Nice effort writing this review…
They are nice budget lights.
Very funny…
Your review had prompted me to consider a bit about old school Q5/R2 XRE emitters… About their efficiency etc.
I came to conclusion that they are still brightest domed emitters around. Driven at currents up to 1,7A(there are no sense of driving them more than that) beats(lux/candela) or equals domed versions of younger XP E/G 2 brothers…
But of course things drastically change upon de doming and over-driving them. Younger s win in this case with better thermal/current/brightness ability
Only few of them that could join old XRE and they are also old XPE and XPC emitters.
So if you guys don’t want to de dome… XRE (especially EZ900) will be throw winner in plenty configurations…
Thanks for that info luminarium iaculator. its good to know that the XRE and other “older” emitters can still be good lights. I do enjoy these “budget” lights for the time being and currently only have one “serious” light but now have another on the way
there is a lot of sense driving xr-e’s and xp-e’s beyond 1.7a……they take it and contiue to put out more light and throw, I like them between 2.4 and 2.8a tbh.
Thanks for the reviews on some proper budget lights, suggest a jacobs a60 from aurabuy next and track down my direct drive mod - instant, very very cheap good fun thrower with no irritating blinky modes.
It wouldn’t suprise me if it turned out both these lights used the same driver as the jacobs and could be similarly direct drive modded, the difference in output will put a real grin on your face.
Also please do a post on modding these into laser hosts, that will make for an interesting post.
You can actually mod both of these into lasers very easily
I thought the tactical had been done before and I found it
I am not the owner of any of the lasers shown above. Photos borrowed from the owners
If anyone is interested in buying these hosts and turning them into a laser or having one built for you, then please PM me and we can talk about options and who to get in touch with
You can drive them over that point but you will not see any big improvement… I have put it on 8×nanjg105C and measured with light meter and just slightly better improvement over 1,7 one. So I am really interested into your theory of big light improvement when driven to 2,4 or more amps… That is simply not true… More light and throw will happen but not more than 5%.
If you were talking about XP-E2 or G2’s that theory would have a lot of sense.
I tried several times with different current and results are pretty much the same…
So I was very surprised when I came to this forum and read threads where people drive them up to 2,4/2,8 amp of current…
I say no to overriding them more than 1,7A.
A lot of talk and measurements have been taken on this theme especially on cpf forum
its pretty simple, at 1.7a the light wont hit a target at a specific distance, at 2.4a it will.
That to me is an improvement, and since I still get an hours runtime out of a half decent 18650 at that output, I’m happy with it, but then, I will not entertain the idea of an aspheric, I just plain don’t like them, so what suits me will not suit you and visa versa, what suits your usage wont suit mine.
Nice reviews, Livinloud! I really dig the look of that first light. Looks aggressive as heck but I could do without the attack bezel. If that could accept a Solarforce smooth or light crenelated bezel it'd be the bomb. Many Solarforce clones will take a Solarforce bezel and if it did it'd be a great host for some mods. 8)
That blue one looks pretty good for a budget light in that price range. I like the double o-rings on each end of the battery tube. Looks like the prefect host for a laser mod!
Thanks for the reviews! I think there aren't many comments to these reviews because most are put off by the XR-E emitters but it doesn't mean you didn't do a good job. ;)
@Johnny, thanks for the kind words. I didnt realize at the time i bought these lights that people didnt care for the XR-Es any more. I knew most of the talk was about the XM-Ls but didnt know people completely disregarded this emitter. I took this into consideration for the light i purchased today so will have a XM-L U2 review in hopefully a week or two
Also since they are cheap hosts, figured they’d be good candidates for mods. Do you happen to have the OD of the solarforce bezel so i can measure the ID on this light to see if itd fit
JM, I have a champagne version of that 2650 light from eBay. Not bad.
Livinloud, Aurabuy do reviewer programs and they might send you a review sample if you like. These 26650 lights are quite popular that particular one looks to be built nicely.
Thanks guys….I actually have that light in my wish list on aurabuy and will probably buy it next. My next light coming in is a 26650 light and XM-L U2 so might be able to guess what it is
I wanted to pick up a couple of these for use as hosts, but if I can get the same light for $8.95 vs. $10.18, obviously, I’d rather buy the cheaper one?
@Jim, You know i cant for sure confirm this since i dont work for aurabuy but good catch. i didnt even look at my measurements with the ones on the site. from the looks of it and from the measurements i took, it looks to be the same light but the one i reviewed has a blue GITD ring up front and the one you found has a red one is that the only difference? i have no idea. to tell you the truth, i saw that light when i was looking and then came across the one i bought. only reason i picked this over that is since i was advertised as waterproof. could very well be the same light. maybe grab a bunch of the cheaper ones and then one of the ones i got and compare them. id do this but i already have two 26650 lights heading my way so want to wait for safe arrival of those before i spend more money
no, the pill screws into the body on mine. did i accidentally say it went into the head? the reflector is screwed into the head with the retaining ring. please let me know if i said something on accident so i can go fix it
There was the earlier discussion, where I was describing how the pill fit into the head for the S5, but I may’ve misinterpreted.
During that discussion, I thought that you had said that with this light, the threads went all the way in on the inside of the head and that the pill could screw as far forward. If you recall, the reason I was asking is that the height of the Carclo lens is very short compared to a reflector, so I tried to use a Carclo, I’d have to move the head forward (towards the lens) so that the Carclo would snug up against the front of the light, and the pill would snug up to the Carclo lens.
prob a miscommunication so let me clarify or try to. the reflector is held in by a retaining ring so you can screw that ring as far up as needed (if you use the thinner lens it will work). the pill screws into the body but if you use a protected cell you can screw the pill out some (this allows the extra room for the protected cell to fit for sure). also by screwing the pill out some this will make up for the thinner lens and everything will be tight and good to go.
is that the only difference? i have no idea. to tell you the truth, i saw that light when i was looking and then came across the one i bought. only reason i picked this over that is since i was advertised as waterproof. could very well be the same light. maybe grab a bunch of the cheaper ones and then one of the ones i got and compare them. id do this but i already have two 26650 lights heading my way so want to wait for safe arrival of those before i spend more money 
