Can anyone suggest a step up from an UltraFire WF-501B?

I've been using the same UltraFire WF-501B "1-mode" flashlight for years, making use of it a number of times every day/night and often using it strapped to my head for more than an hour at a time doing different jobs. It has been a great tool and very dependable. But now I'm wondering if there's something else, 1-mode, about the same size so it fits my belt tool pouch and NiteIze headband, with the switch on the back, with re-chargeable battery but brighter and not too much more expensive. I just ordered two more from Ebay for about $7 each. I just want 1 mode having been screwed by multi modes too much in the past. Can anyone suggest anything similar but better?


Thank you for any suggestions!
David

Solarforce various L2 series are also P60 format light & is a little pricier but better built.
It is physically similar to what u have now.

For the dropin, go for Sportac single mode triple dropin or Malkoff M61 for simple fuss free usage.

+ 1 on the Solarforce host

Look at drop in's from mountain electronics and Nailbender as well. Vinh can build you a drop in to what ever specs you wantb utmo re expensive.



Barry

+2 on DellSuperman's suggestion. I have that exact set up.

Just to mix things up, look at the Solarforce drop ins. I have some 3 mode ones. They are less than $20 and so far been very dependable in my rough use lights. But of course, they sell single mode ones too.

For $75 you can have one heck of a Host set up with several drop ins to choose from. I make these for my friends all the time. They are Future Proof in the P60 platform. One of my car working lights has the Malkoff low output drop in. With a good 18560, I get several hours run time. Best part is I can drop it and bang it around and not have a oz of worry.

Str8stroke said:

+2 on DellSuperman's suggestion. I have that exact set up.

Just to mix things up, look at the Solarforce drop ins. I have some 3 mode ones. They are less than $20 and so far been very dependable in my rough use lights. But of course, they sell single mode ones too.

For $75 you can have one heck of a Host set up with several drop ins to choose from. I make these for my friends all the time. They are Future Proof in the P60 platform. One of my car working lights has the Malkoff low output drop in. With a good 18560, I get several hours run time. Best part is I can drop it and bang it around and not have a oz of worry.

Click to expand...

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions! I don't know anything about this it apparently...I don't know what a drop in is, or a host, or a platform, or even an 18560 even though that's what is says on my batteries. I thought it was a part number or something.

These lights use what is called a P60 drop in. You can get them in just about any voltage, LED, Color, single mode, 2 mode, 3 mode, 5 mode. They are interchangeable in a few seconds of unscrewing the head. The Host is basically the Body of the light, it should include the tail cap & head too. With the host, you can order whatever P60 drop in you would like. Get a few quality Panasonic 18650 Protected Button Top batteries. Then get you something like a Nitecore I4 charger.
18650 is the battery size
Drop in: is commonly referred to as a P60. It is the Led & reflector & driver, the part with the spring on the bottom towards the battery. Its several pieces assembled as one.
Host is the flashlight body, head, and tail.

BTW: Most of these P60's will fit right in your 501. Unscrew the head on it, and the P60 (drop in) will be what you are looking at. Then when you have the just the head, body and tail in your hand you are holding the Host.

The Solarforce L2 is a excellent Host. In fact for the money it is one of my favorites.

Now when you shop drop ins, make sure you get one that has the proper voltage. A fully charged 18650 is advertised at 3.7 volts, but is actually around 4.2 volts. So the drop in needs to be in that zone. NOTE: Some of the Solarforce drop ins will show max of 3.7 volts. Those work fine with the actually charged 4.2 cells. I don't know why they list them like that.

does that help you out any??

Str8stroke said:

These lights use what is called a P60 drop in. You can get them in just about any voltage, LED, Color, single mode, 2 mode, 3 mode, 5 mode. They are interchangeable in a few seconds of unscrewing the head. The Host is basically the Body of the light, it should include the tail cap & head too. With the host, you can order whatever P60 drop in you would like. Get a few quality Panasonic 18650 Protected Button Top batteries. Then get you something like a Nitecore I4 charger.
18650 is the battery size
Drop in: is commonly referred to as a P60. It is the Led & reflector & driver, the part with the spring on the bottom towards the battery. Its several pieces assembled as one.
Host is the flashlight body, head, and tail.

