[REVIEW] Cheap 14500 flashlight with COB light side and little modding

Hello

I wanted to share my experience with this cheap flashlight from GEARBEST. I bought it at 3€ !
http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_674262.html
I didn’t expect much from it at this price tag to be honest. I doesn’t come with 14500 battery and i choose a keeppower protected one because i think the driver is a cheap one.

Quality
The host is maded from aluminum, anodization is good but seems not as good as convoy.
The reflector is in plastic and not very well center drilled (see the pict below)

Output and beam profil:
It is rated 280lm and first impression it’s less. I think 150-200lm range maxi
The beam is also more of a thrower because the led die is very small compared to the reflector. For a EDC light or a “helplight” for my workshop it is not appropriate use. A floody light is better in my opinion (that’s why i modded the led)
Side COB light is very bright and very useful.

Modding:
i found a mcpcb with the same size and swap with a XML LED. Result is that i get double output from the front light and that’s now a floody light. I’m very very satisfied with the new beam. I didnt changed the driver and it does not output lots of amp to the led but the host don’t have any pill of sit for the mcpcb. I think it”s better to keep the led at low amp driven for temp and runtime because of the 14500 capacity.

Runtimes:
I will add here the runtimes

Conclusion
I very very satisfied witht this cheap light. The only cons is the lack of a tailcap magnet!!!

If you have any question don’t hesitate.
I’m sorry for my poor english and i hope you understand me.

Been seeing a bunch of those around the net. Different branding, some skywolfeye.
Thanks for posting this as I have interest in utility lights like these. Good to see it uses a normal 16mm MCPCB.

Definitely would like to see some runtime results.
What modes or sequence and I assume its a tail switch. Hopefully no stupid blinky…

Sorry missed the Video at first. Answered my questions.

yes there is the “stupid” blink mode for the cob side light only.

I also did some runtimes with the 14500 850mah protected keepower

Only side COB light: 47min
Only front XML2 light : 42min

The host heat up to 55°C approx.

Hi mizzou51!
Is there any possibility for you to tell the measures of the reflector, please?
Outside diameter of the top, inside diameter of the hole for the and height if the reflector!

Thank you in advance :+1:

BTW, if you want to had a magnet to the flashlight, you can try to glue a ring magnet (Ex: Convoy store in AliExpress) on the tailcap, or some flat magnets in the clip (using heat-shrink tube)! I made it with almost all my flashlights and it works fine :wink:

Yes for sure i’ll do measurements tomorrow

For the magnet i did order magnets at gearbest and waiting for them. I was thinking to glue them (same idea :wink:

Thank you very much :wink: I’ll be waiting for the information then :wink:

I guess that there are better materials than those I used, but I glued mine in “flat” tailcaps (Manker E11 and Sofirn SP32) with “alpha cyanocrylate” glue. If you want take a look at the results here: What did you mod today? - #3171 by MascaratumB :slight_smile:

Thanks again!! :+1:

here are the specs for the reflector :

Hi mizou51!!
Thank you very much for sending the photos with the measures! It will help a lot in what I have in mind!
Btw, and sorry for this request, can you tell me the height of the reflector, please?
It is not necessary a photo, just the measure please :wink:

And thank you very much once again :+1:

oups i did a wrong copy past. It’s corrected.

Eheh, no problem! Thanks for the help on this!
Just to say, I want to see if the reflector will be suitable to make a mod in another light ! This is the closer I get in terms of measures :wink:
So I think I’ll try to get one of these flashlights, take its reflector and maybe the other one works!

Thanks once again :wink:
Best regards :+1:

Thanks for the review, it’s always nice to see such a thorough review of a truly “Budget” light here on BLF.

I’ve seen these online and thought about ordering one because I like the COB side light, but I was worried it would be complete junk. Looks like it would be worth my time to pick one up and do some easy mods on it.

yeah if you have a 14500 spare battery that’s a very good budget light for home use. Just need to glue a neodynium magnet

Hi mizou51!
I just received a similar flashlight and it is really a deal!
I bought it for 1,84€, so it’s really cheap and pretty good to indoor use!! Especially the COB light! :+1:

The output is not the greatest but I guess this is really good for a cheap light! There would be a lot of things to change, of course, but the UI is the only thing I’d change radically.
Starting on a lower mode and then the higher would be the first thing; then, I’d add the possibility to jump the “front light” modes directly to the COB (as sometimes a more floody light is needed); and perhaps I’d drop the blinks on COB light.

But, overall, I’m quite happy with this, so thanks for your review and comments! And also for the measurings you’ve done!
I’ll probably take the reflector and lens out (to use it in other light), and I’ll put a TIR lens (if I manage to…).

Thanks again :+1:

Thanks for the review. I picked up one of these on AliExpress for ~$2.20. Great for the price. I wish it didn’t have “next mode memory” though.

Good review, just received mine today from Aliexpress. Bought mine for 2$ but it has a stupid “Enjoydeal” branding etched on the host.
Overall it’s a good light for the price but it can’t tail stand, but that’s okay since it can head stand while using COB mode.
It also has the Next mode memory which is very annoying.

Update:
Apparently there is also a zoomable version of this light.

I have taken the current measurements when using an eneloop pro and estimated runtime

Battery - Eneloop Pro 1.2V | 2500mAh | 3Whr

High - 535mA - 0.64W ~4.5Hrs
Low - 150mA - 0.18W ~16Hrs
COB - 565mA - 0.68W ~4.3Hrs

Mine is labeled “probe shinny” ,bought from Alie usd 2,12.
I swaped the led with XP -G2 neutral ,usd 0.79 on Alie , and I am very satisfied how it light up now.

you know any way to disable the cob blinkie? or maybe disable next mode memory?

Sorry but I am not so good to modding ,just swaping leds ,reflectors,drivers……basic .
Hope other members can help , I am interested too.

I got one from Aliexpress and it appears to be a different manufacturer or they are cutting costs. Mine lacks the white bush that sits between the LED and reflector. The tail spring looks smaller and it doesn’t have the 4 holes to unscrew the switch housing. The body looks thinner too

It weighs: 33.96g

Mine has low mode on the cob and flashing on the main LED

Next mode memory just ruins a great light.

Fresh eneloop:

560mA cob low
1.8A main high
(1.8A) flashing main
1.8A cob high

I guess you could just swap the outputs on the driver to have low COB and flashing main or low main and flashing COB

The body allows an AA to rattle around a bit and the driver has “CX-WFL50” printed on the bottom