Review: Kai Domain C8 - XM-L2 U2 3 mode light. Updated regarding driver...

This is my second C8 light. My first was a revision 3 Convoy fixed shelf light. I did not get it bought in time to be able to purchase a removable pill version. So, I have been on a quest for one. I decided to try this light since it was very budget oriented and looked to be of ok quality and decent stats.

Link to my purchase:

I hope the above link is ok to provide, they did not provide it nor did they solicit this review.

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Over all the light looks very good for the price! The finish is anodized, but it is the high shine version of finish. I would have preferred a matte finish. I do not see any major faults in the finish. I will likely bake it before I am done with the light, I like the look when baked.

The unit will not tail stand, if that is important to you, I think it could be made to do so by trimming the numb in the switch boot a millimeter or so. The only writing present on the whole light is the warning on the bezel, I do find that refreshing in the budget world!

The light does have well cut, deep heat fins. Not that it is needed with the current driver in the light. Measured draw on high with a Keeppower unprotected high drain battery is 1.4A with a full charge.

Below you will see the light in a disassembled state. Overall, the treads were very clean and had a small amount of lube on them. I did remove that and applied No-ox-id-A, this made them even smoother. They are all triangle cut, but not so fine that they will damage easily or cross thread. They all start very smoothly and tighten evenly. The glass does indeed appear to be AR coated, not sure how well.

The battery tube looks rough on the inside, it really is not. The main tube is also fairly thick and should hold up well. The threads in the head are very smooth and work well also.

Lets look at the pill. The emitter appears to be correct, the color is somewhat warm and I am not unhappy about that. It is mounted to a 16mm aluminum disk, happily it is not glued down but does have thermal compound. It had a basic PET insulator stuck on it with no centering ring. It was not centered, I installed a butterfly centering ring and it worked perfectly.

On to what I consider the bad, the driver. I do not know what it is, but it is holding the light back. I was hoping for more brightness, but did not get it. This light was purchased to use as a host, so this did not really let me down. The spring is fairly light on the driver as well.

Update driver testing
Definitely not direct drive or even close on high! My other C8 has an 8*7135 Mountain driver and will pull 2.98 with braids in both springs. I have opened a ticket with the Kai Domain and will see what my options are. Likely will be a rebuild at this point.

Reflector… not much to say. Basic OP, aluminum reflector that was clean. I do want or need to acquire a SMO reflector for this light, in the long run.

The switch, not great but works… Looks like an Omten, but it does not have a name on it. I have already replaced it with an Omten that I acquired that was already mounted and had a great spring. I have not measured the current at the tail cap and will not have a chance to until the weekend. But, as I stated above… I suspect it will not be very high. I do like the solid copper button, but not the weak sister spring!

One quick beam shot. With my cell phone, there almost appears to be some PWM, but I believe it is the CMOS sensor array refreshing. This shot was taken about 1 meter away from the wall. After 10 minutes of run, on high with a high discharge battery the head was not even warm. So, very under driven! It has a much better color that it appears to in this photo! The wall is also not a true white.

So, to sum it up! At this price if you are looking for a good host… Buy it! I am going to need a couple of more pills, they can be purchased from Kai Domain, they do have an XP-L Hi V2 with 2 modes and blinker and what appears to be a 7135 2.5 amp driver.

Pros:

1) good finish

2) good fit

3) removable pill, may be brass as it is not rosy like copper should be

4) ok reflector

5) good host!

6) correct family of emmiter

Cons:

1) no name switch

2) weak springs through out

3) no tail cap lockout

4) modes, Hi, Low and slow blinker :frowning:

The biggest, for me and will make me take the pill apart…

5) very weak driver!

My Plans for it, you ask… XP-G2 R4 5A, de-domed, on 16mm Sinkpad II with a FET driver and high discharge Keepower unprotected battery.

Thanks for looking.

Matt

On a side note, Convoy C8’s v3 reflectors are a hair to big around and a hair to short to work in this body.

Great review on this light. I have a Thorfire with a removable pill with the nice matte finish and now I find out they are fixed shelf ones… nuts. Thanks to this review, I have another option….

Thanks for the review.

It's good to see that you can still get a decent budget C8 with a screw-in brass pill for 10 bucks.

Thanks for the review!

Thanks for the review. I’ve seen that deal for a few weeks and it appeared good value. It doesn’t seem a bad torch for the price. Being only $10 is a low price.

I’ve ordered the C8 with the XP-L HI V2. I’d expect that the host may be identical to yours. The Driver on the version I bought is the KD V2 model which could be 3.04A, but the listing for the torch describes it as 2.5A. It should be obvious as the 7135’s on the visible site of the driver should be 380ma.

What part of the photo makes you think they are using .380’s rather than .350’s? Curious.

If this is still the same light I received just a short time back, it has the removeable aluminum pill in it , but overall a pretty decent light for under 20 dollars. It is the 3+5 mode one.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QSV8BKQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=as2&tag=thorfire-20&linkId=XLBUAG42WIPC6DNC&creativeASIN=B00QSV8BKQ

The torch I bought is the KD C8 http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S024268

This one uses KD V2 LED driver which is based on 7135’s. Based on what I see on the KD site, this driver comes in three variants, 8x7135 (3040mA), 6 x 7135 (2208mA) and 4x7135 (1520mA). In one of the images on the listing for the C8 torch it shows the back of the LED driver with 4x7135s. This suggests it’s a 8x7135 and being a KD V2 Driver it’s highly likelt to use 380mA chips. I may be wrong but I assume it to be corrrect based on the images. The specs of the torch mention 2.5A which isn’t consistent with the KD V2 driver.

Did you ever get that KD C8 XP-L HI V2? If so how is it? Was it 3.04A?