Review: POPPAS W-878 Flood-To-Throw From Manafont

Summary:

Battery:

1 x 26650 or 3 x AAA or 1 x 18650 with battery holders included
Switch: Tailcap
Modes: 5, Hi - Med - Low - Strobe - SOS
LED/Output: XM-L T6 / 1200 Lumen (CW)
Lens/Reflector: Aspheric lense
Tailstand:

Yes

Price paid: US$ 16.67
Date Ordered: 26 March, 2012
From: POPPAS W-878

DIMENSIONS:

  • Head Diameter Widest Point: 40.54 mm
  • Total Length Zoomed out: 14.44 cm
  • Total Length Zoomed in: 16.1 cm
  • Battery tube & switch width: 31.77 mm
  • Driver diameter: 17 mm

Pros: ★★★★★

  • Flood-To-Throw
  • Easy acess to driver and led
  • Fits well in your hands
  • Cheap
  • O-rings
  • CW tint
  • 17 mm driver, so you could easily swap it for a 3 mode driver like a NANJG 105C
  • Good first zoomy
  • Good flood
  • Throws well
  • lanyard
  • Tail stands
  • Runs on multible battery types 1 x 26650 or 1 x 18650 with the included spacer or 3 x AAA with the included battery holder

Cons: ★★★

  • Cheap
  • Very under-driven (could be my DDM or could easily put in a 3 or 3.5 amp driver like a NANJG 105C)
  • Lense is glued
  • Led not centered (I was able to fix that see pictures)
  • No holster
  • No spare O-rings
  • driver spring not 100% centered
  • Battery spacer to small but does work
  • AAA battery holder to small but does work

Light Output: ★★★★

This flashlight has great flood and throw's well.

Current Draw from tail cap: ★★★

1 x 18650Redilast 2600 mAh 1.53 amps on high

1 x Trustfire 26650 5000 mAh 1.68 amps on high

3 x AAA Alkaline's 0.6 amp (used cheap no name brand)

With my cheap DMM with skinny standard leads, might read higher with moddified leads, this same meter gives me around 1.6 amps for my ultrafire P60 drop ins where most others are getting 3 amps. I feel a 3 mode 3 amp driver swap comming on.

Replacement drivers: ★★★★★

NANJG 105C, NANJG 105A, KD 8 x 7135 V2, AMC7135 x 8 or any other 17mm driver of your choice.

Summary: ★★★★

Great for my first zoomy really good flood and throws decent in my opinion, excellent for general purpose use and would be easy to mod. I really like that it runs on multible batteries 1 x 26650 or 1 x 18650 with the included spacer or 3 x AAA with the included battery holder

A few pictures:

Screw In Pill

Zoomed Out

Zoomed In

Aspheric Lense & Bezel

Thanks benckie. How is the zoom? Stiff? Does it stay in place if the light is jarred/shaken? Does it make a good flooder? How wide is the beam on flood (say at 3m distance)?

-Garry

Thanks Benckie for the review! Frontpage'd and Sticky'd.

Seems like a good mod light. However, I can't really get over the looks. I would probably never buy this light based on that alone. :) Poppas W-838 looks much better, esp. the grey/titanium one.

Poppas W-838 black

Poppas W-838 grey/titanium

I don't mind the looks, but wonder if a twist zoom would hold it's zoom tighter. I also like the 26650 ability. I'm considering adding a good flooder to my collection. Could even have a good use for it if it runs ok on 3AAA's (decent brightness with decent runtime).

-Garry

Hi Garry

To me the zoom is good it is stiff, it does stay in place when shaken hard or banged against my hand, it is a sliding zoom, not twist. It has a very wide floodly beam up close, i will have to take some measurments for you later its 12:18 am here im off to bed.

How dim is it on 3AAA's? (Can you compare to another light?) What about runtime on 3AAA's?

Thanks,
Garry

P.S. Don't let the bed bugs bite!

Why would you give this light such a good rating if it is very underdriven?

If that is the case, then its practically useless. An XR-E works way better for flood to throws, so if you are gonna drive an emitter at only 1 amp, mine as well be an XR-E, or XP-E. The emitter is cheaper and works better.

