Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - The P7 Flashlight Thread

Anyone else rocking a P7 from Deal Extreme? My 8-mode (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13060) finally came in, and I'm enjoying the brilliant light output.

http://www.dealextreme.com/productimages/sku_12623_5.jpg

If you use the lights when riding, in general, or are interested in them, feel free to chime in with your experiences!

the big issue with p7's is the burn time... what are getting in high or medium mode?

Half your luck -- I'm still waiting for mine. Got the batteries & charger in good time but they were waiting for more P7s to come in.

My 8 mode came today in the mail. I will charge it up and report back.

Is there anything special I should do concerning charging the batteries?

the big issue with p7's is the burn time... what are getting in high or medium mode?

It's supposed to get 1h in high. I just popped in a fresh battery and am timing medium mode now with a stopwatch.


Half your luck -- I'm still waiting for mine. Got the batteries & charger in good time but they were waiting for more P7s to come in.

It'll get there soon, keep waiting! Like you, my batteries and charger came earlier, but the light itself kept going out of stock before finally arriving today.


My 8 mode came today in the mail. I will charge it up and report back.

Is there anything special I should do concerning charging the batteries?

Congrats. I don't think so; just charge until they're done. On mine, the light changes from red to green. I'm doing a battery life test now, and will update soon.

It just gradually dims. I left mine on all night on high mode and it was pretty dim in the morning.

I tried my light this morning after the batteries had been on charge all night. Seems like a nice, solid little flashlight. Good output. Should make a good headlight.

I got the Trustfire multifunctional charger and it is a little cheesy. One contact slides to accomodate different batteries. The slide binds, however. After 12 hours the charge indicator light was still red but the batteries worked in the light. I can fiddle with the batteries and make the indicator light change colors.

Do you think it would hurt to put a tiny amount of anti-siezure compound on the flashlight threads?

I've got the multifunction charger too. When I've got only one battery, I charge it in the left slot. Not sure if that makes a difference, but I've had previous chargers that instructed as much, so, who knows?

2h30m later, the light is still undimmed at medium.

i ordered one as well right when it came back into stock. I should be here sometime next week. hopefully sooner rather than later. I hope it works for some of my shorter night rides ~30-45 minutes.

Okay, I just finished a test. I got about 4h of medium brightness. By 5h, the light had started to dim somewhat. I turned it off at 5h30m. At that point, I'd estimate the medium setting was about as bright as the low setting is on a fresh battery. I haven't done any endurance testing on high, but general consensus seems to be that should last about an hour. I've got two batteries, so I'll just take both whenever I'm out, and pop the used one in the charger each night.

I've been using a DX P7 light for a couple of months and have really enjoyed it. Not wanting to annoy oncoming riders and drivers any more than necessary, I masked off about the top 3/8 of the lens with electric tape to mimic the beam cutoff of a car light. This is just a waste of light of course, but the P7 has plenty enough to spare. I like that the beam pattern is more diffuse than my other flashlight based headlights, so you don't lose stuff in the relatively dimmer sidespill, but it's still so bright the sidespill is useful. I get just over an hour out of it on high, but I use it most of the time on medium and don't even think about it, just switch the battery every two or three days.

I went riding this afternoon (grocery run), and used a P7 in the front and a PB in the back. It was great; I don't know if it made a difference, but I liked knowing I was visible. Even outdoors, the light is too bright to look at up close. I plan to use it (and the rear blinkie) from now on whenever I do grocery runs.

I'm *this* close to pulling the trigger on one of these; I'd love to know if anyone's compared it to something like a 20W halogen, which is what it'd be replacing in my case.

I ordered one of these and will be moving my L2D to my helmet (wheres it's spottier beam should be very useful). Can anyone post some beamshots on bike?

Does anyone have any ideas on whether trying to power the light with an external battery pack would be worthwhile?

I took my first ride tonight with both the P7 and the Dinotte 200L headlight. There was absolutely no comparison. I did most of the ride with the P7. Then, at one point I shut off the P7 and turned on the Dinotte. I felt like I had gone back to using one of those $20 led headlights. The P7 was much brighter and it lit up a much larger area.
I just hope the P7 proves to be a robust design. Time will tell.

I took my first ride tonight with both the P7 and the Dinotte 200L headlight. There was absolutely no comparison. I did most of the ride with the P7. Then, at one point I shut off the P7 and turned on the Dinotte. I felt like I had gone back to using one of those $20 led headlights. The P7 was much brighter and it lit up a much larger area.
I just hope the P7 proves to be a robust design. Time will tell.

