# MTE SSC P7-C quick review: pics, comparisons, beamshots!



## csshih (Jan 1, 2010)

Hi Everyone,

Up for review is a more budget oriented light, the MTE SSC P7-C. This light has a aluminum reflector, and is reported to be from DX... I'm unsure of the SKU, though.

Here are some of the specs:


SSC P7 C bin
2 Mode(High/Low)
900 Lumens (probably overstated)
151mm(L)x40mm(H)x24mm(B)
154g
1x18650(not included)


*A bit of background:*
Not much background comes with these budget lights. They seem to usually suddenly appear (or disappear)

here is the light:





The lasering on the light is actually one of the most precise I've ever seen. an oddity on a "cheaper" budget light.





the light is actually rather well designed and offers a easy to grip surface





It uses one of the older P7 LEDs, with the "cloudy" dome.





the light appears to be HA III anodize. it has not scratched much at all. A definate plus.















the tailcap is a reverse 2-stage clicky. click and release once, and you get high.
repeat, and you get a resistored low, repeat again, and you get off. It takes longer to shut the light off from high, but offers simplicity.





there were 2 orings at the tail, but when I got the light from Gary, they werer dried out and cracked. I replaced them with silicone o-rings.

*Comparisons*:





*Comparison Beamshots*:
the lights sat for roughly 20 seconds while I set up the camera.




























*White Wall Shots*:




at distance, you can detect some slight donut-holeing, but this is a very floody light, and less noticeable.






*Impressions*
note: The MTE SSC P7-C is one of the cheapest high output lights I have ever handled, but, there are some shortcomings that come with the low price. Gary reported that initially, the light would flicker, and he needed to place a spacer between the reflector and the LED to get it to stop. I don't know what exactly was happening there, but this immediately stops me from recommending this light to average users, as this modification is possibly needed. There also is usually a higher rate of failure with budget lights, but YMMV. Personally, I have not had many budget lights fail.





I imagine the odd jump in runtime was caused by the flickering.

Now, barring the problems with the light, This is a rather well designed, ergonomics, wise. The body is only slightly knurled, but the wider tailcap helps with grip. the tailcap also has ridges which help with antiroll. there are flats at the base of the head, but these serve for more asthetic purposes as they do not contact the surface when set down. the reverse 2 stage clicky is recessed, allowing for easy tailstand. The tailcap's threading is actually rather "large", cross threading will not be a problem with this light.

Overall, the body of the light is very well made. The important part, though, (the circuitry) lags a bit behind in quality. I am hesitant to recommend this light to average users, but to ones that have the skill (and the time) to work with a light like this, It is a pretty good deal.


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## Fusion_m8 (Jan 2, 2010)

As always, your reviews are informative and helpful!

Love that warm MC-E!!!

Thanks!

lovecpf


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## old4570 (Jan 2, 2010)

I have the 5 mode one .. and replaced the led with a C***i bin LED and output went up a lot . 

After some minor fixes , I have found it to be a great flashlight .


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## csshih (Jan 2, 2010)

thanks. 
yeah-- there are beamshots in the giant beamshot thread for the warm MC-E

here are beamshots for the MTE SSC P7-C:
MTE SSC P7-C *1xIMR18650*


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## big vin (Jan 2, 2010)

I have bought a lot of this lights in the past, and all worked great. I have used some of the body's for modifications, for edc carry uv lights and they are holding up perfectly so far.

I would have no problem recommending them personally.


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## cccpull (Jan 2, 2010)

I have the same light in 5-mode MCE, which I bought from their US dealer and I'm also very satisfied with its quality and performance. Would definitely recommend it!:twothumbs


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## recDNA (Jan 2, 2010)

His there a sales thread in the marketplace?


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## romteb (Jan 3, 2010)

i have one of these from dx, unlike advertised it was direct driven, drawing 1.9A from a fresh 18650,the head was glued and the star wasn't fully screwed down to the heatsink thus making almost no contact...

on the positive side, i love the beam it produces and it's quite bright.


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## timon99 (Jan 3, 2010)

Hello!
I wish to get such lantern. 
dx/sku.15740
But the information on a site seems to me does not represent the facts. I have read all your forum and have come to a conclusion that on sites sellers of lanterns often write the dishonest information.
You could not prompt how much fairly description of a lantern on which I has given the reference.
Can you will give the reference to other lantern to the same site? Main that the description represented the facts.
Thanks. 
Excuse for my bad English. 
I from Siberia.


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## bigchelis (Jan 4, 2010)

Here you go Craig...

Here are MrGmans IS Sphere results on a similar one with an IMR 18650 cell.

MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________478.5__,___3 sec_______,
MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________416.8__,__30 sec_______,
MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________471.0__,__60 sec_______,
MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________467.3__,_120 sec_______,
MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________422.4__,_180 sec_______,
MTE SSC P7___________,__1-IMR 18650,_____________________390.7__,_240 sec_______,


Very good OTF lumens if you ask me.


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## cccpull (Jan 4, 2010)

timon99 said:


> Hello!
> I wish to get such lantern.
> dx/sku.15740
> But the information on a site seems to me does not represent the facts. I have read all your forum and have come to a conclusion that on sites sellers of lanterns often write the dishonest information.
> ...



You might want to try www.mteccd.com and contact them directly since they are in your relative neighborhood.