BTW: Most of these P60's will fit right in your 501. Unscrew the head on it, and the P60 (drop in) will be what you are looking at. Then when you have the just the head, body and tail in your hand you are holding the Host.

The Solarforce L2 is a excellent Host. In fact for the money it is one of my favorites.

Now when you shop drop ins, make sure you get one that has the proper voltage. A fully charged 18650 is advertised at 3.7 volts, but is actually around 4.2 volts. So the drop in needs to be in that zone. NOTE: Some of the Solarforce drop ins will show max of 3.7 volts. Those work fine with the actually charged 4.2 cells. I don't know why they list them like that.

does that help you out any??

Click to expand...

Yes thank you that helps a lot! But of course it raises more questions as well. How significant a difference is there between the Panasonic batteries and the UltraFire I've been using? I already have a few of them and ordered a couple more last week. Also I saw a P60 style 6V Xenon replacement dropin advertised as an upgrade. Would it work with these batteries? Would it have less life per battery since it's not an LED and uses 6V, if it does work? Also, is the mode control in the dropin? For some reason I had always thought that was in the tail. I took apart an UltraFire 501 and 502 trying to get a better idea about what you explained. I've got one of each no longer being used because they started giving problems. The 502 got so it wouldn't shut off and the 501 got so it never behaved consistently, sometimes dim, sometimes bright, sometimes strobing, changing at any time...

nopeda said:

Yes thank you that helps a lot! But of course it raises more questions as well. How significant a difference is there between the Panasonic batteries and the UltraFire I've been using? I already have a few of them and ordered a couple more last week. Also I saw a P60 style 6V Xenon replacement dropin advertised as an upgrade. Would it work with these batteries? Would it have less life per battery since it's not an LED and uses 6V, if it does work? Also, is the mode control in the dropin? For some reason I had always thought that was in the tail. I took apart an UltraFire 501 and 502 trying to get a better idea about what you explained. I've got one of each no longer being used because they started giving problems. The 502 got so it wouldn't shut off and the 501 got so it never behaved consistently, sometimes dim, sometimes bright, sometimes strobing, changing at any time...

Click to expand...

I would suggest the following:-

1. If you do get additional UF-502b hosts, find the ones with better quality, however, that in itself is a challenge as there are dozens of different types of clones with varying degrees of build quality.

2. Your most cost efficient, next step up from your ultrafire 501/502 would be the Solarforce L2 (with or without a p60 light drop in). If you are hesitant to purchase from their main website in hong kong, I believe there are many CONUS dealers that you can go to. One example off the top of my head would be customlites.com (since I just looked there yesterday). You could also go with a Surefire 6P and bore it out yourself to accept 18650 batteries, or buy one already bored.

3. Panasonic/Sanyo/Samsung 18650 batteries are much better than Ultrafire brand ones, more importantly, they are also SAFE with protection circuit (if you get those) to prevent overcharging (BOOM!) or overdischarging. Based on my own limited testing, on Ultrafire/...Fire batteries that my friends purchased either at the night market sellers, or through online, or obtained them free with Chinese lights...Their stated capacity is a LIE. I have tested more than 20 of these and all of them have capacities in the range of 600-1000 while on the label they state it as 3000mah/4000mah etc. SUMMARY Avoid Ultrafire/Trustfire/...fire batteries (except SureFire) if you can help it, the additional cost spent on quality 18650 batteries go a long way, in terms of REAL capacity and SAFETY.

4. 4. If you want runtime, always go for LED. Xenon or other Incandescent lamp will drain batteries faster (at any input voltages), not saying they are not good, but if you want efficiency, go for LED. There are a good number of manufacturers with very good drop ins with very affordable prices, some examples would be Lumens Factory, Solarforce and for more options you can also look up mountain electronics, customlites.com or malkoff devices.

Hope this helps!

With out going deep in things. Throw away the Ultra Fire batteries. They can be dangerous and are usually total fakes and junk. Please if you follow anything do this! Don't feel bad, When I first got into this I had them too.

Get led! Much longer run times, multi modes are available. Mode control is in the Driver part of the led, the driver is located in the front of the light in the Drop in under the LED & its mount.

Your light that is acting nuts and changing modes, sound like it needs the threads cleaned and the switch cleaned or replaced. I bet that would fix you right up. So basically it sounds like a loose contact somewhere causing modes to change.