Review: Zanflare F1


I received the Zanflare F1 from GearBest.com for the review.
The Zenflare F1 is the first flashlight produced from GearBest. They make a CW (6000-6500K) and a NW version (4500-5000K). I got the CW one.




Light, manual, lanyard, pouch, clip, micro USB charging cable, silica bag (isn’t supposed to be in the light?).


The F1







On the tailcap there is a small pointy thing that can be used to break glasses.
The switch is a reverse clicky, and it is covered by rigid plastic.
The milling on the tailcap provides a lot of grip when twisting or untwisting it.
A lanyard hole is present.


The clip can be mounted on the body (as in the pic) or on the tailcap.

On the body there is a particular milling. Looks very nice, but doesn’t help a lot the grip.

The threads on the body are anodized on both ends, so you can physically lockout the light.
The positive pole at the head is a raised button, so flat to and button top cells work in this light.


On the head there is a micro USB charging port, protected by a threated bezel and two o-rings.
Next to the port, there is a LED for the charging status.




There is an electronic switch at the head of the light, it protrudes slightly.

The LED for the F1 is a CREEE XP-L, in a smooth reflector and AR coated glass (there is a slight and very hard to see blue reflection if you incline the glass at a certain angle).

In this pics there is a Panasonic 186503400mAh protected battery. To my knowledge this is one of the longest batteries, and it fits.

The pouch has a loop for belt, and it is quite a tight fit (requires 2 hands to use it).

UI
The reverse mechanical switch at the tailcap turns on and off the light.
The electronic switch at the head allows to change levels: each click will cycle levels (moonlight, low, medium, high, moonlight, low), give you access to turbo (double click).
To access strobe, keep pressed the switch. When strobe is active, a single click will activate SOS.
The strobe alternates slower patterns to faster patterns.
The light has memory for the constant output levels, apart from turbo.
To charge the battery you have to unscrew the bezel that protects the micro USB port, connect the micro USB cable and turn the light on with the mechanical switch. When the light is charging the LED is red, when the charge is complete the LED is green.

Beamshot at 0.5 meters from the wall



Output and runtime
Output and runtime have been tested with 18650 LG MJ1 batteries.


As the battery gets closer to be empty, you get both less lumens (still with regulated pattern) and flashes.


At the end of the tests, the 18650 were always above the minimum recommended voltage.
For testing the low mode level I had to stop and re-start several times the test, this may contribute to the bumps you see in the plot.

My thoughts
The light is well built and finished. I like the glass breaker. It is discrete and its presence doesn’t affect the light in any bad way. The battery charging port is as protected as it can be, with a metal bezel and two o-rings.
The levels are well spaced on the high output side, I’d like to see an additional level between moonlight (less than a lumen) and low (50 lumens!), something in the 5-15 range lumens.
The regulation is fine.
There is a shortcut to turbo and strobe, but I’d like to see a shortcut for a low mode (either moonlight or low).
The pouch works fine if you want to keep the light in a bag or in a drawer, but it is not as practical as a traditional belt/MOLLE pouch.

A nice light for their first product.

Thanks to: AntoLed for lending me the camera and the luxmeter.

I bought one unit, and I am very happy with it.
I have obtained a values of lumens very similar to your data.
No doubt, , the light have great regulation.

Very good job budda!

Does the temperature regulation work?