6.02 in x 2.17 in x 2.17 in (15.3 cm x 5.5 cm x 5.5 cm)
Weight:
77.83 oz (222 g)
For review I have the Dongui DR-923 ( branded Ultrafire ) single 18650 XM-L flashlight from Aura Buy. Now right off the bat let me tell you this is a serious thrower , 44000 Lux @ 1 meter on high makes this a serious bit of kit for anyone who like a flashlight with some reach . And reach it does , I took the light for a walk past a local park , and it literally lit up the other side of the park . If not for the ambient city lighting , it would have been seriously impressive . I have many lights that can make it to the other side , but the DR-923 did so with authority .
On receiving the light I was impressed by the build quality on the body as well as tail switch , the clicky is very nice and mechanical and I have not seen any fluctuation in output ( decent clicky quality ) . The emitter pill seems to be very nicely made , and looks to allow moding or emitter upgrades with little issue . In fact the entire light is very modular making it very mod friendly , and not parts that I can see are glued .
Priced @ $24.89USD at time of review , this light offers a lot of value for your money and simple upgrade possibilities for the future , sort of future proofing the light . The light is of very sturdy construction which seems to help with the thermal dissipation from the emitter , I say this as the light at no stage got more than warm ( ok its winter here ATM ) at any stage , and all that aluminum around the head ( cooling fins ) actually look to be doing their job . Now its not all sugar and spice , just one little thing , the driver . It just happens to be one that has no mode memory , so starts in the next mode after being turned off .
Performance:
Now I did mention this light can throw didn't I , and I was pleasantly surprised as to just how well it threw . Even in medium mode this light throws nuts compared to other lights out there , and it really does run with the big dogs so to speak . Now whether you believe my light box or not , this light does pump some what , around 750+ Lumen on high , around 380 on medium and 100 on low . On high there was some output sag , and the 750 is where it seems to stabilize and hold .
High = 44000Lux @ 2.6A
Medium = 24000Lux @ 1.2A
Low = 6400Lux @ 0.33A
Now if you were around 5 or so years ago , people used to brag about 6400Lux of throw , I kid you not . 24000Lux was serious bragging rights and if you touted 44000Lux , well , people may have wondered what you were smoking ! Today you can buy serious throwers for $25 or less , and compared to a few years ago , if you didn't shell out $100 then you were not trying hard enough to own a light that had bragging rights . How things change , now you can buy serious power for the price of a take out meal , and not only that , but quality has taken a serious leap forward in the budget sector of flashlights, offering prospective owners more value than ever before . And so it is with the DR-923 , aside from the driver ( no mode memory ) , I have nothing to complain about ( how disappointing is that ) .
Beamshots:
Low mode
Medium mode
High mode
The digital SLR tells it all , at this short distance the flashlight is almost blindingly bright in high mode , and if you look at the image of Low mode you can see large XM-L hotspot , don't be fooled , it throws and throws hard and still has useful spill . The XM-L thrower to me , is the best flashlight one can own for a all rounder , it throws and has useful spill that makes XM-L a very desirable product . I don't think I have given a second thought to any other emitter since the XM-L became available . And the DR-923 from Aura Buy is a perfect example of how a XM-L flashlight is capable of performing .
I give this one a solid 9 out of 10 , as I had to deduct one point for the driver used in the light . Another 50c spent on a driver with mode memory = oh yeah ! Bottom line , 44000Lux on high , it throws hard , really hard .
Aluminum reflector ( smooth )
Glass Lens
O rings at joins
very tight body ( no slop , not even battery slop )
Very nice positive clicky ( reverse )
Solid construction
5 Modes - High - Medium - Low - Strobe - SOS ( no mode memory )
Nice anodizing ( color ? )
Nicely cut threads
Very nice lanyard included
Powerful thrower
9 out of 10
I would like to thank Aura Buy for the opportunity to review the DR-923 , and I am happy to recommend this flashlight for anyone looking for a decent thrower in a portable ( 1 x 18650 ) package . ( surprisingly good light )
Thanks old4570. Is the pill the one piece section that the reflector housing and battery tube screws onto? Meaning there is no removable pill from that centre section if that makes sense.
