nerdgineer
Flashlight Enthusiast
[Edit: I thought the light had a low voltage issue, but I did a test and it was a battery problem...]
So I really liked my cheap XJC B8 from Kai. Good output, good price, good apparent reliability, and very good battery efficiency according to his published runtimes.
But the proof is in the use and I've discovered a possible issue. All of the above pluses are true, but it now looks like (at least) my B8 has a low voltage start up issue. While it runs a long time in continued use like a night time walk, I found that mine fails to start up from a nimh battery that is only partially drained - maybe half or so. I don't have a meter to check. It's either that or a bad Eneloop.
Other low end lights - like the early Ultrafire 602s - had this issue also, as I recall.
I haven't tried any repeatability testing yet, but I noticed this after a trip where I didn't recharge the cell regularly but didn't come anywhere near the 2 hour run time I expected from an Eneloop AA.
So, I'm suspending my earlier recommendations for this light pending some more trials, in case anyone was considering one.
[Edit] I ran a test with another Eneloop, and the light worked fine all the way down. I turned it off/on every 10 minutes over a 2+ hour runtime, and it re-lit every time. So the light works fine, all previous recommendations apply, and I had a bad eneloop, I guess....
So I really liked my cheap XJC B8 from Kai. Good output, good price, good apparent reliability, and very good battery efficiency according to his published runtimes.
But the proof is in the use and I've discovered a possible issue. All of the above pluses are true, but it now looks like (at least) my B8 has a low voltage start up issue. While it runs a long time in continued use like a night time walk, I found that mine fails to start up from a nimh battery that is only partially drained - maybe half or so. I don't have a meter to check. It's either that or a bad Eneloop.
Other low end lights - like the early Ultrafire 602s - had this issue also, as I recall.
I haven't tried any repeatability testing yet, but I noticed this after a trip where I didn't recharge the cell regularly but didn't come anywhere near the 2 hour run time I expected from an Eneloop AA.
So, I'm suspending my earlier recommendations for this light pending some more trials, in case anyone was considering one.
[Edit] I ran a test with another Eneloop, and the light worked fine all the way down. I turned it off/on every 10 minutes over a 2+ hour runtime, and it re-lit every time. So the light works fine, all previous recommendations apply, and I had a bad eneloop, I guess....
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