Just wanted to say that I’ve been a lurker on the forum for some time now and decided to join to ask a few questions and join in some discussions. I’m relatively new to the budget light market and have been hooked ever since buying a few SK68 clones. It’s now time to step up to something better.
I’m currently in the market for a new light that will be used mainly for camping and looking for the dog in the dark of night. I want something relatively small, so that I can carry it easily and be able to handle it while packing/unpacking and I want it to be bright. I think I’ve narrowed down my decisions to the XinTD C8 V3 and UF-980L. Seems like the UF-980L will be brighter, but has a tendency to get hot after prolonged usage and I can’t seem to find many negative reviews of the XinTD, unless you consider it not being as bright at the 980L.
I’m not sure if there is anything cheaper or better and I’m not sure what charger to look at either. It will need to be able to handle 18650 and 14500 batteries.
If you get the 980L, get it from Manafont. They seem to be the only place that is selling the genuine UltraFire version (and yes, there is such a thing).
I’d take the XinTD C8 over the 980L though. You’ll get better runtimes with quality cells because the 980L isn’t regulated, so it ends up wasting a lot of energy as heat with a fresh cell (for only a slight increase in output).
both great lights…the xin has the better driver…the 980l has low PWM and is direct drive on high…I carry my 980l at work though cus it’s smaller than a C8 and kicks out a ton of light…you can’t go wrong with either one really…
And do we have any information regarding the longevity of the TrustFire cells as compared to the Sanyo cells? Certainly they perform similarly (if the TrustFires in question are genuine - the ones at Manafont seem to be) but that’s only part of the equation.
I’d stick with the Sanyo cells if I had to choose between the two.
If you buy Keepowers from kumabear, you can get the ones with 2600 Panasonics in ’em, which beat the Sanyos. Plus you know you’ll be getting real Panasonics and will also get them in a few days, instead of weeks coming from China — if they come at all. Don’t forget that there are more and more reports of seizures of batteries coming from China. It used to be that it was just the U.S. side of importing li-ions was illegal (via USPS) and subject to seizure, but now China has joined in and also made shipping li-ion internationally illegal.
Who was it talking about all the battery seizures in the stuff he was shipping? Was that Rey? Didn’t he have to cancel the included batteries with the BLF mini because he was afraid of battery seizures? Or am I misremembering?
While were taking this style of light, how do these 2 lights compare to the Solarforce M3. I have the M3 and have read good things about the XinTD C8 V3 and don’t know much about the UF 980L. Also, what about the UF HD2010.
It’s a trade-off either way. In a typical regulated budget XM-L light, the Sanyo 2600 cells will give you maximum brightness for longer because they have a flatter discharge curve. With the Panasonic 3100 cells however, your light will start to dim a little sooner but will be able to run for longer.
With the 980L, the Sanyo cells will drive it harder, but again for less total runtime. But in that scenario, driving it harder doesn’t necessarily mean it will always be brighter. If you were to run two identical direct-drive lights side by side, one with a Sanyo cell, and the other with a Panasonic, at some point the light with the Sanyo cell would be pulling ahead in terms of total output, but would then die first.
Once you bring the diminishing returns of running an XM-L well beyond spec, along with significant heat sag, into the equation, I’m no longer sure exactly how it would turn out.
