I was having too much fun to suffer too much. Lol.
how can this light be that much brighter than the XinTD
After seeing the photos, can’t wait for mine to arrive :cowboy_hat_face:
Direct drive with a 20r should be about 4.5A on the low side stock. It should be brighter than the 3A Xintd. The lumen measures I’ve seen suggest they are almost equal though, which seems odd.
Replace the aluminum star and add copper to the springs on the c8 and a stock Xintd shouldn’t even be remotely close to the output of a DD c8.
Thanks for the beam shots. That’s a crazy amount of light for the price! Glad I ordered one! 8)
Please be warned again, it's not a U3 and the only reason it's bright is because it's direct drive - insane amps that will drop fairly quickly - a couple of mins of output near the level of a proper regulated 3A C8. Personally, I'd rather recommend the Convoy listed in this thread - read post #28: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/23760.
Well a couple of things that might contribute to the Tangsfire appearing brighter is at start up it is almost 200 lumens brighter than the Xin TD And the Xin is a little warmer tint. They did not seem that far apart in real life.
Tangsfire C8 XM-L2 U3 - that’s what it’s advertised as. I’m a bit envious of you people in the know. You can actually tell by looking at it what kind of emitter it is? How do know it isn’t a U3? Or , what is a U3 
If it isn’t will you bring that to Louis attention? How does one know if it’s an XM-L or an XM-L2? Should we just be happy we got a fairly decent light at a good price?
I wish those in the know would post their opinions at the start of the thread, so those ignoramus like me could make an informed decision to buy or not instead of getting sucked in by a shark feeding frenzy mentality. I suppose the alternative to this would be to gain knowledge.
my light was ordered on the 2nd, shipped today with tracking number -
U3's are not in production, and based on the lumens (binning is based on output/lumens), it does not perform better than a U2. Louis did not respond to my questions in a post in his thread. I've been through this before with other vendors - same old, same old. They can't prove it and technically, they don't have a clue - I got better testing tools then they do.
XML vs XM-L2 is easy - color of the PCB the emitter is mounted on, binning however is difficult.
From what I understand the rarity of xml2 u3 makes it all but impossible to acquire in some obscure flashlight. The only way afaik for one to know for certain is to have manufactured it.
You can tell xml2 from XML by the color of the substrate around the yellow phosphor. Silver is xml2, green is XML.
Based on some of the results others have posted it seems these contain U2-1A which is still a fantastic emitter. One of these by itself would run you $4-6, the driver another 3-5, the host itself about $10.
This is a good light according to many other posts, at a reasonable price.
I'd guess maybe a XM-L2 U2 1A, maybe a XM-L2 T6 1A for this light's output I and others tested -- and I do agree, still, it's a decent light for the money. I did recommend it to friends, though I'd prefer a more standard C8 host, but their hard to find lately...
Got my Tangsfire C8 in today.
502b isn’t really comparable to the C8.
502b is 2.55A +/- .2ish on unprotected vs protected 18650.
C8 is 3.55A on 4.14v unprotected NCR18650B 3400 (A little disappointing compared to what others are getting).
C8 has a little bit (maybe 10) tighter spill. The hotspot is roughly 60 tighter. The C8 has 3 separate rings in the beam. Central hotspot, middle ring, and outer spill ring. The tint in the C8 is much more favorable (imo) compared side by side. The 502B has a rather blueish tint.
$4 502B vs $13 C8
C8 wins overall imo, but the 502b has a smaller form factor, is very comfortable to carry, and definitely has its uses.
unknown00101 wrote;
“Got my Tangsfire C8 in today.
502b is 2.55A +/- .2ish on unprotected vs protected 18650.
C8 is 3.55A on 4.14v unprotected NCR18650B 3400 (A little disappointing compared to what others are getting).”
[/quote]
Solder some braid on the driver spring and that amperage will come up well over 4 amps. Mine has approached 5 amps and some crap started to smoke up off the dome of the LED, Smoking seemed to stop after a short time so I really think it was just some dirt/etc. I have since used a battery with more resistance to lower the power a tad to be safe.
Eventually it will get a Copper Sinkpad and new emitter.
HTH
Keith
What material is the braid? Pic of the driver spring w/ braid?
Solder braid is made of copper, here’s a how-to:
I’ve ordered one of these, you know, because I do not have enough C8s already 
Copper,
I just found it a bit disappointing because I was expecting 4A+ stock.
Edit: relic beat me by seconds! 
This is the stuff;
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062744#
Or here;
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1004/10002730/1202500
Sorry, I don’t have a picture of it installed.
Look here for details on spring braiding ;
Thanks,
Keith
Edit, Damn you guys are quick!
As somebody said, “Damn you guys are quick!” Thanks for the responses.
Asked about the braiding thinking that no delicate soldering is required, thus even I can do it, my first ever modding. Cursory reading of the linked posts confirms that (even though tad more involved than I first visualized). Will order the braid first and mull over the soldering. Again, thanks for the ‘damn quick’ responses!
dang… that desoldering stuff from radio shack is mad expensive… you can get 2 of those for half price from fasttech.
but then again… you get it right away though
I got my light today. It looks really bright.
I was surprised to see it has next mode memory. Others here were saying it always should start on high. IMHO, next mode memory is the worst kind of them all.