Review: UltraFire UF-009 Recoil Thrower/Flood Dual Purpose Light

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
1

UltraFire UF-009 Supreme

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆


Summary:

Battery: Single 18650
Switch: Reverse Clicky
Modes: High - Low - Strobe - Flood
LED Type: Throw - Cree XR-E , Flood - Cree XP-G
Lens: Fragile Glass
Tailstands: Yes
Price Paid: $43.75
From: Manafont.com
Date Ordered: 6/15/2011

Pros:

  • Insane throw
  • Some parts have good quality
  • Nice flood light
  • Can be made to take flat tops.

Cons:

  • Some parts have shoddy build quality
  • Unbelievably fragile lens
  • Required modification to work right
  • Doesn't take flat tops from the factory


Features / Value: ★★★☆☆

This light does two things and it doesn't do either unbelievably well. When I purchased this light, I was expecting to get a thrower that would blow my mind with the distance it covers. While it is a hell of a thrower, the light tapers off to the point of not being able to see it after about 130 meters. I was expecting to get something that would throw at least 250 meters. The flood light is the ultimate flood light. If you are a flood lover, this is the light to get on that alone. While it doesn't flood far, it floods EVERYTHING. An XP-G without a reflector will light up an entire wall, top to bottom, side to side from a foot away.

Design / Build Quality: ★★☆☆☆

To begin, I am going to start with the bad because the bad stuff is the stuff that really angers people. First and foremost, I had to modify the light with an aluminum washer to get it to work right out of the package because the head of the light would not make a good ground to the battery tube. After that was fixed, the lens broke! I don't know how, I have never broken a lens before. I guess because it was rolling around in my cup holder for a couple of hours was just too much for it to take. That really gets under my skin. It came from the factory with a haze over the lens that was blocking a good amount of light out the front.

The good things are really good. The machining of this light is amazing. Everything fits together really well and just feels solid. The anodization is without flaws and feels nice in the hand. The threads are standard threads but there are a lot of them and they are smooth! They came from the factory lubricated.

Battery Life: ★★★★★

Because of the design of this light, heat is a major concern. The engineers knew this and the LEDs are not driven hard at all. I am sure my AW 18650 would last a LONG time in this light. I will take current readings at a later date.

Light Output: ★★★☆☆

Maybe I am being too picky but this light just doesn't throw like I was expecting. The flood light is the only redeeming part as it is the ultimate flood light.

Summary: ★★☆☆☆

Overall, I give this light a two because of the issues I had with it. If I didn't have the problems, I would have given it a four because it is fun to watch peoples faces when you show this light to them in the dark. The beam that comes out of the end of this light makes it look like a light saber. It's a fun light and the dual modes make it useful too.

Pictures:

*I have included the aluminum washer I used to fix the bad ground in this image.

*If you take the brass plug out of the middle and flip it over (which it is here), the light will then work with flat top cells.

*This lens was broken when I woke up this morning. Absolutely no reason for this at all.

*Control shot

*My Spark SL6-740NW XM-L T5 light in neutral white (4B). The only thing that throws enough to compare.

*The UltraFire. This is 50 meters in distance.

2

Nice review, Klowd9x. Too bad about it not working out of the box though... and that lens...ugh! I've seen this light at manafont before and it looks like a neat idea, being dual purpose...

It would be interesting to attach a small thermocouple to the emitter mount just to see how hot it gets.

Any idea how much current the emitter(s) are seeing?

3

I don't have a DVOM at home but I do have one at work. If I get some free time tomorrow, I will check current draw of each emitter.

4

Huh, wow, that is an interesting light. I never noticed this one before. Dual emitters, for flood and throw. Thanks for the review! Frontpage'd and Sticky'd.

5

A while back, Match started a thread on how you would design your dream light. This almost nailed mine, I just wanted an XML for the flood.

6

No point on such light as driving it up to 1A isn't really worth it. I suspect it can't handle more current by design.

7

Interesting light :) I can't tell from the pictures but are both emitters recoil or is the XR-E mounted recoil style (on the lens pointing into the center of the reflector) with the XP-G mounted in the center of the reflector in the traditional way?

I'm trying to picture with this setup how the XP-G is mounted to result in pure flood.

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Just inside the lens, facing forward. The XRE is mounted on the 'back' of the post 'firing' into the reflector.

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Ah! I get it! It's a novel approach anyway :) Headlamps have dual emitters all the time but I don't think I've heard of it in a flashlight before. I first became familiar with the "recoil" design with a backup dive light of mine where spill just results in backscatter sometimes. Later I saw it used for "throwers". Two beams in one however is novel without going the flood to throw route.

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That throw isn't as good as a Sipik SK68 on 14500's. And for the price you could buy a Sipik and a KD C8 and still have change. Come to think of it the KD C8 would probably out-throw this on its own. I think KLow' is being very kind-hearted to even give it a 2 Star overall rating.

11

Just checked current draw.

High throw - 800mA

Flood (one mode) - 400mA

12

Hey, Klowd9x, we should use my digital thermometer with the laser tomorrow and see how hot it gets. I'd love to take some thermal readings of the Ultrafire KH-T60 and Yezl Z1X after 5 minutes of running on high. I wonder if our Z1Xs would have different readings?

13

They may. I would imagine that mine would be hotter as I have covered the pill threads in copper thermal grease. Or, I could toss the IMR in there, run it at 3.3 amps for five minutes and boil water on it.

14

All NOVEL ideas! Wasting time at work rules! Don't forget the IMRs so we can run them and see the amp draw in my torches! Welp, looks like we are gonna suck when it cones to turning hours tomorrow! Two flashaholics that work together...time wasted? Hell no, its knowledge earned AND LEARNED!....I need to lay off the moonshine!

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Just let me finish my gravy work first.

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Is the one you tested a dual Led? I thought the 009 was a dual emitter and 007/008’s were single…… But I’m new at this so maybe I just should shut up. I liked your review. I was looking into getting a recoil thrower after my wife forgets about the Jacob A60 that has yet to arrive in the mail….

http://www.exalttrade.com/ultrafire-uf-009-supreme-dual-led-flood-recoil-thrower-4-mode-memory-led-flashlight-1-18650.html

17

You revived a 2 year old post, if you didn’t already realise.

Sadly, recoil throwers are extremely sucky because they can’t handle much current due to their really, REALLY bad heat management.
Like seriously, torches have come so far nobody should ever think about getting a recoil torch.

The Jacob A60 will whoop this light’s ass 3 times over. It has around 55kcd, if you want something more you’ve got to spend a bit more money unless you know how to mod.

18

ok, good to know

19

if you want insane throw fairly cheap……

drop an xp-g2 in a convoy l2 from fasttech, I’m more than a bit pleased with the first iteration of mine.