REVIEW: A8 BLF Edition - 1x26650 - XM-L T6 NW

Thankyou for signing up, purely to state the obvious….

The fact is, the only suprise is how long it took for the review to be deleted.

Heck, we took dares on who would post the review.

Now first things first, welcome to the more light hearted side of flashlight forums, second, please edit your language, this is a family forum. Third, cpf is ribbed so much precisely because of their poor management, poor moderation, elitism, Nazi attitude towards conversation, simply crap server maintenance and blind, sheep like demeanor of many of its members. We have news for you, budget lights can be just as reliable, just as well made as brand name lights - many of the brand name lights are in fact made in China….

Hopefully, you’ll take this as the mild mickey taking its partially intended to be, suck it up, have a read and possibly learn a few things, you never know, you might even enjoy yourself here. We all do, because the forum, members and owner are freaking awesome! 8)

However, I’ve never seen a review of flashlight/gadget published on CPF banned here. On the contrary many link to CPF when there is useful information there.

Banning a honest flashlight review tells me more about CPF than thousand words can.

But I won’t be offtopic. I just received a note from post office that my BLF A8 arrived. I am excited 8)

Hmmm, my rant got derailed :~ - the post you are replying to has been deleted. I put some effort into that rant too….

Don’t you just hate it when that happens. I am kind of a fan of a good rant :party:

Me too, particularly when I tried to edit out swearing (takes a lot of effort) and make it of comedy value to other readers. :~

One things for sure, questions have been raised about the member I quoted, I think this all speaks volumes. As I said in my rant, they’ve hardly contributed and their presense really wouldn’t be missed.

Hm, I´d love to see a comparison with a UF-2100.

Speaking of design I don´t get the idea behind this light (like I don´t get it with 90% of the lights).
Why are the long grooves split into two parts and why does the tailcap has a completely different designed grooves?
Plus, the front part with the cooling fins: at leats three different parts that don´t fit together?

It´s not that it is a problem with this specific model but with almost any light.

The comparison is easy, this is bigger and won’t over heat. As for the host criticism it works, its extremely grippy, there are no sharp machining points. The nurling to the tailcap aids grip in cell replacement, the fins in the head aid cooling, it has the mass to cope with an xm-l at 3a, the finish on mine is flawless and the modes are perfect. It’s no pocket light, hence the holster, but it edc’s fine on a belt. It will out throw any >20mm 18650edc xm-l host - bigger reflector.

Comparison done. :bigsmile:

Yeah, but what about brightness and beam pattern?
; P

MrCG, what do you want to see? A comparison of beam profile and a picture of them next to each other sound good? In other news, I got mine today. :D

And conversely you’ll see nothing derogatory ever written about BLF on CPF

thats because any mention of BLF gets removed. good or bad.

My mother always told me if you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all :slight_smile:

Mummy is always right :slight_smile:

_the_ +1 A Gentleman..

Gords - Your response to the new member from CPF was/is poetry. Eloquent and well articulated..

I quite like my A8, although the one problem is it isn’t floody if you’re referring to spill, in fact the spill is very narrow. The hotspot is similar to to a P60 so this part of the beam profile could be considered floody. The problem is the Bezel as it cuts out a lot of the spill due to it’s recessed design. To get mine off I had to carefully apply some anti adhesive gunk as mine was glued. Once removed the spill size is average.

It's too bad the drivers are out of stock. Is there a similar alternative?

Mine arrived today. Works great with my new Soshine 26650 LiFePO4 :slight_smile: Feels very solid but heavier than I thought it would be. No lanyard hole though.

18650 adapter + holster were included. Overall great price/performance. I wonder how long it would run in moonlight mode? J)

WKJR, I think we've discussed this before: I had issues with my first A8 spontaneously changing modes while bike riding. With a lot of finagling in the tailcap area, I got it to quit but then I sold the A8 'package' to another cyclist that was just beginning night riding. I'm curious if you've used the BLF version yet on your bike and if you've had any issues with mode switch?

My light is in the Chicago area, I'll be getting it delivered to work on Monday.

I’ve actually tried banging mine about to induce a mode switch, won’t happen. No matter how hard I bang it about it stays locked in, you should be fine 8) I’m using keygos protected cells in mine if it makes a difference, but I can test with button top king kongs if you need?