UltraFire UF-H2

[compasillo]

I have just received one of these headlamps and here are my very first impressions:

The overall construction seems sturdy but not outstanding quality as Zebralight's.
Anodizing is fine and well finished.
The clip is firmly attached to the body (bezeldown) and keeps the light
safely grabbed everywhere you want it to.
The tail magnet is useful and strong enough to keep the light at any position on
a metalic surface.

Start ramping (after 2 secs. pressing) at highest output AND no memory is an issue, IMO.

It doesn't work with protected 14500 bats, only with unprotected ones (as ZL H501)
neither 1.2v NiMH rechargeables (whereas ZL H501 does it pretty good).

It's not 200 lumens and there's not a noticeable difference between 14500 and AA shots...
I'd even say it's dimmer than ZL H501 wich is rated 96 lumens at highest output.

I wouldn't purchased another one... :shakehead

And just to compare here come a few beamshots

 

[ThunderDuck]

It doesn't work with protected 14500 bats, only with unprotected ones (as ZL H501) neither 1.2v NiMH rechargeables (whereas ZL H501 does it pretty good).

Mine works fine with Varta "Ready2use" and Eneloop rechargable nimh batteries. Still happy with my purchase and considering your beamshots it seems to perform well enough on a price vs. performance basis when compared to the h501.

 

[Rexlion]

My H2 runs fine on a protected 14500, Trustfire. (But I mostly use NiMH just because my two 14500s are tied up in other lights.) Maybe it's a brand specific issue, or maybe you didn't get the tailcap screwed on tightly enough when you tried your 14500 and NiMH? Just speculating.

I find that I carry and use this light quite a bit! Compact and useful design. I mostly leave it on high, no need to ramp down with such a floody beam for my purposes.

 

[compasillo]

Thanks for advise Rexlion.

I'll give it a new try on NiMH and protected 14500.

 

[subwoofer]

...Although, the tailcap still needs to be screwed down very firmly to make contact.

I have just got one of these and am very pleased with it. My experience with the tail cap was that with an alkaline battery it needed to be screwed on very tightly to work, but with a LSD Ni-Mh (I use the 7DayShop Good to Go batteries) it screwed on easily and gave its little led flash to indicate it has power. With these batteries it fits together nicely and I love the way you hold this torch, with the switch easily operated by your thumb.

Thinking of getting the UF-H3 to go with all my 18650s sitting around idle (just because I have loads after recycling a few old laptop batteries).

 

[subwoofer]

Further to my previous post:

I now have the H3 (UF-H3) which takes 18650s. and am again very pleased.

The H3 is a better size for the hands and the first test run using an old laptop recovered 18650 ran for 8 hours on high then went into low mode.

The headbands these Ultrafire torches come with, which have a nylon section that the pocket clips slides into perfectly, are comfortable and work well. I don't know why the original poster wanted to remove the clip as you are supposed to use the clip to fit it to the headband.

The same experience I had with the H2 with battery size was the same again here. With the H2 a duracell alkaline needed the cap to be tightened worryingly tight, but the LSD Ni-Mh fitted perfectly. With the H3 it was possible to tighten the cap onto a protected ultrafire 2400mAh cell, but this was really quite tight. Unprotected cells fit perfectly and the cap simply screws on with no excessive force.

As it is only a single cell torch, and automatically goes into low mode when the battery is run down I don't see any problem always running this on unprotected cells.

For me the Zebralights were too expensive and for less than one would have cost me I have two excellent torches.

I can only assume the Zebralights must use some higher quality materials to justify the much higher price, but I would thoroughly recommend these Ultrafire torches to anyone looking for a great value flood light.

 

[dafeichu]

Subwoofer, I have an H2 coming in soon. Was wondering how much does it weigh? I have the H3 and find it to be a great light for working on something that's not too far away and the magnet comes in handy.

 

[Rexlion]

Subwoofer, I have an H2 coming in soon. Was wondering how much does it weigh? I have the H3 and find it to be a great light for working on something that's not too far away and the magnet comes in handy.

I get 32.1 grams.

 

[Misan]

I had a copy of the ZL H60 from ultrafire, garlic speaking very little, it is unclear what to do with the difference of brightness (75-85-100%)

 

[subwoofer]

Not sure if anyone is interested in more Ultrafire UF-H2 comments (maybe I should do a review).

I have now been living with the UF-H2 and UF-H3 for a few months. I initally noticed that when fitting the battery into the H2 it gives a little flash, but the H3 does not. The H2 switch is different to the H3 switch which has a much more positive click.

The battery in the H2 seems to self discharge after a few weeks even when not used at all whereas the H3 does not (though it might take a year to slowly discharge a 18650) This and the fact that the H2 has that little flash when a battery is fitted leads me to think that the H2 switch is not a full off switch, but is a momentary switch telling a standby circuit to turn on the light. I can't measure the standby current, but as good as this little torch is, if you are not using it every day you will need to keep the battery out of it (or maybe unscrew the battery cap a few turns) to prevent you from finding a dead battery when you need it to work.

