DX C-8 Cree first impressions

[blackwaterstout]

I'm a flashlight newbie and really have nothing to compare this light to other than my Maglites but here is what I can tell you so far. (More to come when I snap some pictures and get some bugs worked out).

Received the C-8 3W Cree LED Flashlight (2xAA) http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6131 from Deal Extreme. Plain packing envelope with no papers of any kind. Pretty generic as I expected from DX. My first thought was that the light looks great and looked to be fairly well built. The clip is nice and sturdy and I actually clipped it to the bill of my ballcap which seamed to work great.

I threw in some Rayovac Hybrid AA 2100mah cells and gave it a go. Tail clickie felt pretty nice. Actually nicer than I expected from a DX light. It took me a while to figure out the modes since this is my first torch of this type. This light has no memory so the clicks are HI > OFF >Low > OFF > Slow Strobe > OFF > Fast Strobe > OFF. If you wait 2 seconds after turning the light off it will restart in HI mode. This actually was better than I expected for a non-memory light. As I will not use the strobes I won't ever have to click through them to reach them. I plan to use HI most of the time anyway so it's fine with me that HI comes on first.

The Cree P4 emitter came centered and is accesible via the unglued head cap. So swaps might be pretty easy.

I have not completed run time tests yet and I do not have a way to measure lumens. I will say that some guys at work looked into it and joked that they thought they burned their retinas out. It's defiantely bright and blows my poor little AA Maglite to shame.

There are two issues that I'm a little concerned about. I played around with the light quite a bit today and I noticed that there were a couple of times I turned it on and the light was not 100% bright. In fact, after I clicked over to low it was the same output. At first I chalked it up to weakened batteries thinking that the emitter may have stepped down it's output on purpose. But after clicking through the cycles a few more times it got bright again. So now I'm wondering if the cheap electronics of this light are coming into play.

Secondly, I noticed that when I try to use a single AA battery without the extension that the light seems to have a mind of it's own. The cycling doesn't always work and in fact the light sometimes just seems to die out. So I'm wondering if I have some type of contact problem with the wiring of the light. If so I'm sure that has something to do with my first issue listed above.

Real Quickly some of the pros:

• Looks great and feels solid
• Nice extension that will allow the use of 2 AA
• Ability to use 14500 rechargable lithium. (One only, not compatible with 2)
• Compact
• Nice Clip

Some Cons:

• The long prongs of the assault crown cause the beam to be a little square. Not a bit of a problem for me but many of you don't like that.
• An intermitten issue that I'm not familiar with.
• Problem with single AA mode.

As of right now I wouldn't recommend the light until I troubleshoot the intermitten issue. But all other things aside I'm pretty happy with the brightness of this light. I will try to add some pictures of the light and some beam shots soon.

 

[Gunner12]

Try cleaning the contacts, if you are sill having problems, return the light.

Thanks for the review.

 

[blackwaterstout]

Thanks. I cleaned the contacts and totally disasembled the light. Everything looked in order. However when I reassembled the light I am still not able to use the single A mode. The light will come on imediately and then within 5-10 seconds it fades into oblivion. When using 2 AA batteries it's far better. Although I still notice the flickering and dimming occationally.

I'm going to email someone at Deal Extreme and see what they recommend. Seems like a royal PITA to send it all the way back to Hong Kong.

 

[TOOCOOL]

Seems like a royal PITA to send it all the way back to Hong Kong.

Don't think you will have to......Florida maybe

 

[blackwaterstout]

Don't think you will have to......Florida maybe

Florida? Wasn't aware of that. You'd think that if they service them in Florida they might as well just sell them out of Florida.

Anyway, I started a ticket over at DX so we'll see what happens.

This thing must have some crappy circuitry. I just put in some fresh batts and turned it on high and it's shining against the wall. The brightness does not stay consistant. Bright for 20 seconds and then it dims and flickers.........20 seconds later it's back to full brightness.........now more flickering..........

It's pretty bad when the thing flickers when I'm not even touching it. I could see if it flickered when I was riding a rigid chopper down a gravel road but just sitting there? Thats not a good sign.

 

[Gunner12]

Check DX "contact us" section,

USA Return Box Address:

S CHEN | DealExtreme
8345 NW 66TH ST #8247
MIAMI FL 33166-2626

I'd say return it for the WF-606 or a 3W Seoul if you need 2AA. If you need high and low, try the MTE Rebel 100 5 Mode(1AA only) or the more expensive Candlepower light(1AA, 2AA and 14500).

The problem is probably a bad board.

 

[ambientmind]

you must have gotten a bad one, i have the same light and have no problems. it does work better on 2aa or 14500 however. the two modes are barely distinguishable on 1aa. i posted a review on dx along with some images if anyone is interested. it is a cool light for the money though. i usually just leave the 14500 in there for output/size purposes.

 

[blackwaterstout]

Well I finally heard back from DX today. Here is what they wrote.........

Hi,

You can return it to us and we will ship you a new one when we get the return one.

thanks

Uh, how about some more info on what I need to do to return it? So I send it back to Florida and then I wait 2-3 more weeks for a replacement to come from China? Thats kind of crappy. Not really the best buying experience I've had online. I guess I can see why many people are shying away from these Chinese lights and paying more for quality.

Do I need an RMA number or do I just pack it up and send it to Chen in Miami?

