There are only a handful of lights I've ever reviewed where I had written the review and before I posted "something came up" that caused me to realize I had to scrap my review and start over because I wasn't doing the light justice.
I had a 2 hour "dog search" with the BLF-Q8 in some pretty rough country and it was amazing.
So the BLF-Q8 "Real World Review" is delayed until I am able to whip up prose adequate to the performance of the light.
Oh and as a side note. I know a lot of folks say go unprotected and so forth for max performance, but I have 4 of these EBL 18650 in my light and I've been very happy with how they are playing together.
I do recommend that you commit the batteries to the light as a set though just to keep the use balance equaled out 'cause on high power the light sure does draw on the cells hard.
My Q8 was a bit of a novelty for me until I swapped the XP-Ls for 219Cs. I’m always amazed at how everything pops out in the woods at night instead of just being a dull drab brown. Plus it’s still pretty damn bright (~3800 turn-on lumens).
OK……I broke. I’m a weak man. Yeah, it cost me …I dunno…16…18 dollars but I took the Amazon route. It’ll be here March 1st as opposed to ….whenever.
I’m pumped! Oh, you folks that are familiar with this light—what is the true story on the batteries? Will flattop 30Q’s work? Flattop LG H2’s? Thanks in advance…
That was on 4th December though, so I’m not sure if the deal is still active, or if it’s been replaced by their new offer for their own brand AA/14500 light.
No. Just because they sometimes “work” as they come in some instances does not mean they are suitable. This will not be reliable and is a hack at best. As an unsafe practice this can not be recommended.
Other “flat top” cells that have a raised positive pole could be totally acceptable.
However, adding just a bit of solder on their positive poles makes a difference. 30Q with a good solder blob modification is one of the best choices for this light - some may argue that double wrap is more field proof and that comes standard with the aftermarket nipple modified versions. The homebrew solder boob done right is still going to have a guaranteed low battery resistance just like the stock 30Q. Aftermarket modifications may or may not have the full potential.
Non high drain but good quality batteries will also work. In practical use the lower initial performance will probably not be that much of an issue. The Q8 won’t maintain 5k lumens more than a moment anyway, and in real life applications you can’t have it on full power other than in short bursts. On a search, you’re going to need illumination after the first 20 minutes too.
Just have a set(sets) of 4 for this light only or otherwise used in sets of 4 and everything will be OK. There are good options for button top 18650 protected and not, and not all of them count as “high drain” while still good enough for the Q8.
If you’re just aiming for highest startup lumens, some Sony or LG products may be better than the 30Q. Even the older Samsung 25R could be. But that makes very little sense. The Q8(especially in stock condition) is not a record holding wow factor light, it’s a practical tool.
Warning! I tried some flat top 30Qs in my Q8 and it seemed to work great but when I went to charge the batteries only 3 of them were discharged so one obviously wasn’t making a connection. I’ll stick to my button tops for now but I’m going to try solder blobbing some time.