I have also tried it on a 14500. Being a full flood light, it is very hard to tell if it is brighter as I only have one and can't do a side by side test. I think it is brighter though and if I have time I might do some photos with fixed exposures to see if it shows a difference.

The H3 I have to say is really great and is awesomely bright when you are out at night. The headband works perfectly making for a fantastic headlight. For me it would be better if it had some quickly accessible fixed output levels rather than starting on full brightness and taking two seconds to even start dimming. It is very hard to catch the lowest brightness level.

 

[YourTime]

The only draw back with Ultrafire headlamp is non water resistance.

 

[subwoofer]

Some more information following my previous posts about parasitic drain. I have measured the drain now for the H3 (UF-H3 using 18650) and the H2 (UF-H2 using LSD Ni-Mh and a 14500).

Constant parasitic current drain:
H3 - 30uA (0.03mA)
H2 (Ni-Mh LSD type) - 4.38mA
H2 (14500 Li-ion) - 700uA (0.7mA)

What is weird here is that the parasitic drain in the H2 with a higher voltage battery is lower.

So with a fully charged 2100mAh Ni-Mh battery the parasitic drain alone will discharge the battery completely in 20 days!

The Li-ion 14500 would fare a little better and last 53 days.

For the H3 with an 18650, based on a 2400mAh battery this would last over 9 years before the parasitic drain fully discharged the battery! Quite a difference.

Still, knowing this makes it easy to simply undo the end cap a couple of turns when not using the H2 and then the parasitic drain is nothing at all, so is only governed by the battery's own self discharge.

Still a good little torch as long as you get one knowing the limitations.

 

[Rexlion]

Time to write an update. The UF-H2 turned out to be a quirky, lousy piece of junk. It started turning itself on and ruined a 14500 cell. I began unscrewing the tailcap to lock it out when not in use. But it went downhill from there... sometimes it would come on as soon as I tightened the tailcap and the switch would have no effect. Then it would work right for a while. Then nothing would turn it on. I got fed up and pitched the thing, and I did what I should have done to begin with: I bought a Zebralight.

 

[airb]

Time to write an update. The UF-H2 turned out to be a quirky, lousy piece of junk. It started turning itself on and ruined a 14500 cell. I began unscrewing the tailcap to lock it out when not in use. But it went downhill from there... sometimes it would come on as soon as I tightened the tailcap and the switch would have no effect. Then it would work right for a while. Then nothing would turn it on. I got fed up and pitched the thing, and I did what I should have done to begin with: I bought a Zebralight.

Thank you for the update! That was my biggest concern about this cheap copy: durability of the switch...

 

[kreisler]

about this cheap copy

nice review, thanks!

the ultrafire reminds me of Zebralight headlamps. but i cant tell who copied the design from whom. ultrafire is much longer in business than Zebralight who is a very young US-company.

so maybe Zebralight copied this design from ultrafire.

 

[fedcas]

mmh... what's the difference between uf-h2 and uf-h2b?

 

[Rexlion]

My former H2 started on high and if you then held the switch down it would dim, and where you let go it stayed (till you turned it off or else held it down again). I just looked at the H2B specs on KD and they say it has a 2 mode switch, high and SOS.

 

[Gregozedobe]

My UF-H2B ramps up or down continously from whatever setting was last used (it has memory of not just what level was last used, but what direction ramping got there) to Max/Min, then down/up to min then back up to max then down to min etc.

 

[iron potato]

I also got UF-H1D (16340) & UF-H3 (18650) for months, both seems to self discharged in days for 16340 & weeks for 18650 (I dont know why), so I just loosen the tail cap when not in use.

Btw, H3 were quite hot to the touch in use, I'm quite concern about it against the big amperage battery inside, could one day it blow a hole on my forehead ? :shrug:

How I wish if it has fixed output levels rather than ramping, otherwise its an awesome budget choice of headlamp, but I plan to get a Zebralight headlamp next year

 

[speedsix]

I bought a Zebralight first and had problems. I just got the Ultrafire UF-H2b and actually think it is better than the ZL. It works which is already a big step up from my ZL H1. My H1 died on the second day of use!

The UF has a magnet in the tail cap that let's you pop it on metal objects and be used as a work light. The UF has better fit and finish and just feels nicer in the hand. It has a better IU and switch and doesn't run as hot or burn your hand like my ZL POS did.

I am concerned about lAck of waterproofing and parasitic drain on the UF but I use it every day and not in the weather so shouldn't be a problem. I always carry spare AAs so if I find it dead, I will just pop in another Eneloope or one of the alkalines I have stashed in my vehicle or bag. No problem.