Request for review: Ultrafire C3 Stainless Steel Cree Q5-WC 5-Mode

Hello everybody, I am considering purchasing the Ultrafire C3 SS Q5-WC 5-Mode from DX. I believe several of you already own this model? But this light also suffers from an identity crisis, there are several models advertised that looks identical and have the same name, but which have a non-Q5 emitter or only a single mode. At any rate, any comments or anyone want to do a full review? After researching it, it does NOT appeal to me aesthetically because I like knurling and simple cylindrical designs with only one outer diameter. But I like the price, the advertised Cree Q5, and when I read that several reviewers said it has almost infinite battery life on low, well, you know the rest of the story for me.... ;-)

I'll stick it on the box and sacrifice an alkaline to a low runtime. I like it a lot but it is a hand burner on 14500s. I see the one that Jay reviewed is an earlier model that cost a lot more. It gets a mention here but I'll work up a full review. Now digging out a cheap alkaline to do a runtime. Found a Lucas branded one - which most certainly qualifies as a cheap alkaline -anyone who ever drove a British motorcycle knows about Lucas electrics. Initial voltage 1.546V, current draw on low from this cell around 50mA - high is over 1.6A

Test running now - starts at 2.9 microamps, will see just how long it runs till the cheap alkaline dies.

Calculated as 10-12hr on an alkaline, we'll see.

This may take a while.....

You're very obliging :-) Let me make some popcorn and kick back... Actually it's bedtime now. Thanks for any information you can easily give about this light without taking too much of your time.

My lightbox says 46 lux on low - which is comfortably more than a Fenix E01 (37).

Just hope that the meter battery holds out. They seem to live for about 3 days continuous use when USB is turned on. It's had most of 2 days on the WF-504B so I wouldn't trust the absolute numbers towards the end of the run though he relative values should be fine.

For that matter, I don't know if the output of the solar cell that I'm measuring the current from is linear. And I can't think of a way of testing it that doesn't involve a huge amount of very expensive equipment that I don't own (Or know anyone who does)

Not bedtime here, I've been up for a couple of hours since the dog decided it was time I let her out.

2.5 microamps.

2 microamps - 67% but alkalines have a much longer "tail" than NiMH or Li cells. 33 lux - still comparable to a Fenix E01 and brighter than an E0

Looks like it should be good for at least 20 hours doesn't it?

At 50mA draw an AA alkaline is not stressed at all and I believe the good ones go to 3,000mAh. This is not a good one but the cheapest my organisation's supplier could source. And that is very, very cheap indeed.

So no real idea of its theoretical capacity, but under 3000mAh anyway - so let's say 60 hours as a hard upper limit. If it's less than twenty hours I'll need to get a hat from you to eat.

Curried I think...

Well that is really impressive.

Not on NiMH though - it is between 6 and 12 hours on low with an NiMH cell. Can't be more precise as computer crashed during the night - as Windows has been known to do, though in this case it was almost certainly thermal as that particular problem has not recurred since I cleaned out the heatsinks and replaced a fan (It runs at 100% CPU all the time).

I suspect that crappier alkalines may even give longer runtimes as it is their internal resistance that is responsible for the low current draws. Or they may just ooze strongly alkaline goo into the guts of the light and eat its innards instead. Certainly there's now way I'd leave a flat alkaline in anything capable of amps of current draw, as the alkies will leak when treated like that.

The electrolyte inside is a strong alkali and is very, very bad for hands and eyes. Alkali burns take far longer to heal than most acid burns. Believe me, I know...

1.7 microamps. Still usable light and still brighter than a Fenix E0, though not as bright as an E01

1.5 microamps

12.5 hours now at 1.4 microamps output from the solar cell in the lightbox I use for runtimes. So the conventional runtime reckoning on an alkaline would be 12.5 hours but let's see how long it continues to emit light.

50% is still quite usable isn't it?

If I shove a Fenix E0 (With an alkaline of unknown age - it may be 3 years old) onto the lightbox as well, current goes from 1.3-2 microamps which assuming a linear response from the solar cell I use for these measurements would suggest that the E0 would give 0.7 microamps on its own and that is certainly usable. I'd say it gives usable light in a dark place down to about 0.1-0.3 microamps - but there's a lot of light pollution here.

1.1 microamps

Still going, that's impressive.

The C3's have sort of bad reputation for contact problems and flickering, have you run across that?

All five of the aluminium ones have had/have issues. Most are poor contact issues solvable with some desolder braid and solder. Will test the 4 aluminium ones (and the two externally identical Aurora SH0030's but they are better made) with a 14500.Now, where did I put the 14500's?

C3 1. A bit of desolder braid in the tailcap fixed it. Working. This is the oldest of my 5 C3's in Aluminium

C3 2. Second oldest. Working - no fixes currently needed.

C3's 3-5 were bought at the same time. C3 5 is out on loan just now.

C3 3. A bit of desolder braid between head and body in this one.

C3 4. Not working. Will need to pull it apart and see what's up. Head is working. so suspect tailcap contact issues. Issue would appear to be head/body contact as putting head and body together and using a paperclip between negative of 14500 and unanodised body gives no light. Suspect body tube is too short. Some solder on the body ends will fix that.

SH0030 singlemode. Working. Threads came lubed. Was not working last week, but head was loose. tightened it. No issues now.

SH0030 5mode. Working but very, very green. It was like that from the day it arrived though. It is the only C3 bodied device that I've ever been able to make work in a 3AA configuration, there are too many contact issues with the others. The Auroras appear to be better made C3's. This is not hard.

However, all of this is a red herring. The stainless steel C3 does not have a single part that will interchange with the aluminium ones. It has never given me any trouble at all other than trying to set my hands on fire when used on high with a 14500. It is a far, far better made device than the aluminium ones. However, there seem to be cheaper and nastier ones on the go - see the bottom half of this thread at Jayki. And this thread at the DX product forum. I got mine pretty much on the day DX announced them. Mine is 93mm long, apparently the current ones may be 98mm long and not nearly as well made. Where have we heard this before?

Hmmm.... The official DX "Reviews" during the past few months have been extremely positive for the sku.26122. I did see that it seems to have gotten longer. I would really like to know about the efficiency of the new ones though, and if it comes with a new higher efficiency Cree or not. I get lost in the threads about this light, because there were older single mode versions, expensive new multi-mode versions, a cheap new-multimode version, and now a cheapened cheap new-multimode version....

Ran for 14hr 4 mins 40 secs. Usable light till about 14hr. I'll give it a few minutes to recover then try it again.

While I waited I made the runtime chart.

Battery voltage after a 20 minute rest: 1.087V

Got some moderately bright light out of it - I expected it to be dim enough to look into the LED as I lit it. Spots in front of eyes but I can see the brightness dropping off

Well my employer does buy cheap AAs. Like everyone in the public sector everywhere, the motto is, "Always remember that all of your kit was provided by the lowest bidder."