jamesearljonesisascab wrote:

this morning and noticed a bunch of new lights from budget L2

That would be a fake, I believe. But nevertheless from the reviews here it's not a bad light at all, and this is a smoking deal on an XM-L.

I don't think any of the sunwayman lights are gonna follow me home at those prices.  Anybody seen one, are they better/worth more or just priced higher?

That silver L2 looks suspiciously like the silver 504B they sell for $8. Still a nice host though.

The L2 is looks like the one of Kaidomain http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=11155  for $23

trooplewis wrote:

That silver L2 looks suspiciously like the silver 504B they sell for $8. Still a nice host though.

I was thinking the same thing, which would make the $22.24 light a pretty modest savings over separately buying the 504B + 5 mode XM-L = $8.12 + 16.45 = $24.57.

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/ultrafire-wf504b-flashlight-tub...

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/cree-t6-5modes-memory-led-dropi...

If you buy separately, you have the option of getting the 3 mode XM-L.

Yeah, its probably fake, but that shinyness is so much better looking than the plain black.

They have a couple of P7 lights farther down the page as well. I don't know crap about P7, is it worth getting that light?  Does it outshine a good Xm-L?

trooplewis wrote:

They have a couple of P7 lights farther down the page as well. I don't know crap about P7, is it worth getting that light?  Does it outshine a good Xm-L?

From what I've read here, the XM-L is unmatched for raw lumens. But I don't know anything about the advantages or disadvantages of color and beam profile of a P7.

An XM-L T6 should be a bit brighter than the brightest available SSC P7:

http://flashlight-wiki.com/Brightness_Bins

The P7 is a quad-die package that's basically the same as a Cree MC-E.  It will give you a floody beam with some artifacts from the gaps between the emitters.

Glad I asked. I am not fond of floody beams.

Maybe I need to join a laser forum....

wiljen wrote:

I don't think any of the sunwayman lights are gonna follow me home at those prices.  Anybody seen one, are they better/worth more or just priced higher?

I just broke down a few days ago and ordered a V10A from Going Gear.  The ring and forward clicky will make the perfect interface for me as long as it goes as low as the reviews indicate.  According to one review, the ramping is perfect for fine tuning the low level (hard to do with a D10).

It is definitely pricey...way above my usual budget.

OOOO nice find, the Sunwayman V10R Ti is a lot cheaper than in the UK. But is it worth buying from overseas? If I get caught for import tax etc the price won't be that much cheaper.

trooplewis wrote:

Glad I asked. I am not fond of floody beams.

It sounds like the XM-L is also rather floody compared to an XR-E or XP-E, but it is tremendously brighter.

I have an aurora ak-p7. Awesomely bright, very floody, and a very very good quality light. But I can't learn to love the P7 Even something about the emitter itself just is not attractive at all to me. The artifacts in the beam from the quad die is also a turn off. It is sad to see such a nice light sit on my shelf unused. 

XM-L  FTW!

Whoa what a load of flashlights... If only those Sunwayman's were within budget...

Still waiting for a Tk35 clone... :/

Bought a Sunwayman  Titanium offf of Focal last week for cheap...if you think 75$ is cheap ... and it looks like they did a dino direct on me and  changed  the listing and are going to send me a regular one instead (about 50$ cheaper too)...if Anyone knows a big burly guy who lives in china and likes to break legs for a living .. gimme a call . I'm so disgusted with xhinese dealers ..I know Exactly why CPF Has ostracized these bandits.

wiljen wrote:

I don't think any of the sunwayman lights are gonna follow me home at those prices.  Anybody seen one, are they better/worth more or just priced higher?

They have very good build quality. But they are obviously not budget by most people's definition. Are they worth it? For me, yes. I have a VR10 Ti and I love the low low for night time bathroom trips. The magnetic ring that varys the output is what I like most about this light. It is much easier to use than the electronic button ramping control used on some other lights.

I'm gonna have to break down and try one of these "fake" L2s and do a comparison to see exactly what they got right and what (if anything) they did not.  What attracts me to this light is that a 5-mode "Cree" T6 is $16 so, $6 for this host is not bad.  If quality approaches Solarforce then it could hardly be compared an Ultra Fire equivalent.

imhoFoy

Flashlight Foy wrote:

I'm gonna have to break down and try one of these "fake" L2s and do a comparison to see exactly what they got right and what (if anything) they did not.  What attracts me to this light is that a 5-mode "Cree" T6 is $16 so, $6 for this host is not bad.  If quality approaches Solarforce then it could hardly be compared an Ultra Fire equivalent.

imhoFoy

But you could get an Ultrafire 3-mode for that $16, not one of random quality with disco modes. If any cheap $6 host was of the same quality as a genuine L2 we wouldn't buy Solarforce, but we are buying them... It's probably worse than the Ultrafire host, I predict that the switch is total crap.

mfm wrote:

Flashlight Foy wrote:

I'm gonna have to break down and try one of these "fake" L2s and do a comparison to see exactly what they got right and what (if anything) they did not.  What attracts me to this light is that a 5-mode "Cree" T6 is $16 so, $6 for this host is not bad. 

