Lightmalls Ultrafire HD2010 Review
Ultrafire HD2010 and random tailcap to prevent rolling
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Price Payed: $38.90 USD (free shipping)
Date ordered/received: 29th of September 2012, received 9th of October, 2012
Link: Ultrafire HD2010
This flashlight has been review many times over the last few years, and has a reputation of being a very solid budget thrower. The fact that it can run off 26650s is an added bonus. There are many different sellers of Ultrafire HD2010, some are better than others. This particular HD2010 comes from Lightmalls, which has had a reputation of being rather dodgy in the past, but since recently has started to improve a lot. My HD2010 is great, there are no machining errors that I can spot, no flaking anodisation, or any dents or scratches. This flashlight deserves to be known as one of the best budget throwers, it is extremely bright.
Now onto the review.
Design and Machining Overview
One of the first things that you notice when you first see this flashlight is that it is a lot thicker than the single 18650 flashlights. And also a lot heavier. Weighing in at 400g with a 26650, this light might not be suitable for EDC, the build quality seems to be more suited for use during hunting trips.
The pill is not the largest pill that I have seen, and it also seems to be incompatible with 20mm stars. It seems a bit thin for this flashlight, but it has no trouble taking the heat away from the LED.
Main part of pill is only 11mm thick!
There is a 16mm XM-L T6 mounted on the pill, which seems to rely on the reflector to keep it down. The reflector has an insulator on the bottom to prevent shorts. There is a ring that allows the star to be centered with the reflector hole, but it is still a tiny bit off center. Nothing too massive.
The driver is an East-092, which is a direct drive driver on high.
It also does not have mode memory, which is something that I can easily get used to. I never ever have to see the useless blinky modes, as this flashlight starts on high after a being switched off for more than 1 second. I couldn't be bothered taking the driver out for a photo, but I have seen it and it is exactly the same as all of the other East-092 drivers.
The reflector is just massive.
Some owners of this light have received a light with scratches on the reflector, but this reflector is immaculate.
There is not a single scratch on the reflector, except for the non-reflecting side, which has a small scratch. I do not like that scratch, but it does not change the performance of this light so I do not fret about it. The reflector itself is made out of aluminium (obviously), and came very well polished.
The glass is ordinary flashlight grade glass which sits upon a silicone o-ring on the bezel. On contrary to the website, the glass is uncoated.
The tail piece is heavy and large.
There are three crenulations which allow for the flashlight to tailstand with even a thick paracord lanyard threaded through the one hole. There is knurling on the tail, and it is very nice, with no scratches. The tail can be unscrewed to allow the tailcap to be changed. Naturally, I have changed mine to a real GITD boot, it came with a black tailcap. My GITD tailcap is actually a 14mm tailcap, but I do not have any 16mm tailcaps and I personally dislike the black tailcap. Usually I go by the “blue or orange tailcaps for black flashlights” rule, but I need to be able to find this flashlight in the dark.
The threads are triangular, and have been well cut. The flashlight’s threads did not come lubed, but a bit of synthetic engine oil solved that problem. Now the threads look really nice and shiny, and the head and tail can screw on very smoothly.
The body tube is very well milled, and has a nice knurling finish to it. 18650 rattle is substantial, because the 26650 to 18650 adapter seems to be a sawn off piece of pvc piping. A bit of masking tape has fixed the rattle problem. The King Kong 26650 does not rattle at all in this flashlight.
On the body tube it has the usual Ultrafire trademark logo, with HD2010 engraved in the bottom right hand corner, and on the other side it has “Cree XM-LT6” with the Cree emitter logo. All engraving is nicely done and is not wonky at all.
One of the reasons that I bought this flashlight from lightmalls is because someone else had purchased it before as well, and they received an immaculate flashlight, no scratches, machining errors, etc. My flashlight is the same. There is nothing wrong with the manufacturing of this flashlight. All of the parts have been machined well. There are no unfinished edges or spots where the anodisation has been scratched off. Lightmalls has a great supplier of these lights.
That’s all for the manufacturing part of this review
Current and Brightness
I do current tests with a King Kong 26650, and also a 18650 Trustfire Flames both charged full to 4.15v and a “Digitech” multimeter with custom 30A leads.
These are the results
High: 4.66A (26650), 4.04A (18650)
Med: 1.32A (26650), 1.26 (18650)
Low: 100mA (both)
Both batteries are from Lightmalls, and judging by the runtime and current test result, they are real. I do not have a hobby charger yet, so I do not know the actual capacity of these batteries.
So this flashlight should be giving out a luminous flux of about 900-1000 Lumens on high, which is great for a flashlight at that price.
Ok and here are the beamshots. Sorry about the poor image quality and the camera settings, my digital camera does not have adjustable shutter speed so I have to wait 4 seconds for the camera to take a single picture, and it had always ended in blur.
ISO800, +3 Exp, Trees are 50m away.
Next we have the same target, same camera settings.
Now the fence is 9m away, ISO800, 0 EXP.
I really need a better camera... but then I would rather get an O-Light Intimidator instead!
Website Claimed Specs:
Perfect UltraFire HD2010 600LM Cree XM-L T6 5-Mode LED Flashlight (1x18650)
Brand: UltraFire
Model: HD2010
Emitter Brand/Type: Cree
Emitter BIN: XML-T6
Color BIN: White (Seems neutral)
Total Emitters: 1
Battery Configurations: 1 x 18650 rechargeable battery(Not include) (Also 26650)
Voltage Input: 4.2Max.
Switch Type: Clicky/Clickie (Reverse Clicky)
Switch Location: Tail-cap
Modes: 5
Mode Memory: Circuitry Features Mode Memory
Mode Arrangement: Hi> Mid >Low>Fast Strobe>SOS
Circuitry: Digital Regulated 2300mA Current Output (Actually 4660mA)
Brightness: 600 lumens maximum brightness (manufacturer rated) (Definitely more than that, around 900-1000)
Runtime: 1.5 hours (manufacturer rated) (Probably 50min on high using 26650)
Conclusion
Another excellent Ultrafire flashlight from Lightmalls, this flashlight is a great buy if you want a sturdy, long range thrower for under $40. I have purchased 4 flashlights from lightmalls, and every time, the flashlights have arrived within 12 days, in a great condition. Some owner of a Lightmalls HD2010 said that "It's like they use a shovel to pack your flashlight". I don't know when that was, but all my lights from Lightmalls came in an amazing condition.
So if you want a great budget thrower, you cannot beat this light!