THORFIRE BLF Q8 REVIEW WITH BEAM SHOTS

MechEngVictor · 2018-08-15T08:47:45.000Z

BOTTOM LINE FIRST: This light is a BLF baby; conceived, designed and executed right here in these pages, destined to be standard setter. The only problematic phase, the possible slip between a cup and a lip so-to-speak, happens once the design is handed off to the manufacturer for production. How will the final product compare to the intended quality-of-build and performance? Will the producer produce with the same passion as the designer designed and will the production quality be consistent? These are the only real questions for the Q8…

SO DID WE GET WHAT WE WANTED???

I’m not gonna get into specs, UI, or features. Do a search to find specs and measurements ad nauseam. Suffice it to say that almost every single aspect of this light was discussed in these pages and decisions as well as concessions were made by members working with Thorfire. If you don’t like a feature, blame forum members and the thickness of my wallet. Aluminum is thick and well-machined. Powder coating looks thick. No peeling of flaking. Fits great in hand, one of the most compact soda cans I have. Heavy.

What I want to know is this: Is this light exciting?! Does it make me want to carry it? Does it scare my friends? Does it stand apart from the hundred other flashlights I own? Connective surfaces are the right materials: stiff springs, thick traces, heavy plating. Spring by-pass could be only mod needed.

By now, I can comfortably say that Thorfire can build a flashlight. Period. They are doing what others are doing for a third of the cost sometimes. Yeah, there were glitches in the first production runs, that’s production. I got my light later on and I haven’t had a single glitch with use or build quality. And I’ve been using it for a month daily. It does what is says it does. Disassembly was done by me without having damaged screws or mating surfaces. Threads are good with no rough edges. Battery positive contact ring could’ve been larger in diameter, batteries make contact towards outer edge. Sony VTC5’s with a drop of solder work great!

Super thick and solid stainless steel bezel and the thickest glass I’ve seen on a non zoomy. No AR, but AR is overrated for super bright lights anyway, save it for your glasses. You don’t want anything disturbing the near perfect color coming off those four XP-L’s.

Love those thick springs! I don’t know how many of you beat up your lights but when one of these things takes a couple of bounces you’ll be glad you have those short, stocky, thick springs because a lesser spring will collapse and the battery will lose contact. It’s happened to me more than once. I love the barrel on the Q8, it’s the prefect diameter to hold tightly in your hand.

Another BLF success story is the button light. It’s not just for looks, it serves all kinds of purposes that I have yet to completely explore. It slices, it dices… It’s a great feature.

I bought extra tripod mounts that normally go on my camera and am putting them on my lights with these 1/4” threaded mounts and now I have a bunch of tripod mountable lights, quick release no less!

Electronics are well done, soldering is heavy, wires are thick, all the things we normally have to fix on our other lights.

Here was the deal sealer for me: When I saw the nice, even bead of thermal paste oozing out the edges of the MCPCB, I knew that care had been taken to assemble this light. I didn’t even bother disassembling past this point. I had a good one.

The reflector is where the hand-off from energy to light takes place. It is the barrier that has stumped many a design, and when you’re talking multi-emitter, forget about it… The Q8’s reflector handles its task well. You won’t know its a multi-emitter by looking at the beam pattern. It’s not really a flooder, it’s a thrower.

Here we compare the Q8 to the mighty Astrolux MF01 with the Nichia 219C, both on the brightest setting. Mainly I want to show you the spread pattern so you see it compared to a real flooder. The Q8 has a tight beam, giving you a hot, bright, intense spot of light. This is 5000 lumens compared to 12000 and the truth is the light intensity in the center is comparable. Please also note the beautiful color of the Q8 compared to the neutral white-almost-magenta color of the MF01. (I think I might have mistakenly received the colder XP-G3: 6000-7000K version of the MF01 instead of the Nichia I ordered…Anybody got a comparison of the 2 MF01’s?)

I was lucky enough to have purchased a MEGA M6 from richard at Mountain Electronics in 2016 and I show here a comparison of it with the Q8 both on their brightest setting. I got the M6 with the XP-L HI V2 3B compared to the XPL V6-3D of the Q8. Very similar color, both a beautiful yellow. (Interesting side note: the Q8 is advertised as “neutral white” but I see it more in the warmy side of things).(I think the M6 puts out around 10,000 lumens, not quite as bright as the MF01).

I am pleased with the Q8, it is about as well rounded a light as has ever been made. The UI is awesome, I love the ramping feature! I think Thorfire, along with a little help from all of you BLFers, has made the jump into world class quality production.

Sillen · 2018-08-15T11:26:21.000Z

It’s a love story baby just say yes…

I feel the same way.