So you mean this thing throws better than a UF-V3 or 980L and on league nearly with the STL-V6(2) and HD2010?? That’s what I’m seeing if those numbers are correct.
Great review—and one that has heart and is not just bogged down in techno-minutia. You “sold” the light to me. It shall be purchased soon!
Thanks a lot for the review! Sticky’d. (Sorry I didn’t put it on the frontpage, the first table in the review isn’t very compatible with the frontpage layout.)
Now I did mention this light can throw didn't I , and I was pleasantly surprised as to just how well it threw . Even in medium mode this light throws nuts compared to other lights out there , and it really does run with the big dogs so to speak . Now whether you believe my light box or not , this light does pump some what , around 750+ Lumen on high , around 380 on medium and 100 on low . On high there was some output sag , and the 750 is where it seems to stabilize and hold .
High = 44000Lux @ 2.6A
Medium = 24000Lux @ 1.2A
Low = 6400Lux @ 0.33A
Been a long time until I got around to upgrading this Uniquefire UF-F15.
Very nice light stock, good beefy build, but only pulls 1.4 amps no matter what battery you use.
Today was the day to attempt to fix that, first I moved the ground all the way to the edge of the ring on the copper of the stock driver and soldered it.
I thought that would give me direct drive. It did not, light still worked exactly the same.
Then I tried moving the Red/Hot to the other solder pad on the driver marked +. Some improvement, but still has all modes and not the bump I needed.
Finally I saw what I believed to be the senseing resistors and at the bottom of the row of resistors were 2 solder dimples, one on each side.
So I tinned a small section of wire and bridged those puppies, then cut the end of the wire off flush.
Viola!
2.65 amps and still has all the modes. Now battery quality does matter, I am pulling the most with Sony unprotected from a laptop battery.
She is bright now!
I really can’t test throw currently as it is currently Deer Season in PA and it is illegal to spotlight during the season.
Being that I am surrounded by farms, I have no where to test my lights.
Don’t want a fine and also don’t want to spook the deer any more than they already are.
Just by testing in the house, this light is a strong as my best C8’s and the mods cost me nothing:)
Very smooth beam profile.
Once it is turned off for more than 45 seconds it reverts back to coming on on high. If you turn it on immediately after shutting off it will be next mode.
My light lost major amperage and I couldn’t figure out why. Seemed like I had a bad connection. went back in pulled the pill, re soldered the connections, actually removed the jumper on the sensor resistors and it still was in the 1.8-2 amp range and fluctuating.
Thought maybe it was bad ground connection to the pill because of sloppy thread gap.
On this flashlight the pill is threaded the whole way up the side, it does not seat down against the battery tube but rather it floats so that you can focus the emitter up into the reflector.
Anyway, turns out the threads are anodized and the ground path is through this big spring, like you have on a P60 light.
That spring had a crapload of resistance to it. I tried stretching it for better connection but did not seem to make much difference. If I ran a wire directly to the pill from the ground of the battery, current went over 3 amps
So I ended up soldering braid in between the spring coils and it worked like butter.
This light will now run with my new Tangsfire XM-L2 C8, both will draw 3.4-3.5 amps and more I am sure with an IMR battery…
So, if you had thought of getting this light, I say go for it. Couple minutes with the soldering iron and she can be a contender in the $20 Budget Light Arena.
As always, YMMV.
I had a devil of a time getting the driver to be press fit after having it out so many times, I guess it wore off some of the teeth on the edge of the driver.
I ended up having to get some solder blobs on 2 sides and finally getting a decent press fit. I am currently out of good solder as well, so that will have to wait.
Sorry.
It looked a lot like some of the other inexpensive stock drivers I have seen on this site, If I can find an example I will gladly post it.
I will probably be ordering a backup to this light sometime in the next month as well, so I could pull that driver out to photograph it. I should have taken pics during the process, but got caught up in it and just kept coming back to it till it was right.
Thanks,
