Review of Thorfire C5 18650 flashlight - picture heavy

This light was provided by Thorfire for review.

This is an interesting looking light, bigger then my Convoy M1, about the size of a C8. It takes 1 x 18650 battery, and has circuitry i have never seen (if anyone can tell us more from the pics please post below). It feels good in use, not heavy, not light, and has very good throw for its size, its hotspot is smaller then the Convoy M1 (for greater throw)

Observations:
This light is a greyish-purple colour, different then the black or sometimes flat grey we usually see, its a nice size, not too big, not quite small enough for EDC for most people, but someone would certainly think your happy to see them with this light in your pocket :wink:

The head is not cone shaped like most lights but is the same diameter from bottom of the reflector to the top, which i find aesthetically pleasing.

It has the 5 modes we all know, low, medium, high, strobe, SOS, and it does have mode memory. It takes one tap to activate the mode changing (and subsequent taps to change it) just like the 105C driver we are all familiar with

Low 0.06A
Med 0.53A
High 1.34A

The glass looks unusually clear, however it does not appear to be AR coated.

The pill is screwed into the head, its aluminum to aluminum, and has a seat (it does not screw all the way through like some lights, and is not brass which is a bonus that aids heat transfer. However the pill seats in a part of the head which is not thick aluminum, i wish it seated a bit higher in the girth of the head (but the heat seems to travel easily enough).

My uncalibrated and not quite accurate scale says 158g and 204g with battery.

The tailcap and headcap end of the battery tube have two rubber o-rings for extra apparent water resistance

Pros
It feels good in the hand
It can take 18650 or 2 x CR123 (i don’t have and CR123s to test this)
It feels durable and not cheap/flimsy like some lights

Cons
The Thorfire writing is not on a flat surface like most lights (this does not affect the function of the light in any way, just a personal preference)
On arrival the threads were not lubed (easily fixed and most lights come unlubricated anyways) and the threads are not anodized
There is a double screw problem, adding and removing the battery a few dozen times has created a set of “threads” in the tailcap and when its half screwed on it jams and i have to press till it clicks and finish tightening the tailcap. See photo below.

Please right click and view image to see any pic in full size


This was an expensive shot, a strong gust of wind came along and knocked the light onto concrete as i was trying to take it :frowning:



Backside of headcap



Hollow headcap, you can see the seat where the pill rests when screwed in



a 42mm lens should fit, there appears to be enough play but its possible it won’t (in case you want to upgrade to AR coated)



I am not a fan of OP reflectors, but many people are



Notice the flat plastic disk that centers the LED



Side view of pill



Back of pill with retaining ring



nice blob of thermal paste


![](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3890/14915242000_9394019fa1_o.jpg) A kind of mirror view


retaining ring with small metal burr



Backside of driver, the next few pictures are far more interesting






I’d like to know about what this driver does, it does not look like any driver i own












Tailcap intact



Inside the tailcap in order



Hollow tailcap, no double threading problem yet



The newly created threads from about two dozen opening and closings


![](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5557/15101524302_cfda13a84b_b.jpg) Flaw in light, looks like it happened before anodizing since its fully anodized


![](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3843/15101508302_0e385a0a2e_o.jpg) Box it came in

Summary
I am liking this light and will likely add it to my rotation, it is fairly throwy, not too heavy and has a good feel to it. It is an all purpose light like the oft mentioned Convoy M1.
Thanks for reading and i am happy to answer questions

reserved :slight_smile:

I have the same light under a different brand (Ultrafire or Uniquefire) and I think it's a great little light. It's the same size as a C8 and even shares the same reflector IIRC but is 100 times better looking IMO. I'm one of the few who thinks C8s are ugly and unappealing but this light is pretty cool looking and different.

It has a virtually C8 size lens but looks smaller, maybe its the styling, i meant to but did not compare it side by side with a C8 since i don’t have an unpacked one handy

Driver looks like a buck driver made for 2 or more cells.
Could account for the low amperage. Need’s modded.
I have 2 of the the Uniquefire C108’s and they pull 4 amps with a good battery into an XM-L T6 and they rock.
They sport a Smooth reflector.
HTH

It is mentioned that this will run on two CR123s in the OP. I dont know if it will run on any higher voltage without frying. Thanks for the review Bort.

Thanks Bort for the review, I just got the light this week. I wanted to get my review up but the baby and other kids have kept me busy. I just want to say, almost all the parts of a convoy c8 will fit on this light. The reflector of the c8 is slightly smaller than the c8. The beam is basically the same as the c8 and throws the same.

Thanks for the breakdown .

never heard of Thorfire untill now. I thought the use of “_fire” names would have ran out by now.
it almost like like a re-designed C12.

there was a thread about that, with some really creative XXXfire suggestions

i remember that thread, it had quite the list of xxxfire light names.
I never completely understood the reasoning behind the ultra-budget manufacturers creating so many random & weird xxxfire names for their many various lights, like they wanted to get in on some of the name-fame that “surefire” gained with North American consumers.

Thats exactly it, then it became a follow the leader phenomenon
At least its not microbluebear :smiley:

Even the packaging design has the Fenix feel lol.

Thank you for the review Bort. Guess the driver could be a buck driver, but with only 1.34A on High?

I do like that large knobby look vs small knurling

I have to agree about the C8 syle lights though. You are NOT alone :-)

The ThorFire C5 at amazon is $19.99, and it’s in promotion “Save 10% each on ThorFire C5 offered by Eachinedirect when you purchase 1 or more. Enter code 7VGGU33T at checkout.”
ThorFire C5

Would a fasttech C8 smo reflector fit this light? i kindda like the design of this light but i prefer a smo reflector, so i am wondering if i could get a c8 smo reflector elsewhere to fit it in.