If it pulled 2.5 amps it would be quite nice. One of the reviews said that it did. Your measurements are kind of disappointing though, and more likely to be typical/accurate.

Too bad. Maybe one of these days someone will decently drive a flood to throw light at the same level as all the fixed focused XM-Ls...

I think Benckie's amperages are off. See this:

This has been the case with other amperages he has measured. I'm not saying expect it to be driven at 3A! The way I understand it, the XM-L still gives a much wider flood which is what I would want. Probably also more efficient (more lumens at less current draw) resulting in longer battery life (again, my interest).

-Garry

Thanks for the review benckie!

Beacuse it has huge flood and throws well and puts out as much light as my L2P with an ultrafire 3 mode drop in. When white wall hunting this seams brighter, more intense and throw's further.

You could always put in a KD 8 x 7135 V2 and drive it 3 + amps for an extra cost of $4.79 shipped if you brought one and found it is under driven, then you could get rid of the s.o.s and strobe modes, money well spent IMO to have no strobe and s.o.s modes.

Im with you here Garry, plus i can not say 100% my DMM readings are acurate and i still can not find my fluke DMM since i moved house in december.

I got up early this morning and had a play with this torch, inside my house at 3 meters from a white wall the beam is too wide it lights up the wall, the roof and the floor making it hard to get a measurment @ 3 meters.

I had the same problem out side, my walls are only 2.5 meters tall if that helps. It gives out more of a wider throw then my TR-3T6 at the same distance to me thats impressive.

It is slightly dimmer on 3 AAA's then li-on's, i have compaired it to a ultrafire 3 mode drop in and a trustfire A8 when white wall hunting it seam's to still be brighter and it still give's out a wider beam then my TR-3T6 it must be the aspherical lense. Estimated run time on 3 x 1000 mAh AAA,s is 75 min's.

I picked this one cause i dont mind the looks, it was cheaper and becuase it has more battery options, i like that it can run of 26650 batteries giving it the longest run time.

Thanks benckie! Sounds awesome to me! A great flooder with some decent runtime and brightness on AAA's! Now I'm off to bed.

-Garry

Nice review. I like the fact it takes a 26650 battery. That screw-in pill looks like it'll help dump heat, so upgrading the driver should be no problem.

I rarely find "AAA" and "decent runtime" as compatible. Normally not used in the same sentence.

See the review posted on Manafont's product page - it says it pulls 2.5A from a TF 26650. I'm going ahead and ordering one. Would like to have it in my hands before June 3rd (my upcoming camping trip).

-Garry

Some one else on here said they got 2.8 amps

I posted that manafont review. With the varying results reported here, I thought I should do a retest. Here's what I found:

- TF 26650 after what seemed like light use: 1.8-2.0 A (I decided to recharge the battery and test again.)

- TF 26650 hot off the charger: 2.5-2.8A

I tried some 18650s that I had around and they were all in the 1.8-2.0 range. I'm topping off a TF "flame" 2400 now to see how it does fresh off the charger. UPDATE: 2.1A fresh from the charger.

Results are with a Craftsman 82345 Multimeter with the stock leads.

I was who had 2.8A, here was the review: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/7687

I don't find it ugly, maybe because I am uglier? Haha.

For the price it is a good light, I replaced the retaining metal ring by a rubber o-ring and feel much better now for cents.

Thanks for the confirmation & update ronparr. I'm still ok with it driven at 2A. Once I receive mine I'll try and remember to update this thread with my results (don't hold your breathe though!). I'm even ok with a driver swap if deemed necessary.

Thanks yavi. I remember now reading that review, but forgot about it until just now.

-Garry

Just now received my Poppas W-878 26650 - order placed 4/26/12, shipped 4/27/12, received today 5/7/12 - just 11 days. Haven't tried a battery in it yet. I just received my King Kong INR26650, and it needs charged up.

First impressions: kinda rough on quality - rough threads that seem like they would easily cross-thread. Missing o-rings (at bezel and on main body to head connection). Slider is stiff, but does feel like it's scraping metal as it slides. +B spring at backside of the driver is off-center. The 3AAA & the 18650 spacer are much narrower than the body of the light so they will rattle significantly - need wrapped with something to make them fit better. Not too bad for the price.

-Garry