Nitecore style
Hi Everyone,
I found this topic very interesting and it’s my first post on here.
I researched the internet to find that perfect budget “thrower” of a flashlight and hands down the SkyRay STL-V2 or FandyFire STL-V6 was the top choice it seemed everywhere you looked.
Decided to order both brands each from a different store and do my own comparison.
Ordered the STL-V2 from lightmalls.com ans the STL-v6 from lightcastle.com
When I finaly received both light’s they are physicaly identical in everyway even came with the same lanyard only difference was the label on one side of each light….both light’s are missing the 3 mode capability and both light’s have identical driver’s to that of the OP’s.
Funny thing is the Fandyfire version has a slightly brighter tint to it but I see this as just a slight variance in LED’s used.
They are great flashlight’s and both perform well and shine slightly better than the Small Sun ZY-t13 flashlight’s I own.
But this makes me wonder if there is anymore places out there selling the real thing or if this is just a change in the manufacturing process for these light’s
Hi, Tarpon. Welcome (feel free to make an introductory post at your leisure).
This is the budget king of throwers indeed. I, too, realized that despite a few sparse experiences, the variations are the same. For the three-mode capability, you should be able to turn the head just shy of being tight and access the 5 modes. Or, wait, maybe 3 mode for yours?
Not really sure, but many have said that the feature is not on their lights. There are many sellers, including Maxtoch, who made a T6 version with two mode sets, but they may have discontinued it for the 2S/2X versions now out.
on mine there is a knurled ring below the light engine that the body tube screws into, that is what you loosen/tighten to adjust the mode groups.
Welcome to the forum.
Thankyou Fella’s for the warm welcome.
Just recently got into becoming a flashoholic but have limited myself to just purchaseing lowerend budget light’s as I’m amazed at what they can do for the price’s.
Of course as you all probably already know women don’t take to kindly to this bobby :bigsmile: but for those of you that have partner’s that are understanding and especialy enjoy the hobby that is just great.
Most of my starter purchases are various form’s/model’s/sizes of XML-t6,XML U2 lights I also stocked up on several Q5 cheapies that require 1 AA that come in various name brands besides those and before them I owned those I have several Maglite’s of diferent sizes Magcharger’s half of the magcharger’s are upgraded with various drop-in’s from Malkoff and Terralux….I find my Maglites to be the most durable/dependable but I havn’t hardly used them since I have caught onto these budget XML light’s….it’s sad to compare my upgraded magcharger’s to some of my light’s I paid between $10-$50 and see them crush the maglites I wish Maglite would make a drop-in of there own that was more competitive but for one reason or the other they have decided not to.
I am sorry to have de-railed this post and will get back on topic.
Both my STL-v6 and STL-v2 have a single 5 mode group they are missing the gold ring you gentlemen speak off and I realy wish that my light’s had this option because if it were up to me I’d just have an HI-Low option only on the light but still Love these light’s anyhow and are my new favorite light’s next favorite down the list is the small sun zy-t13 and then comes one of my C8 style light’s that is my EDC as it is incredibly bright compared to my other C8’s I own it has the XML2 strange thing is it has a smooth reflector but the light it emmit’s has lot’s of ring’s in it’s beam with a more greenish tint compared to my other C8’s (most havinga bright white XML U2 Led) but this particular C8 is SO much brighter then the other’s it’s amazing.
Also have a few mult-XML 3t6 and two 9-multi cree XML-t6 light’s that are fun at times to 
Thanks’s again for the welcome and for helping me while I lurked for the past year on what the good lights’s are before I visited this forum I had plenty of “flood” type light’s and was having a hard time finding any light’s that had a lot of throw but the the ZY-T13 and STL V2/V6 realy satisfy me very much in the throw department they also IMO do well with the spill they provide also….they realy help me bust the coyote’s out here to mounted to my AR’s.
See you on the forum gentlemen and thanks again.
Hey Guy’s,
Just wanted to point out that I have been buying a few lights from http://www.lightscastle.com/ lately and have had great service from them but the main thing I wanted to point was that I asked them to do a price match on another site that was ridiculously low for the Fandyfire STL-V6 and they agreed so I ended up purchaseing three more of these light’s I did not need…lol.
