The C3 clone - ordered last night, shipped by this morning. Doubtless by slow HK bulk mail, but it'll get here in due course.
This is why I like eBay, the sellers realize that many buyers will be scared off if their approval rating is anything less than 99%, so they really go the extra mile to ship quickly. The DX-type companies seem to feel that their customers just need to be "patient" and deal with it. My cheap $4.99 Zoomable flashlight also shipped just now. DX and the likes could learn a thing or two from these small-fry sellers.
What happened to holding off on buying new lights? LOL
My MXDL was also apparently shipped today.
Not bad comparing to DX... not taking into account some strange and rare exceptions, like getting DX package two weeks after ordering... 
It was cheap - felt like a new light and at least it wasn't some multi-hundred dollar device. The MDXL also shipped today - quick shipping and I'll be interested to see what turns up.
Here you go. Took me two hours to find them all, but it did turn up the much missed Preon 2.
Known to be missing
2D Mag
Vector "3 million candlepower" spotlight
A lantern I found in the rubble of a demolished part of the hospital
Another Ultrafire C3
A couple of plastic 2D lights though I may have tossed them
Whatever's in the parts box. At least one light I killed trying to get it apart.
So here we have 94 lights, not counting the squeeze lights apart from the Photon ReX. The count went from 92 to 98 today when six more BLF DeLights arrived. They are a bit longer and perhaps slimmer than the previous 2 - not yet tested them as am topping off some NiMH cells just now for them. Everything there works, some better than others - the Aurora SH0030s (indistinguishable from the Ultrafire C3s in this pic are particularly problematic and are not recommended.
The Golston (3rd row from the front, 9th from the left next to the Solarforce L2 with the lanyard ring thing) was the first light I ever modded. All 6 Mags in the back row have been modded, the silver 3D is the only one that wasn't modded by me. 18 of the other lights have been modded, usually just to get them to actually work after a bit of use. There are only 7 incandescent lights there - both the 6D mags, one of the 3Ds, the green 2D, the Ultrafire WF-500 (Back row, 4th from right. The reflector thing in the plastic bag at the front is an LED dropin for the WF-500), the orange plastic thing at the left of the second from bck row, one of the two yellow plastic things in the same row - the other has a low brightness eternal running PR2 LED bulb in it.
Al, you've got sharp eyes as you showed when spotting the sticking out O ring. See if you can spot which two BLF DeLights are the original pair. Or anyone else. There may even be a prize.... The 8 DeLights are in the front row between the silver PowerLight and the two Tank007 E07s. I'll give a hint tomorrow if nobody gets it.
Just remembered two more that need modding and aren't currently working - rather nice Nuwai rechargeable Luxeon 1 lights. Just dropping in an SSC LED in place of the Luxeon gave 3x the light for twice as long. But the funny shaped driver circuit stopped working in both of them.
There will be a second prize though. So keep the answers coming. I have posted all the information needed to spot them.
WOW! That's simply amazing! Thanks for that pic Don.
I think that #6 and #7 (2nd and 3rd to the left of theTank007) are the 2 original BLF DeLights.
You got it. Send me a private message with your address and I'll send you one of them.
Don't worry about it Don. It's going to cost you an arm and a leg or both arms and legs to ship anything my way. I'll be happy just knowing that I actually got it right. I had to download the pic, zoom-in and study it very, very closely. LOL
Edit: I just double-checked and I did order 5 of these BLF DeLights. :bigsmile:
:bigsmile: :
Now the hotspots are clearer. They ought to be - this is a 7 megabyte image.
You can just make out the bluish hotspot of the Powerlight on the left just on the Y shaped crack in the ceiling. It is much less bright than the three DeLights around it.
I have one of the MXDL T-51 on order from 'go_market' (e-bay). You can go to their store & find this light in red or in a 2 pack containing 1 black & 1 red. If you look around on their site you can find the most advantageous price. If it turns out to work as good as it looks I might order a few more. If these lights are as good as a Romisen I'll be happy.
Mike
I certainly wish i had your collection.....maybe in a couple of years.
Hell of a nice collection man.
