Review - DinoDirect 501B Red Led

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
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Today I received the Dino Direct Give Away Red 501B flashlight. Three Winners Announcement-Giveaway For Celebrating the Halloween Day in DinoDirect

The ad reads thus:

And the specs red so:

And here it is…

I am quite familiar with the 501B. One of my early acquisitions was a nice 2x 16350 501B that introduced me to the P60 modules.
The bad thing was that it doesn’t take 18650’s due to the barrel ID was too small. This one does not have that problem. The 18650 fits fine.

Overall this is a nice finish including the lanyard.

In only a few minutes… okay, maybe a few seconds, it was in bits. No glue on the threads so everything came apart nicely…

However, this doesn’t look like a Cree emitter… what exactly is it? Anyone know? edit: http://www.fasttech.com/products/2206/10008666/1777704

I always appreciate a quick overview of the switch in reviews. This is not a switch that readily removes itself, but it does have a threaded lock ring.
I had to drill a couple of holes to get a grip on it. Careful if you do this as you cannot see where the switch body is!

Here is the switch ready to be re-assembled.

Again, a nice finish overall …

And a good medium knurl…

So it was time to put a battery in it.

I put in a unprotected Panasonic 18650 cell.

Click the switch…

LIGHT… …s out! One bright red flash and that was it. What did I do wrong? Did I break something?

So I put a spare P60 in there… click click… nothing!

What do you know, an unprotected cell is not making contact on both ends? The funny emitter is thicker and had just enough reach to work with the original P60 but not for mine with the thinner star-stack.

In goes the protected cell and my P60 worked fine. Even a full 3A 105C XM-L worked perfectly.

Back to the red P60… got the leads and the battery pack out and all I got was a low red glow. I musta done something wrong, right?

I scraped the solder off the pill-driver connection so I could have a look at the driver. (wasn’t going to go there initially)

Someone forgot to put components on the board! If this is the linked emitter above, it should have been able to handle the 4.2V direct drive (5V spec), but never the less, I got a flash-poof.

So this ends my review… a nice little 501B host and P60 pill/reflector and a flashlight which now houses my own xm-l P60.

Last word… anyone know how to safely remove the plastic lens on a 501B?

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Before a teardown in the review process, I always now use, test and snap beam shots beforehand…just in case I screw up the light taking it apart….cuz I’m really good at that…ask me how I know :bigsmile:

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Yea, that didn’t occur to me for even a moment! But I never put more than 4.2V against it so it couldn’t have been over-voltage unless it is a different emitter.

I finished salvaging the pill. It has a super thin bottom plate. It had Fujik between the pill and a layer of Kapton tape; and the emitter was loose on top of the Kapton. Again, it wasn’t on long enough to account for a heat related failure either. And shorts would have toasted my battery, so it wasn’t that either. It will always remain a mystery… but I will heed your experienced advice… I turned on the X6SE with a fresh cell 1st thing.

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I got the same thing on mine, a short flash of red and then almost nothing it just glows faintly now.

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Thanks for the review NightSpy. Red LED's have low Vf's. Must have been a manufacturing error because that was guaranteed to blow DD.

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I thought so too until I saw this on Fasttech:

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NightSpy asked: how to safely remove the plastic lens on a 501B

If you mean the silver retaining ring which holds the front lens inside the head …

I gently clamp the head vertically in rubber, spread flat-nose pliers inside the ring, and unscrew. Turns out, that thin, flimsy ring is stronger than it looks. With some care, this also works well for re-tightening it.

All the ones I’ve done had glass lenses.

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Thanks, 2c’s I’ll have to look at that closer to see if I can find a ring.

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what a piece of trash… I got mine today and it was the same thing… worked for 2 seconds and then dead.

mines going in the trash /…. at least the broken parts…

thanks for the free p60 host DD. :~

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Seems all the beta testers experienced the same thing. I guess I didn’t break it after all :wink:

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The 501B is still my favorite P60 host:
Lightweight? Yup.
Compact? Yup.
Cheap? Yup.
Looks like a plumbing fitting? Nope.
Looks like a stylish flashlight? Yup.
Nice non-slip grip.

I got 3 of them years ago for $10 shipped.
One stayed black, one in the oven for a light roasted brown, one in the oven for a toasted copper bronze color. I have to tell them apart somehow.

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Oh yes… definitely an oven candidate! Thanks for the reminder.

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Not exactly a wire… its a threaded collar.

And I do believe this is an actual glass lens!

…and it doesn’t tail stand. There, not the review is complete.

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You can purchase this drop-in for $4 delivered to replace the one which came with your light.

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All the UltraFire 501Bs I’ve seen were decent quality, with glass lens and retaining ring.
OK, some switch assemblies are POS.

Is it verified Dino Direct is selling junk 501b to avoid?

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All red emitters as far as I know have Vf's lower than 2.5V, and the Fasttech one does not look like a multidie, so it will not be different

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and they don’t handle as high a current as the cree emitters either…I have seen some red emitters that only handle 750mA…that direct drive…what were they thinking…jeez

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Nice little graphic there! Yours?

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Thanks, khronological

I doodled that with Ms Word Draw.

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Do you have one, or have you seen a review of it somewhere, $4 seems like a good price.