I bid on a "Citipower X5-T6" p60 flashlight with an XM-L T6 last week on eBay, and just received it in the mail. I previously purchased an HWA/WYS Ultrafire WF-502b from tmart. Anyways, I figured I'd throw up some pictures here of the two lights, considering there is next to nothing about the "Citipower" hosts on here. Hopefully somebody finds it useful or at least interesting. They are pretty much identical hosts, with a few minor differences.
I think I got a pretty good deal on this light, I only paid $9.35 for it, and it's better quality so far than the "Ultrafire" host I have. The threads are much cleaner, and everything screws on smooth. The drop in had the Ultrafire label, and I was excited to see that. It's also considerably brighter than the drop in included in the "Ultrafire" from tmart. I measured the output on high with my DMM and I had about 2 amps, compared to the 1.4 on my other drop in. Of course drop ins vary from seller to seller, so who knows what you'll end up with in either host.
The other pros as compared to the "Ultrafire" host are the clip and the switch. The clip isn't nearly as flimsy as the "Ultrafire" one, which might not be a big deal to some, but I clip this light onto my uniform. The switch is recessed a little further into the tailcap, and subsequently does a sudo tailstand (with a little wobble). The switch is about twice as hard to press, and doesn't depress as far (both pluses for me). The only I don't like is the smooth texture on the switch, I prefer the cross hatching on the Ultrafire's switch. So overall I'm really impressed with the quality of this light, and to top it off, the shipping only took 8 business days.
Side by side
Ultrafire disassembled
Citipower disassembled
Switch comparison
Citipower on left, Ultrafire on right
And the added bonus for me... my new charger was shipped in TWO days...unbelievable (or I'm just used to Chinese shipping now). Thumbs up for SBflashlights.
Thanks for this mini review. I ordered three Citipower lights off Ebay last night. A X3, X5 and X7. I know I'm real stupid on this subject but what is the difference if any between the X3, X5 and X7 other than head size?
As far as I can tell the X3 is an Ultrafire WF-501b clone, X5 = UF WF-502b, X7 = UF C8.
I might be mistaken, but I think the X3 and X5 have the same size head (or very close). And obviously the X7 has the larger head. I want one of those now!
They are both P60 hosts as far as I know. This thread has a comparison shot that I've included below. This is NOT my picture, it's from that thread (hopefully that's okay to do).
Maybe there is no difference in head size. Just different shapes. So my question is what is the difference between the X3 and X5 or 501 and 502? Here are the picts of the ones I bought.
As far as light output, probably nothing. That will be dependent on the drop-in that comes with it. The X3 has a lanyard hole in the tailcap, the X5 doesn't. The X5 has a pocket clip, the X3 doesn't.
You're right though, the shape looks to be the only difference. I wouldn't mind having both though...why not right?
Nice little review, RCM. Thanks for taking the time. :)
One thing I noticed was the X5 looks like it will tail stand while the 502b looks like it won't. Could either be due to the tail cap rubber itself or the switch in the X5 is recessed deeper than the 502b. If you like the rubber in the 502b better just switch tail cap rubber so you ge the best of both.
I also think I prefer the finish of the CitiPower. Somehow it just looks cleaner than the Ultrafire.
The X5 does tailstand, just barely! The switch protrudes slightly, but it's almost flush with the cap. I originally mentioned that the switch appeared to be recessed more on the X5 than on the 502b, but when I inspected it better, the tailcap is actually slightly longer on the X5, covering most of the switch. The tailcap on the 502b has a rounded taper on the end, where the X5 continues up and is more squared off. You can see it if you look closely in the pics.
Good idea on switching the rubber, I'll look into doing that today. I like these Citipower hosts so much I just bought another on eBay for $9. It's difficult to find the T6 drop-ins for that price, so I think I'll stockpile a few of these.
One thing you might want to try on your X5 to make it tail stand better is what I did on my Shiningbeam Blaze. The rubber boot stuck out just far enough to make the light wobble a little. I took the boot out and put a small O-ring over the button so that when I reinstalled it, the rubber boot was slightly lower that the lip of the tailcap.
