Review: Thorfire "Upgraded" C8s #2 (addendum to ReManG's review)

Since ReManG already did an excellent job reviewing the new “upgraded” C8s from Thorfire, I’ll just add a few additional thoughts, opinions, and pics.
This is my first “official” light review, so please be gentle… :smiley:

OK, here we go…

First item for business is the acquisition itself. I also received a unit for testing from Thorfire, with the agreement that I’d post a review (I replied to their post, I was not spammed via PM).
That said, I wish all flashlight purchases were this quick/easy. A few clicks on Amazon, and it was in my mailbox in 2 days (Amazon Prime rocks).
Here is the Link.

No surprises when unboxing, and everything was packaged nicely.

Upon initial inspection, the first things I noticed were the matte finish and the newly designed tail-cap. As for the finish, I actually prefer it over the typical shiny/slick anodizing. As for the tail-cap, it’s probably one of the better improvements on the light in my opinion. To me, it looks much better than the standard “chunky” C8 tail-caps that follow the same design/form as the head. The knurling to match the body is a nice touch, and the dual thumb-cuts are a welcome change to the normal (fully recessed) switch button, which can be hard to actuate on some C8 lights. It tail-stands solidly with no wobble. The switch itself is a reverse clicky with a quality feel to it.



I like the compact form-factor as well. I’m not sure if most other C8 lights are this “stubby” but it is about a half-inch shorter than my XinTD:

The machining is good, and there were no finish issues on my example. The square threads on both ends is a nice touch, and everything was well-lubed.


The head is the typical C8 form factor, with a few nice touches under the hood. Looking “down the barrel” the XM-L2 emitter is perfectly centered, using a translucent centering ring. Cracking it open reveals the new “shelf” design, so there is no longer a removable pill. The LED is mounted on a copper MCPB (which I would assume to be DTP), and is coupled to the head via thermal paste (not adhesive). On the backside, the driver is held in with a retaining ring and not soldering in (another nice touch IMO).


I also checked battery fit/compatibility with few random cells:
Samsun 30Q
LG HG2
LG C2
Sanyo UR18650ZY
KeepPower P1835J (protected)

All of them fit fine with no rattle. The proteceted KeepPower was a perfect “vacuum” fit.

Now on to performance/usage:

The first thing I did was a tail-cap amp-draw measurement, and like ReManG, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is pulling over 3 amps on high (3.06A to be exact). Nice!

The emitter itself (XM-L2) is cool white, and looks to be a top-binned 1A or maybe even a 1D. My example was just a hair on the rosy side, which I much prefer to the greener tints. YMMV on that, and a sample size of only 1, I can’t say what sort of variance there will be with tints.

However, the thing is pretty darn bright. The beam is well-focused, and throws nicely. With a fresh LG HG2 in the tube, I measure the lux @ 5 meters, for a calculated 1M Lux reading of 42,512. Not too shabby. If you are a white-wall hunter, you will see the typical “flower petals” though, especially at close distances. I didn’t do any run-time tests, but it seems on par with my other 3+ amp 18650 lights. It does heat up a bit after a couple minutes, especially with a high-drain battery but nothing noteworthy. It seems to shed the heat very effectively.

For a quick beam shot, I took the following pics of the top of a cell tower that was 100+ yards away.
First shot is a looong-exposure to show what the scene looks like. Second shot is the control, and third shot is with the light on high:


As far as UI goes, it has a 4-mode set-up w/ memory, and includes a welcome moonlight setting. There is also a hidden strobe feature (fast double-click) and it is not easy to “accidentally” engage, which is nice. I’ve cycled through the modes very rapidly, and haven’t once tripped the disco mode.

As far as any negatives, there aren’t really any glaring issues. However, there are a few features I would have like to have seen included/available:

1. AR coated lens. At this price point, I think it should be standard.
2. Different emitter/tint choices. It would be nice to have at least a few options there.
3. Programmable UI, or at least a few different choices. At this stage, I think all decent lights should have some sort of user-programmable UI.
4. Switch options. This is probably a nit-pick, but I personally prefer forward clicky switches. It would be nice to have the option.

Overall, I’d say it’s a win. :beer:






Thanks for the review freefly.

Great pics and I linked to your review since you linked to mine. I really like your beamshot on the cell tower. I have to step up my camera game…

Glad to see I wasn’t the only one to like the light, but I did miss the copper board! I just assumed it was aluminum, that was a great catch…

I’m bored of my tinky KD C8 with its horrible threads and irritating modes. If only these were available in Europe :frowning:

Thanks!

Yeah, I only noticed the copper star after looking at the (huge) full-res pics!

nice review, good quality pics!

But 1 burning question remains…. was there a Happy card in the box?

Right, without the Happy Card it will definitely not be the same ! :blush:

No Happy Card! :open_mouth:

Oh no! panic lol
Well the light did make you happy, that is most important

Excellent review! Thanks for the time and effort you put into this.

I have the previous version of the C8. It opened my eyes to the ThorFire brand. Good build quality. Excellent fit and finish. Honest lumen ratings.

With these C8 models, ThorFire is building a reputation as one of the quality budget manufacturers coming out of China.