Nice! Thanks for the mini-review. Looking forward to getting mine - it was supposed to show up today, but now Amazon’s giving me ” We’re sorry your package is late. If it hasn’t arrived by the end of Sunday, Mar 6, please come back for a refund or replacement. ” Fedex says it’s supposed to arrive tomorrow.
Ah, well - still quicker gratification than most of my budget light orders! 
I recall somewhere mentioning some headlamp with a motion sensor — maybe this one, are there others? saying that the motion sensor is OK as long as you don’t have long hair, or reach your hand up near your face, or come near a flying bug, branch, a stalactite — or words to that effect.
Yeah, I was a little concerned about accidental switching when I saw that feature… But at least one of the reviews indicated that option could be turned off (second switch button?). Hope it’s not too intrusive.
EDIT: If nothing else, I imagine a motivated mod-er could bypass or wire around it? 
I have a number of Thorfire lights (9 so far) and they are all pretty great in quality and performance.
The lights I have from Thorfire are…….
KL04, PF03 , PF04 (1st editon and revised) , TG06 , VG10 , C8 , S50 , S70. I have not been disappointed with any of them so far.
I received the 2 that I ordered yesterday & had a quick play with them.
I paid the equivalent of $15 each (RRP $36).
First impressions ?
Well I already have an ageing Fenix HP11 an Olight H35 Wave plus about 6-8 cheap Chinese 18650 zoomie/fixed headlamps costing $8-$20 so I am familiar with a wide range of qualities from really really cheap/poor to very good high end examples.
This headlamp is better built/quality than some of my cheap Chinese ones but nowhere near the quality of Fenix & Olight (although obviously it is nowhere near the cost either) & you get an awful lot of features for such a cheap lamp.
PRO”s
- It is cheap
- It is better built than other $15 Chinese headlamps I have
- For $15 you get the option to turn the lamp on/off by swiping your hand across the front of it (this motion sensing feature works well within about 30cm/12” of the front of the lamp. It always turns the lamp on/off in high). You do not have to use this feature.
- It can be used as a powerbank via the 1 amp USB outlet
- It has a built in charger so the batteries can be charged in the battery pack (although I have no idea what the charging is like & personally wouldn”t use it).
- I quite like the beam pattern & tint
CON”s
- No “O” rings anywhere either on the lamp or battery pack so not very water proof
- It does feel very plasticy
- The tilt hinge is plastic & does not feel very strong
- I used 2 x Efest 3100 mah IMR batteries (it needs button tops or at least a “raised” positive pole battery) & I found that the batteries jammed together side by side as the battery box could do with being slightly wider internally (the Efest batteries I used are about 18.40mm diameter & that is the thickest cell you could use) I had to push 1 cell up to make contact with the positive contact
- The cover over the USB & charge sockets will offer little in the way of water proofing
Conclusion
I was initially going to slate this lamp as being very poor (in comparison to my Fenix & Olight) but then I thought about the price & what you actually get for $15.
Thorfire have put a lot of features into this lamp that you only find on much dearer ones (motion sensing, power bank, onboard charging) & because of this it does represent good value when compared to other cheap Chinese headlamps of similar price.
For non essential light use I think it will be fine but I do not think that is has the robustness or water proofing needed for long term demanding outdoor use.
Thorfire can obviously build a good quality flash light at a reasonable price (C8s, S70, S50 to name a few) & what I would like to see is for them to do that with a headlamp.
Based on their flash light offerings & prices I would imagine that they could build & sell a lamp with these features but much better robustness/waterproofing/materials for probably around $35-$40 & that would then make it a very serious contender against the high end headlamp brands costing more.
Hopefully this weekend I will have a chance to do some beam shots & run times & if so will update this thread with them.
Yes this headlamp has optional motion sensing switching also the Olight “Wave” headlamps have it but they are much more expensive.
Got mine. Looked perfect except the package being opened. Not too shabby for $7
Good:
You can use one or two 18650
100 yard + throw with good spill
Led looks to be 20mm and easy to access and mod
Motion sensor switch isn’t too annoying
Probably about 600 lumen
Inexpensive
Works as power source
Bad:
Plastic hinge
Button tops only
Need special cable to charge inside battery pack
Pretty much zero waterproofing
Threads on bezel are rough
Not for rough use.
Headband is uncomfortable
Overall I think the quality is good for the price. I might try swapping one led with a nichia 219c I have laying around. Also might try modding the battery box and cable to lower resistance.
Going to test runtime tomorrow
Hi Bc412, pretty much exactly the same initial thoughts as my quick review in post number 25.
Cool - thanks for the reviews! I finally had a chance to try mine out, and even got a few beamshots, but I’ll have to share those in a bit when I have a minute to get them off the camera. For a quick comparison, I tried it next to my Fenix HP15 (4xAA headlamp). The Fenix was noticeably brighter with a noticeably warmer tint, and overall build quality felt significantly better. But it also cost about 7X as much as the Thorfire! Yet again, Thorfire wins the “best value” prize. The Thorfire emitter is quite easily accessible for potential swapping, and it’s sitting on a little aluminum shelf, but the whole body is plastic, so heat sinking potential is very limited.
One question to xjsnake, bella, and Bc412 - did you try flat tops, or why do you say button-tops only? The battery pack on mine has raised bumps on the + side, so flat tops fit fine. HOWEVER - I think the more important note is that the batteries fit snugly and the springs on the ( - ) side are relatively short and weak, so you need to be sure the battery is pressed firmly against the + terminal (i.e. help the spring out a bit). I noticed one of my batteries appeared to be inserted and seated properly, but the + terminal wasn’t quite making contact. A little push snugged it right up. Overall battery length is probably significant - shorter batteries would be less likely to make good contact. Just pay attention when inserting the batteries, especially if you’re using either shorter or thicker cells.