The MDXL one just arrived - I think the C3 alike is in the PO waiting for me - if i read the card correctly there are 9 packages that wouldn't fit through my letter box.
First impressions:
It is heavier than it looks 67g with an Eneloop whereas the Powerlight is 56 with an Eneloop.
Visually, it appears to be very long for a single AA light - roughly 12mm 1/2" longer than a Powerlight.
It has a wide (for a single AA light), but rather shallow reflector.
It appears slightly dimmer and rather bluer than the Powerlight. Throw 228 lux at 1 metre - Powerlight 350
The lightbox numbers are much closer - 81 for the MDXL versus 83 for the Powerlight. These are well within the bounds of experimental error.
These numbers came from freshly charged Eneloops - both will likely be brighter with alkalines but I only have part-used or dead ones lying around. This light will possibly run for longer than the Powerlight - will look at current draw once I've lubed the threads. The Powerlight may, or may not have come unlubed but it certainly is now and feels very much nicer than the MDXL. The threads had a lot of filthy stuff in them. They no longer graunch, but the Powerlight feels far nicer.
This one isn't going to tailstand. Even with the lanyard removed and the switch is like the BLF DeLight one - you aren't modifying that one...
The head unscrews as a unit. It was clear from the positive contact that accountants sere involved in designing it. "No you can't have hardened stainless steel in there, it's too expensive. Use case-hardened butter instead."
But for the price which is less than a bus fare from where I live into the centre of town (maybe 3 miles) should I complain...
Well I did anyway. The extra 70 cents for the Powerlight is worth it IMO.
Pics to follow.
The light. As you can see, it is long for an AA light.
Compared with other AA lights. It is longer than the humungous Trustfire F22 - but a lot lighter. The lights are:
BLF Cheapskates' DeLight
Trustfire F22
MDXL T51
Powerlight
Ultrafire C3 stainless steel.
It is surprisingly heavy - the tube walls ought to be strong.
The bencounters' delight positive contact. Nasty!
The non-moddable tailcap - same as the BLF DeLight but it is 1/3 of the price. The hard plastic goop in there is actually white - the exposure and colour balance are a bit messed up.
I thought it looked oddly like the BLF DeLight tailcap. It does - as it is interchangeable with them... Tested with 3 different DeLight tailcaps and all of them worked properly with this light. Odder and odder.
The business end. The LED looks almost like a 5mm type - but they don't have 6 bond wires into them like this one. No idea what sort of LED it is, but I suspect it'd be epoxy vapour if you put 3 watts into it.
Do I like the light?
Not much
Do I want to kill it with a 14500 - nah, it isn't that bad. Guess some kid's getting a flashlight on the next gift giving occasion.
It even works with the tailcap that won't work on any of the DeLights so I now have 8 working DeLights. Actually 7 as I gave one to a patient of mine, along with a cup of coffee using up the last of the office coffee - I did warn him that if I forgot to get more coffee for Monday, I'd have to kill him. Fortunately for him, I remembered and gave him a DeLight instead.
Great, thanks for the review Don! It looks rather nice for the price in my opinion, but if I were to review it using my criteria, I'd probably give it 4/5 stars for Features / Value, and obviously 5/5 to the DeLight. Yes, it's a bit too long, and I don't know why they don't make more tailstandable lights.
I think the tailcaps came out of the same factory - even if the lights didn't. I can imagine a factory in China churning out cheap switch and tailcap units to be used by whoever wants them. It is the threading that makes me think this. There is no reason for them to be the same otherwise.
Current Draw:
All done using the same Eneloop for consitency
MDXL 205mA
BLF DeLight 406mA
Powerlight 155mA
Just checked and the DeLight/MDXL tailcaps also fit and work with the Powerlight. The Powerlight tailcap does not work with the MDXL though as the spring on it isn't long enough to reach the battery.
Should have pretty good runtime, then. I guess that's the secret to the Powerlight's great runtime-- low amperage. For me the Powerlight's output is often more enough. Did you ever compare the Powerlight's beam quality to, say, the AA-S1 or the R5-A3? My two Powerlights have absolutely stellar beam quality. Obviously brightness is incomparable, though.