$5.50 Ristoft from DE is a GREAT Cree host!

FlashCrazy

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I bought a Ristoft 3xAAA flashlight from DealExtreme and transplanted a Cree into it. Didn't expect much, and turned it on....WOW!! This has to be the next best Cree host besides the Elly. I take it back....the Ristoft is a BETTER Cree host than the Elly!! Very very very bright, with a great beam and spill. Blows the Cree Elly away! The Elly is a better form factor, using the single AA...plus has way more runtime....but this light is so bright! The hotspot is almost twice as big as the Elly's, and the spill is wayyy brighter. This is now the brightest light I have. It's pulling 900 mA at the tailcap.

Ok, I know many of you hate the 3 AAA setup...but....I you're like me, and don't use your flashlights for extended periods of time, 3 AAA's work fine. NiMH batteries were used in the light. I did a runtime test on it and it appeared constant output for 30 minutes, then dropped in brightness over the next 15 minutes. It would probably put out light for quite a while more, but I stopped the test. So 40-45 minutes of very nice light.

The light itself is pretty neat...it has a brushed aluminum finish, with nice knurling for the grip area. Plastic lens and reflector, but what else would you expect for $5.50. All in all, a very nice looking and feeling flashlight.

Here's some comparisons. Out of the lights I have, it is most comparable to the Glimt K2 from DE. The hotspot brightness is a little brighter on the Ristoft, and the spill is way brighter. Another close comparison is the MTE Seoul P4...again, the Ristoft conversion has brigther spill. This light is even brighter than the Coast Focusing Lenser (Hokus Fokus). Ceiling bounce tests show that the Ristoft trumps all three. I think this is amazing for a conversion that cost $13 all up!!

Give it a try, no changes needed other than a simple star swap. The star board on the Ristoft uses a small piece of bare copper wire for the ground connection. It's soldered to the negative terminal on the board, then folds under the star to ground on the pill. The star is just wedged in place, no screws to hold it down (although there are two screw holes in the pill) I just installed two screws to hold the Cree star down, and soldered the loose end of the ground wire to one of the screws. No reflector changes needed!

All in all, a great mod, and now my brightest light. Give it a try, you'll like it!
 

ace0001a

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Yeah, Nitroz has been Cree modding this particular model of light for a while now. I got a couple of Ristofts and I noticed they changed the design a little. Mine has the board and emitter module screwed into the head rather than the body like the older design. The reflector was a bit off center in the one I did. The hotspot is good, but not as tight as I've seen with these lights. I'm not sure if I should try to screw it in more. This light is also capable of fitting a Li-Ion battery in it to super drive it. Looking at the board/emitter module, it looks like you might be able to fit a thin regulator board in there. From my experience, any of the Chinese flashlights that use their cheap low profile "blob" LED emitter star makes a good Cree host.
 

moon lander

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i also have done this mod, and hes right, it rocks. its so freaking bright i cant believe it. mine was pulling 950ma direct drive. its the smallest, brightest, non lithium light you will find. 3AAA nimh turns out to be ideal for direct driving the crees. the throw blows my mind. one problem is the star/pill screws into the head, which is very hard to do since the reflector hole is off center (in all 3 that i have). in the end, i had less thermal coupling than i would have liked, but it works. i would say the elly has way better heat sinking. soon ill post beamshots of the ristoft, the ristoft mod, elly, cree elly, cree elly direct drive, DX U2 clone, Dx Fauxton, and Fauxton with jled 55mcd. just have to wait for my 2 remaining orders to arrive :rant:
 

vinsanity286

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I just got my ritsoft yesterday drom DX along with a cree and a protected 18650. Put them all together and WOW! This light kicks ***. I will post up pictures of how I modified the tailcap and emmitter assembly, which is screwed into the body of mine. I run the light direct off of the 18650 and it pulls a bit over 1 amp with the battery fresh off the dsd charger(around 4.02 volts). It gets warm when holding it in your hand but not bad at all. I used it last night exploring an abandoned house with a couple of friends. Then were amazed by the light. It throws like crazy and has great spill to boot. I had it on continuous for around 30-45 minutes and the next morning the battery had an open voltage of 3.9 I think I have found my new favorite light!

Also I would like to add that the cree from DX has excellent color rendition outdoors.
 
