Comparing Throw of the EagleTac TX25C2, Convoy M1, UltraFire UF-T50, & Zebralight SC600 Mk II

The four 18650 lights are all latest versions:

1) EagleTac TX25C2 with XM-L2 U2
2) Convoy M1 Cree XM-L U2-1B
3) UltraFire UF-T50 XM-L T6
4) Zebralight SC600 Mk II

FYI the latest version of the UF-T50 has a larger battery compartment and a clip.

These aren’t throwers but I still wanted to see what you could expect in throw over time if you turned these on as high as they would go and let them run. Battery was the Sanyo 2600mAh protected 18650 from Fasttech. Data was recorded at 2 second intervals for each light, then dumped into a spreadsheet to calculate and graph throw. For uniformity I included data only until each light’s throw dropped below 100 meters.

Added April 29th the same chart in candela:

I wonder if a fan would make any difference particularly for the M1. It’d be interesting to see how heat sag contributed to the gradual sloping of the first 30 minutes.

Very useful data, thanks.

Thanks for the throw measurement data!!

How are things with a ceiling bounce or double white wall bounce? ;)

These lights are all supposed to be in the 800 to 900+ lumens range. I have several fairly accurate lightboxes but am building a large IS and will not post similar graphs of lumens until it’s done because I want those graphs to be as accurate as these.

Thank you for the information luvlites, could you do a beam comparison side by side of the lights at maybe 25-30 meters (100 feet)?

Thanks!

So there’s a 15 minutes runtime difference between the Convoy M1 and EagleTac TX25C2… pretty significant, given the efficient cool U2 1B tint of the M1. I wonder when Convoy will release XM-L2 emitters for the M1.

Would that make the EagleTac TX25C2 the best thrower for its size?
Some people say the SK68 throws 300+ metres, and that’s a $6 14500 torch.

? Thanks for the comment but this thread isn’t about “best thrower for its size” or convex lenses.

@Slim Pickens me too and I might do some tests taking temperature into account in the future.

@AlexGT I suck at beamshots so for now, no

luvlites, thanks for the data.
Do you happen to have candela over time data? I think most here in BLF are use to peak intensity data.

What’s this thread about then? Thermal lag? New bins? Throw for cheap 18650’s?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s good info, but just seems kind of random.

I’ve added candela over time to the OP in case you and others will find it useful.

To take four popular compact 18650 lights that are in the same ballpark lumens-wise and show throw over time instead of just one number. So if someone needs a very bright but compact light for different applications they can make a more informed choice.

Sanyo 2600mAh protected 18650s are inexpensive but they’re not “cheap.”

This is great data, thank you for sharing it.

Will you be adding additional flashlights, and do you have any kind of lumen readings to add a this?

I'm especially curious/surprised about the lack of performance in throw, from the Zebralight, and whether all that output is used up in providing more flood lighting up close.

Thanks. Now I can easily compare those number with my lux meter measurements. Lazy to convert them to throw number.

Thank you for adding the Candela chart!

I’m wondering what the cheapest 3400mah (protected or unprotected) 18650 for the TX25C2 would be….

Thanks for the data luvlites! (Not relavant infomation follows —> ) I read a great review of the Convoy M1 here and went ahead and bought one. One of the first things I did was remove the andoizing barrier between the pill and head and fit a double layer of aluminum foil in the remaining space. Idealy, I should have removed the anodizing between the head and the body too but, haven’t gotten around to that. In my opinion, the Convoy C8 has a better design since it doesn’t have anodizing between the pill and head or between the head and body and uses an aluminum pill.