Folomov C2 (400 lumens, 98CRI, Super small, 14300 battery, Summer EDC)

liquidretro · 2019-06-09T18:52:57.000Z

The Folomov C2, is a very small EDC light with a very high CRI (98CRI) warm beam, magnetic tail cap, and USB rechargeable battery. It might be a just about perfect little summer EDC. Thanks to Folomov (Affiliate Link) for sending it to me to take a closer look at and show to you guys.

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/CKowYeZ
Youtube Version of this Review:

Packaging
Instead of a box, the C2 comes in a small tin with foam inserts. The top cover is laser engraved with the name and brand. It would make a nice gift box. Included with the light is a pocket clip, battery, extra orings, manual and micro USB charging cable.

Construction
The light is made from aluminum and hard anodized a satin black. Starting at the tail it’s magnetic, and flat, so it tails stands well. The tail cap sides have just a little milling in them to add style and a slight amount of grip. Inside threads are anodized and square cut. The body is tiny at only 19mm in diameter, It has 2 flats where the minimal labeling for the light is (Just the brand and model name).

The button and clip segment grow in diameter slightly, similar to the Olight Mini series of lights. Folomov choose a gray button that has 2 LED’s underneath to give a bit of a charge indication. They are green when the battery is charged and turn red when the battery is low. The head section has small teardrop areas milled in. The bezel is a polished aluminum. The glass lens sits recessed a little and underneath is a orange peel reflector.

The clip is fixed in a tip up position and fixed rotation, this allows you to mount the light on the bill of a hat if you wish to do so. The bad part about this clip is the bend at the top is just too tight, there is only about 1.5mm of space at the top of it, so it’s difficult to fit over the brim of most hats, and even pants or shorts pockets are usually thicker than that at the seam. The result is it just doesn’t carry as deep as it could, but it still carries better then many lights.

Size and Weight/Comparisons
This is a seriously small light, I measured length at 55mm, max diameter near the switch at 19mm, minimum at 16mm. Weight only comes in at 31.7 grams with the battery and clip. The light is IPX8 Water rated as well.

The C2 does share a lot of design features with the Olight SMini series of lights, but is about 20-30% smaller. It’s not a revolutionary design but one that works well. For me the C2 has proven to be a great summer carry, as I am wearing shorts more, I want smaller and lighter weight things in my pockets and the C2 fills that gap while still having quite a bit of power. The magnetic tail cap just add to it’s utility. It does only have tip up carry which some people will love, others will hate.

LED/Beamshots/Runtime
The little Folomov C2 is using a Nichia 21A LED. The tint is 3000k and an exciting 98 CRI. The beam has a hot center that covers about 30% of the beam and then a minimal amount of light in the spill. I like warm high CRI beams, I will admit the warmer tints can take some time getting used to especially if you have a lot of cool white low CRI lights now. For me I always will take high CRI if I can get it as I just prefer colors to look natural and it’s good for any photography too.

Folomov rates the light at a maximum of 400 lumens in turbo, 160 lumen in high, 50 lumen on medium, 10 lumen on low, and ½ lumen on moonlight. It also has strobe, SOS and bacon all at 160 lumens.

Runtime is nothing outstanding, due to the 14300 sized battery at 250mAh. It’s just a really small battery in terms of capacity, part of this is to fit the microUSB charging circuit on which barely fits. So in my runtime tests the light was on for 65 minutes. Turbo is really only good for about a minute, before stepping down pretty significantly. The next 30 minutes you get a useable amount of light. The last 30 minutes is just above moon light mode modestly.

Low voltage protection kicked in at 3.08V. The light does have reverse polarity protection and some thermal protection. Parasitic Drain was measured at 2.0uA.

UI
The UI is straightforward and logical in illumination mode. Low, Medium, High, and then it repeats. Direct access to low is available by long pressing from off, and a double click takes you to turbo. Low, Medium and high are available for memory as well. There is lockout mode which you can activate by pressing the button 3 times quickly, and you do the same to unlock. This mode is very similar to Olight’s UI, so if you know it you will catch on quick.