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2xTrinity

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Here's the most interesting thing about it -- the "head" on the Ristoft will actually screw onto the tube from the Elly, so you can substitute that reflector to any Elly Cree and it will work! An Elly modded to 14500 might even be better, as you'd have the advantage of the Elly Tube as a beefier heatsink.

Either way though, that textured reflector is perfect for the Cree, it gets rid of the yellow ring nicely.

i also have done this mod, and hes right, it rocks. its so freaking bright i cant believe it. mine was pulling 950ma direct drive. its the smallest, brightest, non lithium light you will find. 3AAA nimh turns out to be ideal for direct driving the crees. the throw blows my mind.
only problem with 3AAA is that it will only drive hard for a few minutes, then internal resistance builds up and you end up with a much lower driving flashlight for a longer time. Battery replacement can also get expensive. Using the Elly tube and 14500, or "padding" the Ristoft tube and pulling out the retaining ring from the switch and using a 18650 will provide the same initial brightness but with much longer runtime, and high output for longer.
 
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thefish

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I have been modding and working with this light for a few months now, it is preatty nice actually... it is almost a perfect fit for my 1 Watt CC drivers too (with the thinner inductor) :)

RUNTIME.GIF

note: Graph generated with the thinner less efficient inductor, whith a slightly larger inductor the "high" runtime is extended about 20 min and there is a 2+ hour "low" after the drop.
 
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FlashCrazy

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I'd like to hear more about your drivers. I checked your website and didn't see anything on them. What battery?

Thanks!
 

moon lander

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2xTrinity said:
Here's the most interesting thing about it -- the "head" on the Ristoft will actually screw onto the tube from the Elly, so you can substitute that reflector to any Elly Cree and it will work! An Elly modded to 14500 might even be better, as you'd have the advantage of the Elly Tube as a beefier heatsink.

Either way though, that textured reflector is perfect for the Cree, it gets rid of the yellow ring nicely.


only problem with 3AAA is that it will only drive hard for a few minutes, then internal resistance builds up and you end up with a much lower driving flashlight for a longer time. Battery replacement can also get expensive. Using the Elly tube and 14500, or "padding" the Ristoft tube and pulling out the retaining ring from the switch and using a 18650 will provide the same initial brightness but with much longer runtime, and high output for longer.

The problem with using the RISTOFT head on the ELLY is this: the led would be mounted on the pill thats in the tube of the ELLY. the new RISTOFT head has an off-center reflector hole. when you screw the head down (you have to picture this) the reflector hole will not line up with the emitter. ok this is hard to describe: imagine looking at it from the light end (pointing it at your eye, with the light off) as you screw the RISTOFT head onto the ELLY body, you will see the reflector hole orbiting the emitter. if the emitter happens to line up withthe hole as it gets screwed down, screwing it further will snap the emitter off. i couldnt figure out a way around this except widening the hole or mounting the cree in the head instead of the ELLY pill (like its mounted in the RISTOFT)

the reason that the off-center hole wasnt a problem with the original RISTOFT was because the original led was practically 2dimentional, i.ie it didnt stick up far enough to get caught by the edge of the hole. when i replaced it with a cree, it became a huge problem, and i had to insert the cree, then screw the pill into the head, wich resuslted in slightly reduced thermal coupling (since the pill butted up against the cree star instead of the cree star being inserted into the pill.

the ristoft itself with a cree and nimh rechargeable batteries is really awesome, but the heatsinking is very inferior to the elly. it throws like crazy and for people who dont like lithiums or really like nimh AAAs its perfect. i use mine as a bike-light and i can see clearly for about 50-60 feet, for about 40 minutes. i have 3 RISTOFFs and they all have the off-center reflector hole. if there were a version with a nicely centered hole, it really would make a great ELLY head. anyone have one like this? its hard to tell until you try to mod it.
 

FlashCrazy

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Oh, a couple other good things about this light. First, it can tail stand...and it really lights up a room. Plus, it's only one mode...on and off. While multi-mode lights are nice, I really like having a bright on/off light.

I modded another one of these today. The hotspot is bigger on this one, pretty much like the Hokus Fokus (Coast Focusing Lenser) but with huge and bright spill.

