I imagine there will be one along shortly - surprised there wasn't one announced on the same day as the single mode.
In other news, DX has broken their sorting function, so I can no longer sort by release date for the flashlight category. I think it was intentional, because now we have to look through all the new releases, and they expect that some other product will catch our eye.
I always look at the new arrivals RSS feed. Didn't realise that you could sort the lights by release date. Well, you clearly can't now. I use their search quite a bit though. Or more often the list of my orders.
The RSS is a nice feature. To bad kaidomain doesnt have one, or at least I couldnt find one.
Will write a review at some point. Meanwhile here are some pictures. The threads were lightly - i.e., correctly, lubricated which is nice. It came in a huge box that could have held four of these.
The business end. As you can see, an EZ900 XR-E. The reflector does not fully tame the Cree ring till about 2 metres. You'll never notice it unless white wall hunting. The dust on it wasn't there when it arrived - it has been knocking around in my work bag since it arrived.
Other side of emitting end. Soldering is neater than I usually manage. Humans in China are almost always cheaper than machines. These were almost certainly hand-soldered. There's enough for the threads to bite in to which should make contact reliable - this is a very big issue on the older ones. In fact the extension tube has a lot more threads than the older ones and appears not to be compatible with them though the threads are the same - this version is way better.
The long, slender light with its cells to keep it company. I'm not fond of the 2AA form factor but this one is neater than most.
We have a cupboard under the stairs at work with no lighting - this was just fine to light it up for myself, a nurse and a patient while we looked for an electric candle. (Don't ask)
The tailcap. It does tailstand and would tailstand better if the lanyard were removed. It was tailstanding on top of a door for the ceiling beamshot. Slightly unusual these days to see a plain black, non-GITD switch cover. Not sure if I'll put a more colourful one in there or not. At least no weird date codes or anything on this one.
Other end of the switch assembly - not had it apart yet. Pretty standard fare by the look of it.
Nothing appears to be glued - apart from the reflector that appears not to want to come off the LED.
More disassembly
Single cell configuration (Under an hour's runtime). Seem better (or at least deeper) engraving. I sorta like the subtle effect it gives. Having dug out the trusty 30x magnifier, the engraving and painting is very sharp - much better than usual. I think the engraving was deliberate but until there are more of them out there it is hard to say.
Just to show that it works.
That lot was much more fun than the rest of my day. I really should have stayed in bed and phoned in for hibernation leave - it would be handy not to have to come out till the squirrels do. But I doubt they'd pay me....
Dragged out a few lights into the cold. Sadly the moon came out to play - terrible light pollution just above the apple tree. Took the new C3 with two NiMH, an old C3 with 2 NiMH and the Hugsby P32 with an NiMH
Control - quite dark and cloudy despite its being a full moon a couple of days ago.
New C3. The washing line shows up nicely. I got sick or rubbish rope and replaced it with some LSZH solid core ethernet cable. That stuff doesn't rot or break and means I know where to go when I need some thin copper wire.
New C3 pointed at top of apple tree - guesstimated as about 60-65 feet. The base of the apple tree is measured at 17m - a bit over 50 feet. The apples are very, very sour and won't be ripe till late November/early December.
Control 2 - "the moon has put his hat on, hip, hip, hip hooray, the moon has put his hat on and he's coming out to play". Wonder if the non-Brits know that one?
Old C3 - also running two Eneloops. Same exposure for all of these shots - as you can see there is a large difference. The old C3 is pulling 2.5A from a pair of Eneloops so with an amp more it is pushing a lot less light. On the lightbox it is giving me 725 lux or about 130 lumens - best I've got is 140 with 2 NiMH - the cells tested were the ones used in this light for these shots.
Aimed at the top of the tree
Control 3 as the moon comes out to play still - or rather the clouds which have comprised my view of the sky for most of the last week have decided to have a rest. That is actually only a tiny part of the moon visible.
Hugsby P32 High - again on NiMH
This time aimed at the top of the tree
The low is barely worth showing as it doesn't look much different from the control at this exposure.
Yes, the abysmal Website is what’s keeping me from ordering a lot of stuff from them. When it comes to DIY parts, they have a much better selection than DX, but it is really hard to find what you are looking for. Even text search won’t work properly because a lot of the product names are misspelled. Pity, really…
Yep, me too, -1 for KD's website. Their search function is awful, and they have no sorting capabilities for anything.
In my case, my billing address and shipping address are different. KD turns it into an ordeal that requires manual intervention by a KD worker. Focalprice has the same issue, although their website is a million times nicer than KD's.
Trying to hide all your flashlight purchases form your girlfriend/wife? Dont worry, I wont tell. LOL!
