Some C8F beamshots:
Control
Low1 - Moonlight
Low2
Medium
High2
Bruto LoL! 
Cheers :-)
I’ll include one of my own. 30 meters to that box on the ground at the treeline. I had the wife shining the light, looks like she was shining a bit low. LOL
It uses a FET+1 driver, meaning at brightness below 150 lumens, and above that until turbo, it uses PWM.
Darn guys, that sounds really disappointing. I was hoping that it didn’t have PWM because sometimes PWM really bothers me. I’ve outfitted most of the house with LED bulbs and haven’t had much problem with those. I got a few nightlights as part of a power saving promotion by the power company, and the PWM on those is so painfully obvious it really screws with my eyes. Maybe it’s only very cheap drivers that bother my eyes. From the videos I’ve watched on youtube of people comparing a Thorfire vs. Sofirn, the Thorfire’s PWM was plainly visible in the video but not the Sofirn. So I’m torn. I might go for it anyway just to try it out. I have a cheapo Duracell 250 flashlight as my only halfway decent flashlight and that doesn’t seem to have any modulation that bothers me. Surely the Sofirn is better than the Duracell that came in a blister pack of 3.
Well if you end up not liking it or the PWM driving you mad you won’t find a shortage of folks on here that will buy it from you. Between Lightbringer and myself one of us would snatch it up.
What’s that IC next to the big FET then?
Not sure. I’m not terribly knowledgeable in this field. What does that chip do?
Well, if that is the driver I see an AMC7135 next to the single MOSFET (I said previously said dual-MOSFET as I thought they probably used a 9926 like in C8A/C8Ts).
What this means is modes low1 (moonlight) and low2 are attained via PWMing the 7135. I have a big table of measurements and the current draw for these modes is steady at ≈57/208mA, this corresponds to (1/6) and 60% duty cycle for a single 7135. 
Cheers :-)
Thanks for the explanation. That’s good news for me, then! As I’m likely to be using it on medium the most often.
Naw, I’ll pass. I got like 3 old C8Fs (tailswitch only) and 1 or 2 new C8Fs (w/ sideswitch). Chrissakes, I don’t even know how many I have. And that’s not counting the rest of my C8 army (buncha Thorfires, a few Convoys, assloads of cheapies for using as hosts, and the latest, a Street-Cat).
Adding a new C8 to my C8 army would be a bad idea. It’d probably get D’Onofrioed in the middle of the night. They’re a jealous bunch…
It’s a Raptor Claw (good; vs Crappy Sailboat, bad) 7135.
Just uses that for lower levels, at or below 350mA. Above, it’s PWMed FET. At, it’s full-on 7135. Below, it’s PWMed 7135.
What's the VS deal? Switching speed?
Cheers ^:)
My guess is higher capacitance on the input line that slows its response so that shorter turn-on spikes just get swallowed up.
Well I ordered the C8F this morning. I had a gift card on an alternate amazon account I had forgotten about, and there was a discount on it too. So it ends up costing me about $27 for the light w/ battery and charger. Can’t beat that.
It’s my favorite C8.
Ok one more question. What amperage cell should I use with this? I’d like to get a couple extra batteries to have around for those times when I need to quick swap and can’t wait hours for a recharge. How about some Panasonic NCR18650GA? They’re 3500mAh, 10A continuous.
These are good. Samsung 35E is another good high capacity/mid drain option.
I got my C8F in the mail today. Nice light. Got a question for those of you that own this light, though. I can’t tell if the light is anodized and then powdercoated, or just powdercoated. Either way, the coating on it seems exceptionally soft. One reviewer said ‘chalky’ and I think that fits perfectly. There was one tiny spot the size of a pin head where silver is showing thru instead of black and that was brand new out of box. Just having it in a pocket by itself left some small marks on it. Is that normal?
I bought the ones I have at the same time about mid February or so. Mine didn’t and doesn’t feel chalky at all. I think I know what your talking about as the cyan and green D4’s have that feel. Then it wears off after a bit and becomes normal feeling. Mine just feel nice and smooth, not overly smooth and slippery but not chalky either. Just feels normal. I was overlooking both my C8F’s that are used everyday. I don’t notice any defects of any sort in the ano. I have had other lights with fairly aggressive knurling where the ano would be missing from a very small area on or in between the knurling. Very very very small spots. Didn’t notice them unless I looked for them. I am pretty tough on lights I use on a daily basis and the C8F is holding up extremely well so far.
I used “chalky” to describe my L2s’ finishes. All my C8s have been flawless, including old and new C8Fs.
That chalky finish would probably be great if you’re a wildcatter and are slathered in oil or something, but it’s just an eerie feeling for me.