Thorfire HL1508 Head light review

Disclaimer: The torch was supplied free of charge by Doeracil for review.

The Thorfire HL1508 is a small head light, with a built in 300mAh LiIon cell, and a supplied USB cable for charging. According to the manufacturer the light outputs 55 lumens, 25 lumens or a red strobe, and uses a CREE XPE R2 LED for the main beam. Rather than me ramble on, let’s start with some pretty pictures. :slight_smile:

The light with its strap:

The mode button:

The two red lights:

A view of the rear showing the charging port with the rubber cover removed:

Compared to AA and AAA batteries:

Compared to an old Petzl head torch:

As you can see from the photos, it is rather small, and the case is manufactured from polycarbonate, with a metal joint on the back, and a metal clip. The light can be worn as a head light using the supplied strap, or clipped onto a belt, or a ruck sack strap. The general impression is favourable. This is not a premium light, and it is made from polycarbonate rather than metal, but the mouldings are decent, and it does not feel at all flimsy. The case does not flex when pressed firmly, and I suspect it would tolerate some abuse. I was not prepared to drop test it on a hard surface. I believe the front cover is made from plastic and not glass. The manufacturer does not claim that it is waterproof, although they say that it is splashproof. I’m not sure I would use it in heavy rain, but I can believe it would survive a light drizzle.

The light has one button on the top, made from a transparent rubber. To cycle through mods, press the button. The sequence is off, high, medium, red strobe, off.

The light contains an internal LiIon cell which can be recharged using the supplied USB cable. The USB socket has a small rubber cover to prevent ingress of water and dust. The switch emits an orange glow while charging, and then when charging is complete the light emits a green glow. I ran the light on full mode, to check that it shuts down when the battery is very low, to protect from overdischarge. It does.

Okay, so how does this wee beasty perform? Well not bad actually, and much better than I thought given the modest specifications. The beam on high is fairly neutral with no obvious tint, and fairly smooth, with no rings. There is a slight irregularity, not that you’d notice in normal use. The beam is rather floody, which is not unexpected given the small reflector.

The high mode, whilst no match for my cross country torches, is bright when compared to the torches my neighbours carry for dog walking. You could quite easily use it to locate items in your loft, or for picking some homegrown winter veg after getting back home after dark. The manufacturer claims a runtime on high of 75 minutes. According to the ANSI definition, which has been adopted by most manufacturers, the runtime is defined as the time at which the output drops to 10% of its initial value. My measurements, using a digital light meter, show that the light easily exceeds the ANSI defintion. At 75 minutes the measured brightness was 64% of the initial value. After two hours, the output had dropped to 43% of its initial value, which is far from exhausted! The runtime is shown in the following plot:

The vertical axis units are arbitrary, as I have no means to calibrate my light meter. The horizontal axis units are minutes. As can be seen from the graph, the light continued running for more than two hours, but I stopped taking measurements at 2 hours and 5 minutes.

I cannot measure the total light output but the manufacturers claim of 55 lumens is believable, though obviously that is the initial value on a fully charged battery. The low mode is claimed to last 4 hours. I did not take any measurements, but I see no reason not to believe them, given their conservative estimate of the runtime on high. Rather uniquely this light includs a red strobe mode, whereby two red LEDs flash. This mode is claimed to last 72 hours, so you could for example use it as a beacon for your tent when out camping in the wilds. It might also prove useful as an emergency beacon, if you have to call for help.

Pros
Small, light, nice beam, runtime on high exceeding the manufacturers specification, inexpensive.

Cons
Plastic casing, modest brightness, poor output regulation, brief instruction manual written in poor English.

Summary
This is a nice, small inexpensive light, well suited to general tasks such as dog walking or footling about in the loft, where you need both hands free. It would also make a nice emergency torch in case of blackouts. It is not as tough as metal torches, but neither is it delicate, and it should survive regular light use given reasonable care.

Please note that as mentioned at the start, the light was supplied by the manufacturer, free of charge, as a representative example.