I'm definitely ordering more of these for family! It's as brighter than every Lithium 123 light that I have, but runs on non-flashaholic friendly NiMh's. I can give these lights to friends and family without worrying about them using/recharging Lithiums.
 

EngrPaul

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They were sold out of these, so I bought a few RAKET's.

They are much like the construction of the ELLY.
 

moon lander

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FlashCrazy said:
Oh, a couple other good things about this light. First, it can tail stand...and it really lights up a room. Plus, it's only one mode...on and off. While multi-mode lights are nice, I really like having a bright on/off light.

I modded another one of these today. The hotspot is bigger on this one, pretty much like the Hokus Fokus (Coast Focusing Lenser) but with huge and bright spill.

I'm definitely ordering more of these for family! It's as brighter than every Lithium 123 light that I have, but runs on non-flashaholic friendly NiMh's. I can give these lights to friends and family without worrying about them using/recharging Lithiums.

must be different versions out there: mine wont tail stand. also, is your pill in the body or the head? and is your reflector-hole alligned? did you experience the problem i had getting the cree in?
 

FlashCrazy

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I was getting confusing about your thermal path issues...I was thinking "The Ristoft is the same as the Elly...the star mounts to a pill, good contact"

Now I see why I was confused...yours is different. The Ristofts I just received from DealExtreme have the star mounted to a pill, and the pill threads into the body...just like the Elly. What I've found out after modding several Ellys, and two Ristofts, is that more often it's the Cree/Star that's not centered...not the reflector. If the reflector wasn't centered, you'd see the opening wobbling as you screwed the head onto the body. I've haven't seen this, mine have been the Cree not centered on the star. I've measured the distance that the Cree LED is from all edges of the star and often see a difference of about a mm. Easy fix...I just trim the edges of one side of the star, to allow it to be positioned properly, and then screw it down. It takes a couple of attempts, but when it's centered, the beam is so much better. I put a little heatsink compound underneath the stars, and woalla...a superbright cheap Cree light! Hope this helps!
 

FlashCrazy

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EngrPaul said:
They were sold out of these, so I bought a few RAKET's.

They are much like the construction of the ELLY.


How do you like the Rakets? I see that they have a side switch, which some people prefer. Is it still a simple star swap?

Thanks!
 

EngrPaul

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FlashCrazy said:
How do you like the Rakets? I see that they have a side switch, which some people prefer. Is it still a simple star swap?

Thanks!

Pretty much as star swap. I also recommend soldering a lug around the screw instead of the wire under the bottom of the star. That wire tucked underneath the star is not reliable.

I plan to post pictures later once I mod these.
 

FlashCrazy

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I agree, EngrPaul...I wrap the wire under a mounting screw (which I add), and then solder the wire to the screw as well. Much better connection, plus it allows the star to sit flat on the pill.
 

ace0001a

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Screw, what screw? As said earlier, I must have gotten a different revision of this flashlight. I have older ones that had the emitter/circuit board module in the body of the flashlight. The two Ristofts I ordered from DE has the module in the head of the flashlight. I finally got around to swapping out the star on mines last night (I didn't have a good needle nose plier before). The star on mines is simply pressed into the module, no screws were used. The negative was soldered to a fairly thick bare metal wire that wraps around the edge of the star to the bottom where it makes contact with the module. In these situations, I always have to file down the Cree stars I get from Asia so that they fit. So far so good for me, no light flickering.
 

EngrPaul

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I apologize for OT posts the last few. We were talking about the RAKET with the screws.
 

FlashCrazy

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The two Ristofts I got in the mail yesterday were from DE, so I guess they went back to the older version. These have the pill/module that threads into the body. The stock stars were also pressed in (no mounting screws), with the grounding wire wrapped underneath the star. I brought the wire up to the top of the star. I have a bunch of tiny screws, and intalled a couple to hold the star down better. I wrapped the loose end of the grounding wire under one of the screws that I put in, to reduce the chance of poor contact. This also allows the star to sit flat so the LED is vertical. The vertical alignment is also important, you don't want the LED projecting the light more to one side of the reflector than the other. Hope this clears the confusion.

Ace, when did you order yours from DE? Like I said, mine came in yesterday and are apparently the older version. I'd like to order more...hopefully I'll get the same version, not the ones where the module screws into the reflector head.
 
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