You might have an ecig shop around that carries good 18650 batteries. I saw a new one in my remote town just recently.
With the 3 AA’s, if I were daring I would do it the hard way and lay the C8 on its side, place each AA in series so the first’s positive is touching the positive contact of the c8’s driver, hold a wire on the negative of the last battery and touch the threads on the c8’s battery tube. This is just to see it throw out some light, not to really be capable of pointing it at something.
Or you could make a temporary battery pack and pretty much do the same thing
Or you could use a c8 battery tube extender (I know several people use a C8 w/ a 105c driver, tube extender and 3 AA’s).
Thanks to unknown00101’s suggestion , I found there was a DFW Vapor store a few miles away. That place was busier than I thought it might be. I don’t smoke, so I had no idea about all this E-Cig stuff.
Anyway, now I am a proud owner of something called an EFest JV-00500 looks like one of these that set me back 6.99 + tax. It had some juice in it, but I put it in the charger to get it to capacity. Can’t wait to try it out in the back yard in the dark. :bigsmile:
Congrats on your first light! Can't wait to hear your impressions! I was going to warn you that Tmart shipping from their NJ Warehouse can be painfully slow (slower than you'd expect for US shipping). Sounds like they shipped to you rather quickly! That Nitecore charger is a good solid reliable choice, just note that it will charge a little slow (esp. larger 26650 cells). Keep Mountain Electronics (BLF's own RMM) in mind, esp. for batteries due to the overseas lithium shipping issues.
Thats a nice first light, you should be happy it, and its a bright one to boot. I just got mine about a week ago, and it pulls over 5 amps at the tail.I have a few other c8’s too, keep going back to them. I have to put a shout out to Richard at Mountain Electronics as far as batteries, supplies, and builds are concerned. I buy all my batteries from there, to be honest I dont shop around. He has a great selection and his shipping is fast, and I dont have the patience to wait for China shipments. I’m pretty new too, and have gained alot of knowledge from the people on this forum. I’m doing some basic mods now, never thought I would. Anyway, welcome. P.S…. Hide your bank card, seriously.
The verdict is in……This thing is Bright!!! :bigsmile: 8) :bigsmile: I may have a new Hobby!
My Mini Review:
Pros:
- Size, about what I was hoping for in a flash light
- Brightness…OMG this is a flame thrower compared to my el-cheapo 9 LED lights.!
Build Quality. It feels good to me. The threads were not anodized, but felt pretty smooth. I added a tiny amount of white lithium grease to the threads and o-rings and it is now butter smooth.
Cons:
- No simple on/off mode. You must toggle through the 4 other modes to get back to super bright. Ideally, I’d like a combo switch with an “on/off” switch on the back and a slider on the side to go through the levels of brightness.
- Lose the useless Blinking and SOS modes all together
- Not Zoom-able (doesn’t really matter to me as it is plenty bright)
Possibly short battery life? Time will tell, but I bought two good batteries and a charger, so this won’t be much of an issue for me. (plus the impulse buy 2000Mah battery from the e-cig vaper shop)
Other concerns:
-Is it waterproof? No idea, it’s not something I care about anyway.
Yesterday, 12 days after my order was placed, Tracking shows my two batteries are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I can be a pretty patient person, but according to the tracking, FastTech waited 10 days before they even shipped my order! That’s pushing it IMO.
I’ve had the same experience with Fasttech waiting a really long time to send out my orders. But I’ve been ordering cheap Chinese junk treasures for years and gotten used to the painfully slow shipping.
“Fulfilling an order” and “Shipping” to me are two separate things. I’m OK with the slow boat from China on the shipping, but to wait 10 days to put the package in the mail?
Unacceptable! |(
I’ve ordered many, many, many times from china and not once has a vendor taken this long to put the shipment together.
I bet the items were on back-order, but they didn’t want to miss a sale, so they took my order. If so, I find that deceptive. Can’t prove it, but that’s what my gut tells me.
The Slow Boat Arrived! So, it took three weeks from order to delivery on the two Panasonic batteries. Better late than never as they say. Each had a voltage of 3.62.
Q1) Should I charge them before I use them?…or drain them down some before charging?
Q2) There is a plastic wrap around each battery, but not on the ends. Should I remove the wrap? I think it is just to protect them for shipment, but really, I’m not sure. Does anyone know about removing this?
Q3) I noticed they are a little (3mm?) taller than the battery I got at the Vapor store (mentioned in a prior post). I guess the 18650 specification is not a precise spec for size and shape?
No way! I would be excited! lol :bigsmile: Mine usually take 2 weeks to get filled :~ . And add 30 days for shipping. :_(
But……they do usually arrive as described safe & sound. So no complaints from me.
Good idea for a starter rig. You are likely now addicted. My advice is go ahead and start the process of picking out your next light. Ha! Enjoy the hobby and welcome to the forum.
Yeah 18650 is somewhat just a general size to an extent. Some of the longer protected 18650’s are ~70mm.
As for your next multiemitter, floody light I would go with a solid SRK, or if you can afford an extra $10-20 the high quality supfire M6. Either will give you a good mix of flood and throw, but the m6 will be higher quality/performance in every area.
dschae1 I know where you’re coming from. I just received my first high quality light and it took about 2.5 months to come to a decision. I poured over the information on this and other forums. I put together an excel spreadsheet with the features that I was interested in. The decision was very hard but in the end I bought a Nitecore SRT7. I fell in love with the infinitely variable lumen ring control. I’ve had it for a few days now and it has meet my expectations but I’m still evaluating it. I bought the Jetbeam i4 Pro charger which is essentially the same as the Nitecore version. I’m now looking to make a purchase of another flashlight. So many choices and so little budget…
The thing I found interesting is that that tells me everything I need to know about the size of the battery. It’s 18mm (18 650 ) in diameter, 65mm (18 65 0 ) long, and round (1865 0 ). OTOH that’s the standard and I also learned that batteries can vary by length and diameter but mostly length so you have to determine if a particular battery fits in the flashlight you’re interested in.
I understand that it doesn’t happen very often but it is always something to consider and with all the helpful people on this forum you’ll probably always know if the battery is too long.
to unknown00101’s suggestion , I found there was a DFW Vapor store a few miles away. That place was busier than I thought it might be. I don’t smoke, so I had no idea about all this E-Cig stuff.
of something called an EFest JV-00500 
So, it took three weeks from order to delivery on the two Panasonic batteries. Better late than never as they say. Each had a voltage of 3.62.