Review of Zanflare F1

Long time lerker, first time posting. Everyone does such a great job at answering feedback that I wanted to post my impressions about the Zanflare F1. So far it’s proving to be as good as everyone says and I love the capability of it. I made a video of some tests and wanted to see what y’all thought. Please let me know!

This is a great EDC. For the price, amazing!
I have a lot of flashlights, and for EDC purposes, I could not be more happy with this light. It is so functional and useful for my purposes, I feel spoiled with it and it has set a new benchmark for me.
Pros:

Waterproof:
I don’t have to worry about being out in the rain, or when camping, dropping it into a puddle or stream. This is IPX 8 rated for 2 meters for 30 min. I have tried it out and it works!

Slim design:
this light does not flare out at the bulb, making it very comfortable to put into a pocket.

Non Focusing, Wide beam:
it does not have a sliding head to focus the beam, instead, the light is recessed down and has a great orange peel to reflect the light offering a good tight center and a broad flood function at the same time. Down range the center does lose focus around 200 feet, but for my purposes, that is plenty far. Most of what I use a light is for much closer than that and the spread of light is amazing and simple to use.

Light function cycling:
This light is turned on and off from the back, but the light mode is cycled on the other end near the bulb. What is great about the functions is that it goes through the moonlight, low, medium, high, torch without the strobe or SOS. To go to the strobe or SOS, one has to hold the mode button down for 30 seconds. I really like this as I hated on other lights I have to cycle trough the strobe function and annoying other people.

Light settings:
From moonlight to torch, all the settings offer a purposeful way to use the light. The moonlight setting is good to use when hanging the light from the top of the tent or when reading at night trying not to disturb others. My favorite is the high for backyard animal feedings. The medium offers plenty of light to walk around the campsites and not blind people. The torch setting is great to use for longer distance. The torch setting does only go for 30 seconds as to not overheat and drain the battery too much.

Charging:
I love how this can charge without taking the battery out. This also allows me to charge using a power bank when out camping. There are not many lights that can charge when camping, but this is one of them, and a great one. I can attach this to a power bank during the day and it is ready to go at night. I have solar panels that I can use to charge this with, or how I do, charge a power bank, then charge this. This ability makes it perfect for camping!

Lanyard:
Usually this is just an ok add on for most flashlights, but this one has a clip so that it can be disconnected quickly meaning that if I wrap the lanyard around a loop of my backpack or gear, I can quickly disconnect the light from the lanyard. This allows me to not need a carrying case and keeps the light accessible at all times. Perfect for an EDC!

Other accessories:
The kit does include extra O rings to replace if the ones installed start to fail to keep this waterproof. Also included is the charging cable, standard micro USB, and a pouch to keep everything including the light in. The pouch does not work too well to use on a belt as it is cumbersome to get the light into and out of, but it is a great way to throw into a bag and keep some extra batteries in for the “just in case” scenarios.

Cons:
Glass breaker tip:
Seems good, but on a trip to a local scrap yard the workers let me try it out on a car and I was unable to break the passenger side window. I did blunt the tip of the glass breaker and made it loose, almost to the point of it coming out, as it bent the aluminum whole that it sets in on the flashlight.

Given all the Pros that this light offers, especially at this price, the fact that the glass breaker did not work does not merit a reduction of stars, given only 5 star rating. This is a 9/10 package deal and execution, 5/5 for sure.

Nice review. Welcome to BLF. :+1:
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Biggest concern I have with my F1 is that the ring covering the charging port is REALLY stiff. So much so that it almost feels like I need a pliers to open it. Feels like smaller o-rings should have been used.

Have you lubed it? Mine is kinda tight to… but better tight than loose and leaking if submerged. :slight_smile:

Mine is a little snug. Maybe it was being over tightened but I agree that I want it snug as part of the reason I like this so much is to not worry about water. As you saw, I threw it in the pool! This is now my go to for camping or anything out doors. I’d rather it be snug the not work. But that may just be me.

I did have to buy a high discharge battery to really make it shine (sorry for the pun) but it doesn’t have overdrawn protection. Any advice as to good, high discharge batteries on a budget for this and other lights? Thanks

Try this link to a protected 18650 GA

They also have them in unprotected button & flat tops also. As well as other brands.

The GA is rated for 10A discharge… which is well beyond the the ability of the F1.
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:slight_smile:

Willthat battery fry the F1? I don’t want to do that, just make it the light it can be. I do have some other, cheaper lights that may be fun to fry by overcharging the though…

Without li-ion philistine operators at hand, I see no reason to use protected cells. Bulkier, lesser performing and really unrequired unless you plan to leave the light on unattended.

Cheers ^:)

No…. not at all. :slight_smile:
It is just a regular 18650 battery, 4.2 V charged up; with 3500 mAh capacity.

Capacity does not “fry lights”. It gives longer run times.

Yes it does. The F1 shuts down at 2.6 to 2.7volts

Does anyone else’s F1 have a rattle inside the head like something is loose and moving around? My F1 showed up D.O.A. with a bad rattle inside the head. I guess something broke or came loose during shipping. I’m working on getting a replacement.

Ok. I know about capacity and what mAh is. It’s just that you said “The GA is rated for 10A discharge… which is well beyond the the ability of the F1” and didn’t know if that ment it would overpower the light due to too much amperage.
Thanks. I’ll try it out!

Sweet. Did not realize that the light would regulate like that. I was referring to the battery not having an overdischarge circuit in it as is warns about not letting it get too low and killing it. I’m glad to know the F1 will help and not let that happen as I am not the only one to be using it.

Yup, no need for a protected cell in the F1. Even says it has LVP in the manual.

No, I meant the cell was rated for 10A discharge and the F1 would come nowhere even close to that. Therefore the GA would be an excellent choice.
And has been mentioned already…. absolutely no “need” for protected. But no harm in using protected if you want.
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:slight_smile:

I got these
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MYV86IY/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
And it seems to work well. Oils the ones you mentioned be better, because I will get them. Need to get good stuff that is sure to last.

Why did you just spend 23 dollars on two unknown name cells on Amazon?

Especially with a fly by night business that lies about the specs

There are many businesses in the US that will sell you the real thing. Brand names like Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic/Sanyo for half that price

Because I am still learning. I need to spend more time in these threads. I have poked around a bit, but need to spend more time here, then scrolling through Amazon.

RobertB, A4whlstmpr may not be as aware of the li-ion market as you may presume, for obvious reasons. My first 18650s were a couple of inexpensive 2000mAh blue UltraTurds which turned out acceptable, allowing a 1A torch to probably run close to a couple of hours, so nowhere near the fakeness rating of the newer, higher-ended 9800-9900mAh models. ;-)

Also, please bear in mind philistines are much more marketing driven than ourselves, remember they tend to believe whatever is printed on a label :facepalm: . Now, when you consider the real players in this business stamp their cells with industry geared codes philistines can't understand, you get the picture. In a middle ground you have rewrappers of good cells, but they also may have to deal with end-user misuse/abuse.

Cheers