Are these light any good?

Fenris · Nov 8, 2006

I'm thinking about buying a couple of lights as extra Christmas presents for my Father and Brother-in-law, and I wanted to know if this was going to be worth the trouble or not.

I also thought about getting this one for a guy I work with, who would be more interested in runtime compared to tint or output.

Any experiences, or thoughts in general, would be much appreciated.

munkybiz_9881 · Nov 8, 2006

I have one(the MX Power), not a bad light, but not great either.

The one I have throws a very blue beam and the led is badly off center

But the light itsef seems to be reliable so far......

Remember you're buying an eight dollar light.

I would go with the Ultra fire

RonM · Nov 8, 2006

I was very unhappy with the AAA version of the UltraFire. You can read about it here . However, I have no experience with the AA version.

greenLED · Nov 9, 2006

If I may, I'd skip those and give out something with a little more track record. Minimags (in all their flavors), Fenix lights, UK's, etc. all make great gifts, and are not really too expensive, especially if you're giving them to "special" people in your family. Also consider how well the recipients will really appreciate a light, or if it's just something that thrills you. My 0.02 lumens.

flame2000 · Nov 9, 2006

I've got one of the MX Power Nichia too. The workmanship cannot be compared to the Ultrafire lights. The MX Power threads are rough, the o-ring are very thin, the tail-cap switch is a bit too firm for my liking. The only consolation is that it came with a glass lens. Output is also a bit weak and bluish. Runtime on alkaline is about 1h45m (50%) before I noticed a drop in output.

If you are looking for something $20 or less, you would be better off with the Ultrafire 602A1 (VIPPA) which can be had for ~$18 at FifthUnit or the LumaPower LM301 at $20. BTW, both these lights are compatible with 3.6V Li-Ion 14500.

For LumaPower LM301, you can get it from the "Manufacturer's Corner".

At half the price for the MX Power, you get half the output and quality, fair enough!

Fenris · Nov 9, 2006

greenLED said:
If I may, I'd skip those and give out something with a little more track record. Minimags (in all their flavors), Fenix lights, UK's, etc. all make great gifts, and are not really too expensive, especially if you're giving them to "special" people in your family. Also consider how well the recipients will really appreciate a light, or if it's just something that thrills you. My 0.02 lumens.

I seriously doubt that either of them will actually use their lights all that often.
I just wanted something to get them something extra. As for the fenixes, I know they're better but I can't see spending $30+ dollars for some stocking stuffers that won't ever get used.

Hmmmm......I'll think about it some more. I should have plenty of time to find something before Christmas comes.

Fenris · Nov 9, 2006

flame2000 said:
I've got one of the MX Power Nichia too. The workmanship cannot be compared to the Ultrafire lights. The MX Power threads are rough, the o-ring are very thin, the tail-cap switch is a bit too firm for my liking. The only consolation is that it came with a glass lens. Output is also a bit weak and bluish. Runtime on alkaline is about 1h45m (50%) before I noticed a drop in output.

If you are looking for something $20 or less, you would be better off with the Ultrafire 602A1 (VIPPA) which can be had for ~$18 at FifthUnit or the LumaPower LM301 at $20. BTW, both these lights are compatible with 3.6V Li-Ion 14500.
For LumaPower LM301, you can get it from the "Manufacturer's Corner".

At half the price for the MX Power, you get half the output and quality, fair enough!

The Nichia doesn't really look all that bad considering the price. My friend liked my Inova X1 that I let him use, so I doubt that the little amount of blue in the Nichia would bother him.

selfbuilt · Nov 10, 2006

Fenris said:
... who would be more interested in runtime compared to tint or output.

I think you'd find both of those lights disappointing for runtime. Although not in the hands of anyone here yet, the $20 shipped Lumapower LM301 (two-stage) looks like a real winner in comparison (see the threads in the Manufacturer's corner). I'm eagerly awaiting mine.

zottel · Nov 10, 2006

I have an ultrafire WF-602A ("CHARM"), it's from Dae's qualitychinagoods site, but afaik they're the same model. These lights have a serious problem with not starting up below a battery voltage of ~1.2V (see this thread for example, mine is even worse at ~1.3V).

