Review on the Pioneer C8 from Banggood

[Beachlogger]

@Old-Lumens

@Beachlogger

Looks to be the same as the new convoy C8 with the emitter shelf and the square threads at the tail

Could be. I don’t have a Convoy, so I can’t tell for sure. I really don’t like the C8 format, but I know lots of people do.

Scratch that, I was thinking of the other new convoys with the emitter shelf but there new c8 still has a pill

[Chicken_Drumstick]

@Old-Lumens

@Chicken Drumstick

@Old-Lumens

Just high mode and that was only 2 amps. I was not happy about that, but when you think of C8, you think of mod immediately, so just change out the driver and go for 4-5 amps.

Thanks for the review. Can you recommend any drivers to get 4-5 amps for one of these?

I would think many people use the new BLF 17 DD driver that has a FET. I imagine that might be one of the best, also a nanjg with extra chips might work. It appears to be a 17mm driver, from what I quickly measured.

Thanks. I’m not upto chip stacking. What places sell the BLF 17 DD?

[MRsDNF]

Thanks OL. It appears to be a really nice light in some respects but just misses on others. Battery length for a start. Who pays for the postage on the giveaways?

[blitzwing]

OP reflector. :weary:

[Old-Lumens]

@MRsDNF

Thanks OL. It appears to be a really nice light in some respects but just misses on others. Battery length for a start. Who pays for the postage on the giveaways?

You pay for postage, no matter who the winner is.

I pay.

[Old-Lumens]

@Chicken Drumstick

@Old-Lumens

@Chicken Drumstick

@Old-Lumens

Just high mode and that was only 2 amps. I was not happy about that, but when you think of C8, you think of mod immediately, so just change out the driver and go for 4-5 amps.

Thanks for the review. Can you recommend any drivers to get 4-5 amps for one of these?

I would think many people use the new BLF 17 DD driver that has a FET. I imagine that might be one of the best, also a nanjg with extra chips might work. It appears to be a 17mm driver, from what I quickly measured.

Thanks. I’m not up to chip stacking. What places sell the BLF 17 DD?

Read the driver thread about all of the in house drivers, that rufusbduck has. The BLF 17 DD is one of those DIY drivers, with Oshpark boards and buying the components yourself. I’m sure someone will provide a link to that thread. I’m at work and it’s hard to do that here.

Or, you could get one of the drivers that led4power has for sale right now. 5 amps, no pwm.

[NightSpy]

This certainly appears to be a better-than-average C8 which of course is reflected in the higher than average price-tag.

Now I am little curious about the switch they used and how it was terminated.

[Hikelite]

Pioneer, name copied from the German electronics brand popular in Europe. www.pioneer.eu

Logo made to resemble the Pirelli logo.

[Cereal_killer]

I also want to know about the switch, can you take it apart for us? Looks good with no spring, if its got a standard switch inside (and can fit a FWD clicky) that’d be great!

I will say not having a tail spring probably makes this NOT a good choice for a tactical / weapon mounted light.

[Old-Lumens]

@Cereal_killer

I also want to know about the switch, can you take it apart for us? Looks good with no spring, if its got a standard switch inside (and can fit a FWD clicky) that’d be great! I will say not having a tail spring probably makes this NOT a good choice for a tactical / weapon mounted light.

Yes it has a standard tail clicky switch and yes it has a spring under the brass cap. Many lights have a brass cover that fits over the tail cap spring. Looks like the same switch I see in most tail caps. No, I’m not going to tear it all apart again.

[bgyen]

Okay, I am the happy winner of the Pioneer C8 that O-L was giving away in the other
thread. I just got the light today in the mail (thanks O-L).

As reviewed by O-L, construction is excellent. Anodizing is pretty good — very matte finish. I didn’t read the banggood instructions not to use a protected cell in the light. I tried a protected NCR16850B, it didn’t fit because the tube diameter is too narrow to accommodate the extra thickness of the cell. Non-protected fit without problems.

The UI does work on this light as described in the operation instructions on the banggood description. It’s kind of tricky because you need to quickly half-press successive (5) times to gain access to the settings mode (somewhat similar to Zebralight’s interface).

The really cool thing about this interface is that you can program the light start dim or a bright. So it can possibly please everyone! It doesn’t have any mode memory! And you can program the brightness levels of each mode as you desire.

Here’s how I describe the operation of this light:

It has 3 modes; which I’ll just call Mode1, Mode2, Mode3. It will always come on in Mode1 from power off (no last mode memory).

Full press and release of the button to turn the light on (normal reverse clicky operation) gets you into Mode1.
While the light is on:
One quick half-press will go to Mode1
Two quick half-press will go to Mode2
Three quick half-press will go to Mode3

Here’s where it gets intersting. Mode1 and Mode2 can be programmed to your desired level of brightness! To gain access to this:
Turn the light on:
Go into the mode you want to program, then do five quick half-presses. The light will start to incrementally ramp up in brightness from whatever level it was last at. Do a half-press (or full press) once you reach the desired level to save it. The light will keep looping from dimmest to brightest levels until you save.

I think Mode3 also can be programmed to another desired brightness level or it can be made to do strobe or beacon or slow flash. I haven’t quite figured it out; it’s not quite as straight forward as programming Mode1 and Mode2 programming.

Anyways, it’s a neat interface. You can easily jump around from any of the modes. No need to scroll through each one until you reach your desired one.

[chouster]

I wonder why this light doesn’t get more attention. It’s a pill-less-design-C8 and even the anodizing looks nice. I see people recommending and modding all different kinds of C8’s (Convoy; XinTD; Ultra~~,Tangs~~, …-fire) all over the place but none of them has a pill-less-design for better heat transfer. I have a hard time trying to resist from buying that light at the moment.