Buy UltraFire Cree C3 or Ultrafire WF-606A?

Hello and welcome to CPF!
I have some beamshots of both lights. I hope they help you in your choice.

white wall from 1m. 1/60s, iso 80, f 2.8

Ultrafire C3:

Ultrafire WF-606A:


corner, 5m. 0.5s, iso 80, f 2.8

Ultrafire C3:

Ultrafire WF-606A:


garden, 2.5s, iso 80, f 2.8

Ultrafire C3:

Ultrafire WF-606A:


garden detail (crop from previous images), tree is 23m far.

Ultrafire C3:


Ultrafire WF606A:


Both lights have good build quality. WF-606A is slightly bigger and heavier.
WF-606A has more throw and smoother beam. C3 has longer runtime, but quite narrow battery tube, so very high capacity ni-mh batteries will not fit (sanyo 2700..), eneloops and sanyo 2500 fit without problems. My WF-606A has yellow tint, but I think it is more lottery than a rule

Tint is not so obvious on these pictures, but with naked eye it is more apparent. I tested runtime with sanyo 2700mAh and it was 2:40h of regulated brightness then it dims rapidly. C3 had runtime 3:50 (regulated) with sanyo 2500. I don't know how is the runtime with alkalines.:thinking:

Agreed on 606A, it is brighter. But not sure about runtime though. Ultrafire C3 with 3xAA will last longer IMHO and gives better regulation IMHO.

Henry_A said:

Thanks for that info, and that was a little longer then i thought and it might even be little longer with alkaline since i think they have a little higher capacity as far as i know compared to same size of rechargeable battery. But the question then would be is if they could handle the current that is drawn, but they could normally put out quite a bit so i will try that when i get the flashlamp.

I might think that the yellow tint could be more easy to see if the background is pure white or of a light color but if it would be trees and bushes the light would hit so could it be harder to see just because the spot is so smooth so the yellow will blend in to the more white light it give off.. i hope..

But now its time to order 2 Ultrafire WF-606A and some other stuff at DX, so thanks once again for the pics and the info that was just what i needed to see so i could decide, thanks!

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I think that alkalines will have shorter runtimes, because their capacity drops rapidly when discharging with high current.
Check this test of Fenix L2D CE, even in medium mode ni-mh has longer runtime then alkaline battery.

Yes yellow tint is not good for white wall hunters, but outdoors it is definitelly better then blue or cool white tint.

I don't have the WF-606A, but runtimes for the C3 on NiMH in 1AA and 2AA configurations are available in my single-stage AA review here:
DX/KAI Single-Stage 1AA Cree/SSC shootout: BEAMSHOTS + RUNTIMES

The C3 was definitely a good performer, and extremely well regulated on 2AAs (I also got ~3:50 to 50% on Sanyo 2500mAh NiMH).

I didn't test alkalines in these lights, but based on my experience with the multi-stage AA lights, you are likely looking at much less regulation and probably ~1/2 the runtime.

I have both these lights. Both are great. The 606A throws much further than the C3 due to the larger diameter reflector.

As for tint, I thinks that's just luck, whatever the factory has on the day your product was built.

The best option is to buy the 606A and get some rechargable RCR2's from AW (and a charger).
Why ? Because it's even brighter running on the RCR2 batts.

Enjoy.

Essexman, how long is the runtime on RCR2 batts?

jirik_cz said:

I think that alkalines will have shorter runtimes, because their capacity drops rapidly when discharging with high current.
Check this test of Fenix L2D CE, even in medium mode ni-mh has longer runtime then alkaline battery.
..

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That is true, i forgot that alkalines capacity only applies at a certain amount of drawn current from it and all over this and the capacity will be lower. And i have a bike lamp that i modded to be used with a single 5 mm white led and with one AA alkaline battery, instead of two big LR6 ones and a ordinary light bulb that was in it before. And with the low current this now take (about 16mA) so will it work excellent with only one alkaline. I modded this for almost a year ago now and the battery used is still going strong and it has been used about 3 times a week ever since for about 30 min every time. But for higher currents so wont a alkaline last long, that is true.

Btw, i have now ordered two 606A from DX and i just cant wait till i get them.

And thanks for the tips and links guys!

Essexman, how long is the runtime on RCR2 batts?

