XinTD C8
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★★
Summary:
Battery: |
1 x 18650 Protected & NON-protected |
Switch: |
Reverse Clicky |
Modes: |
High - Med - Low |
LED Type: |
Cree XM-L T6 NW |
Lens: |
Glass |
Tailstands: |
Yes |
Price Payed: |
$31.94 |
From: |
|
Date Ordered: |
25/2/12 (Received – 13/3/12) |
Pros:
Price, imo this is the new best VFM 18650 available
No Flashy modes
Well spaced High and medium, sensible 2.8A drive on high
Good tint
High frequency PWM
Tailstands
Low voltage cutout at ~3v
Cons:
Finish a little rough
Low could be lower
This light will obviously be compared to all the other C8 lights but in my collection it will be mainly compared to what i considered the next step up, the Ultrafire 980L as reviewed by the master of reviewers on here, Foy (https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/2284).
Features / Value: ★★★★★
Compared to a average C8 so well liked by budget flashaholics this refines the genre by doing away with bad PWM and flashy modes but adding a tint to your liking.
This shows the PWM difference:
This compares the tint:
Tried to do the mouse over but failed lol, this is colour comparision with ceiling bounce (not sure if this is useful but i was interested how it would turn out), 980 first:
This is control, lit by several 60w household lamps
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★☆
Emitter is well centered, and an almost flawless reflector:
The driver and spring which seems to be upside down but im sure its meant to be this way so hey (ignore the random bit holding it up):
Build quality is OK, this is the biggest nod to the budget nature of this light, a few marks on the body, infact enough that I get the impression most will be suffering some flaws but you may get lucky.
Threads feel good and come lubed, everything was tight and rattle free on delivery.
The tailcap has a small lanyard hole (no good for Paracord, sort-of cocktail stick sized) in one location only so use may interfere with tailstanding.
Battery Life & Heat managment: ★★★★☆
[Added 1-5-12]Full run on Panasonic 3100mAh netted a 76minute runtime to cut-off, noticeable dimming occured in the second half even by eye alone. The test was fan cooled and head of light peaked and held around 30C
Sanyo unprotected 18650, start at 4.18 down to approx 3v (cutout flashed by torch) was a few minutes under an hour on full.
20C = 68F
45C = 113F
55C = 131F
60C = 140F
This is a few seconds after the light dropped output and started flashing, the battery voltage was 3.05 seconds after removal (so you'll have to guess the voltage underload(sag) it cut-off at im afraid)
Light Output: ★★★★☆
Output is going to be similar to any other C8 driven to 2.8amps, which is probably the sweet-spot to keep heat to a manageable level and minimise sag. Other cheaper C8s may compare favourably for short time driven at 3+amps but I have bigger lights for hot-rod performance that will not suffer with the heat/time constraints thus caused.
Unprotected Panasonic 3100mha @4.185vdc h=2.78a m=0.88a l=0.15a
Protected Senybor 2600mha @4.164vdc h=2.79a m=0.88a l=0.14a
DMM calibrated
Summary: ★★★★★
A light that imo earns a stunning 5 star review due to the value for money, it is simply the EDC budget light of this size/battery class. I urge anyone in the market for a C8 to stump up the extra few dollars and plump for this one, you wont regret it!
Thankyou for reading
Please rate the light if you own it :