Cree q5 mini flashlight

[KenMcCulloch]

Just bought 4 of these from China, astonishingly cheap but poor quality control. One works ok so far, one has a dodgy switch, one flickers and one worked for a while but now only lights intermittently. Cannibalisation has allowed 2 working torches to be put together but it's a big frustrating even though they are so cheap. Waiting to hear form the supplier, in the meantime what have other users of these torches found?

 

[sailorman]

I bought 3 from china via amazon . all are ok just one pen clip askew.
about £8.50 delivered for the 3

 

[nigelmercier]

Just bought 4 of these from China, astonishingly cheap but poor quality control.

To repeat my post in the previous thread:

Did you get them from eBay, or Amazon? The one I bought from eBay didn't work at first, but I've had at least eight from Amazon, all fine. Here are the links again.

A summary ...

CREE G3 Q5 400 Lumens mini Flashlight Torch
Now £2.30 with FREE P&P http://amzn.to/OcfAH6
These take an AA battery, or 14500 Li-Ion
14500 Li-Ion, 4 for £7.99 with FREE P&P http://amzn.to/1iOOjnD

CREE XML-T6 1000 Lumens mini Flashlight Torch
£4.41 with FREE P&P http://amzn.to/1iKd7x0
These take 18650 batteries, 2 for £3.99 with FREE P&P http://amzn.to/1uKhWxY

Charger
£12.89 with FREE P&P http://amzn.to/1m7pkkb
Note: this has 230V and 12V inputs, as well as a cover which allows the temperature measurement to be more accurate.

 

[nigelmercier]

CREE G3 Q5 400 Lumens mini Flashlight Torch £2.44 with FREE P&P http://amzn.to/OcfAH6

And now is a good time to mention that I found some clips to hang them on the bulkheads: http://amzn.to/1j30hhg

 

[Nicholas123]

What's so good about these torches that everyone is making all the fuss about? Can they pick out a buoy at a hundred feet in the dark?Are they a practical spotlight or just a torch for making your way about the cabin groping in the dark?

Just asking;One has to be very careful with the money.Take care of the pennies & the pounds take care of themselves

 

[Trop Cher]

I bought eight torches, three different types, from both ebay and amazon and they all work fine. When the third parcel arrived, my wife said "What, not more torches! Why do you need so many torches?". She used one to walk the dog last night and thought it was great and promptly claimed it and asked for another one to give to her friend!

 

[nigelmercier]

What's so good about these torches that everyone is making all the fuss about? Can they pick out a buoy at a hundred feet in the dark?Are they a practical spotlight or just a torch for making your way about the cabin groping in the dark?

Both. The beam width is variable.

 

[Nicholas123]

Both. The beam width is variable.

OK Nigel I'll give the 1000 Lumens one a try at that price it is'nt far off the replacement battery cost for my existing torch.I just hope I can afford the batteries

PS:It seems there is more to this battery business than meets the eye.Reading the reviews it talks about special incompatible batteries.Does it take an ordinary one & a half volt AA battery yes or no?

 

[Pete735]

I too think the quality is variable, with some ordered through Amazon and one at least through Ebay.

I have 3 in front of me now which to outwards appearance all look the same. If I look closely,one is printed CREE Q5, another HWAWYS ULTRAFIRE and the third is unbranded.
The machining on the unbranded and Ultrafire is the same but different to the Cree, not much but noticeable and measurable. I wonder if these are copies of the Cree item.
The unbranded one definitely was bought via Amazon and the lens adjusting collar is loose on it. The Chinese supplier is replacing this foc, not because of the lens collar, but because it is not the colour I ordered. Replacement has yet to arrive so I am curious about that.
The Ultrafire on/off button works erratically sometimes first go sometimes second or third.
The Cree works fine, interestingly about every third operation of the on/off button the light flashes v quickly maybe twice a second.
Illumination of all three is, if not the same, then similar.
I'm quite happy with my "buys", but I do wonder how many factories are making these in China.

 

[TheEcho]

Yes it does take an ordinary 1.5 volt AA battery.
The special lithium batteries are are an alternative that are brighter but more expensive and more prone to explode.

They are all clones of an older torch called a Sipik, but updated with newer and brighter LEDS. Cree make the LEDs that go in them, but Cree don't make torches.

I ordered five at once from Amazon. All work fine. I am not sure if I am entirely sane because I am changing my mind from "who could possibly want more than five torches" to "I think I need a few more". My excuse is that those five are essential boat safety equipment to be kept clipped to the lifejackets, and it would be nice to have one for the house as well... Maybe even one for the car... Mmm...

