Review : KDLITKER C8.2 , 1*18650 xhp50.2 flashlight

KDLITKER C8.2 XHP50.2 Review

Overview :


First Look / Unboxing :

Flashlight comes in a simple brown box :

Package Contains :

- Flashlight

- Lanyard

- Spare o-ring

- Gitd tailcap boot

  • Soft cleaning cloth

Extended View :

The flashlight itself :

As you can see , it is a classic C8 styled flashlight . Here are some more photos :

It has KDLITKER logo on one side

And the C8.2 on the other

Anodizing is matt , and has a nice feel…

It’s head , with great machining and some cooling fins :

It has a little “Warning” logo on the head . I find it funny , if you think that it is on a flashlight :stuck_out_tongue: :

Notice the nice crenelated bezel too

Here we can see the SMO reflector and the nicely centered LED (xhp50.2) :

One more photo coming soon , sorry

The tube . Very smooth knurling , and nice machinng also here :

The tailcap . It has holes for lanyard and has the rubber boot “protected” (not protruding) :

Tailcap’s rubber boot :

And the tube’s threads , on the tailcap side . Anodized , well machined :

The other side has bare non-anodized threads for better electrical connection

The visible part of the pill , with the driver and it’s spring (+) :

A button top battery has a good fit , even if it seems to be protruding a lot because of the long driver’s spring (it compresses nicely)

A quick teardown :

Head , tube , tailcap :

As someone can notice , on one of the tube’s “end” (flashlight’s head side) it has only 2-3 full threads , but connection between body and tube is very solid

Switch’s spring :

And the switch assembly . It has the classic little reverse-clicky Omten switch:

Head assembly :

Pill made from brass , with the xhp50.2 on 20mm KD DTP copper board :

And with the centering ring on :

Bottom side , with the driver held by a retaining ring :

Pill accepts 20mm driver and driver installed is H1-A

Modes and driver info :

Driver is the H1-A boost driver . Here are some info :

Input Voltage: 3V - 4.2V

3 Volts is the cut-off voltage , the LVP kicks in

Output Voltage: 6V - 6.8V max.

Output Current: 2900mA - 3000mA max.

Modes: Very Lo(5) > Lo(35) > Med(65) > Hi(100) + Hidden Strobe: Double Click

Features :

  1. Constant Current, No PWM
  2. Low Voltage Warning: When voltage is below 3V, it will keep flashing.
  3. Memory function : ( On for > 3 secs)

Notes:

  1. The driver does not have battery reverse protection. Please make sure the battery is connected in the correct way (positive end on the head side) .
  2. The max current from battery can be up to max. 8A, high drain battery is recommended for this driver.

Measurements :

Battery used in all measurements : Sanyo NCR18650GA 3500mAh

Amperage draw (Measured on the tail , with UT139 clamp meter) :

Very Low : 15 mA
Low : 0.365 A
Med : 1.3 A
Hi : 4.7 A

Lumens (measured in diy lightbox) :

Very Low : 9.2 lumens
Low : 240 lumens
Med : 765 lumens
Hi : 2040 lumens (Theoretical value is 2120 lumens for xhp50.2 at 3amps)

Current @ the emitter will be updated soon

Intensity on highest setting : 32.2 kcd

Beamshots section :

Here are 2 quick beamshots , more coming tomorrow !

Low :

High :

Camera shows the corona a bit more yellow than it really is…

Here are some better beamshots finally !

Control shot :

Low :

Mid :

High :

As you can see hotspot is pretty big … Output on high is impressive , 2k lumens reaching a great distance!

Runtimes :

High mode (referred as Turbo) :

A few words :

Very nice option for those who want a bright C8 , with big hotspot for less throw . Build quality is excellent , and overall it is an excellent flashlight !

Flashlight was provided by Kaidomain for review purposes . You can find this flashlight here .

Reserved !

I still have to add a thing or two :wink:

8/5 - Updated beamshots

Nice review George.
It is interesting how much is the battery current and voltage after 20 minutes on high mode?

Thanks for the review. The XHP50.2 in combination with the H1A boost driver is impressively efficient. The same combination and results that djozz found in the KDIY KF8.

The throw suffers though, from a combination of the low current density and new cree flip chip design LEDs, which inherently have less luminance and throw.

Thanks for the review. I want this light or at least the driver. Its crazy that 2k lumen single cell c8s are a ordinary thing now. With this set up or 3v its over 2k and with the XP-L2 it’s over 2k as well. I think this driver with a mtg2 would work nice in a c8 with a single cell.

Great review

Thank you for the review.

Enjoy :smiley:

2000 lumen highest with just only 4.7A, doubt it :exclamation:

Why? The battery voltage under load should be about 3.8V, using a good battery, so this means about 3.8 V *4.7 A = 17.86 W input into driver, with the 90% efficiency of the H1A this means 0.9*17.86 W=16.074 W to the led, and cree lists 2654 lumen with the 18W max input, taking this into account, and 10% losses from reflector/lens, expected lumens are 2654 lm/18 W*16.074 W*0.9 = 2133.02 lm, so above the 2000 lm at startup.
(Correct me if my math is wrong)

Maybe you are right, im just amazed how far led technology has gone
The efficiency of LED now is really impressive

Btw
According to this test

The led gives 2200 lumen at 18w
And your math said the led recieve 16W, so i guess the lumen is about 2000-2100 lumen
With 10% loss of glass and reflector, maybe the number is nearly below 2000 lumen
Still impressive

Thanks for your kind words and nice comments explaining some great things . I was away from home for a few days , so now i got the time to read the comments and update the review :wink:

Beamshots coming in a few minutes , and conclusion maybe too .

Great review. Got one of these myself and am pleasantly impressed. Feels like a comfortable 2000 lumens to the naked eye compared to convoy c8 and L6, and slots nicely in between in terms of performance.

Reckon you can convince kaidomain to put a xhp35 hi into the same set up? Even keeping the current around the 4A level? I’d buy that. Don’t have enough time or skills for even simple mods myself.

xhp35 is a 12V led , compared to the xhp50.2 that runs at 6V , so it will be a little more complicated …

An xhp35 running at 2 amps would be awesome in a C8 , but heat wouldn’t be so great…

Huh! I assumed because the xhp 50 and 70 came in 6V and 12V the 35 would also. Oh well, thanks for pointing that out.

On another note, I get a brief bright flicker whenever I enter low mode on mine. Just mine or do other units also do this?

It is a common thing in many lights when going from highest to lowest level, it is hardware-related but can be suppressed by the software. (I’m not an expert).

+1 for me to

Yes , mine does that too . I guess Jos gave a reasonable explanation :slight_smile:

Out of interest, with the H1A driver that is being used, is there an MCU on-board? I've looked at the photos, and everything seems to be obscured by a huge (I assume) inductor?

been thinking of getting a couple, wonder if they would slide some batteries in them for shipping purposes.
thanks for reviewing the light.