I picked up one of these new FandyFire drop-ins for just over $5 during the recent Fasttech CNY sale, to see what they were like.
Even at their normal price of $6.53 I think they are still the cheapest XP-L drop-ins currently available.
Initial impression was favourable, it seems to be well made, certainly better than some I’ve seen.
The reflector is not the smoothest I’ve seen but it does give a nice enough beam pattern with no rings and a wide, clean hotspot. There is the usual Cree yellow halo around the hotspot.
The emitter appears to be a genuine XP-L (though it’s getting harder to tell these days). Soldering is well done and there is plenty of thermal paste under the star.
The driver is UltraFire branded and the way it’s been done makes it look rather posh.
Fasttech are claiming that this is a 3A driver (I have my doubts) and it is the usual 5 mode variety but it does have mode memory.
Mode spacing on mine is a little odd; 100% : 23% : 6. The actual readings I got were 1.8A : 0.4A : 0.12A. I would have preferred medium to be closer to 50.
1.8A was the highest value I managed to achieve and that was with a Samsung 25R cell. Protected 26FMs struggled to get above 1.5A. Visually, performance is on a par with other XM-L2 drop-ins I have.
Conclusion
These are well made drop-ins but have rather underwhelming performance given the claimed specs. It’s possible that my readings were off, but I do not believe this is a 3A driver. Given the price point though, there is probably very little to complain about.