I want to say Hank at intl-outdoor.com was also quite helpful to me. I emailed him twice, and both times he sent me different photos which weren't on the product's webpage (although I think they should be). I was meaning to upload them, so I'm glad Hikelite did, thank you.
The thing which stood out to me most about this C8 was the VERY rare option of a real non-blink 3 modes High - Medium - Low! I actually held back from the KaiDomain $17 sale (now over) as at this point I'm tired of 'saving money' but getting something which aggravates me in the long run. Strobe with XM-L on high = not fun. And to do that EVERY time to get to the other side of settings.. ugh. I'm not buying a lot of flashlights, and generally spending more on the ones I do, hoping to be happier with the ones I do have (same cost as a bunch of crappy lights).
Hank helped me realize that the C8 design intrinsically does not allow for "candle mode" (bare LED, no head or reflector), because the pill is screwed into the head, and the head is 1 piece, apparently (I previously thought some might be 2 pieces). He did, however, send me links to 2 other of his products which COULD do candle mode, AND had 3-mode High-Medium-Low. Unfortunately, those flashlights started at $50 (Balder 1-cell was closest to what I was looking for), and Balder is a little more upscale than what I'm looking at.
So I ultimately did not buy their (or anyone else's) C8, but I would have no qualms buying from intl-outdoor.com . It does (without any in-depth reviews yet) seem like the nicest C8 out there: apparently the best finish, the best pill/reflector/head mating I've seen (by far), mode choices. Plus the seller comes right out and say it pulls 2.8 or 3 amps on High. I did put in for a Yezl Y6-X at cnqualitygoods as that did meet my criteria "candle mode + 3-mode no-strobe". I saw the announcement that cnqualitygoods does not do BLF or CPF discount anymore, but they have lowered their prices a lot, to everyone. Right now, Y6X is only $25, and I thought shipping would be like $10, but no, they have a cheap $2.50 shipping option (from China) I hadn't been aware of. And for that matter, Ric at cnqualitygoods did facilitate my purchase as well, and was contactable. The Y6 reflector seems a little different than C8 (a little narrower but a little deepr, seems like a fuller parabola--not like I know what I'm talking about), but what difference it actually makes to the beam, we shall see.
I am glad we seem to have a reputable new seller paying attention to BLF who seems motivated to help people get the info they need to make a good choice.