Thanks for the great review James. You talked me into one and it just arrived today. Initial impressions were a "jaw-dropping" surprise in how well built, finished and designed this light is. You certainly took several fantastic shots of your X8 but the photos simply dont do this light justice. It looks far better in person. Out of the zillions of other "x"-fire lights that I have, this one boasts the best overall quality. I concur with all of your observations. The large deep reflector does an amazing job of keeping the hotspot small and tight for greater range while still having plenty of spill. I was equally as impressed with the hosts ability to wick away heat through the head and into the surrounding air. It offers great heat exchange that actually works throughout a long run period. I kept mine on high for about 30 min in a 75 degree F room and it reached a certain temperature, but never got to hot to hold by the head. Again, Im amazed. I'll eventually need to get some thermal paste. I like the way you applied yours, but its probably unnecessary... but it sure cant hurt. All I have at this moment is thermal glue, so the paste will have to wait. This host also lends itself to easy mods as newer emitters become available.
Tail cap readings on high with 1 & 2 18650's were about .16A higher than yours... nice production standards so far!
Mine came with the clip already attached, a nice braided nylon and metal beaded lanyard, two spare lens, a spare clicky already mounted to a threaded "clicky drop-in", MANY spare GITD o-rings (in fact, all the o-rings on my sample are GITD). I probably would have wanted the clip if mine didnt come with one. It is SS, rather stiff and robust, but you arent missing a whole lot without it. IMO, it looks cool but isnt very functional. With the head so large, I think deployment would have been easier if the clip provided a heads-up carry position. The way yours came, tail-up carry with a long lanyard hanging down the outside of a deep pocket will probably be a far better choice. With the head being the last part to come out of a pocket, it could easily get snagged and the lanyard might allow for fast rotational movement to be applied in getting it past. Sounds good in theory anyways. My emitter came perfectly centered and focused in the reflector. The distributor for mine is unknown but I could probably ask.
Mine came used and was in brand new condition. I suspect that someone was in desperate need for money and needed to part with it quickly. Its sad to think that somewhere there might be one less flashaholic in this world.
Gawking again at this light just now, its still actually difficult to believe that this is a Trustfire. I might need to see what the gutter-nazis-mods on CPF have to say about a light that gives so much bang for the buck against what their paying contributing vendors offer. Besides, its been a while since Ive even been to the other place, but then it would be like ones admission to enjoying herpes to say they enjoy the constant mod ridicule in a place called hell.
Anyone on the fence? BUY THIS LIGHT BEFORE THE MANUFACTURER SCREWS IT UP! Would you concur James?
So far, no light has beat the sheer intensity of my early production TR-1200 (another light they screwed up after initial production) accept an Olight with SST-90 and a 3 x XML mag. I'll have to wait till dark to run these two against each other before I find a champion.
I probably wouldnt have bought this light if it werent for this review. Thanks again James!