Thanks OL! Ordered one.
Thank you OL 
BLF member ācanā directed me to this thread and I appreciate it. Just ordered a couple of them. Back when I first got into 26650 flashlights (which is about the time I learned what a 26650 battery was 
) I was torn between the TF A8 and an F13. Both were recommended here on BLF. I ended up getting the A8 (actually two of them because my wife took my first one) and it has become my favorite flashlight. Purchased both for $17 each (one on Amazon and the other Ebay) as I wasnāt yet familiar with websites like GB/DX/FT etc. So for the price of one A8 I can now get two F13ās and Iāll be able to compare them. And nice to have a second 26650 light as back up.
Thank you again.
This is one of the reasons I like my TF A8 in that it can use three different battery options (26650/18650/3xAAA). Iām glad to know this one can do so as well. I think options are important.
Thanks for the heads up!
The F13 is a good budget light at this price.
http://www.fasttech.com/product/1424810-trustfire-tr-a9-2-cree-xm-l2-t6-5-mode-800-lumen
This TR-A9-2 would easily fit that 3xAA Carrier from Gearbest. The Lumintop SD10 4xAA Carrier would probably fit in the TR-A9-2 also. I think the TR-A9-2 had a bad pill thermal design though. Too bad.
Got my F13 today. Wow, very nice light for the money. Thanks for the code OL!
Had a bit of a panic when I opened it up. The star clearly had XML-U2 written on it. 
Closer inspection revealed that the emitter was XM-L2 after all. They must have been using up old stars. Phew!
Hmmm me thinks Iāll put a bit more solder on that positive joint.
The writing on stars should never be trusted. Most of us ignore it as a point.
As long as youāre in there soldering stuff, you may as well remove the star and add some thermal grease under it if there isnāt any there already.
Thanks for the pic, looks like a nice solid shelf. Although the anodizing on the shelf isnāt great.
Look forward to getting mine.
They are good lights right off the shelf and better when they have a good copper star and a nicer driver put in. 5 amps is not unreasonable, since they transfer heat well. Glad y'all are having fun with them.
Thatās strangeā¦ Got mine today too. But on the outside it says āXML-T6ā - and thatās whatās inside - so it seems. It is only an older XML with green top, 3 bond wires and 6 stripes. On a grey star with no other text than +/- signs on it. Letās see what the customer service has to say about thatā¦
- 1 From the Deal Alert thread.
Nice build for the price. It wonāt quite lock out by unscrewing the tail cap after some wear, because some aluminum shows through the anodizing on the threads. I have not opened it up.
Anyone stuck an MTG2 in one of these? Iām thinking of picking a few up.
The new XHP70 and XHP50 might not work too well with this reflector.
I have to delete all my book marks to this site. Old-Lumens you just forced to buy my 6th light this month
I have read these forums for a while but never really paid attention to the ādealsā now Iām like sweet its under $20 I can get that one. Well buying 6 lights under $20 doesnāt save me money 
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I need help.
Iām tempted to buy another one of these,the only thing holding me back is the first one I got from a earlier GB. The tail cap is very loose on the threads, it wobbles side to side when screwing on and the threads donāt look like they will last long. Is this normal for the F13 or did I just get a bad example?
Now that you mention it I did note mine being a bit loose as well. The tolerances could have been a little better, certainly. Once tightened up itās rock solid though. Given the high number of threads on there I canāt see it being much of an issue anyway, as theyāre not under any great strain.
Yup, itās on the āto doā list, thanks. Dry as a bone under there, as expected.
Iām thinking customer service will tell you that they sourced these leds by sweeping up an old flashlight factory floor. Anything that end up in the bin at the end of the day wandered itās way into these lights
These leds are almost always terrible bins and need to be replaced so I wouldnāt worry too much about whether itās a gen1 or gen2.
Just get a nice XML2 on copper and swap it over, it will cost almost half the price of whole light but itās worth it.
used the little store points i had and got this for $7 shipped :)
For a while early on they were shipping bodies engraved with the old T6 logo, even after they started putting XM-L2 emitters in (very blue-white, as noted worth replacing anyhow).
They must have found another freight car full of the old ones somewhere, or a new cloner has started making copies of them.
Watch for the typical ānew batch cheaper and worse than the lastā progression ā since this light has become popular, itās likely being cloned.
I hope not all of Chinaās manufacturing follows this same progression.
If they do the same thing with parts for their railroads, aircraft, and power plants ā especially all those new nukes ā the worldās gonna have troubles.
And theyāll blame you, Old Lumens, when their country collapses. You! You made them do this to themselves ā¦.
The tail cap threads on mine fit better than those on most of my lights. I understand that the precision of numerical control machining is mainly limited by thermal expansion, so it gets worse as the process is sped up.