At the time of writing the torch is available from Doeracil on the Amazon web site for approximately £10. I have given this light 4 stars out of a total of 5, as I think it offers very good performance and value for a modest sum of money.

I will add some beam shots in the next day or two.

Nice review Leif, I got a couple of their 2 x 18650 headlamps last week & although “plasticy” was fairly impressed with them for £11 each.
It would be nice to see Thorfire do a metal headlamp to a similar build quality/standard to say their C8s but at their usual value for money price.

Thanks BH. Yes a metal version with a 14500 or 18650 battery would be nice. I feel this head lamp is more for casual users, than ‘obsessives’ such as ourselves. :slight_smile: The C8s does stand out in my view.

Care to put up some photos of your lights?

Huh. It looks a bit thick, and the design seems to be a bit dated for what it is. Very plain, with little thought for aesthetics in the construction. And I’m not one who’s usually picky on such things. Not what I would call “sleek” by any means; definitely has a budget-look to it.

I’d like to see more tear-down photos of the inside, and especially info on the cell included. I prefer my AA-powered headlamp; I can recharge my own NiMH cells, and use alkaline cells anytime the rechargeable are not convenient.

I like some of Thorfire’s other offerings, and have the TG05…
http://www.amazon.com/Thorfire-ThorFire-LED-Flashlight/dp/B0183HCYSC
…currently on my Amazon wishlist. Unfortunately, I missed the recent sale on that model and it’s price has gone up since. It’s the closest I’ve seen to a AA-sized S2 host so far.

I think the built in charging is excellent for a light in this price range. The fact is, most of us have a USB cable in our cars, so this is great for an emergency.

Looking forward to your beamshots…

I”ll see about putting up some pics later, please don”t laugh :wink:

I presume it is intended to be functional.

What do you want to know about the battery? I don’t want to break the light as I intend to give it away so that it gets regular use. I already have enough lights. :slight_smile:

I’ve also had a look at the Thorfire HL1508 this is the first dedicated good quality / high powered headlamp I’ve had, all of the previous ones have had 5mm LEDs in them and frankly this blows them out of the water.

As noted it is made from plastic and is lightweight but the plastic is all good quality, despite the light weight it doesn’t feel cheap or fragile. One unsual feature is the red strobe mode which means you can use it as a safety light when you’re on your bike, I’ve not seen that on a headlamp before.

The strap unclips from the back of the light (it can be a little fiddly but that means it won’t fall off the strap accidentally) and then there is a second clip which you can clip it to a shirt pocket, belt or baseball cap peak.

Overall I was impressed, the combination of a genuine Cree LED, built in lithium ION battery make it a good light for the money.

These are some of them.
From left unbranded 3 watt cree, I have 6 of these dotted around the house & my camper van & have modified them to run on an 18650 instead of the 3 x aaa.
A telescopic 3 x led light with a magnet pick up pad.
2 Ultrafire 18650 zoomies (just like the Lumitac, Meko etc)
Convoy S2+ 6*7135 CW
2 Thorfire C8s
Thorfire S70
2 Thorfire 2 x 18650 motion sensing headlamps
Fenix HP11 headlamp.
I also have an Olight H35 wave headlamp & half a dozen cheap Chinese ebay headlamps both 1 x 18650 & 2 x 18650 which are mainly clones of LED Lensers.


Agree on all accounts.

Good to see that someone releases something similar to Fenix last years HL05, this beats Fenix in battery department with built in battery vs 2xCR2016 in HL05.
I rather have rechargeable battery than constantly replace CR2016 and recycle them properly(we have only recycling in form of alkaline boxes in stores locally).

The only downside could be its bulkiness(appears to be bit too thick, HL05 wins in this regard) and lack of constant red mode not just blinky!

Thanks Bella. I also agree with ReManG. It’s not for me, but I can see it appealing to a lot of people. As an aside, would people recommend leaving this charging unattended given the small battery and internal charger, or should it be watched?

Beam shot added. For some reason my files were moved to a different folder!!! I have moved them back so they are visible again.