5C Defiant XM-L 625 Lumens at Home Depot

Thank you Ultimate and Strick9 for the photos. Interesting stuff. Is it just me or does the color rendition in Strick9’s photos look really good. I can’t tell in Ultimate’s because there are no browns or reds in them.

I’m using my Galaxy S3’s camera which is quick/easy. I’m sure they’d look a little better if I used a proper camera, but newer
cell phones take pretty decent photos.

The 5C definitely is brighter than the DST; but the DST still throws better (no surprise there).

One caveat I found during my lens swaps: the aluminized coating on the lip of the reflector that presses up against the lens comes
off in little flakes every time (and I mean every time) I swap a lens. It’s not breaking off the parabolic part of the reflector, so
nothing is missing/wrong when you put it back together; but it’s not a light that you would want to take the head apart regularly.

Oh yeah, you can’t stand the 5C on it’s head anymore if you keep the aspheric lens in it.

The lens sticks out past the head a bit. You can also see the O-Ring, as I can’t screw the head down all the way due
to the thickness of the lens, but it’s certainly not going anywhere.

This could have been a Maglite killer, but for one thing (and I have to agree with Old Lumens); it’s a good light for the $, but
the threads aren’t going to last for years/decades like a Maglite will. You have to pay attention when putting the light back
together so you don’t misthread it. I’m sure it could last a long time, if you’re a little more careful, but it won’t be able to
“take a licking and keep on ticking” like a Maglite. Obviously there are other good light makers besides Maglite, but there is
practically noone making decent C-Cell or D-Cell lights anymore. If Home Depot put the DST head on the 5C, and improved
the quality of the threads… they could have the perfect $25 light.

The Blloomfield, CT Home Depot did not sell one single light in the month that they have been out. Other Home Depots faired much better. This means they will either send them back or put them on clearance. I would have thought that these would have been given as Fathers Day gifts at least. When and IF they go on clearance, you can be sure I will be there.

The lack of sales at this particular store could mean 1 of 3 things.

1. Fathers are under appreciated.

2. With all the power outages over the last couple of years in the area, everybody has already hoarded enough flashlights to last them awhile.

3. People are no longer interested in large lights.

Here are pics of the display the day after Fathers Day. I placed the “Wall Street Journal” for that day on the display to time stamp the photo. I was gifted one of these lights a week ago from a friend that owed me a favor, It is a nice light. Also notice that items from the other displays did not sell well either.



BTW, Here is what my wife gave “her Man” for Fathers Day :slight_smile:

I’ve always thought 95% of the stuff Home Depot sells in the cardboard displays (that they put in the main aisle) is junk.

The Defiant lights are decent, but most of the time when they have lights for sale in those cardboard displays, they’re the ones with a whole bunch of cheapo 5mm LEDs in the head.

Maybe the general public is catching on to this, and simply ignoring the sea of cheap/imported junk???

Example… look at that screwdriver set to the right. 65-pieces. I bet 40 of the 65 are Phillips-head/Flat-head bits. The screwdriver heads twist/bend on 1st, maybe 2nd use.
An old friend of mine used to say “There’s no quality like no quality”.

The Super Thrower sold well, maybe everyone currently in the market for a Maglite-style/size flashlight bought one already when they picked up a DST.

Is it just me, or have I been having TERRIBLE luck with this light? The first one I got was a good deal dimmer than the original 550 lumen 3C Defiant (not the Super Thrower). And after a few days, it went completely dead. I returned that one and got another today. This one seems a good deal brighter, and actually has a significantly lower tailcap current (about 1.4A vs 1.7A). But after having it on for a little while, it has started to flicker on me. Kind of a shame, given that other Defiant lights have been REALLY good to me. And I just have a thing for larger C cell lights (like the bigger Mags). It would sure be a shame if there is a problem with these lights.

StorminMatt, how unfortunate! Sorry to hear. Sounds like there may be quality control issues with the 5C model. I haven’t had any such issues yet with mine but I have gotten other lights before with poor QC. I hope you can get a decent working model. A well functioning 5C defiant should be brighter than even the 590 lumen 3D ArmorMax by a clearly visible amount, going by the comparisons I have done

UltimateLED- thanks for the beamshots! I am happy to say that I now own the ArmorMax 3d-cell, a 2pack of the AA lights for $11.88 and the DST… Didnt ever see a 3C ArmorMax at the local HD. I’ve taken both of the big lights to work with me and had a couple other officers ask where I got them. They are impressive with a super tight beam and long throw, nobody can believe that they are only 23 and 30 dollars respectively……

Lightning20, congratulations on the new ArmorMax 3D! That’s great news you got one and are pleased with it. I am sure it will be of great use to you because of how tough and versatile it is, as well as its spotlight level power. And for the price, it is amazing power for $30. Even other high output budget LED lights I have had experience with and bought in the $50-$70 range cannot compete with it.

This light is now on clearance at Home Depot. 18 bucks.

Or are you talking about a different light than the 5C?

I posted about this almost 2 weeks ago here Defiant Super Thrower 3C & Defiant Tactical 5C both now $16.98! Time to get back to Home Depot! and at that time, they were $16.98 + tax. I bought a couple 5C and a few 3C :wink: enjoy.

Hey guys I am new to BLF but not flashlights. I picked up the Defiant 5C 625 lumen today at the HD in Anderson SC for $18
and it is pretty sweet.

Welcome to the forum beron

Interesting how they have different prices here in SC. Your is $18, Columbia at Harison is $15, and Lexington is $12.

Welcome!

Was still $16.98 last week, they had 2.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter.

My HD has these on clearance for $12, but I'm still not interested in buying a baseball bat light. They still have 4 DST's, but they're still $16.98.

-Garry

For some reason the lowest price I ever saw was $13, not $12. All other stores never got past the $16.98. I bought one at the $13 price point though, just to experience it.
How’s that for an excuse to buy a light? Never thought of that one, did ya. :wink:

(We should start an info post with all the excuses to buy a light, as a reference for the newbies)

Oh man, I had a much better reason to buy my 5C. I bought one because I don't have any 5C lights.

Yep, I was just going to try a direct direct with 5 Tenergy NiMh, which would make 6 volts and direct drive it, just for fun. :bigsmile: J) 8) MT-G2, Of course … :8)

Cool. Please do and please report back with current and a beam shot, if you can. Actually, you should do a build thread on it. Probably will be the first 5C build.

See next post, something went wrong with pix…