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UltraFire D99 a promising new 2x light?

56K views 217 replies 40 participants last post by  Flintrock 
#1 ·
#55 ·
Check out post #28, there are two links to reviews. The first one "Smudge's Luminator seems a good un" has amazing beamshots, runtime tests, and is by a guy whom knows lights. I like the idea of wireless too!
Wireless?, I think not. These are not self-contained with battery.

It seems these have some throw according to the reports. That is what I'm hoping for. If it throws as far as a typical 808E I'll be pleased. I might be using mine for commuting if the throw is decent. I'd use one of my Gloworm X2's but I might need to remove the lamp and leave the bike outside. The Gloworms do require a little more effort to mount with all the wires. I'd like something that I can take on and off real easy. I'll miss the remote on the Gloworm but what the hey, it's a 45 minute commute. After I've used mine on a couple rides I'll give it the "shower test" to see how it holds up to water. We'll see.

At least it's nice that a handfull of people have already ordered one. That means we should get a nice spectrum of review. :thumbsup:
 
#66 ·
@HakanC...

Glad to see that D/X brought the D88 back ( 3-parallel XM-L T6 ) These might be a better alternative than the typical Tri-clone lamps because I would think they would be better at handling the heat with the straight parallel design. Not to mention that the mode set-up is much better. The only problem with the D88 design might be how it might sit on the bars. Because it is longer in might hit the handlebar stem on some bikes. ( there are ways to get around that though ).
 
#67 ·
New FandyFire D99: It's Here

Post man came knocking just before I had to get ready for work. Luckily I should have some time today to play around with this at work.

My first impression ( shining it around my home ) was that I was very impressed. Four usable steady modes as promised and a separate flash, I'm duly impressed. I might have over-reacted to the High mode because when I first saw it I thought it might be brighter than the Gloworm X2. After throwing up a quick 5M lux test I might be wrong about that but I'll do more testing when I get home.

Quickie observations, the beam tint on mine is slightly bluish ( which is more apparent in low and not so apparent on the upper modes ). Very characteristic of the T-6 cool tinted bin emitters. The D/X ad says these are suppose to be neutral white...no way, at least on mine. Not a deal breaker but personally I favor the tints that are more white.

................................Quick 5M Lux Test.................................................

New D99..............423

Tri-Clone...............481

Mj-808E................540

( All lamps on High )
It likely won't have the throw of an 808E or Tri-Clone but it should hold it's own. I'll let you know more when I get home early in the AM.
 
#68 · (Edited)
Mine shipped out a few days after yours, so I haven't received it yet. Maybe using paypal slows down the shipping process?

I'm surprised by these numbers though. The 808 is brightest of the bunch? Is that because the light is more concentrated in a tight spot? I had the impression that the tri was super-bright. That sucks about the tint, I prefer the neutral tint.

I would hope that with an extra led, this light would output more total lumens than the 808. Otherwise what's the point. So it it's slightly weaker in the dead center of the beam, put has a broader beam then that would be acceptable in my opinion.

If I remember Jim's s charts correctly, the Magicshine 880 had both more light in the middle, and a broader beam than the 808. That's what I'm looking for from the D99, a cheap 880 clone.
 
#69 ·
Mine shipped out a few days after yours, so I haven't received it yet. Maybe using paypal slows down the shipping process?

I'm surprised by these numbers though. The 808 is brightest of the bunch? Is that because the light is more concentrated in a tight spot? I had the impression that the tri was super-bright. That sucks about the tint, I prefer the neutral tint.

I would hope that with an extra led, this light would output more total lumens than the 808. Otherwise what's the point. So it it's slightly weaker in the dead center of the beam, put has a broader beam then that would be acceptable in my opinion.

If I remember Jim's s charts correctly, the Magicshine 880 had both more light in the middle, and a broader beam than the 808. That's what I'm looking for from the D99, a cheap 880 clone.
Hopefully I can eliminate some misconceptions about the lux comparison. When doing the lux test I aim the brightest part of the beam pattern at the meter. Lux has nothing to do with total Lumen output as it is only measuring the output " at the brightest part of the beam pattern ". Optics and reflectors play a big part in how high a reading you get. The more narrow the beam the higher the reading.

The Magicshine 808E is basically a spot configured lamp. It uses a reflector and has a very good hot spot, not so much output to the sides however. Most of it's output is directed to the hotspot, that is why it reads so high. Both the Tri-Clone and the D99 have beam patterns that disperse the light more widely. Over all they are much brighter than the 808's. If I placed the meter off to the sides you would get a better idea of how much brighter they are vs. the 808E.

When I took the D99 out tonight I found out that it will make a very good bar lamp. I tested it behind a group of buildings (near my job ) that just so happens to be completely dark. ( The buildings are about 165 ft. long ) First test was with the LL or lowest mode if you will. Surprisingly even the LL mode has some reach. ( I like it when low modes have some throw ) L2 or level 2 ( if you will ) supplied more than enough light to see well in most situations. Levels 3 and 4 are of course even better and could light up most of the way to the end of the buildings. This is about what I expected.

