Review with X-ray image: Fitorch MR35 (RGBW-UV, 18650, 1200lm)

stephenk

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Aug 13, 2015
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761
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Brisbane, Australia
Disclaimer


The Fitorch MR35 was sent to me for an honest review by Banggood. No other payment was received for review, and I receive no commission from links or sales.
Product page
30% Off Discount Code: MR35


Introduction


Fitorch are a fairly new brand in the flashlight market. This review is of the Fitorch MR35 which is an 18650 based light, with a 1200 lumen white Cree XP-L emitter, red, green, blue (RGB), and ultraviolet (UV) emitters. Aside from the XM-L RGBW based Ledlenser P7QC and T2QC, most RGBW lights just have rather dim 5mm LEDs for the colours. The MR35 uses high power colour LED emitters for more impressive output, and with USB charging, it looks like one of the most impressive new RGB lights for many years. Lets take a look…
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Packaging


The light came in a branded cardboard box. Accessories included a manual, holster, spare O-ring, spare switch cover, and USB cable for charging. The light also has a clip. The instruction manual is OK - English is not perfect, and there is no mention of moonlight mode. It has a heat safety warning, but no safety warning about UV. Optional accessories (not tested) include a white diffuser.
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Construction


This is an 18650 based light, with a reasonably large head (40mm diameter). This is slightly too large for compatibility with the LPB Universal Connector for light painting photographers. There is a side switch for changing modes, and reverse clicky tail switch for on/off only. USB charging point is located on the opposite side of the light to the side switch. Construction quality was very good, as expected for the mid-market price point.


The battery tube is has threads at both ends, for removal of head and tail cap. There are springs at both ends of the battery tube, allowing for use with a wide range of 18650 batteries (protected, unprotected, flat top, button top).


There is USB charging and battery check functionality, and a light around the switch indicates charge or battery voltage. The USB slot is protected by a rubber plug. Charging was slow at approx. 0.8A, and terminated prematurely at 4.09V (instead of 4.2V). The side switch light flashes green when charging and is a constant green what charging is complete.
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User Interface


The light has an illuminated side switch and a tail switch. The tail switch is for on/off. Unfortunately there is no momentary/forward clicky functionality with the tail switch, which is unusual for such a configuration. The side switch is used for changing modes. Similar to the Thorfire TK15S, pressing the side switch changes modes in an up-down-up-down order e.g. Low-Mid-High-Turbo-High-Mid-Low. There is mode memory, but only for the normal modes (not colour or flashy modes) - this means that unlike the ledlenser P7QC you cannot directly turn the light on in a colour.


A long (1s) press of the side switch turns on red. Subsequent long presses will move to green, then blue, then UV. At any point during this cycle a short click will return to the previously memorised mode. I like the that you can move between colours on the fly (though only in one order) and that UV is the "hardest" mode to access (for safety reasons). There is only one output level for colours.


A double click enters strobe mode. Subsequent double clicks enter SOS mode, and red/blue "police" strobe (4 flashes red followed by 4 flashes blue).
4 clicks on the side switch from off turns on a flashing beacon on the side switch to help find the light in the dark.


Beam, Output, and Runtime


The Fitorch MR35 has the 5 emitters in a cross-shape in a large(ish) orange peel reflector. The white Cree XP-L emitter is located in the centre, and the red, green, blue, and UV LEDs are located in the cross branches.


The white mode has a surprisingly good beam profile, with a well defined hotspot and no artefact.
Modes on white are:
Turbo 1200lm 13300cd - step-down at 3 minutes to approx. 50%
High 300lm Measured 400lm
Medium 30lm Measured 40lm
Low (Not mentioned in manual !) Measured 5lm


Unlike the white beam, the colour modes are have a fair amount of beam artefact including a cold spot/black hole just off centre. The colour beams are much more defined than the diffused beam on the LED Lenser P7QC. Ceiling bounce tests showed the colour output to be exactly the same as the LED Lenser P7QC, which surprised me as the Fitorch MR35 appears brighter. The colour beams are much brighter than other lights that use 5mm LEDs for colour, for example x4 brighter than my Nitecore NU30 headlamp with two 5mm red LEDs. The colour wavelengths are the same as the LED Lenser P7QC, with red being at the "orange" end of red, and blue being what Cree call Royal Blue (also known as forensic blue). Runtime on red was 6.5 hours until the red flashing low battery warning was observed, with battery voltage at 3.1V. No noticeable step-down was observed during this runtime.


CRI appears to be the usual low 70s CRI fare, which is good enough for most purposes.