This means that with freshly charged NiMH cells (eneloops in my case), you can't turn your light off and back on after using it for a couple of minutes, even though it would run for over an hour if left on. Alkalines fare slightly better because of their higher voltage and regenerating abilities when left to rest for some time.

It's pretty bright, and fairly well-made otherwise, but I have no use for a light that has an effective runtime (since I'll hardly ever use it for hours at a time) of about 5 minutes. Here's a discussion about how UltraFire may/may not have fixed this problem for newer models. Presonally, I won't buy another light from them unless there's reliable information that this problem has been fixed.

flame2000 · Nov 10, 2006

zottel said:
I have an ultrafire WF-602A ("CHARM"), it's from Dae's qualitychinagoods site, but afaik they're the same model. These lights have a serious problem with not starting up below a battery voltage of ~1.2V (see this thread for example, mine is even worse at ~1.3V).

This means that with freshly charged NiMH cells (eneloops in my case), you can't turn your light off and back on after using it for a couple of minutes, even though it would run for over an hour if left on. Alkalines fare slightly better because of their higher voltage and regenerating abilities when left to rest for some time.

It's pretty bright, and fairly well-made otherwise, but I have no use for a light that has an effective runtime (since I'll hardly ever use it for hours at a time) of about 5 minutes. Here's a discussion about how UltraFire may/may not have fixed this problem for newer models. Presonally, I won't buy another light from them unless there's reliable information that this problem has been fixed.

The other Ultrafire model 602A1 doesn't seems to have this problem anymore. The new batch, according to this thread seems to work well below 1.2V.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/139684

Not sure whether Ultrafire fix the problem on the 602A though?

Paul6ppca · Nov 10, 2006

Best thing you can do for that light is to add flupic,thats why I got one! You will need to use 14500 lion battery. Well worth the effort.Its now one of my favorite lights.

zottel said:
I have an ultrafire WF-602A ("CHARM"), it's from Dae's qualitychinagoods site, but afaik they're the same model. These lights have a serious problem with not starting up below a battery voltage of ~1.2V (see this thread for example, mine is even worse at ~1.3V).

This means that with freshly charged NiMH cells (eneloops in my case), you can't turn your light off and back on after using it for a couple of minutes, even though it would run for over an hour if left on. Alkalines fare slightly better because of their higher voltage and regenerating abilities when left to rest for some time.

It's pretty bright, and fairly well-made otherwise, but I have no use for a light that has an effective runtime (since I'll hardly ever use it for hours at a time) of about 5 minutes. Here's a discussion about how UltraFire may/may not have fixed this problem for newer models. Presonally, I won't buy another light from them unless there's reliable information that this problem has been fixed.

mcmc · Nov 10, 2006

Paul, that's a great idea. I've been wondering which of these cheapy lights would be a good FluPIC host. I've never installed one though, how hard is it? just soldering the led to a new board, or some other process?

To the original poster: I've been cruising the 5thunit site for xmas gifts too, after being very pleasantly surprised w/ my ultrafire cr2, smartfire cr2's, and ultrafire cr123. I wanted to get AA lights, like you, and will probably be getting a batch of the 1aa MXDL lux1 lights (around 8 shipped each), and some of the 1aa 8-led lights (around 6 shipped each i think). Anyone want to chime in w/ info on these guys? they look solid, and if the 8-led is the same as the xnova 8-led, should be pretty good...

Final q (if this is hijacking sorry): anyone know how if it would work, and how hard it would be to mod in, a FluPIC to any of the Ultra/Smart-Fire CR2 or CR123 lights?

Thanks!

Are these light any good?

Fenris

Enlightened

munkybiz_9881

Enlightened

RonM

Flashlight Enthusiast

greenLED

Flashaholic

flame2000

Enlightened

Fenris

Enlightened

Fenris

Enlightened

selfbuilt

Flashaholic

zottel

Newly Enlightened

flame2000

Enlightened

Paul6ppca

Flashlight Enthusiast

mcmc

Flashlight Enthusiast

Similar threads

Latest posts