[Review] Astrolux C8 Flashlight - Compact Thrower

They look very similar to me. Here’s a image I took of both the Astrolux C8 LED board and the Convoy C8 (silver) LED board.

First the Astrolux C8:

Next, the Convoy C8:

Is it the same? Both are stuck onto a chunk of metal underneath.

Yepp, as long as that chunk of metal is not removable they are stuck on to the head itself. +1 for heat dissipation.

Mine also steps down from high to medium after 45 seconds, while the head is nowhere close to warm. If it had a 3 min timer it STILL wouldnt feel “hot” (as it too hot to touch).
Im guessing that heat sinking has something (or a lot) to do with it.
Its an amazing thrower for the size.

It’s the same generic host obviously.
Sofirn has an unbranded one, Convoy has “Convoy” on it, ThorFire has “ThorFire” on it and they use a different tail cap, and now Astrolux has one with “Astrolux” on it, and they put their cheap FET+1 DD ‘driver’ in it and an AR coated lens which might or might not help up to 1%, making it a couple of bucks more expensive.
It’ll obviously out perform other C8’s as long as you have a full battery…

OP has a point about 7135 drivers also dropping in output half way, but that’s because the XP-L HI has a high Vf and the 7135s eat away 0.2 Volts iirc.
An XM-L2 will do better in that regard.
A CC FET driver will do better still.

for DD drivers the XP-L (and lossy springs plus thin wires) is a good choice because of the high Vf.
Otherwise it would go up in smoke on a fresh battery.
But in all, from what i have read here and there, XP-L (HI) DD lights usually don’t push out more than some 1400 lumen on a fresh cell.

(You can probably tell i don’t like DD drivers…)

Good explanation, especially about the poor performance of multiple 7135 drivers in an XPL-HI, which I wondered about. It sounds like a FET (DD) driver, such as the one used in this light, is pretty optimal for the XPL-HI LED, driven from a single 18650 cell.

In a perfect world, I’d rather not overdrive the LED either. But, it does let us get quite a bit more output, so I’m okay with the compromise.

You can do the same output without overdriving, if you use an XHP35 LED. But, you need a much more complicated (and expensive) boost driver to get up to the 12v needed. Zebralight is doing this with their latest lights (I get mine delivered next week!), but they’re a lot more expensive than the Astrolux (or Convoy) lights that use an XPL.

For a bright budget light, I don’t think you can beat an XPL and a FET driver. Works great in the BLF A6 too.

Can’t decide should i buy this Astrolux c8 or Zanflare F1 or something else, most important is a throw, so is this astrolux c8 the best thrower on a market for 20 usd or is it maybe better to add about 10 usd more for some other model.

And about light tint, which one is best 3B (5000-5500K), 1A (6500K-7000K),3A(5500K) at the momment only 1A is on a stock, but i’m affraid that the colour is too much blue or not?

Thank you.

3a or 3b is what i like. 1a has a bluish cold color to it.
the c8 throws much further than the f1.

I prefer the C8’s build quality over the F1, the glossy finish of the F1 makes it look cheaper than it already is. And the UI of the C8 is definitely superior to the F1’s. The only thing missing in the box is a holster.

How does the Astrolux C8 compare to the Astrolux S2 (aka BLF X6v2) in terms of throw and lumens?
I understand the Astrolux C8 with its bigger reflector will outhrow the Astrolux S2, but will it be a big enough difference?

The Astrolux S2 has a good flood spill, any comparison of the Astrolux C8’s flood spill?

I don’t know if a difference of 39,000cd matters to you (102,000cd official specs for the Astrolux C8 and 63,000cd for the S2 here ).

Assuming that the measured 1,500lm from the Astrolux S2 by the TLF reviewer is correct, the spill of the S2 would be brighter than the C8’s (1,300lm output with 102,000cd intensity). The C8’s spill would be dimmer in comparison.

I have some doubts in the output obtained at TLF for the S2 since both the C8 and the S2 use a relatively similar emitter. Maybe you can squeeze a little more output from the C8 by bypassing the (already double) tailcap spring.

The S2 has a better UI, at least for me. Bistro has thermal calibration while the BLF A6 in the C8 uses a timed stepdown of 45 seconds (already mentioned in the OP).

Does this light really have so bad UI in comparison with a silver 12 groups Convoy C8?
And which battery do you suggest for astrolux C8, 30Q or 35Q?

Thanks

Who said this light has a bad UI? As to which UI is better is a matter of personal preference. I like both UIs, the BLF A6 in the Astrolux C8 and the Biscotti firmware in the Convoy.

There is no 35Q, I assume you mean 35E. The 30Q would give a little bit higher output at Turbo compared to the 35E.

Both the silver Convoy C8 (with biscotti firmware) and the Astrolux C8 (same UI as the BLF A6) have good interfaces. Whichever you prefer is a matter of preference, but they’re similar in modes and flexibility.

The advantage of the Convoy is you can set it up as a single-mode light. The advantage of the Astrolux is that it has hidden modes, such as battery-check. I normally set both up with mode-memory, so it just turns on to the last mode I used (usually max).

I use a Samsung 30Q in both lights. It’s a high-drain cell, which is especially beneficial for the Astrolux C8 because it has a FET+1 driver which uses all the current it can from the battery.

Something I like with the BLF A6 is the ability to go back to the previous brightness level with a medium-press. Biscotti is not bad either, but there’s no go backwards, have to cycle to the front (or I think long-press to reset to lowest mode). Having used both, they’re both great, though I seem to prefer the BLF A6 UI (or Bistro UI of the Astrolux S2, which also has the same go-backwards)

I just read reviews on BG, some people like UI and some doesn’t, so i asked here, because i don’t know what to buy a silver Convoy C8 with 12 groups or this Astrolux C8?

What about this, someone wrote this in review, does someone have the same problem?
” Unfortunately In turbo mode smoke is generated from the LED and it’s actually clouding the reflector a bit”

Smoke? That sounds like a defective unit. The LED should certainly not smoke. I don’t know how it could smoke and still work, though.

I wonder if it really was smoke. I notice that when I’m using some of my lights outside in cold weather, the inside of the lens can fog up when the light is on. I presume that’s from moisture somewhere in the light that is heated up and the cold glass condenses it.

I have never experienced any “smoke” in the reflector. I like the UI and the light itself. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.
It has a really far reaching throw, it surprises me everytime because im expecting small lights to not reach very far. Not the case with this.
I havent had ANY problems with my C8

Got my astrolux c8 today:) great throw for its size. Looks to be similar cd as my Utorch UT02, but with more Lumens. I noticed the astrolux has a better quality beam to the standard convoy c8, more focus and cleaner. Your not going to find a better thrower at this low
Price IMO. I got it on sale for under $30 canuckistan copacks, lol

Has anyone compared the Astrolux C8 head-to-head with the Sofirn C8T?

Very nice review!! Thank you…… . :+1: