Budget thrower?

[joeyboy]

for a $25-35(roughly) thrower, what would be my best bet? I've narrowed it down to just the few models below, anyone had personal experience with them?

UF HS-802 R2-WC
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16538

Aurora WF-600 Q5
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8672

WF-800 3W Q2
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6965

Obviously the last one is going to have a longer run-time with it being 2x18650.

 

[vickers214]

I looked at this for a work mate not long since, and the winner with the most high regard and least problems was a KD RQ Q5 at 33 dollars

 

[^Gurthang]

The 802 has an R2 emitter and the tightest hot spot w/ weak spill.
The 600 has a lower rated emitter [Q5] and the 800 an even lower rated emitter [Q2] both have good throw but less total output.

 

[joeyboy]

The 802 has an R2 emitter and the tightest hot spot w/ weak spill.
The 600 has a lower rated emitter [Q5] and the 800 an even lower rated emitter [Q2] both have good throw but less total output.

If I'm reading this right then the choice seems clear..the 802 wins it.

Do you have any personal experience with it, quality wise?(I understand you're just stating facts and may well not own any of them)

 

[gcbryan]

I own the Uniquefire HS-802. It seems to be well made and throws well. It has a hotspot and then a little spill. Compared to an aspheric thrower it has a lot of spill. It is not a general purpose light however.

I use it if I'm in the woods and want some spill around the hotspot. If I'm in town and only want the hotspot for illumination then I use an aspheric thrower.

 

[Freeze_XJ]

DX sku.18765 might be worth a look as well, i'm thinking about this one myself. Has a good review from Bessiebennie, and seems to need some tinkering if you want maximum power (replacing the circuit), but even without mods it's a decent one.

@vickers : true, Raidfire Spear-clones tend to come out well

 

[old4570]

Hs 802 = R2 ??????????????

I put a Q5 in mine and output went up , so the claim of a R2 ??????

The HS802 is a great little thrower , has a tight pencil beam ...
Aurora might be a better all rounder ...

WF800 ??? If you want multi battery set up , might be good if you upgraded to R2 emitter ...

 

[RepProdigious]

Too bad you aren't considering KD lights and secondary cells or i would have suggested the RQ. Its a great thrower!!

 

[^Gurthang]

4570,

Yep on the R2. Its still an emitter lottery w/ DX or KD. If I didn't already have a "thrower" I'd grab the HS802 or the KD RQ. Either might make a fun experiment for an XPG, less "throw" but plenty of mid-range by my guess-timate.

Re-reading some of the DX comments about the 802, it does mention marginal drive current w/ the stock driver.

 

[Hrvoje]

Another excellent thrower for cheap ($18.10). Search for MRV on Everbuying.

Hrvoje

 

[rekd0514]

WF-504B

 

[vickers214]

+1 for RepProdigious

I posted when i had little time so, when i looked i saw all the flashlights mentioned here, trawled CPF and DX and KD to find out what really performed, least problems like switches/drivers , more often than not the emitter advertised came in the light, and what THREW!

the KD RQ Q5 was the most consistant performer (not the P7 version) with the best reviews, the DX 'spear' is poorly thought of.
Like i have mentioned in previous posts KD and DX are not the best sellers for customer service, and i have bough a lot from DX as they are a bit cheaper, but im now turning to KD as they ship quicker and the lights seem to have less problems, although not perfect.

be carefull of 'tight' hot spots as some are too small to be of any use at distance and remember you will be looking at a dot of light far away as opposed to a spread so you dont miss anything, and how far can you see anyway at night in the woods, or any other given location say scrubland where the greens and browns sap the colour/light anyway.

I have a modded 2d mag with no spread and yes it throws, but it is useless so is never used, and i use an aspheric or my P100A2 (which does everything) for the spread at distance to search large areas quickly

 

[RepProdigious]

:twothumbs

Since the RQ is basically a spear copy its comfy and pretty as well:

Orange accents were added for looks, no real purpose there.....

 

[joeyboy]

wow cheers for the discussion folks. I posted a similar thing over at DX forums and a few people have recommended this as another one to consider, anyone know if it's a contender?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.22934

is this the right KD product...

http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=5558
http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=6459

 

[old4570]

The RQ is very nice , mine had a crap reflector , and the finish just wiped of .
I,ll have to have it chromed and polished one day .

The WF-008 is a clone ? , of the 007 , and apparently has a lot more problems than the 007 ... Go the RQ from those two ..

 

[EZO]

I posted a similar thing over at DX forums and a few people have recommended this as another one to consider, anyone know if it's a contender?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.22934

I own one of these, the Ultrafire WF-008 Recoil Thrower Cree Q5-WC 230-Lumen LED Flashlight - SKU 22934. I really like it and find it to be a very useful and unique light. I live on a large rural property where I can use it to check on my vegetable gardens (maybe 50 yards from my house) and other parts of my acreage at night from up on my deck. It throws a square bright spot a good 100 or more yards out and has a feel like a spotlight on a police cruiser. Really impressive for its size and price. There are two very similar models out there, a black one and another with a rather unique sort of silvery gun metal finish, nicely machined (for the price, that is). It employs a unique design that uses a reverse firing emitter that shoots into a front surface mirrored concave reflector. The output is very similar to that of an aspheric. Has three modes, bright, along with a "medium mode" and strobe that I never use although I imagine you could really disorient an attacker using the strobe with the kind of punch this thing has.

Keep in mind this is indeed a budget light though. I had some problems with flickering and at one point it stopped working altogether but cleaning the contacts and spring really well fixed it. The o-rings could be beefier and mine came with some slight film on the reflector that probably can't be cleaned without scratching the delicate front surface mirror. Still, I consider this a worthwhile purchase and it has a very high "wow" and "fun" factor when you want to impress your non-flashaholic friends. Also, this thing has a surprisingly good run time on a fully charged 18650.

If this light interests you just do a search for Ultrafire WF-008 here on CPF and you'll find other useful threads about this light. Andyw513 posted some good beamshots and photos of the light back in April: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=268791

 

[RepProdigious]

wow cheers for the discussion folks. I posted a similar thing over at DX forums and a few people have recommended this as another one to consider, anyone know if it's a contender?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.22934

is this the right KD product...

http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=5558
http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=6459

Hi JoeBoy!

I own both these lights, and to cut a long story short the RQ beats the recoil hands-down.

Reasons for this are simple;
-The recoil thrower is built cheap everywhere! The material is thin, the finish looks like cr@p, o-rings are too thin. The RQ however is built like a tank! Everything is made thick, anodising is great, threads are nice, its a very good hommage to the Spear (even the lens on the RQ is 3mm thick glass, just like the spear). Do buy the exact model you posted, the other spear clones on DX and KD are no where close to this model (sucky reflector, thinner material, crappy soldering and anodising).
-The recoil thrower is a bit like an aspheric; You get loads of throw but thats it, everything that cant be turned into throw is lost in the design! The throw on the RQ is almost on par with it imho but on the RQ you also get some very nice flood! Also, the recoil will throw one of those square beams (if you can get it focused properly, mine wasn't) and i just don't like that You can see the recoil as a wide laser and the RQ like a flashlight with a very tight beam and thats what you want!
-The heat-sinking on the recoil thrower is far from ideal. If you run the light for prolonged periods on high i think the led could suffer some damage due to heat build-up. So either dont use it on high too much or modify the light so it can sink more heat in the body (like i did) but even then there's simply not that much body to sink heat into.
-The recoil has a glass mirror and quite a thin glass lens that can both shatter when dropped.... The RQ is just a tank period!

For those $6 there's simply no discussion on which light to get.... Go RQ or go home!

 

[joeyboy]

thanks for that, seems I'm getting the KD RQ!

Do you know if protected cells fit? I only have 14500's and AA's here but wanted a 18650 light, these seem to have the best reviews..

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20392

I have this charger, seems it will work fine...

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.22577

 

[EZO]

Hi JoeBoy!

I own both these lights, and to cut a long story short the RQ beats the recoil hands-down.

Reasons for this are simple;
-The recoil thrower is built cheap everywhere! The material is thin, the finish looks like cr@p, o-rings are too thin. The RQ however is built like a tank! Everything is made thick, anodising is great, threads are nice, its a very good hommage to the Spear (even the lens on the RQ is 3mm thick glass, just like the spear). Do buy the exact model you posted, the other spear clones on DX and KD are no where close to this model (sucky reflector, thinner material, crappy soldering and anodising).
-The recoil thrower is a bit like an aspheric; You get loads of throw but thats it, everything that cant be turned into throw is lost in the design! The throw on the RQ is almost on par with it imho but on the RQ you also get some very nice flood! Also, the recoil will throw one of those square beams (if you can get it focused properly, mine wasn't) and i just don't like that You can see the recoil as a wide laser and the RQ like a flashlight with a very tight beam and thats what you want!
-The heat-sinking on the recoil thrower is far from ideal. If you run the light for prolonged periods on high i think the led could suffer some damage due to heat build-up. So either dont use it on high too much or modify the light so it can sink more heat in the body (like i did) but even then there's simply not that much body to sink heat into.
-The recoil has a glass mirror and quite a thin glass lens that can both shatter when dropped.... The RQ is just a tank period!

For those $6 there's simply no discussion on which light to get.... Go RQ or go home!

I certainly wouldn't disagree with your recommendation or opinion about the RQ here but I think you are selling the Recoil Thrower a bit short. I think you may have drawn a short stick in the DX -KD budget light lottery. The one I received has a perfect (and unique) anodized finish on it and it's one of the things I enjoy about the light in part because it has an unusual look to it that Ming the Merciless might have enjoyed. (It is Chinese after all.) Mine has a very sharp focus that reveals the fine details of the emitter to a high degree when projected on a suitable surface and it does what it says it will do, it throws. Soldering looks OK - (good worker on a good day, I guess). When using a fully charged 18650 I can let the light run as long as I like and it does get warm, but not excessively hot. I've dropped it on a wooden floor and nothing broke. Finally, I 'spose not everyone would agree with you about "one of those square beams", especially owners of the DEFT.

I have other larger and more expensive lights that are more "well rounded" regarding their beam profiles, spill and build quality but the recoil thrower is a unique design that delivers a lot for its price and size. As mentioned previously, this is clearly a budget light that has some shortcomings but then I have to remember that I knew when I ordered it that it was an oddball Chinese made budget flashlight and for what it cost it's been highly useful and fun to use. I guess that's the bargain one strikes when buying a light like this from a place like DX rather than spending the big bucks for a true illumination tool.

I've looked at the RQ and found it interesting. Your thoughts about it have me thinking of ordering one.

 

[RepProdigious]

Im willing to bet that basically any protected cell will fit in the RQ... The tube on the light is 19mm diam by 70mm length and if you unscrew the top ring on the battery tube (not shown on the KD pics, the light you receive is slightly different) and shorten the springs slightly you could get batteries as long as 80mm in there no problem!!

My fatties (WOW 2600mah protected) fit in the RQ no problem while all the good will in the world coudn't get those in my TK11. Expensive lights only fit nice sleek expensive cells - Cheap chinese lights fit cheap fat cells no problem!