Specifications: ( from Banggood ) Ultrafire SG-7010 CREE XML T6
Model: SG-7010
LED: CREE T6
Luminous Flux: 1600LM
Lamp Life: 100000 Hours
Powered by: 2 x 18650 Battery (Not included)
Materal of Product: Durable Aluminum
Reflector: Smooth Aluminum Reflector
Modes: 5 (Hi > Medium > Low > Strobe > SOS)
Product Size: 5.5cm (Head diameter) x 22 cm (length)
Materal of Product: Aerospace Grade Aluminum Body with Anti Scratching Type III Hard Anodization Carrying Strap: Yes Light Color: White
Weight: 260g
Body Color: gray
Price @ time of review = $23.69 USD
First Look :
Its been a while since I got a Ultrafire flashlight , and I was very pleased to see just how nice the build quality was on this one , there were no disappointments of any kind . The light fits together tight as a drum , and the tail switch looks to be very nice . Quite possibly the best tail clicky I have seen on a Ultrafire so far , very solid and mechanical with no mushiness or flickering , impressive . The lanyard is also much better than the ones offered just a few short years ago , and I dare say Ultrafire looks to have lifted its game ( well , they have been making flashlights for quite some time now ) and looks like the company is maturing quite nicely . 2 x 18650 , sometimes flashlights can be a little battery challenged ( wont accept longer batteries ) , and this is not the case here , I used some longer protected 18650's and they fit just fine ( longer + thicker ) . So fitting batteries should not be an issue .
Performance :
Now the SG-7010 does not lack power , I did measure some 800L in my light box on high , which is very impressive when you take current draw into consideration , making this a very sane - useful - and user friendly light .
Mode
Current
Lumens (Light Box)
Throw @ 1 Meter
High
0.94 A
800 L
33200 Lux
Medium
0.5 A
415 L
17800 Lux
Low
0.15 A
100 L
4900 Lux
I'm very pleased with the performance , output is about right on the money for high , current draw is very sane , and the throw is impressive . Your run of the mill XM-L might throw between 15000 Lux to 25000 Lux on high , the Ultrafire does a very nice 33200 Lux , and on medium its still doing 400L and pushing over 17000 Lux ( throw ) all for 0.5 Amp ( that is really nice ) . Even low impresses with 100L and some 4900 Lux all for a paltry 0.15 Amp .
Last Word :
For the asking price ( at time of review ) of $23.69 , the Ultrafire offers a lot of performance and value , and there is literally nothing to complain about when it comes to build quality . It is really well built , everything is nicely done , anodizing , cut threads , I mean everything . The only criticism I could make is regarding the driver and the lack of mode memory . When you turn of the light , it starts in the next mode , mode memory would have put the icing on this cake .
For $23.69 USD , I'm amazed you can buy so much flashlight for so little money , anyone remember 3 or so years ago ? , wow ! Ultrafire has come a long way , and by this sample , more than worthy of your hard earned .
Beam Shots :
Now while the beam shot for high looks really great , the camera does see things a little differently to the naked eye .. And speaking of the naked eye the medium beamshot is much more like what the eye sees in high mode .
This review was kindly sponsored by Banggood.com
Banggood is well known in the RC community , for affordable RC helicopters and gear , and to date I have purchased some 2 helicopters from them , last one being a Walkera Super CP combo about a month ago ( took two weeks to arrive - which is not to long for free postage ) . So while banggood may be relatively unknown to the flashlight community , they are well known and respected in the RC community .
Nice review! I have ordered from banggood several times, they usually are quite fast, and the encounter with customer service was ok as well.
Maybe you could do a resistor mod to get rid of the next mode memory?
Nice review. Looks like a good deal. There appears to be no spill in the medium picture.is there any spill on high? If yes, about how far in front of the light does it start (assuming your holding the light about waist height)?
Thanks for the review! Seems to be a nice light, not bad at all for the price. :)
However, the measured lumens don't make sense to me: XM-L T6 at about 2A should give around 700 emitter lumens. Considering the losses (driver & optical efficiency), this light should be able to push out about 550lm OTF. Or am I totally lost?
There is spill , plenty of it , if you look at the pictures you can see the ground lit up rather well , its a very typical XM-L beam , combining spill and throw ...
8.4v @ 0.94A = 7.9Watts , or close enough to 8watts , please remember its measured current ( Multimeter ) ...
8 Watts ( paper watts ) should be plenty ... ( What happens once the MM is removed - Thats what the light box is for )
[ Delivers 160 Lumens per Watt at 350mA, and 1000 lumens at 100 lumens per Watt at 3A ( cree claims ) ]
Remember , current is measured at the battery not the emitter , this is why we translate to watts , now there are a whole bunch of variables ... like the vf of the emitter , actual voltage from driver to emitter ( is the emitter over volt'ed or under ? ) , so what you have is current from batteries and light box results ( these are approximations and not 100% gospel - but simply figures that give you a good idea of current VS output = Ball Park Figures ) . If you think the watts dont add up to 800L fair enough , not much I can do about that .
I have a strong descending opinion concerning the appearance of this light but wish not a downpour upon anyone's parade. I agree; authentic Ultrafire lights of late have indeed stepped up their game and no doubt, this light is a fine example, but . . .
A lot if not most have improved , possibly as the contractors ( manufacturers ) gain experience , and maybe , just maybe - they are not trying to save $1 by using junk parts ( clicky switch for one ) ...
So hopefully , in the budget segment , we will continue to see better value than ever before ..
YeahFoy , I know what your saying , but the printing say's .........
Didn't mean to question your light box or anything. My intention was to merely point out that there might be a typo in the values. Sorry for jumping in!
It's just that lumen measurements / estimates have been a weak point in my reviews, and I have been trying to improve that by studying the theory and experimenting with my (admittedly not so great) light tube (= trying to get it calibrated for somewhat accurate values)
However, I could have been more specific in my earlier post. Here's how I ended up with the values (yes, I know, lots of estimated things..):
I'd be more than happy if some of you experts could prove me wrong.
And once again: Sorry for off-topic / de-railing your great review.
