Ultrafire C8 U2 & T6 test

Just recently picked up one of the new Ultrafire C8’s with the U2 bin from Lightmalls. I’m VERY happy with with this buy. Just tested it in my lightbox. My light posted a nice 871L otf after 30sec. And it also tested a throw of 34,100 at 1m.
My brother has a T6 bin C8, which is a nice light itself. We tested it back to back with my U2 version. His T6 posted 742L otf after 30sec. And had a throw of 25,600 at 1m. Just to make sure my meter was working properly, I tested our Crelant 7G5. & Maelstrom S12. They we’re both putting numbers out like always in mid to upper 800L’s. So I think my 871L is freaking awesome numbers for my new little C8.
As a important note, we discovered the type of batteries do make a big difference in these lights. My brother originally just had ultrafire 18650’s for his light. Well with those batteries he was putting out about 575L otf. We thought that was about right for these lights. But After the surprising results with my U2 light we decided to try my Eagletac 2500mah 18650 in his light. And that battery delivered the nice 742L result in his T6 binned light. That’s an almost 200L gain with the ET batteries. So guys - invest in a decent battery.

Link to the light?

EDIT: found it. :smiley:

I hear ya. I learned the hard way. Great batteries make a light kick. Now, my cheapies go in Q5s only.

I hate budget batteries with a passion, nice to see data that justifys this other than simply runtimes :slight_smile:

I completely agree, rdrfronty. After you’ve used good batteries you’re not likely to mess around with those cheapo versions.
Especially if you’ve got hi-performing lights.

Yeah I’m starting to get very impressed by some of these budget lights. I started this hobby by getting some pretty nice high end lights such as SR90, S18, etc. I always assumed these cheapy lights were crap, had no light output and would break if you sneezed on one. Fortunately my brother is on a tighter budget than me and is always over here on this forum doing tons of research. While he has made a few pretty bad purchases, he has also made some awesome ones.
Now I do love my big powerful lights and will likely Never get rid of them. But crap, this little C8 cost me under $20 shipped, and with its 871 lumens, it’s putting out about as power as our $95 Crelant 7G5 V1, $75 Maelstrom S12, & $130 SR51. And its doing it with a single 18650. Now this little light won’t throw quite as far as two of those previous mentioned lights, but it will likely throw 350 yards or more with that 34K we tested at 1 meter. This little light rocks! So lights like this and my Skyray King I purchased a couple months ago has opened my eyes to this budget light world. I’ll still keep an eye out for those high end lights on the “other” forum, but I would be a fool to not spend more time with you guys over here.
Plus you guys are MUCH more friendly :slight_smile:

Personally I don’t really think things are more friendly over here. I have seen rude commentary made on both forums. Its just a handful of bad apples from each basket though. What you DONT get here on BLF though is the commercial bias and favoritism towards any vendor, brand, retailer or country of manufacturing origin. If Malkoff sells junk I can openly say so… If illumination supply sells garbage I can openly say that too. Pretty awesome, and thats what makes BLF special.

Most enthusiast forums start out like this, until forum owners realize they need to generate $$ revenue to manage/update the site. Once the doors open for vendor sponsorship thats when things start to change… as the forum moderators realize they need to enforce rules to protect the businesses that fund forum existence. Alternately the forum owner sells the forum rights to a commercial vendor, retailer or manufacturer… and the same result happens. Its been like this with EVERY enthusiast forum I am a member over the last ~15 years, from RC cars to guitars to flashlights to headphones.

I like to use both forums interchangeably, the budget light sub forum on CPF sux (to put it mildly). It actually used to be a LOT worse than that, going back a few years ago and the moderators just took any affordable Asian light discussion and dumped it into the BessieBenny product review thread. I think he eventually just got fed up and left CPF. BessieBenny basically ran a budget light forum over on CPF, years before there was even a need for a dedicated forum.

BLF takes over nicely and fills the void.

Keep up the good work guys!!!

I see what you mean. I do use the other forum quite a lot since there is tons of good information to be had there. But I guess it’s the moderators that get to me. I was almost kicked off the forum before I ever made my first 3 required posts. One mod deleted 90% of everything I said, then posted a nice long commentary insinuating I’m an idiot and don’t know what I’m talking about. Then he locked the thread. REALLY tacky way to treat a new member.
But for certain both forums have valuable info and some great members.
Back to the original post. Is there another single 18650/single LED production light that has a higher output than I recorded? My 871 lumens even tops the well loved SC600. Likely there is others out there, but none come to mind.

Personally, there’s no way I can dump $100 or so into a light, no. 1 I like feeding my family, no.2 as you proved, its just unnecessary.

I like coming on here chatting, I’m still learning and the other forum does not seem newbie or budget orientated, plus its down so often I just treat it as a waste of time, here, first timers are welcomed in my experience, and if you blow $20 on a bad eBay deal, your not laughed at, its just “lesson learned, now to improve it or a fair warning to others” your not often criticized for your decisions.

Great results by the way, I love c8’s and may have to buy one of these, damm you :bigsmile:

You may find spending time here is harder on your wallet than expensive lights, just because “its only $25 or so……”

In my case, I’m in England, checking exchange rates is a killer, a $25 light worked out at £16.51, I almost spend that buying a round of drinks for my family in the pub, an average steak dinner is in that ball park…… I had to have it. J)

That justification alone means this month I’ve bought the mod parts I intended, THEN bought three lights I had no intention of buying at the start of the month…… It’s a dangerous place this. :bigsmile:

Cool i so like the look of this light….is the pill well heatsinked and how about the reflector, aluminum or plastic.

The reflector is for sure aluminum. The lense I’m pretty sure is glass. Heat sink, not sure about. For sure it’s threaded in. Looks like copper on the spring side and says “SG PCB”. The LED side has a cover, has some aluminum right under it. The copper I assume is right under that. Sorry, the “pill” is something I’m still learning about.

Cool, and thanks for posting the link, just wanted to say that i just got done ordering one. Dont need a thrower but told the wife that i needed one lol…….she said okay, yippee.

Now the wait begins, how long did it take to get yours.

It took only 12days to my door in Texas. Not bad at all.

Is there a link to a good C8 not some copy, but the real deal ?

Cool thanks for the info…….can not wait to get mine. Might have to order another light from a vendor in the U.S. so i can play with that while i wait for this one to show up.

Cool, loved TX while i was there, was stationed in El Paso for 6 years when i was in the Army.

Finally showed up, and i am very impressed with the quality and output of the light.

Thanks for the test, you drove me to buy this light! Of course for the sake of all others, I decided to put together a more thorough (though rookie written) review on this flashlight here.

This is indeed a great torch, and I am very thankful that you have inspired me to buy this and not any other budget flashlight.

Hey rdrfronty…welcome to BLF!Never be sorry for learning!The people that think they know everything…never will, the ones that are always learning…may indeed in time.-Rick