I recently lost one of my favourite lights, an ultrafire 501D, running an xml T6, so naturally had to get an urgent replacement!
Found one on amazon uk at a very good price, (£9.99), however, the emitter in the new light is an xpl2 w2, and to my surprise seems to be as good as, if not a bit better than the t6!
Could some kind person please post a comparison?, tnx
Sadly, none of the listed light/emitters is considered good by modern standards. The XML-T6 is extremely antiquated (by more than a decade), and so is the XPL2; furthermore, the XPL2 introduces an issue that causes the beam to be discolored, with purple and yellow-green across different parts of the beam.
What uses for the light do you have, and what are your requirements on size/output/throw/color rendering? We can recommend you much, much better options.
As a sidenote, we would recommend that you stay away from anything ultrafire. They are now synonymous with generic, extremely poor-quality lights with batteries that may actually set your house on fire, hence the brand name.
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This is biggest risk of low cost lights from Amazon etc, some of the reviews that mention burning smells and smoke are terrifying, but the reviewer is just “meh doesn’t work, made burning smells, light works good though so 3/5” 
If you’re price conscious, try this website for torches:
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KD still has some Drop Ins that are worth a look:
Triple XP-L HI: http://kaidomain.com/Kdlitker-lights/KDLITKER-P6-TRI-Drop-in-Module/KDLITKER-Triple-XP-L-HI-2000-Lumens-High-Power-LED-Drop-in-Module
But for the same price you can get a complete Flashlight that actually cools the LEDs instead of roasting them like those drop in hosts.
Convoy, Wurkkos or Sofirn are in the market for great lights for not much money.
All of them have their own website, Convoy is cheaper on their own website, Sofirn is cheaper on AliExpress, Wurkkos I don’t recall.
Sofirn more likely to come with a battery and USB-C charging.
Edit: Sofirn SC31T with battery and USB-C port in flash sale right now: https://www.sofirnlight.com/products/sofirn-sc31t-powerful-rechargeable-tactical-flashlight?variant=febbd524-4aa3-4ae0-9e19-1926dd61903b
I would go with the 5000K variant.
If you buy this one, brace yourself for the brightness, it will probably be 4 times as bright as your cooked XM-L Drop In.
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Just tossing in that real UltraFire lights ain’t that bad. Pretty sure they came up with the OG '501 and '502, copied the Sipik SK98 and SK68, and came up with some nice lights on their own like the DV-S9 diving light and I think the F13.
They got famous for copying other lights, and themselves got copied by no-name clone makers to ride on their coattails. Those clones are what trashed UF’s reputation.
When XM-Ls came out, the highest bin at the time was the T6, so everyone and his grandmother who’d use cheaper Crees and more likely Latticebright clones, would deliberately mislabel their lights as “XML-T6”, showing they had no f’n idea what they were talking about. But it stuck, looooong after the infamous XM-L T6 was obsolete, both by commonly available better bins of the L and the newer L2. Then you had the Philipses, Luxeons, etc., that gave the Crees a good run for their money, but that’s another story.
But I got some OG '501s and '502s that kick arse, and still a pair of DV-S9s, at least some F13s, C8s, etc., that are decent lights even today. Put together well, good solid pills, good solid switches, NANJG-type drivers (dunno if they actually sourced from NANJG, but their drivers held up even if not), and so on.
It’s the clones that used flaky switches, crappy drivers, “hollow” pills, etc., and started that race-to-the-bottom which did UF some serious damage.
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Yes LB, bought the light years ago, really liked the form, single mode, forward clicky, was working in security at the time, (now retired) it was a brilliant light for area searches etc, certainly plenty of lumens!.
Could have been a knockoff LB but it gave me reliable, faithful service for years even after multiple soakings and drops, have to add that over the years i’ve had many and varied “ultrafires” and never had any problems any of them.
Thanks to yourself, L4M4, GM, and Q42 for your good advice.
mike
I actually EDCed a 1-mode '502 for ages as my first “real” flashlight. Drop-ins for the '501, '502, anything that takes P60/P90/D26 drop-ins will all have more or less the same beam pattern, because the reflectors are all pretty much the same dimensions. Have to be, to be a “drop-in”…
I had a small collection of drop-ins that looked like an army of morbidly-obese Daleks when shelved (reflector-down to not collect dust). I could switch from NW to WW, 1-mode to 3- or 5-mode, white to green to red to UV, etc., in about a minute by just changing the drop-in. The host is pretty much irrelevant, as it’s the drop-in that’s the light-engine.
So you can literally shop for both separately. If the host still works fine, get a replacement drop-in. Or both. Go crazy…
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The Ultrafire C1 is also a solid light, mine is coming up on 17 years of use and abuse at work. It’s outlasted maglights, streamlights, and Olights that the maintenance guys at my work use lol
Don’t forget the UF-504, dang fine light.
Some of these lights, like many things, used to be better and last longer in the past. Gradually people have found ways to cut corners (e.g., removing heatsink, using worse drivers, thinner and mal-formed hosts, etc), and over the years a light that used to be top-notch devolves into an unusable piece of e-waste.
In short, the generic ultrafire you order today won’t be close to what you got that many years ago. It’s time to move on.
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L4M4, took a look at the link you posted for the sofirn sc31t, they claim 2000 lm for a single 18650 light, I’m a bit puzzled because over the years in BLF i’ve seen a few posts to the effect of, you can’t get over a 1000 lm from a single 18650!, any comment anyone?
You can, the modern 18650 cells (i.e. Sanyo NCR 18650GA) can have 10A max continous output, which equates to over 40w in a fully charged cell. It has no problem drive a modern emitter like SFT40 or SST40 to over 2000 lm but the heat dissipation would be problematic so it will step down almost immediately. At best you get 2000 lm for 10 seconds and it tapers off to something like 300lm in a minute or two for a light with unregulated, inefficient FET driver, which the SC31T has.
Manufacturer specification of lumen output and runtime is not accurate. You have to look at the real world tests with full runtime graph to know the actual runtime. To me a good regulated, efficient driver is a must. I hate the gradual dimming of unregulated driver. At half battery, your 300lm mid mode becomes 120lm. It’s the literal definition of modern gaslighting.
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I just ballpark it as 100lm/W, so 2000lm would be about 20W. For a 3V LED, that’d be 7A. Efficient converter at 4V would be only 5A.
Even ancient panny-Bs would do 3A continuous just fine, and a decent 30Q, VTCwhatever, sanny-GA, etc, can do way more.
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OK guys, i’m very grateful for all the info!, can anyone recommend a drop in upgrade for the 501D?, (me being non tech with crappy eyesight and shaky hands) or has the 501D reached its “peak” output?
The ‘D’ is 4 cells ('123s) and 2 cells (18650s)?
Would have to get one with a TRUE wide-voltage drop-in.
I once got one with “3-20V” stickers slapped all over it, advertised as such, so decided to put it to the test. 2 18350s in series, jumped the tail with a knife or paperclip or something, as the tailcap wouldn’t make contact.
Brief 2sec connection had the emitter turn blue and dim. Liars! Changed my 5-stars to 1-star and said exactly why. Point being, get something from a reliable vendor.
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