# Are ultrafire LED light considered to be junk?



## picard (Dec 4, 2008)

Are most ultra fire LED lights at dealer extreme consider to be of poor quality?

Is there any LED light on market that have decent flood beam ?


----------



## jbosman1013 (Dec 4, 2008)

Yes

and can you elaborate on that a bit


----------



## jzmtl (Dec 4, 2008)

They are okay for their price (sub $20).


----------



## germanium (Dec 4, 2008)

P series LED Lenser P5 & above have very good flood as well as focused beam. The beam is adjustable.


----------



## Buck91 (Dec 4, 2008)

So far I'm impressed with the fit&finish as well as the feel of my Ultrafire C1 from DX. Except for the poor assembly, it feels as good as my fenix lights (threads, o-rings, clicky). Only problem I have so far, like I said, was the quality of the assembly itself was low. Oh and the PWM on low is somewhat noticable, though not annoying to me.

Now that I have a pair of RCR123's, I'm curious how it holds up to more use over time.


----------



## Monocrom (Dec 5, 2008)

picard said:


> Are most ultra fire LED lights at dealer extreme consider to be of poor quality?


 
You get what you pay for. Ultrafire lights are bright and cheap. Quality and long-term durability are sadly lacking.



> Is there any LED light on market that have decent flood beam ?


 
Surefire L4 

Inova T1 (2008 version).


----------



## kosPap (Dec 5, 2008)

having several of both I would say that Ultrafires are exactly different to Romisens.

Ultrafires are very bright with good drivers but poor quality and machining. Romisens are exactly the opposite....


----------



## Crenshaw (Dec 5, 2008)

the Ultrafire C3 is a great light to get for a non flashaholic that needs something pretty bright runs on regular batteries, and wont break thier wallet...

the stainless steel C3 has excellen machining.

Crenshaw


----------



## LEDninja (Dec 5, 2008)

Premium Lights
McGizmo, Milky, TNC.
Surefire.
Inova T & X series, Streamlight, UK, Pelican.
Fenix, Dereelight, Lumapower, Olight, Nitecore.
Dorcy, Garrity, Energizer, RayOvac.
Romisen, Aurora, Ultrafire.
The rest of DX junk.
Junk lights

Dorcy, Garrity, Energizer, RayOvac are a generation or 2 behind in design but every one worked out of the package. I have more confidence in the QA of a $2.99 Dorcy than any of the DX lights.

Ultrafire started as a Fenix clone maker. Their 1AAA 602c is a copy of the Fenix L0P. Their C3 1AA/2AA heads still fit the old Fenix L1P/Civictor V1 bodies. I would stay away from their SSC-P7/MCE lights at this point. They do not seem to have figured it out. Oh and the 1AAA 602c woks with alkalines but 1/2 the NiMH available won't fit unless you trim the spring.
Their Li-on batteries seem to have much lower capacity than their ratings and they vary in size. My Ultrafire protected 14500 won't fit my Ultrafire 10400/14500 charger!


----------



## oronocova (Dec 5, 2008)

Hello,
I have a C3 (2xAA) and a 501b (2x123) from Ultrafire. The 501b makes a great P60 host IMO, the quality isn't quite there with the likes of fenix but mine is probably built well enough to hold up to general use for most anyone. Probably wouldn't trust my life with it. If you want a cheaper, well made P60 host I would go for a Solarforce L2. Then you could add any number of drop-ins. MalkoffDevices.com offers some specifically for flood. Solarforce is coming out with a 18650 extension option soon. Which will allow 2, 3, 4, etc 18650 in series.
My C3 is very good quality, smooth threads, tight fit, much better than you would expect for the price. However, I believe the latest "batch" of C3s have been reported to be very ify in build quality.

HTH - Jon


----------



## HitecDrftr (Dec 5, 2008)

LEDninja said:


> Premium Lights
> McGizmo, Milky, TNC.
> Surefire.
> Inova T & X series, Streamlight, UK, Pelican.
> ...


 
Duracell bought Garrity a year or so ago. The Duracell Daylite series are in reality Garrity products. The new Daylites come with a Lifetime Guarantee, not just a warranty so if you want a decent light to start with, you might consider the Daylite 160 Lumens. (2xCR123)(~$40) I have compared it to several lights including the Husky 200 Lumens (thrower), the SF E1B, the SF E2D, and the Maglite 2D LED. You can judge the outdoor flood capability of this light in these two threads, which also indicate accurate distances:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/212205

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/212987

-Hitec-


----------



## Centropolis (Dec 5, 2008)

Crenshaw said:


> the Ultrafire C3 is a great light to get for a non flashaholic that needs something pretty bright runs on regular batteries, and wont break thier wallet...
> 
> the stainless steel C3 has excellen machining.
> 
> Crenshaw


 
And the stainless steel C3 can be used as a weapon. If shining the nice bright light in the face of an attacker doesn't scare him away, you can always throw it at him. SS C3 is SO FREAKING HEAVY! 

But I agree. SS C3 is one of the nicer 'cheap' lights you can get off DX...except my SS C3's engraving is not straight.