The D99 is not a spot lamp, nor is it just a flood lamp. It has a very nice mix of flood and throw that I think makes it a very nice lamp for the bars. You could use it on the helmet but the distance throw does fade a bit beyond the 150 ft. mark. The D99 is using optics and not reflectors. Strange how that little fact got by me when I was ordering it. That said, it might be possible to replace the optics if you think you might want a little more intense throw. Personally I think it's fine as is.

So far the only thing I can complain about is the beam tint. That's because I'm spoiled by all the other lamps I own that use emitters that are more "bright white". ( no bluish tint ) Still, the cool tint T-6 XM-L's light things up very well which is what most people want anyway. When I go out this weekend I'll bring the D99 along to test along with the other two lamps I just got.
 
#71 ·
D99 Trail testing

I took the D99 out for a quick test spin on the trails while I was also testing a couple other lamps. ( Lamps taken; Gloworm X2, D/X Quad XM-L lamp, and the upgraded Xeccon X-12 with new XM-L2 emitter ) When I put the D99 on the bars the first thing I noticed is the bright green led staring back at me from the power button. I think this lamp has the brightest button led I've ever seen. :lol: Next time I use it I'll likely put some electrical tape across it so I don't see so much of the green light.

One of the nice things about these two emitter XM-L lamps is that they are small and light-weight. This means they don't take up much room or move much once you put them on the bars. When I turned the lamp on it comes on in the lowest of it's four steady modes. This LL mode is surprisingly useful. It is very much like the LL mode of the Gloworm X2's. The next mode ( I'll call L2 ) provides a very nice output. Once again like the Gloworm X2 the Level 2 on the D99 is a very nice mode for general all-around cruising. This is the level I use most on my X2.

Both level 3 and level 4 bring even more of course. Most of my comparisons were with the Gloworm X2 since both incorporate duel XM-L's. I was glad to see that when I took the D99 out on the trail that you really don't notice any blue tint. Maximum output with the D99 is very respectable. There is some fade to the center area of the beam but it still does very well and illuminates a nice wide swath of trail very similar to what the X2 does. The X2 with it's XM-L U2's is of course a little brighter but not by much. As I surmised earlier the D99 makes a nice little bar lamp. If you're looking for an upgrade from something like an 808 with flood lens the D99 would certainly make a nice upgrade without taking up a lot of space on the bars or taking too much money from your pocketbook.
 
#75 · (Edited)
I just got my light tonight. I played with it a little bit in the house, as it's raining outside.

First impression are a bit mixed.

I'm surprised how small the housing is. It a little bit wider than the Magicshine 808, but it's only half the height, so that makes it feel much smaller. The controls are two buttons that are also smaller than I thought they would be. The great thing about the buttons is that have a very positive click when pressed, there's no mistaking it. Overall the light feels very well made.

The wire coming out of the back feels more flexible than that of the 808 and it's a little bit thinner. The battery connector is not quite the same as the Magicshine. The metal conductor part is the same diameter as the Magicshine, although it's a little bit shorter. The black plastic part of the connector is much thinner than that of the Magicshine. On the Magicshine, this black part of the connector fits inside a small tube on mating part of the connector (from the battery side). The end result is that the Magicshine connection is both somewhat water resistant and hard to separate. Since the D99 connector is too small, you will not get this extra benefit. It is still compatible with the Magicshine battery. It's a secure fit and does take a little fit of force to separate

The light has four modes plus the strobe. The light goes from low to medium 1 to medium 2 to high and then back to low by pressing the green button. The strobe mode is not part of the regular rotation. It's only activated by pressing the smaller orange button. Pressing the button again, turns off the strobe and activates the steady light. It also remembers which light level was set. Turning the light off involves pressing the green button. The light turn off and the green button stays lit for several seconds and then blinks several times and turns off. I'm not sure if it's still drawing power at this time. With the Magicshine the indicator light is always lit, meaning as soon as you connect the battery you are losing power.

The beam on this light is somewhat dissappointing when viewed indoors. The hot spot is actually a hot ring. Inside this ring is not a bright as the ring, although much brighter than outside of the ring. I'm not sure how big of a deal this is once I get it outside. Outside of the hot spot, which is roughly 808 size, there is a good amount of light. In fact much brighter than what you get with the 808. So the d99 has some flood capability. It also seems a bit brighter than the 808, but the light tint is much bluer that it's somewhat difficult to compare the two. I wasn't able to get an idea of which throws better because I'm stuck indoors.

Sorry I don't have any beam shots for you guys. I don't have a great spot in which to take pictures that's easily accessible and super dark. I also don't have a DSLR.
 
#78 ·
Just to clear things up a bit; I just tried the D99 with every battery I have. Both the Bikeray and Xeccon batteries work fine with this lamp and hold well enough that I would not be worried about it coming loose. The funny thing is that the battery that had the poorest connection was the battery I got with the D/X Quad XM-L lamp.

I should note here that D/X sells batteries with a couple variations on the ( female ) plug. It also seems that the plastic on the male end of the lamp ( D99 ) is not built up enough. This is not really a big problem though as mine works fine with all the batteries. However if you want a tighter ( more waterproof ) fit easy to fix by just wrapping some electrical tape around the plastic on the male end to make it bigger. If this is too much a bother than Håkan's idea should work fine as well.

