Comparison: Trustfire Z1 vs. Ultrafire H2b

After a long time – here is my review. English isn’t my mother tongue – maybe I use some words which aren’t perfect.

Here are two small lights, which I bought of Dinodirect
Trustfire Z1 and Ultrafire H2b



Brand

LED

batterietyp

modes

special

Trustfire Z1

Cree XP-E Q5

16340, CR123

3 (high, low, strobe)

GITD o-ring, tailcap

clip

Ultrafire H2b

Cree XR-E Q5

AA, 14500

2 (high, SOS)

magnet in the tailcap, ramping*

clip, headband


*Ramping: Some people know this function of the Solarforce Skyline 2. If you press the power button, the brightness will dim down to a extrem low and than goes back to high. If you find your perfect brightness, get off the button and the brightness will be saved.

The next time you start the flashlight, it has this brightness.


Pros: Z1

  • Nice throw
  • Everywhere GITD (o-rin, tailcap)
  • Small and a really nive color
  • Great price

Cons: Z1

  • Some small dents

Pros: H2b

  • Ramping mode
  • Build qualitty

Cons: H2b

  • To floody and not enough range, if you need for biking



Boxing:
Trustfire Z1
I have never seen a trustfire box, but here it is.
The range of 500 meter is ridiculous.


I order the H2b to late (a lot of other users bought it earlier and get the nice blue box – it was a group buy of Dinodirect) and get only the flimsy package. But I know of my new H3B the nice blue box. I think this is a good one if you give the flashlight to someone as a present.



Design / Build Quality:


Z1:

Dimension:69mm x 22mm (38mm with reflector an clip)
All O-rings are GITD and the tailcap, too. The HongKong shops say, that it has 280 lumen.
A CREE XP-E Q5 LED is built in and it has a SMO reflector. Measurement: Begins with 1,54A an decrease within 5 seconds to 1,04A/0,21A (high/mid) – 280 lumen are really oberrated. Without the reflector it`s similar bright as the H2b.

It has some small dents and the or-rings aren't lubed, but nothing really bad. It has a great grey color (I do not prefer black lights).


H2b:

All o-rings lubed well and the light can be opened really smooth.

It has a CREE XR-E Q5 LED.
Measurement: 14500 Li-Ion / AA batterie: 0,76A/0,79A 0,03A/0,03A high/low

The build quality is good and the magnet in the bottom is great (take a look at the picture).

My camera is an old one and I couldn’t make good beamshots (try it sometimes but the are very bad). The result is, that I do not present some, because they don’t show the real brightness.


Modes

Z1:
3 modes: High, mid, strobe
Therer are a lot of rings in the beam. The rang of the beam is extremly good. I haven’t expect this, but I love it. Such a small flashlight and then this great range. It’s a great little thrower.

If you need more flood (for example in the tent if you camping), turn off the reflector.

After a few minutes on high, the light become warm, but not hot.

H2b:
2 modes: High, SOS
You have to put he power button twice to activate the sos mode.

It has also the gret ramping mode.
I love it. You can select the brightness you want – that’s perfect.
The H2b has no refelector (like many zebralights, too) and the light is really floody.


If you turn up the reflector of the Trustfire Z1, the beam is really similar.


Small defects. I bought two of each light and each light has similar defects.

Ultrafire H2b defects:
You can see the defect in the HAII inside of the tube

Trustfire Z1 defect:
Some small dents around the head.



Both lights are small. nice lights, but I prefer the Z1. It's nice to have it in the pocket and the beam is awesome for such a small light. If you need more flood, turn off the refelctor.

The runtime isn't really long, because the capacity of a 16340 isn't great. But it should not replace a really flashlight on a night walk. For 20-25 walk, it's ok and place it in the car with a CR123 batterie. You get a nice light, for a little budget.

I love it :)

Great review, thanks for sharing.

+ 1

Hmm... I didn't know if I really wanted to get into 16340 lights until I read your review.. Thanks!

nice review, thanks!

the ultrafire reminds me of Zebralight headlamps. but i cant tell who copied the design from whom. ultrafire is much longer in business than Zebralight which is a very young US-company.

so maybe Zebralight copied this design from ultrafire.

@kreisler: Could you please post that last statement at CPF?.... pretty please?

yah sure. lemme find the cpf thread..

EDIT: found it

Surprised nobody's gone boom yet. Or deleted the post.

While Zebralight is only about 6 years old, there was nothing on the market remotely like the H50 when it appeared 6 or so years ago. I bought one at the time - it wasn't a budget light but is probably the only light from that time that I still use. And use almost daily.

It's a nice theory, but the Ultrafire is definitely a Zebra clone rather than the other way around.

r u sure that Zebralight is that old already? They're older than EagleTac and 4Sevens then!!

btw, i *love* squirrels. this is one of my fav's haha

nice share

I thought squirrels were dangerous wild animals.

Now I want a pet squirrel! ;)

Nice pictures! Thanks, Buwuve.

They are. :D

In all seriousness though, they can be rather aggressive and territorial (females in particular). A buddy's kid has a flying squirrel (not the one in the video though) and they absolutely will try to hurt you if they perceive as a threat.

Thanks very much for the interesting comparison! Frontpage'd and Sticky'd.

Thats a nice squirrel the dog is really well behaved too...

I paid $10 extra to get mine with a Q5 instead of a P4, the Q5 had just come out as I remember. It was my first Q5 light. Can't be absolutely certain of the timing, but my memory says late 2006. They are considerably older than the 4Sevens brand - it was called the Fenix Store at the time. My memory says EagleTac is around the same age but I'm not certain.

We have problems with grey squirrels here - the native red ones are being displaced by the American grey ones which carry squirrel pox which is harmless to the greys and lethal to the reds. The reds aren't "really" native, they were brought in by the Romans as food 2000 years ago - the greys appeared in the nineteenth century. The reds are a protected species here, Aberdeenshire council feeds contraceptives to every grey one it can catch. Apparently this is more effective than just killing them. In the grounds of the hospital I work in, the greys have replaced the reds in the last ten years.

The reds are far cuter and cooler than the greys. Incredible creatures they are. Charming and delightful. Nice job you have!

ha. i got finally banned (for posting DX or manafont links). i like it better here anyway haha

@OP

sorry for hijacking your thread. too much offtopic i know lol ;)

Thanks for the review buwuve, nice job.

kreisler and Vectrex are going straight to Surefire hell lol! I'll see you there guysWink

Completely agree. I have several of these; http://www.dealextreme.com/p/stylish-cree-q5-310-lumen-3-mode-led-flashlight-adjustable-angle-1x14500-1xaa-102522. Now I'd never buy an angle light without tail magnet. Fenix and Zebralight have saved me a lot of money

gorann, I'll PM you. It'd be a bit cheeky of me to do a mini review in buwuve's review thread

I got the z1 and love it ,your review isbdead accurate