Here is the link—> http://www.lightscastle.com/product/fandyfire-stl-v6-cree-xm-lt6-2-mode-1000-lumen-white-led-flashlight-2x18650-3x16340-3x123a-130015
I ended up buying this light from another over seas store also and it is not as bright as the version I got from light castle I also noticed since then that light castle’s version uses a glass reflector and theother location’s model has a plastic reflector.
Just wanted to point out this great deal while it is there as light’s like these lind of come and go in this market and I realy believe this to be a special light for many reason’s but at this price ($29.58 when I looked) is just incredible and to hard to pass up……the throw on this light is downright impressive.
Please keep in mind this light only has one 5 mode selection……supposably at one time with these light’s you could select between a 3 or a 5 mode but none of mine have this option unfortunately.
Hope this can help someone out especialy since this exact post is the post that made me even realize what this light is when I was looking for a light like this and it feel’s good to be able to give back in a small way.
Hope you all have a great holiday’s.
Very good price and company. I’m sure a number of us will use this as a means to grab one.
Hi Joe,
I sure hope they do because I realy don’t believe there is anything comparable out there to this light at this price….even if there is something better for double the price with similiar characteristic’s as this light I’d like to know about it.
For some reason I have had such a hard time finding light’s that give that deep throw like this light does utill I came accoss this one….then I grabbed a couble of ZY T-13’s and they can do it have a Fandyfire HD2010 on it’s way from lightcastle that supposably can and also have an interesting light coming that is unbranded that looks to have the same head as the stl-v6 and stl-v2 but can hold three 18650’s!—> http://www.lightmalls.com/highly-bright-1-cree-xm-l-3-modes-1770-lumens-led-flashlight-1-18650-battery <— I hate how the title of that light show’s a different light than what description and pictures show but was reassured by Sunny at lightmalls.com this is indeed a 3 battery light.
Gentlemen if I am derailing this topic to much and breaking rules please let me know and I will stop….I just like like chatting to a cool bunch about this great hobby we share.
As far as surpassing the STL-V2, it can be done, but not well enough to really warrant high-dollar options in my view. And at some point, the eye just can’t see as far as these beasts will throw. A Small Sun ZY-C10, the Jacobs A60, and the Maxtoch line-up are great performers that will get a beam out there perhaps a little further, but the two former won’t light up like it and the latter ones will do both (throw and light up at a distance), but not outrageously so. That is why so many end up coming back to this light as the thrower afficionado that receives so much love. I’m playing with mine at work even now!
The HD2010 you will love, although I’ve had problems with some in the past. I just ordered the upgraded XM-L2 T6 version and will be able to tell real soon if it stacks up any better than the original (but an HD2010 will NOT outthrow a V2 unless it is modded). Should you decide to go that route, look into Tom E’s works. He turned a junk Aleto tactical with 408 lumens, a broken spring, and bad tailcap into a 1,291-lumen super thrower with 74,200 kcd.
So many options…so much fun!
Thankyou for sharing those option’s
Are there current HD 2010’s shipping with XM-L2’s? or do you have to mod it yourself?.
I’m realy liking the XM-L2 I just bought a drop-in for a Maglite magcharger from Malkoff the uses the XM-L2 now with the current batch (5000k) and it’s real nice noticeably brighter than his last batch using the XML U2.
They come like that…
http://www.willbuying.com/ultrafire-hd2010-cree-xml2-led-1200lm-3-mode-flashlightblack-p-1664.html
I bought mine from the latter link, but I have not tested these yet. Bear in mind that just because a light uses a later emitter does NOT always mean it will be brighter. That depends on the driver used, and to get a sufficient increase in lumens in the second-gen XM-Ls seems to require a touch more current than the first generation (not sure why). Otherwise, you may not notice much of a difference.
So Malkoff is using the XM-L2 now? Great. He offers fine quality stuff.
Yes I agree very much with Malkoff making high quality part’s.
I don’t want to start an opinion battle and this is just my opinion and not trying to say it’s a fact but I think Maglite makes some of the most reliable products out there…it’s just they are so far behind performance wise with the rest……malkoff with his matching quality drop-in in my opinion keep’s the quality all across the board while giving the old magcharger a chance to hang with some of the best.
Used to use Terralux drop-in’s at first but they all failed on me in all kind’s of different way’s (sorry if someone has had good luck with them) have a ton of magchargers around the house as that’s the light my family has swore by for year’s and before I knew any better……I know better now though…I think they are very reliable but perfprmance wise they need serious help to keep up.
