Wanting to add an HS-802 or clone to my collection this month I settled on the Trustfire USA168 which appears to be the best value example around; its about 5USD less than other HS-802 clones.It arrived yesterday and these are my first impressions.
On arrival I went through my normal ritual of disassembly, inspection, clean and lube.I have to say I was delighted.The exterior finish is faultless although unusual in that the body is striped rather than knurled; as if the second set of opposing cuts, which turn stripes in chequering, have been omitted.Although unusual this design looks good.
The light fully disassembles, no glued components.The reflector is faultless, the emitter well centered and the pill is good.Threads are smooth after a clean and lube. Indeed, all in all I doubt one would ever find a better built HS-802 clone anywhere.Build-wise the only fly in the ointment is that there is no spring on the driver meaning that flat-top cells are a no-no without modding.
Alas this is where the story goes bad.This light has the worst driver I have ever come across on any 18650 XR-E light and turns what should be a great thrower into a total fail.The light is a three mode, H-L-S.The strobe is fast to the point of being manic.But far worse the draw on High is under 700mA.I have no light meter but I can bracket the throw between two lights I possess of known thrown.A Sipik SK68 with 14500 throws almost 10k @ 1m.A stock Ultrafire MCU-C88 throws around 17k @ 1m.This light throws between the two.My guess is around 15k @ 1m.Abysmal for an HS-802 clone.Mine might have a bad solder joint somewhere but if Iām going to have to redo them all and add a spring at the same time (most of my cells are flat-tops) then I may as well swap the driver anyway to get rid of that dreadful strobe.
The bottom line here is that this is a very nicely build HS-802 clone in all but the driver and coincidentally costs less than other HS-802 clones by almost exactly the cost of a decent driver.So nothing lost financially.I would certainly recommend this light to those who are happy to swap the driver.However, for those looking for a decent throwing HS-802 clone without a driver swap, forget it.
I understand that benckie also has one of these on order so hopefully he will be able to establish if mine is typical of this light or not.
Not being glued like the DX Uniquefire model is a definite plus. It gives you the option to play around with different emitter/driver configurations. I see little need for a low mode on a dedicated thrower anyway, so I would have modded the original driver out anyway eventually...
I might even try this light with 2*16340 before I swap drivers. It might even burn it to one mode direct drive. I certainly don't want to salvage this driver. I wouldn't want it in any light.
An XR-E in that light seems like kind of a waste. Yes, it throws, but the beam is so narrow it's like having tunnel vision. At that price I'd like it better with an XM-L or even an XP-G
Not certain that that spare HS-801 pill with fit the USA168 and anyway it costs more than a bare driver. So as soon as I get time the USA168 and a new driver are going to be introduced to each other.......
Just curious as to how much your clone was? My Uniquefire HS-802 was only about $25. It has no spring on the driver either by the way and with a fully charged battery measures from the tailcap right at 1A. Nothing was glued together either.
It was $20.55 from Manafont and it was linked in the OP. I guess you missed it. And, as I said earlier, it was about a 'good driver price' lower than any other HS-802, so nothing lost. By the time I buy a decent 1.4A driver to put in it the price of yours and mine will be equal.
If there is anything that annoys me it is a crap driver with good overvoltage protection....lol. Tried the light with 2*16340 hoping to fry the driver and the damn thing went into multi-flash warning mode, flashed for ten seconds and then shut down. Put 1*18650 back in and it still worked perfectly with even that manic strobe seeming to be laughing at me. Grrrrrr........I'll get my own back on it just as soon as a new driver arrives.
im hoping mine will be here by the end of the week shipping any thing to australia seams to take longer mines been intransit for 11 days shipping time from the usa or manafont is 2 to 3 weeks for me.
i was hopping the draw would be around 700 mAh you dont realy want to push the Q5 emmiter past 1000 mAh (1 amp) as thats the maxium it can handle if its driven less then this it should last forever.
