Yeah I should get commission, but the thing is, I do these reviews for the fun of it. Just to let the world know what I think is good. If I get commission, it just gets too serious and makes it seem like a chore to do.
No, I was just joking. Anything to do with commissions will mean the questioning of the bias in the reviews. And as it is, there is enough twisting of the truth elsewhere in Web-review-land !
Really, its thanks to people like yourself and all the other members here that we can come here and find out for sure if a products is really good or it sucks.
Thanks for a review and good pics!
I ordered 2 myself to see, how these compare to my former C8’s 
C12 right - C8 left
so, which one is brighter, Lightmall C8 U2 or C12?
The C12 is driven a bit better, and it seems brighter too. Yeah it is pretty strange, maybe it is because the colour tint of the C8 is NW and the tint of the C12 is slightly cooler.
Chriszhou, I need your suggestion, should I buy c12 or kaidomain c8?
Personally, I don’t really know, since I do not own a KD C8. Both are very good lights. The C12 might be a little better driven, and it does have better heatsinking.
But since I am unbiased, I cannot say for sure.
You can never know until you have both 
I love your reviews, Chris. So how does the C12 compare to the C8 in terms of grip and feeling in the hand?
And what about the lux? If this will upstage the U2 C8 in brightness, how is the throw?
Replying to the Rusty Joe’s last two comments, I personally think that the C8 feels slightly nicer to hold in your hand, as the C12’s heatsink fins reduce the grippy area of the flashlight. You may find that with the C12, your hand might jut out past the end of the tailcap, which is definitely not that comfortable. That being said, the two flashlight’s body tubes are almost identical, so the knurling on both is nice and not too protruding. For some reason, the C8 also feels slightly heavier, but the actually weigh the same.
Since the reflector is the same on both the flashlights, and the U2 binned XM-L has the same dome as the T6, it might be fair the say that the C12 has better throw, only because it is driven a bit higher and can maintain the same amps to lumens efficiency for longer.
I do not currently own a lux-o-meter or whatever they are called, and do not intend of getting one any time soon, so I can’t tell you the exact lux value.
I just got my C12 in the mail today. It is also very well built, confirming what Chris has found. Nice to know there is some consistency in the manufacturing !
I did a comparison with the C8 (both are from Lightmalls as per Chris’ reviews) and the C12 is noticeably brighter than the C8. I’d estimate between 5 and 10% brighter to the naked eye. (My DMM is playing up, so I can’t provide any measurements) I thought maybe it was the battery (using Trustfire 2400s), but swapping them around gave the same result.
Go figure - supposedly the C12 has the T6 and the C8 has the U2 - not sure what this means ??!
Thanks very much! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.
Sorry, I forgot to update:
Both arrived in good condition. Quality was IMO better than in “generic eBay C8” flashlights.
DD random C8 was also in general worse.
These both were functioning good, taking both over 3A when measured from tailcap.
I remember getting a bit mixed values from some C8 ´s.
I think I can recommend these, will order some more shortly and post back how they end up!
Received two more today.
They are in good shape, both pulling around 2.5 - 2.8Amps.
The other has white background around emitter die, the other one has black. Others emitter is a bit off from center but otherwise they are fine.
Hi - newbie here!!! Nice review chriszhou… I ordered this based on your write up. I placed my order from lightmalls on February 10 and guess what - Chinese New Year Holiday in effect from Feb. 5 - 18. So still waiting.
But I went ahead and ordered Orbrtonic’s 18650 Smart Li-ion Charger and Two 3100mAh Panasonic Lithium-Ion Rechargeable Batteries Kit for ~$45. Are these the right batteries for this particular light? (Yes, I am that new to flashlights!)
Thanks all. looking forward to a new addiction!
I haven’t ordered a C8 or C12 from LightMalls yet but based on my experience with my C8 from AuraBuy, protected 18650s work fine without any problem. I’m using Protected Sanyo UR18650 rated at 2600 mAh.
I hope this helps.
Thanks for the great review, skipping the C8 with the XM-L2 and going right for the C12!
That means, as shown in the Cree data sheets, that at some reference current and temperature the U2 generates fractionally more total light, as measured in lumens (rather than in the more fundamental measure of light power). There are various other factors, but the lights being similar, probably the dominant difference is that the C12 driver and conduction paths allow more current through the led.
I’m late to comment here - blame it on being a newbie. I have a couple of both C8 and C12 lights. A KD C8 and a Convoy C8, and the C12’s came from Banggood and an eBay seller. My worst complaint was that the C12 from the eBay seller was advertised as a “2000 Lumens” XM-L2 with an 8x7135 regulator, and was the most expensive - but it came with an XML (green substrtate) and was dimmer than the others. Tailcap current measured close to 3A, but visibly less bright. I’m still going around with that vendor.
A feature not mentioned in any of these postings: If you want to mount one of these in a Maglite clip, the C8 heatsink fits a “C” size clip, and the larger C12 heatsink fits a “D” size clip - and fits better.
Just got the Convoy, and it is nice for a C8, with a nicer tailcap and switch, a 3/5 mode (selectable) regulator, nice finish, and a nice reflector centering ring around the XM-L2. I am trying to resolve a quibble with it, though - the “8x7135” regulator is only putting out 2.47A. I think this was a quality issue and I got one with a bad regulator - I’m waiting to hear from the vendor.
So there are some quality issues coming from China, all right. But all of these are far brighter than my old 3D Maglite - and cost much less.