Another great review. Thanks Don!
:) Not that desperate yet! I'm a proud flashlight user. $)
It seems there is a workaround.
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=294389
"Try selecting the page after sorting, i.e:
Choose Flashlights. By default, "Release Date" seems to be active, but it isn't. Now press on the page 1 button.
Hope this helps."
Thanks for the pictures, Don. I guess I’ll have to add a couple of C3s to my collection. For some reason, I’ve always been partial to grayish or red brass finish and on more than once occasion, I would have bought a light if there had been some option other than black. I guess Henry Ford and I would not have been drinking buddies. 
As for the DX bug, it’s an old one. I’m not sure if they fixed and recently reintroduced it or if it’s still unfixed but the problem has been around forever. I vaguely remember Astroitboy saying that he had it on his to-do list about a year or a year and half ago but it never bothered me enough to follow up on it.
Hi there!
A short OT info to DX's malfunctioning sorting option:
If the lights don't get sorted properly if you click on "release date" try to add a "~" at the and of the adress, like this:
http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.999~
Don't know how or why but seems to work fine for me.
Damn, that new c3 is about the brightest I"ve seen in budgetland for AA's. Almost as bright as well driven lithium.
Here are the lights that beat it from the ones I've tested.
Fusion 36 dropin 3D NiMH 1399 1382 1348 251 248 242 2430
Uniquefire L2 w DX 5 mode R5 dropin 2 RCR123 1437 258 0 0
Lumahunter MRV SE High 18650 1462 1380 1323 262 248 237 32300
Uniquefire R5 5 mode XP-G R5 High 2 IMR16340 1477 1320 1220 265 237 219
Solarforce L2m Solarforce HV R5 dropin 2 18650 1505 1415 1301 270 254 233 11450
Ultrafire WF-503B DX MC-E High 18650 1508 1407 1355 270 252 243
Uniquefire L2 w DX 5 mode R5 dropin 18650 1578 283 0 0
Uniquefire R5 5 mode XP-G R5 High 18650 1599 1409 1318 287 253 236
Romisen RC-T6 Low 2 18650 1615 1535 1494 290 275 268
Trustfire R5-A3 14500 1630 1482 1416 292 266 254 4580
ROP Low 6D NiMH 1670 1568 1422 300 281 255
Ultrafire WF-504B KD MC-E Med 18650 1819 1733 1640 326 311 294
Fusion 36 dropin 6D NiCd 1937 1868 1790 347 335 321
Solarforce L2M DX P7 18650 1956 351 0 0
Fusion 36 dropin 5C Alkaline 1998 1913 1750 358 343 314
Fusion 36 dropin 6D NiMH 2220 2150 2050 398 386 368
Ultrafire WF-500 2 18650 2300 2040 1507 413 366 270
Piritlight SG-L8 MC-E High 18650 2400 2280 2120 430 409 380
Ultrafire WF-504B KD MC-E High 18650 2400 2360 2170 430 423 389
Aurora AK-P7 High 18650 2420 2140 2120 434 384 380
Romisen RC-T5 High 2 18650 2490 2290 2200 447 411 395
Romisen RC-T6 Medium 2 18650 2490 2390 2340 447 429 420
Ultrafire WF-501B M bin MC-E 18650 3240 2990 2720 581 536 488
Romisen RC-T6 High 2 18650 3760 3620 3450 674 649 619
ROP High 2x32600 3760 3600 3080 674 646 552
Varapower prototype 4C NiMH 8650 8330 6260 1552 1494 1123 21500
Can even the fusion 36 beat it on 2AA's?. These are all lithium (or similar)+buck.
I don't see any other AA powered lights in the list. Did I miss something?
Don, do you have an UltraFire WF-606A to compare? Mine is brighter than my 504B R2, but my 504 has a slight green tint. My 606A is a real beast but after reading recent reviews, it seems that this is yet another once good light turned to crap in recent builds. Sadly, that seems the way of many Chinese lights.
I do, and it is pretty well made. However it is an old one with a Luxeon 3 LED and isn't all that bright by today's standards. Modding it felt like more trouble than it was worth.
The front bezel simply unscrews on the 606A and the lens and reflector drop out, exposing the led. Maybe plop an xpg in there (only 2 solder connections) and run it off the stock driver. People have been running xpg's at 2.2A without issue (in flashlights) so even if its over driven (and I suspect it will be), it should survive well enough with heatsink paste behind the star in the current design. Im running a xpg in one of my lunapower MRV's (2.35A at the tailcap) and its just a tad less bright and floody than a well driven P7, but with more throw, less heat and longer burn time. More fun added to the arsenal!