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## TooManyGizmos (Jan 4, 2010)

Is this the same as the MTE SSC P7 that ShiningBeam sells in CPFMP ?
.


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## timon99 (Jan 4, 2010)

cccpull said:


> You might want to try www.mteccd.com and contact them directly since they are in you relative neighborhood.


Thanks for the answer. But I likely have written not in that theme or you have misunderstood me. That that is written by manufacturers I call into question. It not seems to me that the lantern with the driver can create brightness which is declared. I will buy such lantern and I will alter the driver. Only after that likely I can achieve characteristics of diodes P7-D declared by the manufacturer.


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## Gary123 (Jan 11, 2010)

TooManyGizmos said:


> Is this the same as the MTE SSC P7 that ShiningBeam sells in CPFMP ?



Show me a link. I was just on his website and didn't see anything like it. 

DX seems to be selling this same light, but now it has a plastic reflector, sku #12623. The flickering problem on this light I now believe was due to the pill not screwed in all the way. When I screwed the pill down tight, the flickering completely stopped. The spacer I had inserted earlier under the reflector helped a little because it pushed the pill down.


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## seatrue (Feb 6, 2010)

Hi, I'm glad for the review for this MTE P7 flashlight. This one i really like! I have (i think, the newer) 8-mode version for around 3 months; bought from dealextreme. The current draw is exactly as advertised: i measured 3.2 amps on high with a fresh 18650 battery, 350 milliamps on medium, and 50 milliamps on low. The tint color is very cool white (nice). On the site it said that the reflector was plastic, but when i took it apart, it was aluminum. did notice some flicking, i tightened to pill and haven't noticed it since. Hard to top for $32. i feel i lucked out picking this one because i only have a Fenix TK20 and a 3aa minimag LED and couldn't resist wanting to buy a P7. I think this one is a keeper - Cheap and great! :santa:

only thing, haven't tested it submerged in water - which would be critical.


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## seatrue (Feb 15, 2010)

correction; getting some flickering even after tightening the pill. oh well. still like it though.


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## csshih (Feb 16, 2010)

oop. sorry for not responding seatrue.
I'm not testing it in water as it was a loaner.... it's on its way back now I believe.


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## Lightwise (Feb 20, 2010)

I purchase the MTE SSC P7 from DealExtreme SKU# 12623 and have had the same problem with the screws on the Pil. In fact one screw was missing and the other was not tight. I broke a wire in trying to get the head out of the body and now have to find a screw and do some soldering. Mine also has a buzzing sound on high. I would not recommend this light, but have several lights from DealExtreme that are working great.

While it was working I really liked the beam, very bright and a lot of flood which I like for many applications. I just have to go buy a new soldering iron and pick up some thermo paste from RadioShack today and get to work. Will let you know how repairs are going, but finding that small little screw is my most pressing problem.


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## Lightwise (Feb 20, 2010)

*Repaired my MTE SSC P7*

I'm new to flashlights, so I may not use all the right terminology here. Hope you can understand what I'm saying.

I found my solder iron and got to work on the repair. I just spend over 2 hours working on my MTE SSC P7. It was not working, see post above this one. The repairs worked and now I have a reliable flashlight again. It was not an easy fix. I took the LED module out the top of the light, took off the Pill and had to remove the bottom voltage round PC board at the bottom. That last part was very hard as getting all of the solder off so it would come free was over an hour of the repair time. I have solder wick, but my solder sucker is not working. I put number 22 solid core wire from the voltage regulator PCB to the Pill and a lot of new heat sink paste between the Pill and the heat sink. I still haven't found the second screw, but the new paste the one screw and the reflector a doing a good job until I can find one. 

Correction, I have the 5 mode not the two mode light. All modes work well and the nice bright flood is back. I like the light, it's just luck if you get a good one from DealExtreme it seems.


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## seatrue (Feb 23, 2010)

I think the flickering problem is mainly in the tailcap. I took out the switch and worked in some WD-40 and the flickering completely stopped. 

-thanks for considering to test if it's water proof in shallow water. maybe i'll try sometime, but i will assume it to be weather proof.


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## JulianP (Feb 24, 2010)

I agree, the problem is in the tailcap. I had my MTE SSC P7-C for about six months, when it started flickering. I opened up the switch, sprayed WD-40, and the problem was fixed. Three months have gone by, and the problem has not recurred.


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## Lightwise (Mar 6, 2010)

I agree with the last two posts. I had to fix the head after cutting a wire in error, but the improvement was in the tail cap. There is a PCB with a copper circle around the edge that was not making contact with the disk in front of it. I had to get solder flux off of it and lower a few high points of solder so it would make better contact with the disk. After that a a good light.


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## nutcracker (Nov 12, 2011)

Yes I know, this thread is old.
But this bugs me.

How do you get 3 Amps?
I only get 1,8A with a 18650 at 4,1V


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## LEDninja (Nov 13, 2011)

nutcracker said:


> Yes I know, this thread is old.
> But this bugs me.
> 
> How do you get 3 Amps?
> I only get 1,8A with a 18650 at 4,1V


Some of the early MTEs have a trio of dropping resistors which limit the current to ~2A. Many CPF members just short them out to get direct drive.
Many of the early 18650 cells are 1600 mAH and are in the explosion danger zone when pushed to 3A.
Also that is a small torch. Running in direct drive can make it too hot to hold in 15 minutes.


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