Thanks Chicken Drumstick 
I’ll be looking at this one:
http://m.banggood.com/Gray-Convoy-C8-Cree-XML2-71358-35-Modes-LED-Flashlight-p-968305.html
It ticks all the boxes, especially being fairly compact and not having to cycle through modes.
There’s 5 designs/choices, which one will be the best?
I’ve noticed that Fast tech sell the smo C8 with the 7135*8 and it’s in stock, if this is a good choice I will order it today as I have some vouchers for FT
I’d go for the XM-L2 T6-3B it’s a nice tint for general use, not too warm, but renders colours so much nicer than cool white emitters.
Just so you know:
XM-L2 = This is the emitter type. Cree offer different emitters of different sizes.
T6 = This is the brightness Bin. Cree group emitters into different categories in brightness. But don’t worry too much, visually it’s almost impossible to see the difference between the higher output bins. Tint is far more important.
3B = This is the tint. Tint is important as you see it every time you use the light, no matter what you shine it at. As a rule the best tints (neutral white’s) with the best CRI (colour rendition index) are not available in the highest brightness bins.
Technically the XM-L2 U2-1A should be the highest output C8 banggood offer. But this will be cool white. Cool white works fine indoors and urban areas. But if you have green foliage or tree’s then NW is so much nicer.
This is a handy chart to gauge what the different tints might look like:
Here is a more real world example:
The Lumitop picture is using a Cool White XM-L2, something in the 1A range.
Will there be a big difference between 3B and 3C? If not, I’d rather just order the 3C from Fast Tech 
I would expect the 3C to be nicer than 3B, but should be fairly close.
Even better, I was expecting it to be worse.
And the smooth surface will be better than OP?
Not a huge difference no. A tad warmer. But should be nice.
Just check FastTech is an XM-L2 and not XM-L.
You also want the 7135*8 driver and make sure it is the 3/5 group one. This driver allows you (via a button click sequence) to select:
H-M-L
or
H-M-L-SOS-Strobe
BTW - I wouldn’t get too hung up on loyalty to these Chinese sellers. Just buy from the one that offers the best deal and isn’t a complete unknown.
FastTech are no better or worse than banggood. I’ve bought from both lots of times.
Do make sure you pay via PayPal however. Covers you if anything isn’t right.
Don’t forget the BLF discount. The code “BLF” will normally get you 5-8% off flashlights at these places.
A smooth reflector will give better throw, but the beam will be less smooth and even. You won’t notice it outside though.
The fast tech one is XM-L, not L2,will this effect things largely?
XM-L is the previous emitter. Very similar to the XM-L2 and the XM-L2 directly replaced it.
There is nothing wrong with the XM-L but just be aware you likely buying old stock and an out dated emitter.
The XM-L2 is more efficient, it’ll put out more lumens for a given current and have better runtimes. Neither of these are by a huge margin, but they exist none the less.
Given this price point I’d go with the XM-L2.
In that case, I’ll order the L2 from banggood
Thanks for everyone’s advice
If you want easy extra throw for your zoomie you can try dedoming the LED. Almost double the throw and add a warmer tint.
Check out the UniqueFire M9. The head and reflector are just a little smaller than the C8, but the reflector is deeper relative to its width and throws better than the C8. As a bonus, it fits better in the pocket.
The Uniquefire M9 looks identical to the Yezl Y6-X reviewed here.
I am pretty sure the image below shows the Uniquefire M9 reflector on the left next to a C8 reflector. I found this image on Aliexpress product page for Yezl Y6-X.