Since no one else mentioned it the strobe on the D99's are absolutely mental as far as the flash frequency goes. For bike use the flash should be more like 1 flash per sec. ( or 1 per 1.5 sec. ) That I could live with.
 
#84 ·
Hm, ok, Cat. But, either way, it should be less floody than others using OP reflector, right?
Yeah, cheap Chinese lights and their waterproof capabilities are a concern. My 808 clone had two o-rings in the lenses and it did worked under small showers...but I was always concerned about that... Does this D99 also have 2 o-rings?
 
#85 ·
Hm, ok, Cat. But, either way, it should be less floody than others using OP reflector, right?
Yeah, cheap Chinese lights and their waterproof capabilities are a concern. My 808 clone had two o-rings in the lenses and it did worked under small showers...but I was always concerned about that... Does this D99 also have 2 o-rings?
No, I don't think so...reflectors are almost always give a more narrow beam pattern, even if they are OP. It compares well to other multi-emitter lamps and should satisfy most people that are looking for a wider beam pattern ( compared to single emitter lamps ).

There is one O-ring inside the front of the lamp and an O-ring for each optic where it rests against the front of the lamp. The inside one is the one that has me worried as it sits in a groove and does not sit up very high. I suppose if you wanted to seal it better you could use some silicon but then that would be a little messy and cause a problem if you wanted to re-open the front.
 
#87 ·
@ HakanC, I got my set today and am happy to report that the light-head, the charger, and the battery you asked about, are all a perfect fitting matches as far as connectors go. I was worried, but it was a roll of the dice that won, phew. Been charging that sucker for 6 hours now, and it's still going. Let's hope this battery is a good pick! I will report back later with full charge time, voltages, runtimes and try to do my first attempt at beamshots.
 
#89 ·
@ HakanC, I got my set today and am happy to report that the light-head, the charger, and the battery you asked about, are all a perfect fitting matches as far as connectors go. I was worried, but it was a roll of the dice that won, phew.
Thank you, that is good to know.

I will report back later with full charge time, voltages, runtimes and try to do my first attempt at beamshots.
I'm looking forward to your report.

/Håkan
SWEDEN
 
#88 ·
I got mine a few days ago. Noticed the head wire somewhat loose, only because the grommet-plug going in the housing was not set. I will seal the front and the plug too. I would suggest anybody running this in inclement weather to do this. Just waiting while I decide to screw another mounting system to it. The strobe is, as others noted, a "rave mode" pulsar certain to cause epileptic seizures. Too bad as it won't really be useful on the commute stylee -too crazy! Now I could put a gel on it, it'd be a brilliant tail light.
 
#91 · (Edited)
FFire D99: Thermal shake down vs. Lux output / Runtime on 4-cell

I'm doing a little run time test tonight using one of my 5200mAh ( 3 year old ) Bikeray 4-cell batteries. I just wanted to see what I could expect using a decent 4-cell with the D99. More info in a couple hours. I expect to get 2.5 hrs but we'll see.

The lamp just went to "Blue" after one hour. The lamp does get hot. More on that when the test is completed.
 
#93 · (Edited)
FFire D99: Thermal test-lux output/ run time test, continued from last post.

I'm doing a little run time test tonight using one of my 5200mAh ( 3 year old ) Bikeray 4-cell batteries. I just wanted to see what I could expect using a decent 4-cell with the D99. More info in a couple hours. I expect to get 2.5 hrs but we'll see.

The lamp just went to "Blue" after one hour. The lamp does get hot. More on that when the test is completed.
Finished the test. I got exactly 2hrs and 52 minutes on high with the Bikeray battery. Very good for a 3 year old battery if I do say so.
During the test some things of note;

The lamp ( on high L4 ) does get hot if not enough air is moving across the lamp. I did use a fan for the test but at the start had it set back a ways. After 15 minutes the lamp heated up to 126°F ( 52°C ). That is pretty hot, still the lamp did not do a thermal shut or power-down. At this point I moved the fan closer.

Loss of light output at the 15 minute mark was about 16.5% of the initial 422 lux. That is pretty high. Once I moved the fan closer the lamp temperature dropped down to ~ 122°F ( 50°C ). It took a while for the emitters to cool but eventually the lux output began to rise. Once stabilized, the light output remained around 374 lux. At that level the loss is only about 11.6%. That is much better and the lamp was obviously brighter.

The red led came on at the 2hr and 18 minute mark. Not soon after the lamp output began to fade a bit as the battery neared cut-off. At no point did the lamp power down to a lower level on it's own. The red led did not enter a "blinking mode" to indicate eminent shut down.

All things considered if you don't let the lamp get too hot you should still get decent output. When I used mine last I never noticed the lamp getting too hot. Matter of fact it barely got warm but then again I don't always run the higher modes. Keep her on L2 or L3 and you should be fine. Wish there had been a blinking mode. That last warning before shut-down is priceless. ( * Oh, almost forgot to mention, I paid for this lamp with my own money. )
 
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