try very hard to get the reflector off. It is an orange-peel finish - moderately heavy. Will get pics some time when there is daylight and it is not raining.
Wow! Thanks for the great review. You've gotten quite good at photography. It looks like the C3's have come a long way, especially the aluminum version. I guess I should pick one up. The C3 SS reflector just drops out after unscrewing the pill, but your AL version sounds like it must be different.
I'd like a multi-mode version of that grey aluminum C3.
When I was in my local outrageously expensive emporium of electronics (Maplin), they had a pile of stuff on clearance. So I bought a USB "microscope" (Read webcam optimised for short distances) only cost about $5 more than the same thing from DX would have. But any problems and I can go back and moan at them.
Quite handy for looking at LEDs with. Not, to be honest much use for anything. A spot of Googling and I got Mac drivers that sorta kinda work. Can't get the full resolution yet, just 640x480 but working at getting the 1280x960 it is supposed to be capable of.
Will do better pics of the light shortly.
I imagine there will be one along shortly - surprised there wasn't one announced on the same day as the single mode.
In other news, DX has broken their sorting function, so I can no longer sort by release date for the flashlight category. I think it was intentional, because now we have to look through all the new releases, and they expect that some other product will catch our eye.
I always look at the new arrivals RSS feed. Didn't realise that you could sort the lights by release date. Well, you clearly can't now. I use their search quite a bit though. Or more often the list of my orders.
The RSS is a nice feature. To bad kaidomain doesnt have one, or at least I couldnt find one.
Will write a review at some point. Meanwhile here are some pictures. The threads were lightly - i.e., correctly, lubricated which is nice. It came in a huge box that could have held four of these.
The business end. As you can see, an EZ900 XR-E. The reflector does not fully tame the Cree ring till about 2 metres. You'll never notice it unless white wall hunting. The dust on it wasn't there when it arrived - it has been knocking around in my work bag since it arrived.
Other side of emitting end. Soldering is neater than I usually manage. Humans in China are almost always cheaper than machines. These were almost certainly hand-soldered. There's enough for the threads to bite in to which should make contact reliable - this is a very big issue on the older ones. In fact the extension tube has a lot more threads than the older ones and appears not to be compatible with them though the threads are the same - this version is way better.
The long, slender light with its cells to keep it company. I'm not fond of the 2AA form factor but this one is neater than most.
We have a cupboard under the stairs at work with no lighting - this was just fine to light it up for myself, a nurse and a patient while we looked for an electric candle. (Don't ask)
The tailcap. It does tailstand and would tailstand better if the lanyard were removed. It was tailstanding on top of a door for the ceiling beamshot. Slightly unusual these days to see a plain black, non-GITD switch cover. Not sure if I'll put a more colourful one in there or not. At least no weird date codes or anything on this one.
Other end of the switch assembly - not had it apart yet. Pretty standard fare by the look of it.
Nothing appears to be glued - apart from the reflector that appears not to want to come off the LED.
More disassembly
Single cell configuration (Under an hour's runtime). Seem better (or at least deeper) engraving. I sorta like the subtle effect it gives. Having dug out the trusty 30x magnifier, the engraving and painting is very sharp - much better than usual. I think the engraving was deliberate but until there are more of them out there it is hard to say.
Just to show that it works.
That lot was much more fun than the rest of my day. I really should have stayed in bed and phoned in for hibernation leave - it would be handy not to have to come out till the squirrels do. But I doubt they'd pay me....