GearBest has an entry light of their own make branded zanfare and called the zanflare f1. It’s an 18650 tube light with some twists, interesting ones at that.
May at GearBest asked if I’d take a look and run it through the paces, which I was more than happy to do of course. The box has a tag on it marked Sept. 23, 2016, just 3 days ago! Isn’t DHL amazing?
NEW INFORMATION:
zanflare F1 LED Flashlight
GearBest zanflare f1
coupon: F1GB
price: $34.99
the coupon is only available during the presales ( please use it before Oct 28th )
And here’s a new breakdown pic from the GearBest link, love it when they show us this stuff!
I have pics uploading, wanted to get a space started but I’ll be back with pertinents after this short break from our sponsors… lol
So, I’m back and here’s a quick first look at the zanflare f1…
Here’s a nice complete owner’s manual, so many lights come in with no paperwork so it’s nice to see this much detail written down…
Right off the top lets look at the readings… as you see above they list the output levels, here’s what I get with a Samsung 30Q button top at 4.20V
0.01A for 0.414 Lumens
0.12A for 63.14
0.52A for 284.63
1.16A for 580.98, this is what they refer to as Turbo
3.46A for 1269.6, this is what they refer to as Flare.
It’s important to note that Flare starts ramping down at about 30 seconds and reverts back to the lowest setting within about 5 seconds of the ramp beginning.
Also worth noting that it takes a double click of the side switch to get into Flare, and it won’t stay in the memory if you turn it off. The main 4 modes will work with memory and the light comes on in any of those 4 you turn it off in.
Engaging strobe or SOS is somewhat more tricky, taking a long 3 second hold down of the side switch and again the same thing to switch it off and use the normal modes. Ugh. Since the light is turned On and Off at the tail switch, it can get a bit weird for me.
Neat box, packed carefully with the f1, a small box made just for holding the black Ti coated SS clip, a lanyard, an odd neoprene zippered case that fully encloses the light (it’s a bit tough getting the f1 inside) and no orings for spares.
The finish is well done, seems pretty tough (I mean, I did get a chance to test it which you’ll see directly)
See this tighter area of “spline” under the switch housing? This is a threaded ring that has 2 o-rings under it, one on each side of the micro USB charging port! Yes, it charges with the cell inside, there’s a small window that lights up red when charging and green when done.
This small oval window is for the lanyard, it does go all the way through and the groove allows for tail standing.
The clip… possibly reversible but it would block the cover ring for the charging port. Hmmm……
Side switch is well coated, ano’d, whatever it is… it blends well with the light and has nice activation… I’ll show you what’s behind it directly…
Have you noticed anything about all this external design?
It’s a bit eclectic, a fairly heavy “spline” on the tail cap, then the half finished knurled spiral on the tube, followed by a different value spline on the cover ring for the charge port, and yet another value of spline on the head. Seems odd to have so many different design styles.
Some of y’all won’t like this bit at all. It’s glued. Seriously and heavily glued. Looks like Blue Loctite, and a lot of it! They really don’t want you going in, warn against it, and it voids the warranty to do so, plainly stated. But you know, I can’t do a review without showing it all, right?
Multi panel driver has slots in the head to keep it from rotating, machined flats to line up the board mounted switch, all nice and solid.
The reflector is supposedly optimized, it seems to have steps all the way up it, but the beam is pretty nice and it’s made of aluminum so…
There’s a very elaborate machined cup that acts as insulation disc and cups the base of the reflector, pretty well done, they’re trying quite hard to get this right…
Is there a small margin left to allow for a bump?
Anyway, no centering ring is necessary. Why? Because they made a threaded retaining ring to snug the reflector against the thick glass lens and press the o-ring firmly into position as well. (loosened to show relationship)
Lens is chamfered, AR coated, nice touch.
The tail cap button is actually metal, with a rubber skirt that fits snugly in a groove… tight enough it’s difficult to remove so I left it intact, afraid of tearing it.
Mcpcb is proprietary, apparently made for GearBest or by them for this light, it’s DTP and again a nice touch.
The slight scuffs and couple of marks you can see on it now are from taking it apart. I had to mount it in the 5” jaws of the chuck on my lathe and use a rubber strap with 12” channel locks, and even then it was not easy to break loose all the blue LocTite! But the light held up well, better than Nitecore’s have when doing this, and all in all it’s not much worse for the wear…
This is the same tree normall in my beam shots, but from a different angle. It’s trying to rain and getting late. (It’s 32 yards to the tree from my front porch)
Interesting light, quite a few ideas in this one light, most of which play well together. Essentially 3 1/2 Amps and 1270 lumens, pretty good start. And they say it’s regulated constant current, again a nice touch.
Thanks May, looks like y’all have done a nice job with this one.
Update: Gearbest has a new Owners Manual that will be shipping with the newer lights.