hazard2036
Newly Enlightened
UltraFire UF1508 Review
This time around we will be reviewing the UltraFire UF1508 which was sent to me by Fasttech for review.
Fasttech let me chose an Ultrafire flashlight and this is the one I chose. You may wonder why? Why not it has all the characteristics of a good modding flashlight. Hopefully its as good as the 1405!
UF1508 Purchase link (link is external)
This is going to be two parts I plane to turn this into a thrower and see what results we get.
What is included? Well like many generics lights not much
- UltraFire UF1508
- Extension Tube
- Lanyard
The Build on the UF1508 is surprisingly good! I really was not sure what to expect when I asked for the UF1508. Overall I am pleasantly surprised at the build quality. I had high hopes after seeing the group buy threads of other UltraFire throwers. I mean not all Ultrafire are crap look at the UF13 I just bought from Fasttech and its a good light!
Overall the UF1508 is built really well it feel solid in the hand and is heavy. The UF1508 appears to be using hard anodizing type 3. Its easy to see the improvement in anodizing because its more of matte finish when compared to the hard anodizing type 2.
The anodizing is finished good on my light its not got any chips or scratches every thing appears to be good.
The lens on the UF1508 is a convex glass lens which I was surprised to see I was expecting a plastic lens. This does add weight to the UF1508 but if a glass lens is made good it works really well. The lens is not AR coated but it still works well. My lens came good very clean and not chipped but you do have to be careful with these glass lenses.
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Build specs!- Glass lens
- Hard anodizing type 3
- Aluminum alloy
I modded my Cometa with a dedomed XPG2 and I got 330kcd from it. The UF1508 has a slightly bigger lens and is more curved if that makes a difference so I am hoping for a better number form the UF1508. I am no zoomie expert!
Cometa Left and UF1508 Right
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The UF1508 is IPX65 water resistant which should be okay to use in heavy rain. The way the UF1508 is built it does have O-rings on all the opening parts and the zoom function has double o-rings. So the UF1508 has an O-ring around the lens and tail cap and battery extension and zoom function. !
!Even thought its only rated to IPX6 I would bet money that you could take the UF1508 under water with no issues! Drop resistant is a bit hard to say it should be good for 1m but I wouldn't push it with the glass lens. Plus its using a buck driver.
- IPX65 Water resistant
- Drop Resistance 1m
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Size specs!- Length single tube: 150mm
- Length double tube: 220.5mm
- Head diameter: 54mm
- Tube diameter: 26mm
- Tail diameter: 28mm
- Weight: 296 grams (without out the battery and with the extension tube)
- Lens width: 48mm
You looking at me looking at you looking at me? At least i wasn't naked lol
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The build and finish of the UF1508 is very good as I have already said. All the edges are clean and well cut on the light and the threads are cut very good. The threads that control the zooming function are large and well cut which is important seeing as it will be getting a workout. All threads came well lubricated especially the zoom threads. Even the machining inside the head and the body looks really well done I will have to take a picture to show you. The knurling is neat and tidy and each part expect for the head has its own knurling. Even the battery tube has knurling and ripples for extra grip. !
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From the pill design I am guessing the UF1508 made by the same factory that makes lights for Brinyte the pill is similar to some of there set ups.
Design
The UF1508 is designed with performance in mind Its a heavy duty flashlight. The UF1508 is a plunger style flashlight but the head isn't overall to big looking thanks to the extra big heat fins.
The body is fairly small and sleek with lots of big lines but no over protruding parts like on most zoomies.
The UF1508 does have a lot of heat fins in the head which are deep and big and this should help with heat once modified. The body looks like it was made for cooling the fins have ample to let air in and are huge. The Pill its self has some heat fins that make contact with the battery tube.
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Once modified you could even run 4 18350 cells with a XHP35 on direct drive. Now that sounds like a nice idea?
Even stock the UF1508 has a lot of option it will work on one or two cells which comes in handy when out and about if you need a longer run time while hunting.
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The zoom function on the UF1508 works good but its a bit weird? Well at least to me.
First time I have seen this kind of zooming function on a flashlight. You have to unscrew the head to get the zoom feature to work and it feels weird to me lol. There is no lockout so if you unscrew the head to much it will come of. You will defiantly be able to tell once the UF1508 is fully zoomed out. Usually the zoom function and taking the head apart are two different adjustments is that the right word?
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Looks like i had my Cometa up my nose lol Both lights are zoomed out all the way!
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Performance
Stock performance is good from the UF1508 it is what you would expect from a flashlight of its caliber. It performers similar to the Brinyte B158 in stock form. Throw is a tad better then the B158. I measure 62325cd which is like 500m of throw?
The UF1508 is using a Cree XML2 it looks like a U2 or U4 bin which I was surprised to see. I know its a top bin but I am not 100% sure if its a U2-U4 bin they all look the same only slightly different. Its defiantly not a T6 bin.
Some times when buying an Ultrafire light you do not know what to expect so it was awesome to see the XML2.
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The LED is on a 16mm board.
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There is no indication of mode output levels and it doesn't really matter to me seeing as I am going to mod this light.
I will do some test and get the real output numbers and post them in the review. I ended up reading the current draw and estimating based of XML2 output charts. Its really hard to measure output on zoomies.
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- High: 1050 lumens at 2.5 hours
- Medium: 550 lumens at 5 hours
- Low: 200 lumens at 15 hours
- Strobe: 1000 luemns
- SOS: 1000 lumens
The machining is nice
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The UF1508 has a different beam pattern compared to other zoomies. The wide mode is still narrow and is not that flood heavy as with most zoomies.
I am not sure if its because of the lens design or the head does not sit low enough to the emitter to get good flood. Okay I done some digging and I loosen the pill so it sat higher and the UF1508 is now more floody then before.
Honestly because I am using the UF1508 as thrower host I do not mind the light not having much flood.
My throw measurements
- 62325cd
- 500m
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UI!The UI stock is just a basic UI its made to get the job done. You have 5 modes and no hidden modes. So each time you cycle through the modes you will need to go past strobe and SOS which is not ideal. This is not my only driver that works this way so I don't mind. On the plus side the UF1508 does have next memory mode. Plus the UF1508 is using a reverse clicky so you will hardly notice.
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Overall I would rate the UF1508 as a good light its built very good and has the potential to be modified into an even better flashlight. The price is good considering what you get including the glass lens and nice finish. Its fairly hard to find the UF1405 now so this may be the alternative you are looking for. !I will update this thread or create another once I have modded the UF1508.
All these pics are taken at ISO800 as usual. I have no stock zoomies so i had to choice random light to compare with the UF1508.
Zoomed in low mode
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Zoomed in medium mode
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Zoomed in high mode
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Zoomed out low mode
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Zoomed out high mode
100m to the tree no problem!
UF1508 Left and XT12GT Right
UF1508 Left and Fully modded C8 Right
UF1508 Left and Cometa Right (Not a fair comparison)
Last but not least i played with the pill and undone it a tad and it does make the beam slightly wider.
Regards Chris
