Budget Ultrafire 18650 zoomie, available in many colours...

Well, a friend of mine asked me yesterday for me to choose him a cheap decent flashlight (his car refused to work when he tried to return home, it was nighttime and told me he missed having my SA-9 to look under the hood :open_mouth: ). The budget: ā‚¬15-20 (Ā±$20-27) for the torch, battery(es) and charger. The cheaper the betterā€¦
I was wondering if someone here had some feedback for this flashlight:

Ultrafire CREE XM-L T6 2000lm 5 Modes Zoomable LED Flashlight
It looks cool and has very positive feedback on BangGood. Also on eBay for around the same $$$, selling like hotcakes.

Suggestions welcome. Price should be at or below $10, as the remaining funds are for a charger and a couple of decent (non *fire) Li-Ions.

Cheers

WOW...how much meat is in them, look quite thin, which means running very much power thru the driver will make them run pretty hot.

Any shots of the pill?

Not a zoomie but any of the Convoy S* series from FT will be a better deal, I too liked the zoomie Sipik SK-98 but when I got my Convoy I knew it was a MUCH better flashlight

Your mileage may vary though

But you can't beat that price...unless they are junk

Well, even if some light throughput is lost due to optic inneficiencies, zooming is a must.
My first Saik SA-9 left my friends jaw dropping in awe at its throw (happens if youā€™ve never seen something alike). One of ā€™em borrowed itā€¦ to never be seen again |( .

These look good also:
Ultrafire SG-8 CREE XM-L T6 1000LM 5 Modes Zoomable Flashlight
UltraFire KC-01 CREE XM-L T6 3 Modes Zoomable LED Flashlight
ā€¦ but donā€™t ship in different colours :bigsmile: .

Noticed there are at least 3 or 4 clones of the SA-9 at BangGood (Trustfire, ThorFire, noname CREE,ā€¦). One of them advertises an XM-L T6 inside, wonder how it deals with the extra led heat (if properly driven).

Nothing yet decided but getting one of those slim colour unitsā€¦ not a great loss if it ends up being a piece of crap.

Cheers

SG-8 looks like a Sipik SK98 clone, the KC-01 looks like an clone as well

I have a SH98 from FT, very bright and decent throw, gets pretty warm pretty fast on high, same for the KC-01, but is also very bright

Either or, they do well, jack of all trades master of none due to the Convex lens diffusing some of the light but they do darn good for the price

I like them but have found better flashlights for just a little more...but they aren't zoomies

I did do the pencil lead trick across the capacitor on the drivers making it reset back to high within 5-10seconds of being switched off instead of the next mode memory junk

Another thing that worries meā€¦ is not knowing if these flashlights will fit protected cells. Iā€™ll have to order a couple of brand new 18650 li-ions, and Iā€™m not sure which ones to get, protected or unprotected, for that reason. Iā€™d get protected but if I do and they donā€™t fitā€¦ LOL :smiley:
To start with, my old cheap 18650 charger wonā€™t fit 69-70mm cells, 68 at most Iā€™ve measured (daaaaaarrn). What a mess!

Iā€™d buy the SK98 instead if I were you, just because its a tested model, seems to have thicker walls and is cheaper. The pill is sometimes hollow in these though in bad models, look around for the best versions people have found on this site.

Is your friend a flashaholic? 18650 lithium cells are IMHO not a safe, user friendly
choice for ā€œnon-aficianadosā€.

I was thinking the same thing, doesnā€™t look like much in the way of heat sinking.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Camping-CREE-XM-L-T6-1800Lumen-Zoom-Flashlight-Torch-Lamp-Light-for-18650-AAA-/181288931004?pt=US_Flashlights&var=&hash=item2a35a98ebc

I won one of those from that same seller (A silver one) for less than $7.00 with free shipping and Iā€™m impressed. Using 3 alkaline AAAā€™s in it would make it a lot more car heat and cold friendly. It takes 26650 with no adapter. But comes with 18650 and AAA adapters.

- Joe

Well, heā€™s a complete n00b with regards to flashlights and/or batteries. Already told him li-ion batteries are not foolproof: shouldnā€™t be deeply discharged, discharged too fast, short-circuitedā€¦ can ignite a fire, explode, etc.
He may be a bit sloppy but is far from being stupid and learns fast, so a few advices here and there should be enough I think.