 

[TonyBuckley]

Yes it does take an ordinary 1.5 volt AA battery.
The special lithium batteries are are an alternative that are brighter but more expensive and more prone to explode.

How much brighter would the lithium batt make it?

 

[Nicholas123]

Yes it does take an ordinary 1.5 volt AA battery.
The special lithium batteries are are an alternative that are brighter but more expensive and more prone to explode.

They are all clones of an older torch called a Sipik, but updated with newer and brighter LEDS. Cree make the LEDs that go in them, but Cree don't make torches.

I ordered five at once from Amazon. All work fine. I am not sure if I am entirely sane because I am changing my mind from "who could possibly want more than five torches" to "I think I need a few more".

lol.Thanks for the info.I'll try one to start with & see how I get on.

 

[TheEcho]

How much brighter would the lithium batt make it?

Dunno. The 1000 lumens is not believable for a small package. If you rigged something that small for that much light, it might work for 10 seconds, then it would be a toss up as to whether the battery went flat, the connectors melted, or the LED overheated first.

Maybe if you want something twice as bright,buy twice as many torches... UH OH here I go again.

 

[nigelmercier]

How much brighter would the lithium batt make it?

I started doing some tests, but gave up because of a problem with my charger. I've now got the Amazon one, so will do them again soon. My initial thoughts were that the lithium battery was so bright that after looking at it I couldn't see for several minutes, I can believe the 400 (edit: not 1000) lumens in this case. Downside was that the torch got hot after about 5 minutes, and the battery only lasted about 30 minutes before it was down to the same brightness as the AA battery. However, this could be due to my charger.

[Later] See changes to my post above, sorry I got confused.

 

[DinghyMan]

1000 lumens is theoretically possible from a single T6 if you overdrive it, it is not possible from one driven by a single AA battery or a single 18650 lithium battery. Drive one from a couple of 18650's or similar and you can get the best part of 1000 lumens but for some of them they will burn out very rapidly. The ones mentioned above are probably at best 3-400 lumens.

I make dive torches rated from 750 lumens to 3600 lumens using anything from one to seven T6 leds and have seen the same led modules rated from 2000 to 8000+ lumens despite the led manufacturer rating them at less than 1800 lumens.

If you want a real torch there is a company that makes a 22,000 lumen torch but its a tad expensive at the best part of two grand: http://www.orcalight.co.uk/product-category/seawolf-20000-lumen-product-range/

 

[Poecheng]

For Nigel really,

I ordered two from the Amazon link posted in Nigel's the earlier (very helpful) threads about this.

Both have a battery space that is far bigger than an AA battery. I would estimate 50% fatter and 50% longer.

they were supposed to be for AA batteries according to the blurb on Amazon. Do I need the Lithiom 18650 or whatever number it is ?

Many thanks

 

[nigelmercier]

Both have a battery space that is far bigger than an AA battery. I would estimate 50% fatter and 50% longer...

Apologies, I got confused. I have now remembered that the 1000 lumen T6 takes 18650 batteries, see amended Post #3 above for new link and charger.

If you don't want to go down that route, I'll buy it off you. Or you could return it, as the listing says it takes AA (hence my confusion, even though I've got one!)

My original post amended, and in the other thread. Feel very silly, sorry again.

 

[Nicholas123]

Well now I'm confused because the link in this thread to the one on Amazon clearly still says it takes one AA battery.
If you have got to buy batteries & a separate charger then this looks like a better deal to me.http://www.amazon.co.uk/1600Lm-Zoom...im_diy_10?ie=UTF8&refRID=138RFRYF2VW18D9QK12C

 

[Poecheng]

Apologies, I got confused. The 1000 lumen T6 takes 18650 batteries: http://amzn.to/1uKhWxY, see above for charger.

If you don't want to go down that route, I'll buy it off you. Or you could return it, as the listing says it takes AA.

My original post amended.

Thanks Nigel, so 18650 batteries are physically larger than AA? (i haven't for some reason been able to determine that so far)
Looks like it is off to Amazon again !

 

[nigelmercier]

Well now I'm confused because the link in this thread to the one on Amazon clearly still says it takes one AA battery. If you have got to buy batteries & a separate charger then this looks like a better deal to me http://amzn.to/1oysWtV

The reason I bought the T6 was because of the strobe functions. For everyday use the Q5 is perfect and this does take AA batteries, so this would be my recommendation.

I only added the T6 in the first place after someone else mentioned it, really wish I hadn't, although it is also a great torch.