Review: Liqoo CL06 lantern (Fenix Cl25R clone)

Bought this one on ebay for 7.99€ plus 2€ shipping.

Liqoo CL06

The light comes in a small box.

technical specs:

5 modes: High, Medium, LOW, Red light, Red beacon

Battery: 18650 with USB build in charger

Recharge time: approx. 3 hours with 2000mAh

Runtime: High: approx. 3 hours

LED Type: 24x2835 SMD(white light) a. 6x2835 SMD(red light)

Brightness: 330lm Light temperature: 6000 - 6500K

IP rating: 64 waterproof

Size: Ø 5,5cm x 10cm

Weight: 178g with battery, 136g without

It comes with a 2000mAh rated unprotected battery, but discharge at 400mA measured 1100mAh.

Reading the user manual says recharge battery when light gets dim, never let the lantern run down all the way, so it has no LVP.

The light charges the battery with 0.5A, after charge indicator turns green it holds 4.15V

The white light seems not too cool and has no noticeable tint.

The highest white light drains 0.78A High, 250mA Med, 66mA Low, 137mA Red and 50mA Red beacon.

Lower currents meassured with an 1 Ohm shunt.

Standby current is 36.5uA measured with an 1kOhm shunt, so a 3000mAh battery lasts 9 years thats probably lower than the self discharge of the cell.

The Battery compartment is made from a blank aluminium pipe, no finish.

The pipe has a hexagonal shape, most likely with 6 light boards glued to it for heatsinking the LEDs.

The battery compartment cap has a strong magnet inside.

The outer side of the battery cap has an oring for waterproofing.

Both battery sides are got a steel spring make unprotected and protected cells fit.

The whole light is glued together, opening would destroy the light.

Conclusion:

the build quality is not close to the Fenix CL25R light.

The springs could be from a bronze alloy at least they are thick.

The supported battery is not protected and the light got no LVP thats a bad combination.

Battery capacity test shows 1100mAh not even reaches 2000mAh.

The supplied battery is only good for recycling bin.

The clones have a much cooler tint than the Fenix CL25R, blue in comparison. The Fenix UI is different also. You don’t have to cycle through the reds to change the modes. Clone is slightly larger, but the build quality seems nice. I have two of them both from different sellers. There is a half dozen names for these clone lanterns, but they are all the same lantern. The cells that came with mine tested out to about 1600mAh, but NCR18650GA protected cells fit fine. I use the Fenix for camping, and the other two for emergency lighting in the house if the power goes out.
You can’t beat the price on these clones though.

Nice. Thanks for the review Lexel! I have the Fenix, but I’ve been curious about the clones.

Thanks for the review! The cheapest one I found on eBay was $11.53, probably worth a try.

Edit:

$9.79 on amazon after 30% discount, including prime shipping!!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J1FOU0U

How did you get the 30% discount?

is it need to cycle through all modes to turn it off?

Thanks for your honest review

Stick a few of them in your shopping cart and wait for the price to lower. 6 months ago I picked up this one for $9.95 and this one for $6.95. The Weily is $9.99 right now. The one Will linked to has the promotion right below the price. Says “buy 1 get 30% off”, which equals $9.79. The promotion is applied at checkout.

Amazon tip!

Always look below the price for applicable promotions or a bit further down for special offers, often they have discounts on the product itself or when bought together with something else. I have found quite a few deals paying attention to this…

You have to cycle through all modes, but usually you place the latern select the light brightness and let it run for hours

I tested the battery for a bit over 1.1Ah at 400mA discharge this one is going fully drained to battery recycling bin in the next supermarket

After reading this today, I went to ebay and found the one for $11.53 and ordered it. New seller(been there one week with 90% rating) but its ebay with their backing plus pay pal, so not too worried. Prices at $15, 16 and 20 and more. All seem the same manufacture? We will see :slight_smile:

Thanks guys! I have been a prime member for quite a while and have never paid attention to this.

Thanks for the review! Has any one seen these for sale on Ebay? Or some where that will ship to AUS?

I have 3 of these I purchased for $5-$7 throught VIPON.

Throw the battery away but other than that I think they are pretty nice. Hard to find 18650 lanterns.

Fasttech have this in 3 colours:
Blue , Black , Red
for $13.39. A little steep but with –15% coupon they offer around many holidays it might be worth it.

Where is the charge indicator on this lamp? Can’t seem to find it in any of the pictures.
Button on this one doesn’t seem transparent like on CL25R but the led could still probably shine through or be placed inside the lamp like in Blitzwolf BW-LT5. Is it red while charging or only lights up green when fully charged?

The charge LED is below the switch

To plug in the USB plug you need to compress the cover quite a lot

In middle and low mode you can hear PWM hiss

The color on Fasttech says 5500K I can confirm this its not cold as Cree 1A or 2B, but not as warm as 3D

Fasttech rates too high lumens
300-350 lumens at 780mA can be expected

I bought a second tested the batteries 1100 and 1500mAh not being able to run high currents as their internal resistance is really high like old laptop pulls

Thanks for the great review.

Just bought one myself, Nice, I would have liked the Fenix but far too expensive.

When being charged the clone draws 500ma and as it gets close to full, the current starts to slowly drop the lowest i have see is 30ma before the green fully charged light shows.

Power button orange/red while charging turns to green when fully charged.

John.

Convoy s2+ with diffuser is a best camping light. Again :wink:

Just ordered another 3 of these lanterns making it 4, replaced the included 18650 with a protected Panasonic 3400mah cell.

Great size and very bright though i only use it low mode inside, I wonder how durable it is to being dropped as it`s made from plastic, maybe it can be armored somehow.

John.

One thing about this clone is it makes a wining noise in the medium and low power mode and it can be quite irritating.

Does the Cl25R make a noise?

John.