Review: TrustFire A8 from Manafont.

OK a little update of the driver and my plans.

OK with the driver's white nylon screw in cover ? removed, the driver is 16.65mm in diameter, there is a brass button that sits on top of the spring, held in by the white nylon screw in cover ?.

There is a recess of 1.43mm on the bottom side of the white nylon screw in cover ? giving 1.43mm of room from the spring side of the driver to the top of the white nylon screw in cover ? where the lip of the brass button sits.

The white nylon screw in cover ? is 3.51mm thick, the hole for the button that sits on the spring is 4.9 mm wide.

Reason's for these measurements is Ive ordered a KD 8x7135 V2 LED Driver 3040mA 17mm I'm planing of doing a driver swap as i really like this light but dislike the disco modes.

I'm thinking there is two ways to do this one is with this train of thought, the KD V2 driver is 4.8mm thick, the board is 1.2 mm thick, so i will have 2 mm approx sticking up from the base of the driver on the spring side, but i believe i can hide 1.40 mm of this under the white nylon screw in cover ?. Then i would use my dremal to make the spring hole bigger on the white nylon screw in cover ?.

Or I could leave out the white nylon screw in cover ? and use it as is and save around 1.5 mm of hight from not using the white nylon screw in cover ? but i worry since the driver is 16.65 mm wide and the KD V2 might need a bit of sanding to fit, the last 105c driver i used needed a bit of sanding to fit.

I will have to buy a new soldering iron tip so i can solder vertical, but i believe the driver swap will not be to hard to swap and will fit, worth the effort for a 2 or 3 mode light with a decent driver with no s.o.s or strobe modes.

Now i just have to wait for 2 months for KD to ship the driver Undecided

I like the idea of covering the 7135 chips... I dont know why but those always looked kind of out of place on the battery side of the board. I would try and attach the plastic cover over the new driver, but leave out the brass plug thing.

I can't believe no one sells just the light by itself... Still on my radar.

I will most likely leave out the plastic cover as most modders and torch makers don't use any with similar drivers, and i would not be able to use the brass plug thing as i would have to make the hole wider, but i will try both ways and see what works.

The price is not bad really in the kit you get a really good protected 4500 mAh 26650 cell (see my link in the first post with the battery test) its worth $13.33 usd.

The charger is good as in it will charge at 1.5 amps the highest amp 26650 charger Ive seen so far so its faster then most others, it is worth $10.94 usd (see my link in the first post with the charger review)

Plus you get a holster and a gift box, thats got to be worth a couple of $.

Most other similar 26650 lights cost from $35 to $50 usd and you get no battery, no charger, no holster and no gift box, even though its free shipping i like the idea the gift box cost the seller more to ship then just a light.

To me if you break the cost down for each item it is not a bad deal at all, the light to me alone is worth $44 usd and i like the look of it.

I have a hobby charger, so i don't need the charger, it could come in handy when my hobby charger is busy charging some thing else, but i will most likely use the charger and the gift box the A8 came in to make up a nice gift set for some one with a good cheap 26650 light like the POPPas W-878 XM-L T6 Flood-To-Throw it will make some one really happy

lol I was looking around the net earlier for the same thing. Actually I was also trying to see if any other brand (UF, FF, etc) released the same flashlight under maybe a different name, but nothing...

benckie, what's the throw of this one? With what would you compare it to in terms of flood/throw?

Post number 7 on this thread might answer your question, but i will need to do a measured throw test soon.

OK since I'm a tight ass and did not want to buy a another soldering iron tip so i could solder vertically, i had a brain fart.

Old faithful

Used and abused tip

Tip in back wards

It work's

Since its winter here and wood burning season, i have been using this light a lot and I'm liking it even more, my wife also has been using it a fair bit for hanging out washing after the little one is in bed on nights with good weather.

Plus me beeing a smoker a oftern take it out the back at nite just to play around with. I'm looking forward to the strobless driver getting here.

Please don't pay to much attention to my current draw tests is seams on other reviews and my reading's compared to others i getting was lower results.

I just ordered an HD2010, but I am also eyeing up this one, as it is smaller/more compact but still a 26650. I wonder how this one would compare to the C-mini, maybe someone will do a comparison in the future?

I really like this one because its not much bigger then my EDC my L2P at the moment my L2P is not getting used because of my A8

If only some seller will start listing it as a standalone without the battery & the charger.

I'm going to put the charger through a few more chargers to make sure its all good, then I'm going to use the box, the charger the A8 came with and buy a cheap 26650 torch, throw in a trustfire 26650 battery since they test well and give it away as a gift a nice box set for some brownie points. To me the torch and battery is worth the price.

Hey benckie.

Nive work.

Just wanted to say thanks for all the stuff you've been contributing to the forum & community lately. It is much appreciated.

And I see the point about not being a bad bargain at all. Battery/charger alone will set a guy back around 20 so in all fairness you get the light for something like 24. And it is a good looking light for sure.

I really would love to see the update when you get another driver in it. And also a beamshot or two (I am a sucker for those!)

Anyhow - just wanted to say thanks. I can definately see a lot of work, effort and time going in to these articles you write. TY :-)

Ive been trying to take beam shots for a while now and no matter what settings i use i just get a white blur, my camera is on the way out, it used to take nice macro shot,s but now its hit and miss even with auto focus. even my pictures in my opening post are not that good some are OK, some just really bad and i took heaps and heaps of shots just to get them.

The way i see it is even a solorforce L2 is $14.50 USD for a bare host a decent drop in is $16.21 USD Total $30.71 USD with poor heat sink and heat transfer to the host from the drop in, the A8 the led is mounted directly to the head and it handles heat well IMO.

Then add the cost of a decent battery $10 to 15 USD Total $35 to $45 USD.

Then add the cost of a holster $2 to $6 USD Total $37 to $51 USD.

Then add the cost of the charger $5 to $15 USD Total $42 to $66 USD.

Then add the cost of the gift box $3 to $6 USD Total $45 to $72 USD.

Thats just for a 18650 L2.

I have brought a few 20 to 30 buck lights in the past this is much nicer in finish and build quality plus the added run time of the 26650 cell (thats actually a good one), its worth much more then $24 too me. For a similar 26650 light you would pay $35 to $50 just for the flash light shipped in bubble wrap.

To me this is a great deal for the price, nice light, decent charger great protected 26650 battery that tested to 4300 + mAh at 3 amp discharge, even with out the charger too me its a bargain and a great looking light but thats just my opinion....

Thankyou benckie, this is likely to be next months purchase to replace my cheap 3aaa flood/throw work light, looks like it’ll go in my headstrap too 8) :beer:

KD have blow me away the KD 8x7135 V2 LED Driver 3040mA 17mm driver was in the letter box today, so i know what im doing tonight.

I’m liking that, too bad kd wants so much for the a8 or I’d just order both at the same time 8) still, I like that a lot.

They both have free shipping