No PWM could be detected (by iPhone video) so there is either no PWM or it is very fast.
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Comparison between Fitorch MR35 (left) vs Ledlenser P7QC (right). Note: yellow bits are just over-exposed photo.
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RGB and UV beams
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Conclusion


Things I liked:
Good white beam profile
Good construction quality
Accepts wide range of 18650 batteries
Bright colour output compared to lights with RGB 5mm LEDs
Multiple clicks required to access UV mode
No noticeable PWM
Good runtime on RGB modes


Things I didn't like:
Head too big for light painting connectors
No momentary/forward clicky functionality
No memory for colour/flashy modes
Manual doesn't mention moonlight mode and UV safety.


The Fitorch is a well priced and very capable RGBW-UV flashlight. Its colour emitters have relatively high brightness compared to 5mm LEDs found on most RGBW(-UV) lights. In future versions I would like to see momentary functionality, RGB modes memorised, 2mm smaller head diameter, and (if possible) improvements to the RGB beam profile.

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Last edited:

Rexlion

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May 23, 2009
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680
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Tulsa
My MR35 arrived today. The color output appears noticeably brighter than that from my Quark RGB on high. The dark spot near the beam's center is really ugly to my eye, but DC-Fix diffusion film smoothed it out quite a bit (although the dark spot is not eliminated by the film, it's nowhere near as bothersome).

The turbo output beam of this FiTorch looks very similar to the turbo beam from a Nitecore EA41 Pioneer. The FiTorch is rated with 20% more lumens, but of course it's pretty normal to be unable to detect a difference of that magnitude. I can't.

If the color beam brightness is similar to the Lenser P7QC's color beam brightness, I am inclined to think that the MR35's 1200 lumens for $40 (what I paid) makes it a much better buy than the Lenser's 220 lumens at $60.
 

stephenk

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Aug 13, 2015
Messages
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Brisbane, Australia
My MR35 arrived today. The color output appears noticeably brighter than that from my Quark RGB on high. The dark spot near the beam's center is really ugly to my eye, but DC-Fix diffusion film smoothed it out quite a bit (although the dark spot is not eliminated by the film, it's nowhere near as bothersome).

The turbo output beam of this FiTorch looks very similar to the turbo beam from a Nitecore EA41 Pioneer. The FiTorch is rated with 20% more lumens, but of course it's pretty normal to be unable to detect a difference of that magnitude. I can't.

If the color beam brightness is similar to the Lenser P7QC's color beam brightness, I am inclined to think that the MR35's 1200 lumens for $40 (what I paid) makes it a much better buy than the Lenser's 220 lumens at $60.
The MR35 has a much brighter white beam than the P7QC. However if you want the ability to turn the light on in any colour mode, then the P7QC is the better of the two.
 

Rexlion

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May 23, 2009
Messages
680
Location
Tulsa
That's a fair point; the mode setup of the FiTorch would be very inconvenient for someone wanting to frequently check bills with the UV, for example; the user would have to turn on, double-click into color modes, then long-click through all the colors to reach UV (tedious!).

This morning I tried out the in-light charging function with an AW IMR 18650; charging terminated at just 3.97V. Oh well, the charging feature was never a big motivator to me since I have two other chargers already.

I see Banggood now has this light priced much higher than what I paid, it's now $76.25. Glad I caught it on sale.
 

stephenk

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Joined
Aug 13, 2015
Messages
761
Location
Brisbane, Australia
That's a fair point; the mode setup of the FiTorch would be very inconvenient for someone wanting to frequently check bills with the UV, for example; the user would have to turn on, double-click into color modes, then long-click through all the colors to reach UV (tedious!).

This morning I tried out the in-light charging function with an AW IMR 18650; charging terminated at just 3.97V. Oh well, the charging feature was never a big motivator to me since I have two other chargers already.

I see Banggood now has this light priced much higher than what I paid, it's now $76.25. Glad I caught it on sale.

There is a code in the OP. But you are right, it's base price does seem to go up and down like a yo-yo.
 

fmc1

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Mar 16, 2017
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Long Island NY
I'll check for you and get back to you. (I have no requirement for tail standing lights so it is something I forget to test).

Back on Feb. 20 when I asked the question I ordered one. It arrived today. It will tail stand if it's on a smooth flat surface. The contact area is small maybe 30% of the circumference is in contact with the surface. Thanks for the review.

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stephenk

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Joined
Aug 13, 2015
Messages
761
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Back on Feb. 20 when I asked the question I ordered one. It arrived today. It will tail stand if it's on a smooth flat surface. The contact area is small maybe 30% of the circumference is in contact with the surface. Thanks for the review.

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Sorry, had a bit of time away. Glad you were able to answer your own question!
 

icecoldak

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Feb 20, 2018
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Nice review and I like the Added X-Ray touch---something your gonna half to do from now on lol:D
 
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