 

[blackwaterstout]

Well I've got to say that my first buying experience from DX has been pretty terrible. I sent the light back to DX on October 27th. Had kind of forgetten about it the last few weeks assuming that it was going to take forever to get a replacement. So wednesday (22 days after sending it back) I decide to pull up my claim ticket at DX and ask them about when I might expect the replacement to arrive. The next day I get a response telling me that they just received my returned light and will ship out a new one. WTF? You telling me it takes 22 days for UPS ground to move a package from WV to FL? So I've waited 22 days already and it looks like now it will be the customary 2-3 weeks for my replacement light to arrive from China.

So to recap, I place an order through DX on October 8th, receive a defect light, send it back and probably won't get the replacement until ~ December 8th. I'm just wondering what the odds are that the new C8 will be defective just like the original one. .:shakehead

 

[Gunner12]

DX seems to be much worse then they were before.

I'm sorry about your bad experience. They were much better before.

 

[gOhAsE]

I bought 3 of these lights four weeks ago and I am still very satisfied. Machining is good, I like the design and it uses AA batteries.
With 2AA it is brighter than the WF-606A.

But there are some minor issues with this light (I don't care about much):

1. The heatsink with the board and the LED gets loose after a while. You need to tighten it then otherwise it will be shock sensitive (shuts down on itself). Just tighten it properly once after you received it.

2. The body isn't very scratch resistant. For example when you unscrew the head, be sure to use a sheet of paper beneath the clip (between clip and body), otherwise you will scratch the body badly.

3. The driver isn't very effective. It burns a lot of current while heating up. Replacing the original one with a more effective one approximately doubles the runtime. (DX offers some better drivers in their DIY section. You need a driver with about 16mm diameter or you can use a 17mm diameter one and sand it down to about 16-17mm.)

 

[tmlwyb]

Hallo everyone!
I am a newbie, recently browsed this forum trying to choose which flashlight should I order from DX. With my few simple requirements such as:

• AA or 2AA
• quite bright
• multi-mode (it should be useful for working in the garden and also for viewing the map in the car)
• wide spill, less "hot-spotted" light. the wider - the better

I've come to 2 flashlights:
- MTE 5-Mode 100 Lumens Rebel Flashlight (AA / 0100 BIN) http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6131
- C-8 3W Cree LED Flashlight (2xAA) http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6162
Couldn't find anything more suitable than these two.

As for C-8, I like it better over MTE (though I'm aware of his short runtime) but one thing that I want to know for certain - which flashlight of those is brighter and (what's even more important) has widest spill? There are no bimshots for C-8, so I can't compare them with MTE's bimshots and need some opinions.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance)

 

[blackwaterstout]

While I've only owned the C8 I can tell you it's very bright when it works. Sounds like I got a dud while gohase lucked out and got 4 good ones. But my guess is that since the C8 uses a P4 that it's probably not quite as bright as the MTE since it used a Rebel 100. There are other factors that can effect brightness but all things equal the Rebel 100 will be brighter than a P4.

The C8 has nice throw and good spill. I'm sure the MTE is comparable.

 

[tmlwyb]

Ok, thanks for the info. I thought that maybe because of the 3W power supply C8 can give more light in comparison with MTE?

gOhAsE mentioned that C8 was brighter than WF-606A. According to these 606 & MTE bimshots WF-606A is brighter than MTE. So C8 should be brighter than MTE

Still don't know what to choose. Probably will end up doubts by flipping a nickel or something

 

[bessiebenny]

As for C-8, I like it better over MTE (though I'm aware of his short runtime) but one thing that I want to know for certain - which flashlight of those is brighter and (what's even more important) has widest spill? There are no bimshots for C-8, so I can't compare them with MTE's bimshots and need some opinions.

C-8 is brighter than the MTE Rebel 5 mode.
Should be at least around 1.5x brightness.
It's coz MTE Rebel is only around 1.5 Watts.

Consider the new Ultrafire C3 5 mode light also.
You can use it single AA or double AA form as well.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7938

There is also this MTE which is newer than the MTE rebel you mentioned.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8752

 

[tmlwyb]

Thank you for reply, I'm now looking more on 2AA lights.

That Ultrafire C3 5 mode looks good but is it as bright as C8 or not? I've read that "Brightness is identical in both 1 x AA or 2 x AA mode" for C3, and it's not what I want from the light really.

 

[bessiebenny]

The 5 mode version of the C3 vary in brightness with battery.
It is brighter than the single mode C3 when used with 2 AA.
It should be similar to the C8 when used with 2AA and much brighter with 3AA or 14500.

Have a look at Selfbuilt's extensive review on it.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=178942

 

[tmlwyb]

Hmm, I haven't seen that review before. Big thanks one more time for the link. Now I'm almost sure that I'm going to order Ultrafire C3 5-mode.

The only thing bugging me now is usefulness of the modes. I've never had a flashlight with modes and I think I should try such light because I don't know how comfortable it will be to use single mode flashlight of such brightness in the car for viewing the map. Are there any problems with it at all? Maybe someone knows?

 

[bessiebenny]

Hmm. Seems the q/a is a bit hijacking the tread so I'll be quick.

Ultrafire C3 isn't bright enough to worry about for in-car use for maps.
5 mode is good in that it has a super long run time on Med-Low modes.
Single mode is better for people who doesn't like multi-mode lights.

 

[blackwaterstout]

UPDATE:

Finally got my replacement C8 today almost 2 months from the original date of order Fortunately this one seems to work correctly although I haven't done any runtime test yet. Definately a bright like though.