Review: Unbranded 18650 XM-L U2 Flood to Throw Flashlight / Headlamp Combo

Aaaaah, very cool concept!

Thanks for the detailed pics! :slight_smile:

Wow,really appreciate this…

thanks for those measurements.

If moving the head all the way forward gives you a focused emitter image for a beam (ie you see the lines in the emitter) then to measure focal length you can unscrew the bezel, remove the lens and measure from the edge that the backside of the lens sits on to the top of the emitter’s dome (edit: or to the pcb is fine too…)

but be careful so you don’t ding the top of the dome!

Ok, I give up on editing the placeholder above. Here’s your beamshots!

Taken from 24 inches from a (mostly) white wall (I have small kids). All units on high.

WF-502B

HD2011

UF-H3

Combo Unit in Full Flood

Combo Unit in Full Zoom

a bit more narrow flood than I’d prefer, but I’m pretty sure I’ll end up buying this one.
thanks for all the details.
I bet I’ll end up ditching the headband and attaching both parts to a hat.

I think my next steps on this are:

1) Replace all the O rings with something a little higher quality.

2) Use the straw trick described on another thread and paint the area around the emitter with matte black paint to get rid of the “Ring of Fire” effect seen in the above throw picture. You can really see the machining marks on the emitter head in the beam up close. At distances, you can’t see anything.

3) Per Viktori’s excellent thread on dismantling the head on a Keygos M12, I did the same on this unit to find same metal ring around the inner tube. I’ll probably try a couple of different O rings here to find one that makes the Zooming smoother and gives more resistance.

Viktori, did you find a good size O ring that makes for a good replacement?

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Very nice first review! Thanks a lot for your time and effort. I moved this into the “Headlamps” category since it’s rather unique.
Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

Thanks for the review Sharpthangs!

Excellent review. I’ve seen the same light on Manafont and was interested in it overall build. Looks like I may order one for winter shoveling duty. Thanks for all the review work.

Wanted to give a quick update.

Took this camping this weekend, and it has solidified itself as a favorite.

A few points:

  • Really wished it had memory. It is too bright to turn on High mode every time. I learned to cover it until I could click it down to low, which wasn’t too bad.
  • Very comfortable in headlamp mode long term, and only used one battery all weekend.
  • Shining across a lake, it out threw my 501B XM-L 2.8 A in High.
  • Really wished it had a lower low. The low is usable for reading, but still too bright.
  • Was worried that the zoom would shift while wearing in headlamp mode, but it didn’t move once, even during some night hikes around the lake.

For the money, this thing is great.

Can it outthrow a sipik sk68?

It’s my only Zoomie, so I don’t really have a good feel.

It definitely out throws everything thing else I have, but that being said, I’m more of a flood guy, so that isn’t saying much.

You just gave me a good excuse to buy a Sipik. Ha.

All the sk68 i have are different brightness dont know why lol but the one from campingsurvivals on ebay was by far much brighter the others. I ordered another from him and it had a xre and not as bright for some reason as the one with the ez1000.
I ordere this light. I hope it comes soon. It seems like what i have been looking for. I can’t wait to test out!

Where did you get it from, if you don’t mind me asking?

I have started seeing them on Aliexpress as well as a couple of different sellers off of eBay.

Since I don’t have any other zoomies, I would welcome your opinion on how it compares.

Good Luck.

I got mine that pulls 2.4amps from a Ebay Seller called campingsurvivals. This SK68 is much brighter then my other ones and can throw farther wit the EZ1000. I ordered again and I did not get the same light. I got one with a EZ900 which should throw better but it had different driver behavior I am guessing?

I order the Unbranded 18650 XM-L U2 Flood to Throw Flashlight. I hope it comes soon. I like 18650 flood to throw lights.

Oh yeaj, forgot to say. This light is branded. It’s a keygoa. Dunno what model.

Nice review Sharpthangs. I have a similar light that is simply a torch, I like it a lot but it has significant PWM. How is the PWM on this light on medium and especially low? I have been looking for a good headlight, and this one combines that with one of my favourite lights.

I’m probably not the best person to ask.

I apparently have a very hard time seeing PWM, since I have some lights (like the UF-H3) that everyone complains about the PWM on, but I can’t see it at all.

I think some others have this now. Maybe they can comment.

I’m still loving this light, though. Most versatile thing I have.

Thanks for the great review. I received mine yesterday and it is everything you said it was! Very happy with my purchase, and very quick shipping from HongKong to Western US. Arrived in around 2 weeks from my order.

Glad I steered you right, Melven.

I’ve picked up several lights since this review, but this is still my go to light if I could only take one light camping.

I did finally disassemble the head and replaced the metal ring that provides the friction for the push/pull zooming action with a small diameter O ring that was too small for another torch.

That has completely removed the complaint about it zooming too easy.

It is now just right, and I would say it would now hold up bicycling without zooming in and out.