UltraFire C3
Overall Rating: 
Summary:
| Battery: | 1xAA NiMH or 1X14500 |
| Switch: | Clicky |
| Modes: | On - Off |
| LED Type: | Cree XR-E cool white |
| Lens: | Glass |
| Tailstands: | Not well with the Lanyard attached |
| Price Paid: | Retail $ |
| From: | LightsCastle |
| Date Ordered: | 07-15-13 |
Pros:
- Small and Lightweight, Glass lens and Aluminum reflector
Cons:
- No modes, Does not work with a 14500
Here's the rest of the story, with photos:
OP reflector with an XR-E led. It's slightly blue, so it's got to be in the 6500K - 7500K range.
Tail cap. Notice the Ano missing on the edge. That was the worst I saw on the finish. The rest of the light was clean.
The inside. The switch can be removed by turning out the aluminum ring with a needle nosed pliers.
There is quite a gap between the tail cap the the body seam. I tried to tighten the inner ring in the tail cap, but it was tight. To me, this in unacceptable.
The tail cap threads were greased a little too well. I got grease on me when I took the tail cap off. The other threads on the light were not greased. Quality of the threads was good for such a low price point. The O rings were all in place and none were damaged.
That big blob of solder is the positive contact on the driver plate. I think it's nasty and poorly done. I did not remove the driver yet, to see if there was anything wrong. I figure I would not be able to fix it anyhow, so I left it alone.
The pill is aluminum and there is a shelf where the led star sits. It's hollow underneath that and the driver is a press fit in the bottom. The shiny plate is a metallic tape ring.
The lens is coated and may even be AR coated. It does not reflect much light.
The reflector is Aluminum and is OP.
Overall I wanted to like this light. It has a nice holster and it's the type of small light I would want. However, with the fact that the light would not power up with a 14500, with the XR-E led and with no modes, I would not buy one of these lights for myself. Why put an XR-E in a light like this. It's not going to throw. It has a tiny reflector and it's OP as well. No led is going to throw in it, so why not just use something like an XP-G?
From my testing with an AA Eneloop, the amp draw was 1.6 amps.
Here's a couple beam shots:
It's no powerhouse for sure and it's only got about a 15 yard max limit, so it turned out to be a less than desirable light to me.