----------



## bigdaddy (Dec 5, 2008)

I've bought 1 of those Ultrafire LED flashlight before, the quality is damn poor. Yes, u can say it's junk, it broke down on the first day I use it. :thumbsdow
I just threw it down my rubbish chute, knowing that the next replacement would be the same.

Until I got my first Fenix L1DCE Flashlight, I get to know the meaning of a quality flashlight. :thumbsup:


----------



## snowlover91 (Dec 5, 2008)

Maybe I got lucky, but my ultrafire C1 from DX was very well made. All the threads are smooth, is very bright, and feels well made. I compared it to a Surefire G2 from Lowe's and returned the surefire, that is how much I liked it.


----------



## [email protected] (Dec 5, 2008)

I have a C2 and (I think) a WF 400. 

The threads screw on and off, the switches work every time and the lights are bright. I'm just as likely to pick one of them up as my TK11 Fenix.


----------



## Illum (Dec 5, 2008)

picard said:


> Is there any LED light on market that have decent flood beam ?



the River Rock Nightfire 2C CREE might be your best bet for cheap ~$25-$30
Review: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/212967
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/214298

stippled reflector, Q4 CREE or above [4 bond wires], it'll run for about 3 hours to 50% on 2C cells

The L4 is nice, but it leaves your hand toasty warm.


----------



## brightarc (Dec 5, 2008)

IMO. Some ultrafire lights are pretty good.
Given their low price I consider them to be good value.

The downside is that they constantly change their design.
For example, you buy a light and it turns out to be very good, the next time you buy that very same model it might not that good at all.
Inconsistent build quality is their main problem.


----------



## kosPap (Dec 5, 2008)

brightarc said:


> IMO. Some ultrafire lights are pretty good.
> Given their low price I consider them to be good value.
> 
> The downside is that they constantly change their design.
> ...


 
No built quality is CONSISTENT(ly) degrading over time on each model. 
C2, C3, WF-606, WF-501B, WF-502B more than 3 each have passed through my hands and there is a pattern there for sure....


----------



## milob40 (Dec 5, 2008)

stay away from wf 900 p7 ultrafire . expensive junk, 2 died after a few minutes


----------



## StarHalo (Dec 5, 2008)

DealExtreme is a Mandarin phrase meaning "buyer beware".


----------



## OCDGearhead (Dec 6, 2008)

brightarc said:


> IMO. Some ultrafire lights are pretty good.
> Given their low price I consider them to be good value.
> 
> The downside is that they constantly change their design.
> ...


 
I have bought four or five of them from DX.

I liked the C3 SS so much I picked up another one in case they discontinue it / or for a mod. These are fairly popular in stainless steel and the light just feels great in the hand. Better than any of my Fenix's

I also picked up an MCU C7 and it is the best buy on a Fenix P2D clone out there. Brighter than my L1D, but not the P2D. It also fits the Fenix accessories (filters etc) and the qualtiy is excellent. The UI (it is programmable and takes a bit of getting used to) is not as simple as the Fenix however.

I ordered a WF-502C after seeing the specs in Bessie Benny's round up (the rated lumens was something crazy like 300) and it was a complete piece of dung. Construction and materials were fine, but the output was a joke, with a beam that looked like a doughnut & more artifacts that the Smithsonian. Complete junk you would not even layoff on an annoying mother in law. This particular lemon is an incan, but it is representative of some of the issues many of us have with Ultrafire.

Out of all of the ones I have bought, and considering price, I consider it acceptable to have the occaisonal failure. The good lights I picked up 
more than made up for the stinker.


----------



## Monocrom (Dec 6, 2008)

Illum_the_nation said:


> The L4 is nice, but it leaves your hand toasty warm.


 
Get you a glove.

Or just use the L4 as a great hand-warmer during Winter. :thumbsup:


----------



## Illum (Dec 6, 2008)

Monocrom said:


> Or just use the L4 as a great hand-warmer during Winter. :thumbsup:



I love it in the winter...that and around campus where some idiot thought it would be good to fix the AC at ~65F all year around


----------



## WadeF (Dec 6, 2008)

I like my Ultrafire WF-500, and this was a shot taken before I got the Lumens Factory 630 lumen bulb for it. 





Yeah, that's an incan. I also like my Ultrafire C3 HA, and the Ultrafire WA-139 chargers I bought from AW. I wouldn't say Ultrafire is junk.


----------



## jzmtl (Dec 7, 2008)

They are really a hit and miss. My friend bought two of their 1 cell (EMFR or something), one is pretty good with no fault that I can see, the other is crap with misfocused emitter, and badly machined threads that pops apart when dropped.


----------



## Monocrom (Dec 7, 2008)

WadeF said:


> .... and the Ultrafire WA-139 chargers I bought from AW. I wouldn't say Ultrafire is junk.


 
My Ultrafire WF-139 charger works well as a basic charger. I bought Ultrafire cells from Lighthound.com when they were temporarily out of stock of the AW cells I wanted.... I should have just waited until the AW cells were back in stock. 

Ultrafire Q.C. is about as predictable as the sanity level in a mental asylum.


----------

