Hi all,
GEARBEST gave me the opportuntiy to test their UKing ZQ – X900 cheap zoomie flashlight against the CREE XPE Q5 600 Lumens 7W Zoomable LED Flashlight that I already own. So they sent me one of each color to make a little review.
I must add that this is my first review here at BLF so this might not live up to the expectations that modders and flashlight professionals might have - I´m just someone who loves and uses flashlights. I´ve already seen different reviews of the same light class, so you might not learn anything new today 
First the specs:
- Manufacturer: UKing
- Material: Aluminium (body), plastic (Lens)
- LED: Cree XPE Q5 (see below for comments)
- Power source: AA/14500 batteries (1.2 to 4.2V input voltage range accepted)
- Switch: Reverse clicky, made of plastic
- Available Colours: Black, Silver, Gold
- Dimensions: 90 × 20 × 20 mm
- Price: $2.85 (as of june 2016)
- From: Gearbest.com
- Links (NON affiliate):
BLACK
SILVER
GOLDEN
The 3 lights arrived well packaged each in a little box with bubble wrap, an english and chinese language guarantee card and a short manual sheet.
I don´t know if anyone would ever care to go through the hassle of returning a $ 2.80 light if it´s broken or DOA but it´s nice to know there is an email address and Skype name to get in contact. The manual itself is not very useful though, since it´s a “unversal” manual for all kinds of flashlights, for example it states that a 18650 battery is included… since the X900 is a single mode light there´s really no need for a manual anyway. I can report that all the 4 lights I own are working flawlessly.
So here they are, the tree musketeers
Two of the lights extended to full zoom to show the difference in length:
A size comparison to a 18650 battery and other compact lights you might know:
As you can see, they are quite small, but not really pocketable. They are very light though, because the body is made of aluminium.
The flashlight can be disassembled in 3 resp. 4 main parts: the body with LED, tailcap with clip, and the lens
I don´t think there is a real “pill” inside, it seems like the basic kind of SK68 clone that has a fixed LED department.
The LED is stated to be a CREE XPE Q5 LED … well, after doing some research is seems the CREE XPE Q5 has 3 bond wires, while the LED used here has only two. I can not definitely say which LED is used in these lights, but it does NOT seem to be a genuine Cree XP-E LED.
An even closer look at the LED:
The lens used is made from glas plastic and has quite some scratches and dust as you can see here:
That being said, it still does a decent job! Zooming is easily possible with one hand (in fact quite smooth) and the zoom mechanism is tight enough to avoid the light to extend itself.
Compared to “CREE XPE Q5 600”
One of my goals was to compare the UKing with the light I already bought some months ago from gearbest, it´s called: CREE XPE Q5 600 Lumens 7W Zoomable LED Flashlight.
Well, after taking a closer look I can say the lights are technically absolutely identical, despite the design variation of the zoom head and the different labeling:
So that´s settled then - mission accomplished, thank you very much for your attention
Nah, I will at least give you some beam shots I made.
Beamshots
I equipped each of the 3 lights I got with different batteries: the first one with a fully loaded 14500 li-io battery (efest IMR 700 mAh), the second one with a freshly charged AA Eneloop (the “old” white ones) and the last one with a new AA Alkaline battery. The X900 is advertized as a max 600 lumens light, so I chose another zoomie in the same lumens range for comparison; it´s the LED Lenser P7.2 with a high mode of 250 lumens and a low mode of 40 lumens ( I did not use the “boost” mode with 320 lumens).
So here we go, first shot is 3 meters from a flower wall, all pictures have been taken with the same settings (Canon DSLR, 2 seconds, Iso 400, f/ 5.6, 24 mm focal length, 5000 Kelvin)
Zoom at widest angle:
X900 with Alkaline:
X900 with AA Eneloop:
X900 with 14500:
Lenser P7.2 High:
Lenser P7.2 low:
All together as an animated GIF:
When direcly compared, I would estimate the real lumens of the 14500 version around 400 lumens, which is pretty solid for such a small light. You can also see that the tint of the LED is not too cold, it´s a neutral white a bit on the cold side.
Maximum Zoom:
X900 with Alkaline:
X900 with AA Eneloop:
X900 with 14500:
Lenser P7.2 High:
All together as an animated GIF:
The next location is just our backjard, light pointed at the bottom:
X900 with Alkaline:
X900 with AA Eneloop:
X900 with 14500:
All together as an animated GIF:
Last but not least two shots that show that on full zoom, the light is really suprisingly bright if it´s totally dark, it´s nice senastion especially for kids since it looks a bit like a laser sword
The first tree I iluminated (with the 14500 equipped light) was around 20 meters away in my backyard:
Then I took it a bit further to a tree nearly 85 meters away, still visible:
Of course like on all cheap zoomies, at full zoom you´l have a nice image of the LED surface with lot´s of chromatic aberrations (blue and green) around the spot, but that´s unavoidable with this cheap plastic lens.
Summary
I really like these lights. They are incredibly cheap, durable and versatile, and deliver a great performance, especially with a 14500 battery. BUT I will preferably equip them with AA Eneloops, which are significantly brighter than the AA Alkalines.
The biggest downside of these lights for me is that it only has one mode … maximum. It would be really great to have a 3 mode light, low (1 lumens), medium (40 lumens) and maximum. But they make great emergency lights that can be stored in your car, Kids love them, and you really can´t go wrong for the price.
Buy them here:
(NON affiliate links):
BLACK
SILVER
GOLDEN
K.
I’m subscribing to this thread in hope someone will add more info about this curious 2-wire “XP-E”. The tint is actually pretty good in my opinion for this sort of gift light. I have genuine XP-Es that are bluer.