ChrisC's HaikeLite MT07 Buffalo Review:

One line roundup: This is a HEAVY BEAST of a light that handles heat well and chucks a decent amount of light up range for not a lot of money.

—- oh yeah, if you want to see if there is a slightly better price PM me and I’ll see what I can do :wink: :smiley:

I’ve done a few reviews of items recently and when I review items the first bit I write is usually about the way the parcel is shipped. I will not waste much time on this because the outer envelope for the parcel was damaged by Royal Mail and I’m not actually sure how the box stayed inside the packaging but it did fortunately. This isn’t Banggood’s fault,this is entirely Royal Mails fault. Fortunately the box inside was unharmed and the light inside was minty fresh! The light arrived in under 10 days which felt like forever but was very reasonable.

First up, the boring brown box. How can a boring brown box like this give you so much joy? This one is fully of sunshine and happiness I assure you.


Inside the box you’ve got:
HaikeLite MT07
Instructions sheet (rather than a book)
Spare o-ring
Lanyard - this is a bit of olive coloured paracord. I never bother with these so this got discarded instantly.

So, some more photos:






A few lights to compare the size of the light / reflector.


Specs from the seller with a couple of notes:

Switch 1: (the one nearest the base of the light)
Single Click-on ; Single Click-off ;
Quick Access Turbo (Double click switch 1 in any status to access - click again to leave turbo. Easy to find!)
Long-press to Strobe; Long-press again to SOS; Single click to previous memorized mode. Strobe is a bit slow but its hard to accidentally turn on which is great as I dont like strobe modes.

Switch 2: (the one nearest the head of the light - this lights up to show battery state)
Low Low, Low, Mid, High , Turbo (single click to change modes with last mode memory)
Hidden Moonlight 0.3 lumens (fast double click switch 2 to access moonlight, Single click to previous memorized mode - this is really easy to access when the light has been left switched off and moonlight is a great level.) Lockout function: Click+hold switch 2 to lockout the light; Repeat to unlock. You can unscrew the end cap for a bit and it’ll loose its lock out too.

Power indicator:
100~50 Blue LED ON
50~9 Blue LED flash twice every 10 seconds
9%~Turn off Red LED flash twice every 10 seconds
Indicator LED is off on Moonlight mode to extend the max runtime.

Internal parts:
72mm inner wide x 68mm deep Reflector (make it a super thrower) - I’ve got to agree, compare this to a TK75 and it really is a great thrower!
35mm Haike Copper DTP Emitter board
18 AWG thick copper+silver wires
8mm thick internal emitter-sitting disk
Double Silver-plating copper-alloy springs
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I’ve not had too much time to do many beam photos so I looked through my selection of lights to find something that should be a match or give a good benchmark for the MT07 to compete with and I grabbed my trusty TN31 and TK75. In previous tests my TK75 and TN31 have always seemed to be on par beam wise, they both seem to light up a tree at the end of my road the same and the TK75 always throws more light at it so I’ve never really cared too much about the numbers. For the sake of numbers the TN31 should throw 672m and the TK7t should throw 608m. This MT07 should throw 750m by manufacturer spec. The MT07 whoops both of them easily and had a lovely useable spill to go with it.

I did manage to go out and take a bunch of beam shots (to be found in this link) where you can see the MT07 comparing against a number of lights but below I’ll put the MT07 VS TK75

TK75

MT07

TK75

MT07

Sorry about the filesize of the below image… it’s 4mb but I think the image helps show the difference.

I loaded up 4 bright lights with cells and checked the weight of them. TN31 = 710g, TK75 = 690g, TM16GT = 728g…… this MT07 = 995g! WOW just shy of 1kg! This is a best of a light but I think the weight of the light helps with the heat dissipation. 5000 lumens on this light vs ~6000 or so on the TN36 but after 8 minutes when this light steps down in power due to heat it hits a maximum of 42.2c compared to the TN36 at 8mins which is at 63.1c! Once the light hits 60c it’s getting too hot to hold in the hand so this additional thermal mass seems to help so much.

Temperature of lights (degrees c over ten minutes):

Ceiling bounce results indicating step down:

When I opened the box I first thought “urgh, this light isn’t very pretty” but the more I’ve used it and played with it the more the look has grown on me. The knurling on the top of the light rim and the handle is nice, not too aggressive but it wont slip in your hand. The front of the light has a lovely stainless steel shiny rim that protects it when you’re putting the light lens down first. If you flip it over due to the weight of the light it table stands very nicely and would be perfect to light your room up in a power failure.

The UI of the light is really nice too. It’s nice in that its really intuitive. You can double click one button to jump to moonlight (lower than low) which is a decent brightness. It’s not as dim as some moonlight modes but it’s not as bright as a lot of lights I’ve tested. You can double click another button to jump to full power which is really useful. The buttons are squishy rubber but they’re not too sloppy. The click provides good haptic feedback - you know you’ve clicked it but it’s not too clunky.

The battery carrier is well designed and I’ve had no problems throwing in a variety of batteries. They all go in fine and its easy to line up the end cap to screw back down. The only issue I’ve got is if you over tighten the tube the light doesn’t work, its got to be turned back a tiny weeny bit.

I threw the light in the bath and left it on high for 10mins and it was “just fine”. No moisture inside. No bubbles coming out of it and seemed to come off perfectly.

Overall this light is a brilliant light for the money. It feels so well made and well designed. The threads are nicely lubricated (as you can see in my pictures because I put the light down on the carpet and it picked up a load of fluff!), the buttons are responsive, the AR lens does its job excellently (apart from picking up finger prints) and all in all it’s just awesome. It is a shame its so bulky otherwise it’d be absolutely perfect but at the same time this bulk allows it to run without getting too hot to hold so whilst it’s a negative it’s actually a huge positive for the light.

I honestly have to say if someone had £100 to spend on a light and wanted the best light they could get for the money this would be it. The output is excellent, the throw is more than adequate and the build quality seems right up there with the big players. I showed a friend this light, told him how much it was and he ordered one there and then. I previously made him buy a TK75 which he thought was “the dogs danglies” and when I showed him my TK75 and the MT07 side by side he just laughed and ordered the MT07.

I think I’ve got a work colleague interested too as he bought a TK75 in the past because he loved the one I’ve got. He’s now seen these two in the office today and I think he is sold!

Thank you for the nice review chrisc. Is that a grape vine field in some of your beam shots?

Hi, I’ve not actually checked what is growing there but it is very unlikley to be grape vines. It’s probably a load of small trees that have been planted and protected. I think it’s meant to be some kind of nature reserve but I’ve only ever gone there when its dark (until I get there!) and I’ve not ventured out into the fields because its always been really muddy and I’ve been in a rush.

It looks like a firefighting fog nozzle minus the bale.

It’s built like one too and probably as heavy. I’ve only ever played with a proper nozzle once and my take back from it was “wow, this is heavy”…. yeah this light the first thing that comes to mind is “wow, this is a chunky light”.

I took it out with me last night to show a few friends and they were amazed at how bright it was and the build of it and then I told them the cost and they couldn’t believe it. Under $100 delivered is a golden price point for many. Sub 100 and it’s not too bad, over 100 and its suddenly really expensive. So last night when I told my friends that this thing was just £80 they was all shocked.

Other lights I worry about them when I drop them on the floor… .will they break? will I scratch them? I dropped this in my kitchen and the first thing I did was check the floor to see if it was okay. I’m not joking. I really did that and my wife shouted “CHRISSSSSSSSS DONT YOU DAMAGE OUR WOOD FLOOR!”

If you want a better price, just ask me. I might be able to help with a discount code :wink: