Uniquefire HS-801
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary:
| Battery: | 18650, fits protected no problem |
| Switch: | tailcap clicky with resistor for low mode |
| Modes: | 2, hi, lo, off |
| LED Type: | Cree R2 |
| Lens: | Glass generic non coated |
| Tailstands: | yes, barely |
| Price Payed: | 19,9usd after seeking coupon codes |
| From: | |
Date Ordered: 24 Dec. 2010 |
Pros:
- Nice finish and no visual imperfections
- Very well built
- Thick walled
- Driven well
- Nice deep and thick SMO aluminium reflector
- 2 modes, no strobes
- Very decent heatsinking capabilities
- Decent orings in the usual places
- Good threads
- Reasonably clean when arrived
- Price
Cons:
- Threads not lubed or on subatomic level.
- The low mode is a very inefficient resitor based switch setup in tailcap
- The head is glued to the body (pill accessible with pointy tweezers from the head)
- Must be pressed twice from high to turn off
- Lens are plain and for such light multicoated AR lens should be stock
Features / Value: ★★★★☆
It is well built. It has nice heatsinking capabilities and the only build quality negative is the body glued to the head. Thats the -1 star along with the very inefficient implementation of the low mode. More on that later.
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★☆
For a thrower it is very well built. All the qualities one would seek in such a flashlight. The strong point is obviously the long smooth aluminium reflector with no visible imperfections.
The body is hard glued to the head. Tried to disassemble it with my own strenght but the glue was way stronger then me. Decided it isn't worth the possibility of damaging it to take apart.
The resistor switch is however something new to me. I would say that such implementation is a very Flinstones approach. In this times it should be driver based. Would have preferred it came single mode.
The good news is that i see no reason a generic switch from a p60 host would not fit as a direct replacement but i have not tried it yet. UPDATE: I swapped sucessfuly the switch with a "normal" one usually found in p60 hosts. I have disassembled the switch but forgot to took a pic.
Threads are above average but nothing outstanding.
Battery Life: ★★★★★
Did not try to do a runtime but should be pretty decent on a good 18650. Current draw at tailcap with a fresh 18650 is 1170mA and decently steady for a period of 2 min. I suspect it does not use a linear regulator and will sag with time as most budget lights do. That said it should do at least 2,5h easily but the brightness will drop with time. That with a decent 2600mAh cell.
Light Output: ★★★★★
It is a thrower, it throws far with as little side spill. The spill is present but very faint. The hostspot at 1m is few cm. The range is 350m and over depending of what you define still acceptable lighting. I was able to light up a bit a house on a hill which would be around 600-750m away but just very faintly, almost unnoticeable. Taking pictures ov beamshots is a hard task for my camera but i tried. :/
Update:
I measured lux at exactly 1m distance from the UF HS-801. 31900-32100 lux in 5 to 6 attempts. All done after around 10 seconds on high. Have still to assess my luxmeter reliability as the result seems high but due to percieved output it could be just right.
Dealer Experience: ★★★★☆
Buyincoins shipped it in 4 days after order was placed. No tracking number unless you pay for it. Traveled exactly 30 days, where the usual is 14-20 from other HK based competitors. Their website design is not that great, often infected with malware and very unpleasant to navigate. The flashlight was however packaged in several layers of bubble wrap. Very neat. I sent them a message a few times and got a decent reply in a day. Apart from a long wait time nothing wrong or suspicious.
Summary: ★★★★☆
Good value at price point under 20USD (barely). It does beat the lunapower MRV by a decent margin but let's not forget the MRV is a little better built and no "fancy" switch. This is also longer compared to the MRV and has a narrower beam. Pencil beam thrower sounds about right. Pretty satisified with it and will be a nice addition to my collection. Highly reccomended if youre shopping for a thrower.