There is a tactical mode which I think is a little silly on a light this small but it does have it. To go between the two you click the light 7 times from off. It makes the side switch a momentary turbo if pressed and held. If the button is pressed quickly it locks turbo on,and if you double click the side switch you get strobe.
The light ships in the default mode which is where I think most people will want to leave it.

Recharging and the Battery
Recharging the 14300 battery is easily accomplished with the MicroUSB port on it’s side. The USB charging circuit sits on top of the battery and has red/green LED to indicate charge status. Full Battery Voltage was measured at 4.207V. Total recharging time took just 1 hour and the maximum charging speed I saw was 0.3A which is appropriate for a cell of this size.

I suspect the battery being used here is really more like a 14200 sized sell with the last 10mm, being the USB recharging circuit. You can see the line in the battery. 14200s are also much more available then 14300s, that said I am not finding any 14200’s that match the capacity here. While I understand why they went with USB recharging especially for such a small cell, it does hurt capacity as it takes up valuable space.

Pro

Warm White high CRI. 98CRI is just fantastic on an EDC this size.

Small size, this was smaller than expected and carries really nice

Easy to use UI that’s what you would expect

Cons

The pocket clip is narrow, meaning anything but very thing pockets won’t ride all the way down in the clip.

Not a common battery size, Folomov says they will at some point have additional batteries for purchase.

Low capacity battery at only 250mAh.

Conclusion
For me the Folomov C2 is a hit. It’s enough light to get me through an office or light duty EDC use, but has enough power to do a few other small tasks. For any larger tasks I would want a larger light nearby in my home, car, or office. It’s not a light I would go camping with or use for extended times due to the small battery but it’s more useful than most keychain lights without being too big in a pocket. I love the high CRI warm LED, this is what sets it apart from the competition that typically prefers cool white LEDs. My only main concern is the availability and cost of replacement batteries. Folomov has said they will be available but hasn’t said when or at what cost. Overall it’s a nice light, with a straight forward UI for a pretty affordable price. I recommend it for a very small light weight EDC.

Save 20% on the Folomov EDC C2 now through June 13th at https://amzn.to/2MCjAE5 (Affiliate Link)

jasontheguitarist · 2019-06-09T21:36:58.000Z

I like the look of this thing, but the stupid battery almost ruins it. They should have either made it a little longer for a 14500, or a little fatter for a 16340. The E21 LED is very interesting. The UI even looks decent. I might still buy one…

Rexlion · 2019-06-09T20:56:27.000Z

They’re missing out on a lot of middle east sales…

Folomov rates the light at a maximum of 400 lumens in turbo, 160 lumen in high, 50 lumen on medium, 10 lumen on low, and ½ lumen on moonlight. It also has strobe, SOS and bacon all at 160 lumens.

Personally I’m ok with bacon.

LumenHound · 2019-06-09T23:06:26.000Z

The battery is a deal breaker.
Get rid of the built in charging circuit and just make the light shorter.
Even better, a 3.7 volt rechargeable CR2 15270 would be much preferred over the crazy 14300 cell.

LightObsession · 2019-06-10T03:31:28.000Z

Thanks for the review.

The diffuser from the Tool AA 2.0 fits nicely on the C2. Quite handy.

I will likely buy some DC-Fix for diffuse the beam on my C2

mrheosuper · 2019-06-10T04:33:23.000Z

yeah, the battery is deal breaker, it’s very hard to find battery with same size

and the capacity, is even lower than normal 10440 battery

1stein · 2019-07-17T09:03:27.000Z

Just received this light. It’s really tiny, I would have no problem to swollow it
Anyway, I’m surprised as my senses tell me there is no coating on the glass. Can you confirm? If so it’s likely I would replace it but I’m wondering if the bezel is pressed in or screwed? Took attempt to unscrew it with bare fingers but seems it sits firmly inside.

TexasToasted · 2019-07-17T11:33:23.000Z

I really like this little thing. The LED and UI are perfect. This would be my absolute favorite light if it used 16340 cells.

scintillator · 2019-07-17T13:37:39.000Z

Love the light,hate the battery.
I have a Folomov L1 pen light,I love that light but hate that battery also.
Not just the fact that getting that stupid micro usb connector jammed in to the battery to charge it is a challenge,but they do not offer
replacement battery for those that might want a backup battery.
What is up with that Folomov?