Review: 5-Mode UltraFire Cree XM-L/T6 Warm White from Manafont

I've got a light meter. I bought it on Match's recommendation so I could build a light box, sphere or whatever.

Heres some more fun with this drop-in . . .

This is with a fresh charged Solarforce 2400, installed in the light 10 minutes after it came off the charger.

Medium on the left and low on the right.

And this is what happens @ 5 amps after six or seven minutes. Ever tried to pick something up that is 160 degrees? I don't know why I find this kind of stuff so fascinating.

butIdoFoy

Will this driver be a good swap to my Trustfire X9 driver or C8? or is the current too much? Thanks

I'm not sure what to think about this driver. I have an underwhelming SST-50 and I'm wondering how it would do with this bad boy behind it. I guess I don't understand why they would make a drop-in like this. Is it because they thought the warm tint looked dimmer, so they drove it harder? When you look at Match's chart thing he did a while back, 5 amps over 3 amps doesn't net you many more lumens. But, it does give you more heat and less run time.

This noob just doesn't get it.

Foy

Not design , luck of the draw .....

yeah i would stick that driver in your 2.5 amp SST-50 and the driver from that in this. as 5 amps is nuts, but with my luck if i brought the same drop in and the same batteries i would be lucky to get 2 amps lolls but i rather under driven for run time and heat and i dont like the warmer tints im crazy like that.

p,s nice pic,s as always

the vf of that warm white xml has to be really low so voltage sag of the battery isn't enough

it actually hurts the lumen output because of the heat in p60

i bet you would get more flux with 8amc driver

If a phospr coating is taking the "wrong" tint away from a regular emitter, why not use just a basic lens-filter to get tint right?

Does anyone use them?

I use Lee Filter in my UF-2100.

more photosphor doesn't just remove the blue spike but converts it to lower frequency light so it does improve the color rendering too

My experience with the DRY and 1A, 5A3 tints is pretty noticeable. Like 16%. So WW is pretty significant.

My Balder BD-2 WW, actually it's the higher range of the WW I believe it's like 3500K (Should get the cam out to test)...it takes in 3A at the tail and gets me only approx 500L OTF initial lumens. Ric listed it as NW, but it is pretty warm. Luckily i am sort of a "I Like warm lights" kinda guy. My Yezl M7X CW easily gives me 650 OTF lumens initally same form factor but of course slightly different drive levels.

Yeah...guess so. I am putting it too simply.

Same thing at work for the fluorescent tubes?

I'd call manafont and get it replaced ..it's probably going backwards or partially baked already .

there is NO upside to nutty overdriven

I don't know . . . I'm a sucker for stupid stuff like this. Other than the heat demonstration, I'm not going to leave it on high for long and I've learned from some of you how they actually get it to be "warm." As usual, I gain as much information as I give when I do things like this - it's part of why I do it.

It's interesting too, that most here believe the high amperage was not the builders' intent, which suggests very high manufacturing variance - something I've not encountered (to this degree) with other drop-ins with regard to current. Quality and other factors are occasionally all over the place but among the 10 UF XM-Ls I have, none pulls 5 amps.

And, Boaz is right; an XM-L driven this hard is going to have a very hot and very short life.

Foy

I just got this dropin today. I ordered on 10/22. Mine has a very warm incandescent glow to it like Langcjl's photo's show. I took tailcap measurements in my new L2P and my old 501b and on high was getting 2.80-2.83 amps with a protected TF flames 2400.

I don't like the disco modes, so I think this will be my first victim for a driver swap.

Just a thought for you guys: That driver likely isn't going to give you 5A to an SST50. I assume the Vf of the SST is higher, so you'll get less amps. It's all just DD so the LED will dictate the current.

Oops, sorry I missed this one too. Thanks a lot for the honest, complete review Foy! Great job as usual.

The color looks good on the warm white for a romantic LED light dinner with your favorite lady- got that rosy orange glow.......

Would actually be a nice tint for a room LED lamp for this reason but not as clinical or bright for practical applications in flashlights except maybe camping for a lantern type light with a pleasant/flattering color.

Hi, can you run it on High mode for full cell capacity (2600mAh, 18650)? And how good is the brightness regulation during this period? :)

I think it's direct drive on high (might be mistaken) so, it's going to get dimmer with drain. Have not done a run time - gets too dang hot!

Foy

Where's the white/blue dog shot?

All I saw was a white/blue dustbunny?

I hate blue light, I hate blue light, I hate blue light.