Ultrafire UF-H3
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★★
Summary:
| Battery: | 18650 |
| Switch: | Digital "soft" pushbutton |
| Modes: | ∞ (Infinite) |
| LED Type: | Cree XR-E Q5 |
| Lens: | Flood |
| Tailstands: | Yes |
| Price @ Order: | $33.10 |
| From: | Manafont.com |
| Date Ordered: | 19/Nov/2010 Shipped 23/Nov/2010 |
Pros:
- Infinitely variable brightness
- You'll only make it flash if you really want it to.
- Comes back on where you set it last time.
- Very well put together.
- Removable pocket clip - which is held in with breakable thread lock compound. Can't see it coming apart unless you really want it to.
- Can stick the tailcap to any ferrous object. Which makes removing cells easy as they tend to come out with the tailcap.
- Will run for around a week on lowest level
Cons:
- Not a low budget light (But IMO well worth the money)
- It would be better if it paused at either end of the ramping range, or flashed to indicate you'd reached the end.
- Parasitic drain (But easily locked out). However, it is only 75 microamps. Or about 4 years to see off a 2500mAh cell.
- Clip needs to be removed to use on headband.
- If I'm being ultra-picky the engraving on the tailcap isn't all that wonderful
- And on the same note it is Type II anodised, not type 3 hard anodising.
Features / Value: ★★★★★
This is pricey for a budget 18650 light, but there is actually no competition for this on the market. Zebralight no longer sell an 18650 headlamp but when they did, it was $79. Even on clearance, the AA Zebralight H50 is still $45 and is less flexible though it has a little wider beam. This may be either a plus or a minus.
For me, the really big deal is the infinitely variable output. See Mr. Admin's review of the H2 AA model here for how the controls work. For the extra twenty cents over the H2, for me the 18650 version is much more useful. There is also a 16340 version, the UF-H1. The 18650 gives considerably longer runtime at any setting over the AA version so if you are already using lithium cells and don't mind strapping one to your head, then I'd say this is a better bet. Weight is not really an issue, according to my scales the light weighs 90g with an 18650 in it. Or if you let the tailcap stick to the scales, it says 195g, so the magnet is of decent strength.
Even when hanging from a screw head, it was clear the light wasn't going to fall off without severe provocation. Here it is stuck to an office cupboard and shining upwards.
And here it is quite literally hanging from a screw head. The main bracket is aluminium so non-magnetic. It hung there quite happily for four days.
The clip is sturdy and has withstood a couple of weeks clipped inside a trouser pocket. It is possible to activate the switch in this position but the runtime is good enough that it really doesn't matter. It is certainly comfortable to carry in a pocket, I don't even notice that it is there. I keep trying to like clips but almost always end up removing them. This one might just stay on. Clipped into a shirt pocket it is perfectly usable as a hands-free light. The screws holding the clip on are some odd head, but I did find a bit that would turn them. It took a fair amount of effort to remove the screws, they are held in place by some sort of breakable threadlock compound. Those screws are not coming out unless you really, really want them to and have the right tools. One tiny nitpick, it would be nice if the headband would take the light without removing the clip. While it is in the holder there, it isn't actually all that useful to have a lamp that can light up the headband only.
Edit: It is actually possible to slide the clip under the rubber holder, but this means it can only point straight ahead. If you want to be able to swivel it up and down (as I almost always do) then you still need to remove the clip.
Build Quality / Design: ★★★★★
I'm not going to reiterate the points made by Mr. Admin in his review of the H2. I fully agree with his review. It might be nice if this would operate with 4/3A NiMH cells but it won't work with one or two of those. I'd be reluctant to try it with 2xCR123 or worse still 2xRCR123 as the voltage might well be too much for the circuit. It is an 18650, 17670 only light. It works with all my 18650s but seems to prefer the slightly longer protected ones.
It is 99mm long and around 25mm at the widest point, this is a small light. I own larger AA lights - the BLF special comes to mind, it is a couple of millimetres longer and a hair larger in diameter. It is only 4mm longer than the Akoray K-103 which is an AAA light. Here it is with some comparable lights, the Zebralight H50 (AA) and the Trustfire Z1 (CR123) and an 18650 cell.
My eyes said this had two O rings at the tail end, the camera says otherwise. I really must make the time to visit an optician soon. It will quite happily lie on its back on the clip. At least on hard, flat surfaces. As you can see, the threads came lubed. And not overlubed so as to get grease all over your clothes.
More detail. You can see that there is a groove that would be usable for a second O ring - but I've not spotted any chewed O rings spat out by the light. And when I try to put a ring in the empty groove, I can't get the light to operate. I tried about six different sizes but all were too thick to allow the tailcap to screw fully home.
Because of the electronic switch, there will be a small drain on the cell all the time, so it is useful to be able to "lock out" the light by unscrewing the tailcap a turn or so. The tailcap needs to be screwed in firmly to allow the light to operate. In this position, the light is locked out and will not operate. The tailcap is not about to come off though.
Tightened down for operation.
The tailcap is well put together, the engraving could be nicer, but who cares?
The other side.
The switch.
Battery Life: ★★★★★
Excellent. I can get it to vary between 15 and 650mA so for a 2500mAh cell that should give about 168 hours (A week!) on lowest which I estimate to be around the same light output as the Zebralight H50 on its lowest setting. On max output of around 120 lumens, it is drawing 650mA which should give about 3 1/2hours on highest. For what I use a headlamp for 120 lumens is plenty - doing athletic things outdoors at night is not something I've done in the last couple of decades. Higher capacity cells and those with lower internal resistance may well give both better output and runtime. But I'm happy with my cheap Trustfires.
Light Output: ★★★★★
I can get it vary from about three to 120 lumens. The beam is pure flood. Here's a ceiling beamshot. Ignore the blue patch, that is an artefact from the camera but shooting in Raw and postprocessing is tedious. The light is about 60cm from the ceiliing happily resting on its clip on top of a door.
This is not a long-range light, it is intended for closer range work. There is no hotspot at all, which is as you want it to be for short-range work.
But here are the usual test range shots. The exposure was chosen for lights that make 5-8x the lumens and have a hotspot.
Control
The light in action. Look around the edges of the picture to see what it is lighting up.
Here is the beam pattern at close range. Note the dog hairs.
And here it is with a Zebralight H50 in front of and below it. Both are Q5 lights. The H50's beam is a bit wider, but many complained that the original pure flood Zebralight had too wide a beam. I can't say I agreed with the complainers, but the beam from the H3 still gives me edge to edge of my vision illumination.
Summary: ★★★★★
You want one of these. I'd wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who doesn't need range out of their hands-free lights. Yes, it isn't the cheapest light in the world, but it is IMO well worth the money. I think it is more useful to me than the Zebralight H50 and i never thought I'd find myself saying that! It is certainly better value than the Zebralight. Only time will tell if it is as durable as the Zebralight has already been, but I see no nasties in its construction and it seems to have been properly put together. Using excessively long 18650's in this might be problematic - it could become a cell-crusher with way out of spec 18650s.
