Flashlight Review

Remember the dealextreme.com website I mentioned some time ago, about having very good prices, world wide shipping and some neat stuff listed?
Remember that I placed an order?
Well, guess what the mail man delivered today…
(by the way, I’m not associated with DX in any way, I just found out they have great deals that’s all)
Back to the flashlights;

Top to bottom:
SacredFire NF-007 Cree P4-WC 110-Lumen LED Flashlight (1*AA/1*AAA/1*CR123A)
$10.90
Akoray Cree Q5-WC 6-Mode Memory 200-Lumen LED Flashlight with Clip (1*AA/1*14500)
$20.89
Romisen RC-C3 Cree LED Flashlight Gray (1.3V~4V CR123A)
$13.50
That’s some serious flashlights for pretty much 45 USD, including shipping. (which may take a month or more) and these little gems are worth every cent.




Comparing them. The second one from the left used to be my keychain light. Older 1 Watt model.


SacredFire NF-007 Cree P4-WC

Generic older 1Watt LED

Akoray Cree Q5-WC

Romisen RC-C3 Cree LED


I’ll do a small first impression review, and throw a few tips out there for those considering upgrading from those old Maglites or Xenon lights.
For those that have been living under a rock for the last couple years and believe that LED lights are weak and too purple bluish to bother with, let me tell you that the light emitting diode technology has advanced like nothing else.
All 3 lights are fitted with Cree LEDs, some CREE LEDS are slightly better than others, the P4 is a bit weaker and the Q5 is among the latest, brightest models, but without getting into much detail they are all powerful enough for most needs, including tactical or security lights.
Brightness isn’t a problem any more, Crees are my favorite and one of the best in today’s market.
What you want to take into consideration with these lights is not only brightness but also durability and also important battery availability.
All three flashlights are very well made, with solid aluminum bodies.
The Lumen data on DX is clearly overrated, but all of these models produce +100 lumens with fresh batteries.
Another thing you’ll notice, they all use just one battery.
In my experience you often find yourself with just one battery available, for any given reason. Or you managed to scrounge a single battery out of a toy. If your light requires more than one battery to work, you’re out of luck, but if you have one of these you are good to go.

Sacredfire NF-007

This little light uses a single AA battery… or a single AAA… or a single CR123A. If that’s not versatility, I don’t know what it is!
Man, this flashlight would have come in handy so many times.
I’m sure that no matter where you are, you can manage to get your hands on a single AA or AAA battery.
It’s well made, has a bright glow in the dark clicky tail on/off switch.
Lumens is manufacturer rated at 110 and it seems pretty accurate to me, and the run time is 50 minutes, also an accurate estimation for that lumen/battery ratio.
50 minutes isn’t that much time, but this is still a great little light, versatile, and you’d do well to combine it with premium rechargeable AA batteries if you expect power to go down often.

RC-C3 Romisen

This little guy is a favorite of many people as a pocket EDC light, and I can see why.
This light uses a single CR123A battery, which may or may not be that common depending on where you live around the globe.
It’s made by Romisen, which I’m now learning has overall top quality construction in spite of the modest price. Feels small but solid, the twist on/off switch feels right, not hard but enough resistance to know it wont twist on its own. The o ring fits tightly.
This one is the brightest of all three (about 200 lumens) , but the battery only lasts for 30 minutes or so. Better rechargable batteries may perform better, but anyway, clearly its more of a tactical light, not something you’d do well with if you have to go without power for a couple days.
For EDC and emergency use, the size/brightness ratio is very hard to beat.

Akoray Cree Q5-WC

Maybe God rested on the seventh day, but a bunch of years later he got busy and made the Akoray Cree Q5-WC.
This flashlight is just perfect. The screw threads are thick, and it has double O rings.
The body quality is very good, there’s an overall quality feel about it.
This light is advertised as 6 mode ( which would have sucked) but actually came with a 3 mode memory. Low-High (about 200 lumens with good batteries) and strobe mode. It uses a single commonly available AA battery.
The great thing about having the high and low mode is that, as I was mentioning before, today LED lights are sometimes TOO bright, maybe more than you need, and needlessly eating up the batteries.
Imagine getting caught in some accident, locked somewhere, spending a couple days without power or even walking out of the woods when you lost track of time and night catches you by surprise.
When it’s dark, and once your eyes used to the darkness, you don’t need a small piece of sun in your pocket, a moderate amount of light will do well enough for you to see where you step. How does this work? Simply use your 200 lumen light and see for yourself: It’s not only illuminating, the entire spot you are aiming at next to your feet looks bright white. That’s’ wasting energy.
So this, well made light has the high and low feature which I love, plus the strobe. But the good part ( and something they apparently forgot to mention) the modes are fully customizable!

Tapping the clicky tail (not on/off, but lightly tapping) changes the modes. It has a memory feature that brings you back to the mode you last used. Tap 6 times quickly and after flicking once it starts getting brighter, and you tap again when it reaches the desired brightness for mode one. It flicks twice and it starts again, you tap when it reaches the desired brightness. Then I flicks 3 times for mode 3, it starts getting brighter in case you want a low-mid-high setup. If you don’t tap when it reaches the maximum brightness, it starts with the strobe modes again, slower at first and getting faster and faster. Now instead of tapping and going back to mode 1, click on it and turn the light off. The mode 3 will remain as you programmed it.
I set it to a minimum mode 1, about 15 lumens or so, this will give me over 24 hours worth of light with good batteries, plus a high lumen security option and a strobe mode as well.

That’s about it guys. A few months later I’ll let you know how they are holding on.

FerFAL