a good Q5 emmiter will only produce around 214 to 228 lumens at 1 amp and around 171 to 182 at 700 mah aprox (the human eye will not be able to tell the diffrence between this, the only diffrence you might notice will be heat) and i have other Q5 torches and they throw pritty well i think its cause the emmiter it,s self is smaller then a match head once you take into account the dome and its mount.
i have other (XR-E) Q5 emmiters driven at 660 mah and they do well for what they are, i think out in the feild a 700 mAh TrustFire USA168 still should throw very well cause of its narrow beam and the ultra deep narrow reflector should help this also.
i have a couple of test tree,s marked out one at 160 meters (175 yards) and one at 300 meters (328 yards) so i will test the current draw, range it will throw it should be able to do long runs as it looks like its well heat sinked and it has a decent head ill do most of my testing out in the feild, it will be hard to compare to my other throwers as this will be a pencil beam.
im hoping to get around 400 meters out of mine (437 yards) but we will see, my thoughts are since its built as a thrower it does not need low or medium modes and definatly does not need strobe modes but i knew it had high, mid and s.o.s befor i pulled the trigger, if you use it for a gun mount the s.o.s mode might come in handy from an animal attack ? but i personal dislike strobe, s.o.s and flashy modes but near on every torch comes with them.
i think it should be a good light for modding if your into that sort of thing and it should be good for a high powered rifle, i was going to make a thread when mine got here but i will use this thread to post my finding,s on here if i feel its good to recomend or not.
I bought this at a local gun show it looks like a USA168 here are the pictures of the inside parts the led is green and can be used up to 250 yards with a scope. I also included a couple of pictures of my AR-10 rifle. I am wondering if they just swapped the led any idea where i can find one it is a 2 mode if that helps.
ok well mine turned up today first impression its a very nicely made good looking torch.
it has one of the nicest reflectors ive seen, but its not screwed in like the threads would make you think but it kind of goes south after this.
mine draws 440 mAh (0.44 amp) on high and 80 mAh (0.08 amp) on low with a trust fire flame battery at 4.16v not sure what they are ment to draw but since the Q5 emitter is maxed out at 1 amp it would have to be 1 amp or less.
with the tail cap installed as tight as it will go mine will not change modes some times and will not turn off but having it a little loose it works fine using a DDM i can change modes easy so i think its the switch bottoming out on mine.
it has a very tight hot spot thats very bright and a super tight beam it would still throw me thinks as the hot spot on the wall is about as bright as a 1.5 amp c8 xlm, its day time here and rainning so i cant test it out side yet.
It seems you are agreeing with me, benckie. A nice light, well build but a driver from hell. I've a new driver in transit. Its well heatsinked so 1.2A should be perfectly OK. Actually, I'm going to slip a 1.4A driver in it but I do agree that is pushing it to the absolute limit. Actually, Dereelight produce a 1.5A XR-E pill for their lights, so perhaps 1.4A isn't to the absolute limit really.
i do agree with you nice torch but maybe under driven. i will not know realy untill i do range test its still rain here and we have had a bit of hail and i just got called into work for an early start tomorow, but ill try and do range testing on the weekend.
going from the XR-E bin data sheets ive read they say 1 amp max so i cant comment on 1.5 amp pill i quess it has to do with what bin is used as they do differ, but even the xml,s are rated at 3 amp max but people drive them higher ive read a post on here some one drove one at 5 amps, but it would seam the harder you drive them the shorter they live and they dont always make any more light.
i would of been realy happy with .7 amp draw and was kind of expecting 0.5 amp, i will range test this one and drop Jim @ manafont an email, with a bit of flux and solder i recon draw could pick up but i guess it comes down to what batteries are used to.
And, as I said earlier, it was about a 'good driver price' lower than any other HS-802, so nothing lost. By the time I buy a decent 1.4A driver to put in it the price of yours and mine will be equal.