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From this rewiew
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/169199

I found that the current draw on a RCR2 was around 0.8A. The AW RCR2 batts are 350mAh. So your looking at approx 20mins run time using a RCR2 (best guess).
So it's not a very long burn time using the RCR2 batts, but it's a real pocket rocket.
I'm still waiting for my Q5 to upgrade

@ Henry_A

did your wf-606a arrived? are you happy? can you recommend the lights for simple biking too?

thx in advance

the pi

After buying a 1W 1xAA and 5W 3xAAA Luxeon on eBay before being aware of Crees and the like I specifically wanted a Cree 2xAA torch and the WF-606A seems to be the best, especially after the beamshots posted in a different thread. A 2xAA Rebel would have been even more to my liking but they don't appear to be mass-produced yet.
The C3 appears to be the most popular 2xAA LED torch but the narrow diameter 2xAA torches don't appeal to me, despite the C3 offering 5 modes.

I have questioned the purchase as I have a 1W Nite-Ize combo pack (hopefully) on the way from a US eBay seller. A WF-606A from DealExtreme costs less than a TerraLUX TLE-5EX MiniStar2 so it's the best way to get a Cree 'Minimag'.

I wonder if the new 5-mode C3 1xAA / 2xAA tubes are widened to accommodate larger cells?

swxb12 said:

I wonder if the new 5-mode C3 1xAA / 2xAA tubes are widened to accommodate larger cells?

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The casing appears to be unchanged.

Judging by the fotos C3 has a wider spill though throws slightly worse then 606A. Is it really so (the width of a spill) or is it just a difference in lights' and camera positions at the time of shooting?

Also was the C3 single-mode or multi-mode? As I know C3 multi-mode on 2AA should be brighter then single-mode...

tmlwyb said:

Judging by the fotos C3 has a wider spill though throws slightly worse then 606A. Is it really so (the width of a spill) or is it just a difference in lights' and camera positions at the time of shooting?

Also was the C3 single-mode or multi-mode? As I know C3 multi-mode on 2AA should be brighter then single-mode...

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It was C3 single-mode. C3 has wider spill, but only slightly.

See my comparison kitchen photos between the WF-606A and single-mode C3 also. Single-mode C3 is about half the brightness to the WF-600 in both throw and overall brightness and this is agreed by all of my friends who used both. (I have two single-mode C3's btw) The new 5 mode C3 should be as bright and can be brighter than the WF-606A when used with 2AA or better. (Dunno about the safety levels when using it with 3AA or 14500 but it does make it significantly brighter)

WF-606A is built tougher than the C3. Feels more solid and feels heavier in hand.
If you don't mind the permanent 2AA length, it is a great light which is bright also.

bessiebenny said:

See my comparison kitchen photos between the WF-606A and single-mode C3 also. Single-mode C3 is about half the brightness to the WF-600 in both throw and overall brightness and this is agreed by all of my friends who used both. (I have two single-mode C3's btw) The new 5 mode C3 should be as bright and can be brighter than the WF-606A when used with 2AA or better. (Dunno about the safety levels when using it with 3AA or 14500 but it does make it significantly brighter)

WF-606A is built tougher than the C3. Feels more solid and feels heavier in hand.
If you don't mind the permanent 2AA length, it is a great light which is bright also.

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My original thought when I came to this forum was to order MTE 5 Rebel (I only read DX reviews then). Then I found a lot of information including your beamshots, bessiebenny, and concluded that I should order 2AA light which is brighter then MTE 5 Rebel (compare 606A and MTE. MTE is clear outsider). So I decided on Ultrafire C3 5-mode that should be like 606A in the brightest mode as I understand.

After that I discovered beamshot collection of jirik_cz here and in my opinion his results differ from yours, bessiebenny. I mean MTE 5 Rebel doesn't seem that dim in comparison with 606A as on your kitchen photos and has a wider spill also. I considered 606A to be the brightest 2AA light from DX but with jirik_cz's fotos MTE Rebel's and 606A's brightness vary not that much and I like MTE's wide beam more... (compare and MTE and 606 or this shots: MTE and 606). So I made a full circle and finally came to the same decision with which I first appeared here - to order MTE. I'm slightly confused with all of that now and don't know which beamshots are more truthful