New TrustFire F25. Nice looking but ¿old led? flashlight

Recently arrived to some HK based shops:

Stainless steel, AA/14500, 3 mode and unknown bin XP-E LED

http://www.szwholesale.com/trustfire-cree-260lumen-stainless-steel-flashlightfcf25-p-3823.html

http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=10861

It's 5-mode unfortunately, not 3-mode I think. It seems to have a nice polished finish. Might have to pick that one up eventually, even if it only has a ~Q5. But I don't want to pay for that useless package, hopefully DX will get it without that and cheaper.

And very heavy: 158 grams.

Sustitute for F22?

By looking at the third picture you can clearly recognise, it's a XP-E Led. It's sure not a R5, but rather a R2 or a Q5. So we can expext about 180 to 200 of useable output. My humble guess.

Looks tempting, even if I am not fond of the styling. Those GITD O rings would get removed at once.

260 lumens sound unlikely for an XP-E - thought the R3 bin was just out for them, not the R5. It certainly looks like an XP-E unless Cree have changed the XP-G packaging which is possible.

Checking the Cree binning document, XP-E R3s are orderable in cool white but not higher bins.

My F22 weighs 102g with no cell in it - 158g is a huge amount more. Especially as it is a lot smaller than the F22 which is 103mmx21mm diameter. I see that SZWholesale say the body diameter is the same but the head and tailcap are larger. It is still a remarkably heavy light if the weight stated is correct.

The spare o-rings are in the middle of the tube.

Just joking

19,92$... is the price lower than when I wrote the original message?

if the weight stated is correct.

The stated (shipping) weight is the one and only spec trustworthy on a HK flashlight spec page. Dimensions are usually ok, esp w/ photo evidence (zeroing has been wrong in the past on the digi-calipers).

Emitter/bin is usually random. Battery type often incorrect, but at least could be verified w/ photo. "Lumens" is mostly dependant on draw current and that usually has no correlation with spec and changes by batch and crap QA anyway. Number of modes is usually correct, type of memory is random so usefulness of mode is likely wise unpredictable.

Basically, your only guarentee with HK retailers is that you'll get something that mostly looks like what's in the photo, and it weighs quite close to what is listed.

Dx have it now at $19.30

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.44962

And comes in a cover, standards have gone up.

Has anyone ordered this?

73g according to DX's specs, a lot lighter than the previous 160-ish grams. Still heavy though, but not as heavy as if the light were made out of lead.

Most likely DX will not be shipping the packaging.

Hmm, so it looks like the low mode is 50 lumens, according to QCG. Too high, although QCG's stats are probably wrong. I should receive my Ultrafire C3 Stainless 3-mode from Manafont tomorrow, and I'll do a full review of it soon. I suspect that it will be superior to this F25. But at the same time, I am halfway considering purchasing the F25. Maybe after some reviews roll in?

I go to pick up mine at the post office tomorrow. I will post my first impressions here, in about 24 hours.

OK thanks a lot!!!!

Great, we'd appreciate a review Matt. Thanks!

As I promessed, I give you here my first impression of the specimen i have got from KD. It didn't come in that box you can see on DX. It was just the usual simple card board box and the bubble wrap. The flashlight is very nice machined, and polished like a mirror. The threads are decent and all the parts are clean (no chips, no dirt). The threads were hyper dry. All o-rings are present and have a decent size. Since there are two on each end of the tube, I think this flashlight is sufficient waterproof to work under water (occasionally, but not to deep). The clicky feels good and works well. It has a nylon retainer ring without the small holes, so it is probably press fit. It has a big sping in the end cap and a protected 14500 fits well. The pill can be unscrewed from the thread side (has two groves), but I didn't do that for now.

The LED is a XPE. I don't have any equipment to confirm if it really is a R2. It has fife modes with real memory. (high-mid-low-strobe-SOS) If it was off for two seconds and then get switched on again, it goes on in the last mode used..

I tested it with a 14500 and a Duracell AA. The max output with the AA primary is about like the mid-mode with the 14500.

The beam has a tight hotspot with something like an unsharp corona around it and medium bright spill, without rings. The reflector is smooth. The hotspot is roughly 15 cm wide in a distance of one meter. Not rally a far-thrower, but it reaches easy 75 meters. I mesured 1100 mA at the end cap, with a 14500 at 4,1 V.

I compared the brightness to a zooming light, that I believe it does around 150 lumens, in a completely dark room. I estimate the output of this flashlight goes around the predicted 200 to 230 lumens. The head feels hot after about 10min on high. Nothing toxic. All my lights, which are driven at 1000 mA and higer do that. So the heat transfer fromt he pill to the housing seems to be fine.

Hey there Matt,

Thanks for the update! Sounds nice. How's the low mode? Any runtime figures on low?

Nice beam colour - up there with the Trustfire F22 as my favourite beam colour. Not yet tried it with NiMH though. Beam colour can vary depending on how an LED is driven.

Not monstrous output, but a throw number that surprises me (6870 lux @ 1m) as it has a wider beam than the R5-A3. 1003 lux on the lightbox with a 14500 - around 180 lumens on high.

Will do more numbers soon.