I couldn’t find much information on this light. So I’m posting this mini review. Please excuse my amateurish attempt at this. Its my first. Please excuse the quality of my photos. The colors in the photos are yellowish. The light is a nice pewter grey. They were taken with a camera phone. For reference, the black light in the pictures is my favorite C8 class light, the Ultrafire C12.
This light is a C8 class light. I’m guessing this light came out sometime in 2011. It has nice secure rubber bumper that is great for cigar holds. I’m not sure why this light never got popular. It has the best reflector I have seen in it’s class. In a discussion with BLF member, fishmaniac, he said it may have been due to the fact that the light was priced around $34 for a time. I purchased mine from Wallbuys in one of the recent Kill sales. Here are a couple links to the light:
The reflector is about 8 – 9mm deeper and it slightly bigger in diameter than the C12. The heads of both lights are the same, but the bezel of the C12 is thicker. When you look down into the reflectors, The A9 appears to have much more volume. The hole for the emitter just clears silicone bubble. It rests on the emitters pcb. Comparing the beam against an almost stock C12 with xml t6… the A9 had slightly more throw. The spill is a bit fainter and a bit smaller in diameter. The hot spot seems to be about the same size. The hot spot is a little less defined as it fades into the spill a bit more smoothly. I like it. The tint is neutral. No color, just white. Sorry no beam shots. I don’t have a camera that works for that yet.
Can’t tell which one has better heat sinking. I think the C12 will be better in the air. It has more fins that are thinner and deeper, but the fins of the A9 would probably be better if against one’s hand. Would have more surface contact with skin.
The light seems like it would be a clear winner against most C8’s on both fronts (throw and heat sinking).
It has 3 modes with good mode memory. Low is nice and low, but medium is too close to High. In High, current at the tail started at 2.8 amps and climbed to 3.2 amps in about 5 to 10 seconds using unprotected NCR18650. It seems to level off around 3.2 amps. It actually climbed to 3.4 amps in one test. I still need to go through the light and reduce resistance.
The threads are not square, but are good quality. Everything screws together smoothly without looseness.
The emitter was well thermal pasted (not glued). The pill is aluminum and appears to be red loctited in place. I haven’t tried to use heat to take it out yet. The scratch marks and broken wires are from me trying to break the pill free.
Conclusion: It’s a nice light and has some good mod potential. Not sure I would pay the current full price since it has an outdated T6. I say watch out for more sales. It seems cheaper for the retailers to discount the lights than to upgrade them. So I expect to see this and other xml lights to be discounted from time to time as more xml2 and mgt2 lights hit the market.
