MY RATING - 5 STARS!
I ordered the Ultrafire C8 XM-L U2 off lightmalls.com. Overall I am quite happy with the quality of this product, and shipping did not take too long (10 days from China to Australia). This cost me $17 and also I had to pay $2.50 for shipping.
Click here for the product page.
BUILD QUALITY
First off, I would like to say that I am pretty impressed by the build quality of this flashlight, since there were no machining errors or bumps on the surface. The threads were not that smooth out of the box, but a bit of cleaning and silicon spray helped with that. I was pleased when I saw that the o-rings had indeed been lubed, which also made me wonder why they did not use a bit more grease to lube up the threads while they were at it. I personally cleaned and re-lubed the threads with synthetic engine oil, which is just a habit. The engine oil helps a lot.
The o-rings themselves were all in the right places all over the flashlight, and they are all substantially large which actually proves that they are waterproof. I immersed this flashlight in my bathtub for about 10 minutes, and I also tested out the switch underwater. No problems
You can see the o-rings
The switch itself is a bit springy. It is a large, reverse-clicky type switch (12mm), which makes a little springy sound when you press it, and the protruding tailcap that covers it does not allow the torch to tailstand un-modded. The tailcap is also black, but it is something that I may change, probably to a GITD one or a fluro orange one, so I can get it to tailstand (plus orange looks so much cooler!)
This also seems to be a lego flashlight, with a tailcap that looks like it can be taken apart.
The reflector is made out of aluminium, and it is polished beyond my wildest dreams. This reflector is one of the best reflectors I have ever seen on a flashlight. To top that off (literally), is the glass lens. This lens is not coated with anything, but it still does its job well enough.
Reflector
Photo of all the parts
On the side of the flashlight there is the engraved “Ultrafire” logo, with “C8” in small on the bottom right hand part of the panel. On the other sides, there are the large letters of “Cree”, and then “XM-L U2.
The overall feel to the flashlight is remarkable. It feels solid and sturdy, and it feels like something that will not break if you dropped it a few times (the glass might shatter; so I would not recommend doing so).
The aluminium around the pill! There is about a good 5mm of aluminium around the threads!
The pill is not a drop-in, it is a screw in pill. There is good thermal paste under the star, and you can tell that there is.
If you leave the torch on for about 5 minutes, you can feel the heat really starting to set in. That is the heat transfer working well.
Pill screwed in
And that wraps up the build quality review.
Current and Brightness
So since I do not have a decent camera at this moment, I cannot do any beamshots or ceiling bounce shots at all. I measured these current draws at the tail with my cheap “Digitech” multimeter. I used Ultrafire LC 18650 batteries, which may limit the power capacity.
High: 2.5A 3.01A with Ultrafire LC 18650
Med: 642mA 1A
Low: 150mA
This flashlight has 5 modes; High, Medium, Low, Strobe, SOS. There is mode memory, and the type that I like. You can cycle through the modes by slightly depressing the reverse clicky switch, and then when you have a mode that you like, you can turn the flashlight off. The next time you turn it on, it will be on the same mode, even if you take out the battery. That way you do not have to keep cycling through the modes every time.
Since the batteries that I was using were probably not that good, these results may be a bit off. At the time being I cannot be bothered ordering AW’s or even Trustfire “Flames”, so these will have to do.
Ceiling bounce is remarkable. It lit up my whole room better than the actual ceiling light. It was like my roof was cut off and the sun was pouring in. My room is naturally dark since I only have one window facing the back fence.
Ceiling Bounce Test. This thing is very bright!
The throw on this thing is awesome! This threw better than my Ultrafire Sipik sk98 clone.
I also tried shining this flashlight on trees that are more than 400m away from my house, and it was still able to reach them. This is one powerful flashlight.
ISO800 for all of these photos, trees about 50m away
These trees are about 100m away
Wall is 4m away
Fence is 15m away
The Cree XM-L U2 is the newer XM-L led, and it is said to be more powerful than its predecessor, which was the XM-L T6. I own a T6 torch, and although one is a zoomie and the other is a thrower, I can still easily say that when both are running off the same batteries, at the same current level (high for Sipik Clone, med for C8), the C8 is definitely noticeably brighter. The Cree XM-L U2 is a great led.
Website review
I was a little wary of the website at first, but after buying the flashlight, I decided to put my worries behind me. It is pretty well designed, with easy navigation. I give the site 9 out of 10, it is not as good as Dealextreme, but it is pretty good. Their customer support is extremely good, and they responded to all of my emails within a day and with great helpfulness and kindness. I was very happy when I got my flashlight, and saw the condition that it was in, and I knew that I could trust that site and buy from them again and again.
Shipping took about 10 days, which is rather good if you think about it, but of course, that may have been because I live in Australia, which is closer to China than the US (although Australian Customs pretty much open EVERY package they get).
Website Spec Sheet
Brand: UltraFire
Model: C8
LED Emitter Type: 1xCREE XM-L U2
Luminous Flux: 1300-Lumen
Lamp Life: 100,000 Hours
Power Source: 1 x 18650 (Not Included)
Modes: 5(High>Mid>Low>Strobe>SOS)
Input Voltage: 4.2V
Operate temperature: –20 ~ +50 degrees Celsius
Switch: Tactic Click Construction:
Shockproof and waterproof
Lens: Glass
Reflector: SMO
Current: Digital Regulated 3000mA Current Output (manufacturer rated)
Dimensions: 15.4cm(Length) x 4.5cm(Diameter)
Weight: 0.23 kg
Material of Product: Aluminium Alloy
Flashlight processing technology: Aerospace Grade Aluminium Body with Anti Scratching Type III Hard Anodisation
The Verdict
This torch is a great torch, and is very bright. The solid, sturdy feel, the good looking exterior and the internal parts all come together to make an amazing budget flashlight. And for $17, there is hardly any reason not to buy this.
This is a great budget flashlight.
UPDATE (4-9-2012)
This flashlight actually does have digitally regulated current. When you have a battery that is running at lower than 3.5v it disables High mode. When you try to cycle to high mode, it just skips to the next mode. If you run your batteries all the way down to 3.4v, it also disables Strobe and SOS and medium modes. So that is also another thing to keep in mind if you are considering getting this flashlight. But with normal running above 3.6v, you may see only a slight difference between a fully charged cell and a cell at 3.7v running on high. Just a slight difference.
UPDATE (14-9-2012)
I just realized that my multimeter’s leads were limiting the current reading, so I bought some thick ultra heavy duty wire to do the tailcap test with instead. I got a totally different reading:
3.01A on high
1A on medium
150mA on low
And assuming that this torch is at room temperature at the time of operation, that would mean that this flashlight should put out around 1000 lumens on high! Although it does not reach the claimed “1300-luminous output”, this is still very impressive for a light under $20. Definitely a great first budget light or something to add to your collection.