Received my FandyFire HD2010 today. All good except one thing, The brightness and tint of the XML.
Now this flashlight is replacing an Ultrafire UF980 [Great light] after i was swayed by all the reviews/comments on the HD 2010 being the best single cell thrower out there.
OK, yea it throws well, but only marginally better than the 980, not better enough to make me go ‘wow’ ……
But my question - both lights are XML T6. However, at close range [3 - 5 metres against a brick wall] It is clearly obvious that the 980 has a much brighter hotspot than the 2010. The 980 is also a more ‘white’ light, whereas the 2010 has a distinct blueish tint to it.
If they are both T6 cree’s - How come the difference?
I also have a convoy C8 in XML T6, and that is identical to the Ultrafire in terms of tint and hotspot brightness, so i think the problem is with the HD 2010
Is it a faulty T6?, Or is it likely to be a different spec XML?
Either way I’m a bit disappointed, The 980 is actually a better performer at 5 to 75 metres, The hotspot and spill being much brighter and pure white in colour …… :~
XM-L T6 have many different tint, you mention about bluish so high possibility cool white too.
HD2010 depend on driver that you got (direct drive or else) and battery that you use. Try using battery with full charge, no protection and if possible high current draw.
Spec sheet says it’s driven at 3.1A.
All 3 lights using identical Samsung 2900ma cells fresh off the charger [Even tried swapping them from light to light]
I got a relatively crappy HD2010 too. But even if it was driven well, I really don’t agree with the hype behind the HD2010, unless you want to mod it I would not ever suggest getting one.
It may look nice, but I don’t see the cost of carrying a big fat head unbalanced light that feels like a multi cell to be worth minimal improvement over a C8, IF you happen to get one driven well (and all my C8s are better stock, so an HD2010 as an “improvement” is a theory). Hopefully you got in on the Eagle Eye X6 group buy, sounds like you want performance and good output and are not focused on just throw.
With most budget light manufacturers, when they cut costs you seem to get a random LED, and what tint you get in a T6, or even if it is a T6 is not certain. T6 is the brightness, not color of tint, you can have a blue tinted T6 and a nice white one close to neutral white, both T6s. Tint, Binning, and CRI Explained (For XM-L LEDs)
Perhaps it was the anticipation but I too wasn’t “wowed” as much as I would have liked. I threw in a TF 26650, turned on my convoy L4 and then the 2010. (My most throwy light the TF X9 has been fried by my son :(. It threw further and was way hotter than the L4.) The 2010 doesn’t look brighter than my L4. It is daytime though so I’ll check outside later.
But what I noticed is that although the emitter looks centered, the spot is really badly focused. Anyone got any simple tips? It looks like 3 circles are converging together but stopped 95% in…lol. I feel like the spot should be much tighter. The L4’s is tighter!
I then grabbed the meter and took a reading. L4 - 2.9A, HD - 3.89A. I’m losing alot of light some how.
As for the bluer look, the tint on the HD2010 led is cooler than the tint on the 980L led. The smaller reflector of the 980L will make it have more spill and larger hotspot but less throw. The larger reflector of the HD2010 will have a smaller hotspot and less spill but more throw.
After 4 nights use, the HD2010 has been relegated to the drawer and my trusty UF980 is back in service as number 1 choice.
Despite the hype and ‘fan club’ the HD2010 has on here, I’m afraid to say it’s no match for the UF980, the UF is simply a better all round performer.
The HD2010 only out performed the UF on actual throw [But not by much], I’m kind of wishing I’d saved my money now … Ho Hum
From what I gather, there are many manufacturers and clones of the famous HD2010. No telling which one you’ve got. Some are good, some not too great … depends on which driver, LED etc they put in it. Sorry to hear that you got a bummer … Can you return it?
I think you need to back up your evidence then just raise a PayPal ticket. If FastTech want the item returned they can then pay for the shipping in advance.
FastTech customer service is pants and just not worth spending your effort on.
As for the torch and led, as nobody seems to have directly mentioned it.
XM-L T6
This is two pieces of information.
XM-L = This is the type/size/generation of the emitter.
T6 = This is the brightness bin (or bucket in the UK). When CREE manufacture the leds, some will be brighter than others. These get classified into different bins, or categories. T6 is not the top bin. But within each bin classification there is a range of lumen ouput. So the worst T6 will be quite a bit less bright than the brightest T6.
However there is no way to discern a brightness bin by looking at the led. So there is no way to know what bin XM-L you actually have. Not saying it isn’t, but buying from China does involve quite a bit of risk that the stats aren’t always true.
Brightness bin has nothing to do with colour.
CREE also classifies leds into ‘tints’. These may look like 1A or 3C. Usually a letter an number. The tint refers to a Kelvin rating for the light temperature. On budget lights this info is usually not divulged and is probably a lottery on what you get, although often with budget lights you get poor tint.
We often group tints into Warm White (WW), Neutral White (NW) and Cool White (CW) just to make it easier to understand.
If the tint info is included, then the specs would read something like this:
XM-L T6 1A
LED/Bin/Tint
Along with tint there is also a CRI (Colour Rendition Index). Different tints will have different CRI’s, but there can also be a range of CRI within a Tint. It’s very rare that CRI is included in a budget light description.
Worth noting, not all CRI’s and tints are available for every bin or even every led type.
So as to answer your question about your HD2010 being more blue. Well this means it is probably a higher Kelvin rating, with a low CRI. But would still be classified as a Cool White emitter.
If you fancy tinkering, replacing a LED is very easy on many lights like the HD2010. You can buy a new led, pre-mounted on a star. So all you need to do is de-solder the old star and solder the new one in. It’s maybe a little fiddly, but really is quite easy.
As they offer a good range of tints and you get what you pay for. The Noctigon mounted leds have a direct thermal path, so get rid of heat better offering up higher PEAK outputs and better sustained outputs when under high amp draws.
On the subject of high amp draws, don’t believe Chinese specs. I highly recommend you take some tailcap readings and see what is going on.
And will give you an idea what is going on. It might not make the full rated specs as there can be a lot of things to cause this, but if it’s not pulling 2.8 amps or near too, I’d probably be questioning if they supplied the correct unit (can this will be good evidence for PayPal to refund you).
As for the beam. Well are you able to post any beam shots? Maybe a couple of white wall ones on a fast exposure to capture the hot spot detail. And some outside.
What I would do:
-Take a tail cap amp draw and see what’s happening. If it’s low, you either want a full refund or a large amount of money back.
-I’d buy a new XM-L2 Led on a noctigon from Int’l Outdoor of the tint you want (I prefer NW).
If the amp draw stock is fine, the new LED should help with the colour and you can mess about with the focus to get it better.
If the amp draw is low, then you may want to look at getting another driver to fit in it.
Already did tailcap reading, giving me 2.69A [Using a Samsung 2800] so driver seems up to stated spec.
I just think i got a poorly made example. Just sent FT another photo to ‘assist’ them :~ If they don’t come up with a refund of sorts next I’ll just go the paypal route ….
Another fault it had on arrival was a flickering/dimming LED. This was caused by the pill being loose, however once tightened down although it solved the flickering [obviously an earth/contact issue] this then meant the reflector wasn’t held in place snugly, and can move off centre with ease affecting beam. Winding the pill out far enough to solve this results in poor earthing again …. AArgh!
