Hey everyone, so this is my first review, so be gentle!
Today I got in the mail a relatively new model from Ultrafire, the “??”! It comes from Gearbest, but there’s no model to be found.
It is fairly inexpensive at $14.37 on GB site. It is listed as having a Cree XM-L2 U2 LED and an output of 950 lumens. It takes one 18650 (flat and button top) and the styling really reminds me of an Armytek light. I guess thats what they were going for when they designed it? Anywho, lets get down to some pics of teardown and the results of my testing!
For the price, I was really surprised at the decent quality of the light. The anodizing is nice and the threading, although small, seems to be trapezoidal in style. The head of the light is a bit smaller than a C8 and the body is shorter as well. Like the not as little, little cousin to the C8. It holds well in the hand and is not too heavy, even with a Samsung 30Q in it.
With the price as low as it is, there is actually what looks like to be a true Cree XM-L2 in there! The led was centered well and the reflector is dimpled and gives a nice, smooth beam.
The lens is not AR coated, but at this price point I guess I can’t expect everything! The tint of the LED is a cool white.
Upon disassembly, I found that the reflector is aluminum and that there is a pill housing the LED and driver. There was a little plastic disk over the led star to protect against shorting the leads on the reflector.
The XM-L2 sits on a little 16mm aluminum star that is very thin. About 1mm thin. There is no thermal paste of any kind underneath the star, just the bare aluminum of the pill. The pill is fairly decent in thickness and size. The shelf the mcpcb sits on is about 3mm thick.
Here is a pic of the driver. It is a 17mm diameter, 5 mode driver with Low, Med, High, SOS, and Strobe. It has last mode memory, which is a nice given how many budget lights come with the next mode memory. I only wish that the SOS and Strobe modes were hidden.
Output seems decent, but not the 950 listed. Maybe closer to 800 or so. Especially with the lack of thermal paste to aid in cooling. The beam really reminds me of a typical C8 in hotspot size.
Overall, I really like this light for the price point it’s listed at. Whats even better is it seems like it will make a decent host for future modding as there is no glue to have to fight with to get all the components out. I would recommend this light.
-Tru3s1lv3r
P.S. Thanks for reading!