Beamshots soon…
Andy
I tried Samsung 20R flat tops in mine and they weren’t even close to making contact. I flipped the battery pack upside down so that gravity would help the cells make contact on the positive terminal, and they cells were nearly 1/8” away from the terminal and were acting like they were sitting on a plastic shelf of some sort.
Mine won’t work with the 30Q flat tops but work fine with button top, protected or not.
Yeah, the light is cheaply made. I ordered a used/damaged box one for $7.20. I received a brand new, never been opened, undamaged box. What a great deal for a cheap light. I does work on only one cell. Mine will be kept in the machine barn at our recreational / hobby farm. Cheap enough to not worry about it and it should do fine for all those repairs and adjustments that are done under something.
I tried mj1, 30q, 25r with no luck.I looks like it’s making contact. Might put a little solder on it because most of my cells are flat top
Several pics below, but a few quick notes first, in approximate order of importance:
- The overall feel is plastic-y and cheap, in stark contrast to the other Thorfire lights I’ve tried, which seem generally very well made. I still think this is a great value at $7, but probably reasonably priced at $15. Definitely not in the same league as the high-end Fenix I linked in the OP, but a definite step above any other <$10 headlamp I’ve seen.
- Mine takes flat tops (laptop harvested gray NCR18650’s) just fine. In fact, they fit a little easier than my protected button-tops, I suspect because the protected cells are slightly larger in diameter. It still helps to give them a nudge toward the positive contact; the spring is definitely weak. But the larger-diameter protected cells were pretty sticky inside the battery holder, and the unprotected flat tops slid more easily.
- I completely agree with previous reviewers who said the headband is uncomfortable. IMO, it’s not the band itself or the design that’s uncomfortable, but simply the size. I have an average-sized head (no problem finding hats that fit), and this headband is uncomfortably tight even when adjusted all the way out. My Fenix, Skilhunt, old Princeton Tecs, and others adjust loosely enough to fit comfortably over a lightweight winter hat, but no chance with this Thorfire. Honestly, I’m going to avoid using it for any length of time for this reason alone. Fortunately I already had my kids in mind for the two headlamps I bought, so it should be fine for kids for the next several years. Or the headband could be lengthened, but that’s a hassle and potential expense.
- There’s some semblance of water resistance on the battery pack, but practically none on the body of the light. The battery pack has an integral rubber seal, which tightens up nicely when you screw in the battery pack. But the rubber flap that covers the USB port definitely doesn’t seal tightly. I’d call the battery pack splash resistant at best, but I wouldn’t want to wear it out in a steady rain. The body of the light features interlocking raised plastic ridges between the two plastic halves, but no sealing at all between the aluminum reflector housing and the plastic lamp body. I wouldn’t even want to splash that part. It’d be difficult to effectively seal this up, with openings around the reflector and two motion sensor holes.
- There must be a significant amount of resistance in the long cord between the battery pack and the driver - there’s about 4’ of fine wire (guessing 22ga?), some of which is coiled (making it even longer). My Fenix headlamp with external battery pack has the option to use a shorter cord when the batteries are mounted on the headband, or a longer cord if you’re keeping the batteries in a pocket or backpack. No such flexibility on the Thorfire, so there’s definitely room for improvement by moving to heavier gauge wires, or simply shortening the cord by splicing it or re-connecting one end. Not difficult if you can solder, but it’s a hassle.
- Emitter is easy to access and swap, and there’s plenty of room for a new driver if you remove the included circuit board. But heat sinking is very limited with the current design. Existing emitter has some thermal paste, but it’s not even tightly attached to the aluminum cup (slides around when bumped). A new driver would allow some room for additional heat sinking (the current driver is part of a very large PCB; see pics below). Note that a driver swap would be complicated by the electronic switch design, and it’d be difficult or impossible to retain use of the motion-sensing switch.
On to pictures! Captions above photo.
First some beam shots. L to R, all on high: Thorfire HL1505, Fenix HP15, L3 L10 Nichia (I know the L10 is not exactly a competitor, but I had it with me, and it might be useful as a color and brightness comparator. All taken at 10m from barn wall, with fixed exposure and white balance.
Light body
Light running on flat tops
Flat tops in battery holder
Battery pack; crappy red dots indicate location of rubber seal
Emitter, without aluminum bezel or plastic lens
Emitter close-up - possibly XP-L? Die is ~3.5mm square.
Aluminum cup is ~25mm diameter
Light body viewed from rear, with back cover removed (i.e. this is the driver)
Interestingly, there’s a red indicator LED that’s on when the motion sensor switch is engaged. This indicator light is not visible when the light is assembled. It’d probably be handy if it were.
Details of mediocre soldering
PCB/driver removed, viewing motion sensor diodes (?) and rear of aluminum emitter cup
Dissembled
I hope these notes and pictures are helpful for anyone considering the purchase of this light! Again, my summary is that it is a great value for <$10, and still better than the competition at $15. But it’s not an equivalent competitor to the $50-100 lights it’s imitating, and as such, it’s a bit of a disappointment compared to some other Thorfire offerings, which effectively balance high quality and value.
Do we know what make of led it is? (remove the white ring 
)
No, I’m not actually sure about the make of the LED! My best guess is XP-L; not sure what else is consistently yellow under the whole dome, white background on the square die, and ~3.5mm square. Picture post above is updated, but here’s one shot.
Great effort and pic’s Andyman, thanks very much, I’ve seen this led in another thread somewhere but can’t find it, makes me think of eggs, or i must be getting hungry, lol.