Mags are reliable, no question, but part of the reason for their being under-driven (aside from staying so long with old technology) is because serious, user-proof lighting demands are generally low and 80 to a few hundred lumens is all a person needs (yep, only a Sipik SK68 is essential! :bigsmile: ). The toys you hear us building and playing with are the exceptions aimed at people who understand how an over-driven light can, under the right (wrong?) circumstances, become dangerous, as can bad batteries.
The mainline manufacturers are trying to prevent some old lady from ruining a light by putting a lithium battery in backwards or else getting her hand burned by something that draws 4+ amps trying to be run for an hour while climbing in the attic. A word of caution is always good since when you hear us rant about an XM-L or XM-L2 “only” driven at 2.5 amps and putting out “only” 840 lumens, that is almost an inside thing since manufacturers - even crappier ones - at least try to think of liability.
You’re a cool breeze, Tarpon, and already contributing. Stick around! :party:
Thankyou Joe 
I am seriously looking at that HD2010 with the XM-L2 you linked thankyou for that if this product I have on my way does not workout—> http://www.lightmalls.com/highly-bright-1-cree-xm-l-3-modes-1770-lumens-led-flashlight-1-18650-battery which seem’s similar I will buy one of those in the link you gave.
Have you ever seen that light before?
I also wanted to ask do they make an extension tube for the STL-V6/STL-V2 to hold three battery’s for increased run time?.
hi tarpon, the driver is unlikely to take the voltage of three cells so that’s out. you could take this as an opportunity to buy a pocket friendly edc and a few more 18650’s. …
Hi Gords1001,
Did you mean use a C8 body with a STL-V6 head?
I had read somewhere that someone did that and liked the results I already have 5 of these light’s and may turn one of them into an EDC, have even thought of buying more just to mess around with but I am making someone very unhappy with all these flashlight purchases even though I keep saying they are budget light’s and not the expensive high-end lights…hehe
Right now for EDC I have a killer UltraFire C8 that has an XM-L2 in it that’s throws better than my ZY-T13….and close to the STL-V6 only issue I have with it is it has a greenish/yellowish tint compared to the solid bright white tint of my other c8’s but it is so bright and not to sure how I got so lucky to get such a different C8 then the rest of the ones I have seen.
Got it from a private auction on ebay for only $9.99 shipped to.
That light is nowhere near 1,770 and has bad PWM on the lower modes, I understand. More like 900-something stock (certain members here can speak more authoritatively about it than I can). But there are threads I don’t have links to at the moment where it has been turned into a monster mod project.
Don’t get taken by these high lumen claims, as they are everywhere on Chinese sites. The tested and true stuff reviewed on this forum will not steer you wrong. Then again, you can always take turns being a guinea pig and testing some lights along with the rest of us! 
LOL,I am very aware of the lumen claims on these Chinese lights being overrated Just like my Trustfire AK-47….stamped right on it’s body it say’s “11,000 lumens….lol” I have realized these false claims for sometime realisticly that AK-47 might give slightly over 1000 lumen’s if I had to make a guess maybe someone on this site has some exact number’s but I know that light probably can’t be over 2000 lumen’s.
As for that other no-name light I bought I realized I was going to be a guinea pig when I bought it and I will be sure to let you and everyone else know how well it does…I do not know as much about light’s as you Joe or a lot of the other member’s here but I can do some camparison’s and beam shot’s and let you all know….if it can give similar performance to a Fandyfire STL-V6 but give much better run-times then it could be a great deal for other’s to get…if it ends up being garbage I will be sure to let you all know that to.
When I first saw that light what caught my attention was the XM-L2 LED then it’s ability to hold three 18650’s and then finaly it’s smooth deep reflector……what I hope to get out of that light is a 800-1000 lumen light with good run-times….that was what I was hoping for when I hit “order” 1,770 lumen’s never once crossed my mind as being a possibility.
You could probably find a 26650 light which tube fits for increased runtime. Or just buy better batteries. This light should run two hours or so….
——
I had issues with electrical connections between tube and pill, it sometimes changed modes on them-self…
I added a piece of wire which solved this issues perfectly. Just drilled a hole in the ring and bend a piece of wire in form…
(I would post a photo if imageshack wouldn’t suck right now…)
Another hint the AR coated lens for srk from cnq fits this stlv6.
For the other light which you call 3x 18650 hd2010.
This is well known here:
Thankyou Werner for the advice