Review: Sipik SK98 from Tmart
Performance of that one was less than stellar, so the SG-8ā€¦ :~

As for the 875ā€¦ the sellerā€™s shop is empty and he has no items listedā€¦ weird.

Thereā€™s plenty of time for me to take a decision anyway, weā€™re not in a rush. And Iā€™ve had enough of peeking at flashlights for today (I hope :wink: ) :weary:

Cheers

There are few zoomies that are good performance in both flood and zoom mode, due to the fact there is no reflectors in them and the light that doesn't go thru the optic more or less bounces around and creates a blurry ring around the throw. Like I said, they are jack of all trades, masters of none, for GP use the SK98 is a great light (I have the SH98 clone), very bright, but you still need to put some thermal compound or NOALOX on the threads to help wick the heat out of the pill to the body.

Due to the design weaknesses I highly doubt you could push the XM-L at 2800mA without it getting way to hot to fast, even if you used a copper Noctigon under the LED, there just ain't anywhere for all that heat to go.

I plan on modding mine, getting a Nanjg 4*7135 101-AK-A1 (w/ a 20mm pcb adapter), putting STAR firmware on it, and trying not to use the high mode as much as possible

Ultrafire W-878

Would be my recommendation. I have an Ultrafire SK-98 but prefer the W-878 by far. Beefier Tail cap, Beefier Body and a much better beam pattern overall IMHO

Welcome to BLF Deaver!

What modes does that flashlight has? Only one?

Cheers

URL says 5 modeā€¦

YEZL M2 with charger and battery (donā€™t ask about the quality) for $11.68 from wallbuys next viphourseckill event!!!
then replace the led and driver for additional 6-7$ and that is it, you have a flashlight for under 20$ with charger and psuā€¦

The flashlight from the OP will do the job if you check that the led-board touches the rim of the (hollow) pill well enough, perhaps add some thermal paste. It has indeed very little 'meat' but I guess it is not driven very hard, so that should not be a problem. Threading is rough, it is very cheaply made, but optically it is exactly the same as the sk98, and I actually like the light-weight and small size of this light. For daily heavy use I would not recommend it (than I would actually recommend the 11 dollar Cofly light from dx that I did a review on), but to keep in the glove-box for incidental use it is nice enough (I do not really see the problem with Li-ions in the car, if you use panny's, they are tested not to vent up to -if I rembember well- 150degC and more).

+1 on the battery options on this light although I have only used 18650. Protected cells fit fine. I got a blue one from Banggood just for the colour and see if they were worth getting the set. The light output is decent enough for this type of zoomie but nothing special. Does get a little warm but not too bad and I dont think thats a good thing although I havenā€™t pulled mine apart.The walls are very thin and I dont think it would take long to damage it, especially in a car. Coating looks good but it scratches easy so I dont think itā€™s actually annodized just paint. Lense in mine rattles and doesnt fit well. I wont be buying another. The sk68ā€™s or clones are more sturdy and almost as bright without going lithium unless you run them on 14500ā€™s.

You might consider one of those flashlights that have a built in charger, preferably via Micro USB. This makes the light way easier to use and not have to keep track of special charger.

Here are a few examples:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Generic-TL10WO-Ozark-Trail-Ultra-Bright-LED-Flashlight-750-Lumens/29341480

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2014-Rechargable-Flashlight-USB-Cree-LED-Lamp-Zoom-Charger-2000-Lumen-Tactical-/221387438360

or this last one that I personally bought:
http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10002464/1181701-jinheng-2-in-1-cree-t6-5-mode-900-lumen-rechargeab

Does it have to be XML? If you want to consider XPE then BIC has similar model with XPE for much cheaper at $4.60:

http://www.buyincoins.com/item/29943.html

When I got it, it instantly gained its way into my main toolbox, and has been there since its purchase. It has not much to brag about in performance but it just have that ā€œgrabā€ factor.

It also has no visible PWM on both high/low. Great for working under the hood without distraction. And it dissipates heat well - can run on high until battery drained. I am not sure about the XML version though.