But you could get an Ultrafire 3-mode for that $16, not one of random quality with disco modes.

I have the fake L2 of Kaidomain (I think it is the same as the one on Manafont), the driver looks 100% identical as mine. I will test with my DMM tomorrow (I have to go to work now).

If these L2's are the same as those on KD then they're a lot better than a 504b. Thicker and heavier tube/head, better fit and finish........and a nice switch. The parts are not interchangeable.

(edit) Looking at the detail photos at MF I'd say they are the same 'Solarforce' L2's as those at KD. In that case I can recommend them as a worthwhile buy at that price.

mfm - Well, that pretty much shuts this light down I guess.

caseclosednothingmoretotalkaboutFoy

mfm wrote:

 

But you could get an Ultrafire 3-mode for that $16, not one of random quality with disco modes. If any cheap $6 host was of the same quality as a genuine L2 we wouldn't buy Solarforce, but we are buying them... It's probably worse than the Ultrafire host, I predict that the switch is total crap.

It's a host. Hi quality, low quality, the only thing about it is a $1.49 switch and the rest is aesthetics.

My Ultrafire 501 host which is REALLY a cheapie, still does just as good a job as my solarforce host. Gets about as warm. Shines the same. Turns on and off the same. Kinda ugly in comparison. But you use a flashlight in the dark, right? 

Us guys with cheap hosts take the same position as guys with ugly girlfriends. In the dark, still feels about the same...

Ahhh troop - that was awesome!  Nice to have a laugh when I get home from work.  Reminds me not to take myself (or my opinions) too seriously.

itsjustadangflashlightFoy

Manafont have removed the 'Solarforce' tag on those L2's from the list page.....and shown them as 'Solarforce mimic' on the product page.

eg. http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/l2-r5-350lumen-1mode-led-flashl...

Tas62 wrote:

Manafont have removed the 'Solarforce' tag on those L2's from the list page.....and shown them as 'Solarforce mimic' on the product page.

eg. http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/l2-r5-350lumen-1mode-led-flashl...

I asked them about it

trooplewis wrote:

It's a host. Hi quality, low quality, the only thing about it is a $1.49 switch and the rest is aesthetics.

My Ultrafire 501 host which is REALLY a cheapie, still does just as good a job as my solarforce host. Gets about as warm. Shines the same. Turns on and off the same. Kinda ugly in comparison. But you use a flashlight in the dark, right?

Not really, a lot can and does go wrong with a cheap crappy host. Regardless of how cheap a decent switch is they don't use one, they have crappy threads that are hard to screw in and give contact problems, don't have gold/silver plated contacts/springs, etc. That your 501 happens to somewhat work at the moment doesn't prove anything, I guess you don't use it with an XM-L either.

Tas62 wrote:

If these L2's are the same as those on KD then they're a lot better than a 504b. Thicker and heavier tube/head, better fit and finish........and a nice switch. The parts are not interchangeable.

(edit) Looking at the detail photos at MF I'd say they are the same 'Solarforce' L2's as those at KD. In that case I can recommend them as a worthwhile buy at that price.

Other people have reported that the switches from KD were bad, and some Solarforce distributor on CPF even replaced some switches for free because they were giving Solarforce a bad name.

I have a Solarforce (fake) from KD that I like the shiny metal surface and tailstanding ability but recently I discovered it could change modes with the slightest bump. Then, I realized that my new, unprotected cells were a bit shorter than the protected Trustfire's I used before. I never had such problem in my genuine Solarforce lights so I compared these two and saw that the fake one had a softer spring with thinner wires so it had more play, while my real SF had thicker, silver plated and definitely harder spring on the tail clicky. 

I guess this can be easily solved with a switch or even spring change on the fake ones, or use longer batteries/extemder magnets in these.  

Today, i inquired via online chat to confirm their "solarforce" is really genuine. in that time, they said it was genuine because they bought from "rht retailer"....

I thought it was bad news that manafont bigan to sell fakes as genuine... but now they sell fakes as fakes. it would be a bit better policy.

causeless wrote:

Today, i inquired via online chat to confirm their "solarforce" is really genuine. in that time, they said it was genuine because they bought from "rht retailer"....

I thought it was bad news that manafont bigan to sell fakes as genuine... but now they sell fakes as fakes. it would be a bit better policy.

I asked them some other questions and also asked if they were going to write 'mimic' on all non-geuine articles, and in that case they could start by writing it on all Solarforce, Romisen, Eneloop, Maxell batteries etc. No answer yet but they changed the Solarforce ones after that.