Hi Everyone,
Short story made long—TMart sent me a TangsFire C8 for review.
Features/Value: 5/5
Build: 5/5
Design: 3/5
Lumen Output: 5/5
Beam Pattern: 3/5
Summary:
table(table#posts).
|Battery: | 18650 |
|Switch: | Tail Clicky |
|Modes: | Hi/Mid/Low/Stobe/SOS |
|Lens: | Coated Glass |
|Price Paid: | Sample ($18.89 List) |
|From: | TMART |
|Date Received: | January 14, 2013 |
Pros:
Excellent build quality
Durable
XML-2 LED
Good distance light throw
Great price
Cons:
Beam pattern
Does not turn back on the same setting as it was turned off
Would like a smaller size head
The Long Story
I been lurking for a while on BudgeLight Forums. I discovered this forum when I was trying to figure out how to repair a reading lamp that had burned out. The bulb in my lamp was burned out and the insulation on the wires had melted. I was trying to figure out if it was worth trying to save. While doing some searching in the interwebs I stumbled upon this thread — LED Lamp Build.
I decided to try and upgrade my old lamp to a new LED-style lamp. This is now my favorite reading light, and has been adopted by my wife as her bedside lamp.
After rehabilitating the lamp, I decided to build a couple of flashlights with my boys that were small yet “powerful.” I was thinking about building something that I found here based on one of Match’s builds. But after some discussion and deliberation, we decided to simplify things (since we had never done this before) and build a couple of torches based on the Convoy S4 Host, a Cree XM-L T5 LED and a 8* AMC7135 2-Group 2~5 Modes (Nanjg 105c) Driver. This is the build that my son did.
This week I received a TangsFire-C8 from TMART and I thought I would do a review and comparison. I was hoping to use this light as a commuter light on my bike. During this season of the year I usually have to ride home in the dark. I’m comparing my 14 year-old’s built S4 to the C8.
The C8 is really well constructed. This light is made from some very good grade aluminum, the threads are done well. This light will be durable, I think you could drop it a lot and not have it break. The tail-cap is setup really nice with a brass connector. I really like the way they incorporated the Cree LED and driver into a single piece of aluminum without having to solder the driver. The LED is secured by some kind of adhesive, I’m not sure what or how thermal conductive it is. The more I have used this light the more I like the click-switch, it feels more durable than the S4.
The C8 is heavier than my S4. I have been securing the S4 on my bike with a wrap around elastic band to hold it on, and it works really well. The C8 is too front heavy to do that. I tried it, and I will have to move the C8 to a more traditional bolt-on flashlight-type mount for my bike.
I wish the head of the C8 flashlight smaller. I feel that the larger reflector disperses the light too wide and it loses a lot of light at the outer edge of the beam. The over all light could be more pleasant beam if it wasn’t as wide. The other area where, in my opinion, this light does not meet expectations is the extreme spottiness of the light. The center is way to bright compared to the rest of the beam. I would really like to see a smoother transition from the middle of the beam to the outer beam.
The driver has a Hi/Mid/Lo/Strobe/SOS mode. I do like the intensity level changes between Hi/Mid/Low. The low on the S4 seems too low at times, but I really like the middle setting of the S4. I really don’t like the Strobe/SOS mode on the C8 and I wish I could toggle those modes on and off like I can do with the driver on my S4.
Here are the comparisons of the beam shots. These shots are not all the same aperture and shutter speed. These shots were all taken with auto-night-mode on my digital camera
Cat-Eye 3 LED light
TangsFire C8 Low
Convoy S4 Low
TangsFire C8 Medium
Convoy S4 Medium
TangsFire C8 High
Convoy S4 High
These indoor photos are all taken with 1/60 shutter speed.
TangsFire C8 Low
Convoy S4 Low
TangsFire C8 Medium
Convoy S4 Medium
TangsFire C8 High
Convoy S4 High
The C8 has a bluer tint than the S4. I tried to find a neutral color for the S4. The C8 is good, and I would really like it if, again, it was not so intense in the middle of the beam.
When I was taking a video of the lights for comparison, I noticed that the C8 had a flicker, and the S4 did not. I do not know how the driver is set up but the flicker was noticable in the video.
So for you experts out there, any input on how to modify this torch to make it less spotty? Different reflector, driver, etc?
Specifications from the TMart
Lumens 1300 Lumens
Power 8W
Bulb Quantity 1
Light Color White
Lightbulb Lifespan 100000 hours
Lighting Distance 100m
Runtime Battery decides
Switch Type Clicky
Switch Location Tail
Lens Coated Glass Lens
Reflector Aluminum Smooth / SMO Reflector
Material Aluminum
Color Black
Dimensions ( 6.14 x 1.73 x 1.06 ) ” / ( 15.6 x 4.4 x 2.7 ) cm / (L x Head Dia.x Body Dia.)
Weight 6.74 oz / 191 g
Battery 1 x 18650 Battery (not included)
Voltage 3.6 - 4.2V
Lanyard Yes
Modes 5
Mode Arrangement Hi > Mid > Lo > Strobe > SOS
Here are a couple of hastily taken white wall cellphone pics of a C8 XML2 4C with and without the wide-angle optic in place , both from the same distance . What you don't see in the wide-angle pic are all of the artifacts , it literally looks like shards of light . Yes , the beam spreads out and covers more peripherally and might be less blinding to oncoming traffic , but the trade-off is a fairly choppy beam .