Really? Wow. I'd had some thoughts on this matter myself, but since Dinottes are held in high esteem here, like the Fenix lights, I didn't want to say anything. But if you're really getting a much better light from a $40 P7 than from a Dinotte costing four times as much ($160)...that's impressive.

Personally, I rode home tonight for the first time with my P7. It was great. For the first time, I could actually see. There wasn't a doubt about what was in front of me. I could angle it up or down or wherever, and I could still see. I don't know if cars coming from the opposite lane were slowing down, but I have no doubt they saw me. I'm never using the MUP again at night; the road's a far better option, and with this light, it's a road I can see.

Oh man. I just went to Dinotte lighting. The 200L lights are 200 lumens. The P7 gives more than that on medium, I think. On high, a P7 gives off about 700 lumens. The most powerful Dinotte seems to be the 600, which gives off 600 lumens at a cost of about $400.

So for one tenth the price, you can have a light more powerful than any Dinotte. I think it's clear that the P7 might be the most powerful light you can buy that doesn't involve DIY and halogen.

I run 3 P7s: 2 on the bars and one on my helmet. The helmet gives off the greatest range ( I also use it on high), but is a little heavy. I use use the left bar as a strobe on cloudy mornings, and sometimes cars pull over to let me pass at redlights! Most of the time both my handle bar lights are on medium. I keep a fresh set of 18651s in the paniers just in case, but I have never ran out of juice commuting (24 miles both ways).
On high I think the estimates at CPF are around 450 lumens, still great but not the advertised 900 lumens. Also there are some shoddy soldering in these lights that limit he current drawn off he battery. An easy fix according to some members at CPF, but I haven't needed it using three of those.
Not bad for the price of one DL200!

Oh man. I just went to Dinotte lighting. The 200L lights are 200 lumens. The P7 gives more than that on medium, I think. On high, a P7 gives off about 700 lumens. The most powerful Dinotte seems to be the 600, which gives off 600 lumens at a cost of about $400.

So for one tenth the price, you can have a light more powerful than any Dinotte. I think it's clear that the P7 might be the most powerful light you can buy that doesn't involve DIY and halogen.

I want to try a P7 light too :) but one thing that would be an issue, is the short runtime. The DiNotte 600L will do 3.5 hours at full power on one battery pack, then eases you down to LOW to get you home. Some of my round-trip commutes actually do get that long! What's the runtime on your P7 on HIGH, and is it holding full output through the whole run, or is it drifting down as it goes (as is the case with many 18650 lights)? Anyone here got a 2 x 18650 version to report on?

I also think your 700-lumen estimate might be a little optomistic :) LumaPower's high-end P7 light, the DX-1, is rated for only 600 lumens max, and that's driven at 2.4 amps from 2 x 18650, with a runtime of about 90 minutes (reference (http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=178359)). The cheapie 1 x 18650 P7 lights appear to run about 1.8-2.0 amps (reference (http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=199062)). So maybe 450-500 lumens max would be a more realistic guess? Because at 700 lumens sustained, I guestimate you'd suck an 18650 dry in 30 minutes.

Bottom line: at 600 lumens, a P7 flashlight pulls 10 watts. If you have one 18650 containing (3.5Vavg x 2.4aH) = 8.4 watt-hours, you can run at 600 lumens for 0.84 hours. If you're getting more runtime than that... you're not running 600 lumens.

That said, I'm all for large quantities of lumens at affordable prices! :beer:

Boy, that really does look tempting. I'm currently shopping for lights for this winter. If it weren't for the run time I'd be ordering one right now. I'd have to carry 3 batteries with me just to finish my commute when it's dark both ways. Only one with the new Dinotte 400L. Definitely makes the decision tougher though. The price per lumen is fantastic on that P7. Looks to be about $100 dollars for the P7 with all the needed equipment vs. $270 for the Dinotte.

one of the best looking p7's that is out there right now is from electrolumens.. He is known for great regulation to maximize runtime.. I have bought flashlights from him over the past 5 years and have never been dissapointed. They are priced a little higher than some of the chinese made ones but will yield 1:30 to 2:00 of runtime on high..

http://elektrolumens.com/EDC-P7/EDC-P7.html

I got the Trustfire multifunctional charger and it is a little cheesy. One contact slides to accomodate different batteries. The slide binds, however. After 12 hours the charge indicator light was still red but the batteries worked in the light. I can fiddle with the batteries and make the indicator light change colors.

Good luck with the charger! Mine had the same issues, and quit working after a very short time. Hope you have better luck.

with the trustfire charger if you are charging 1 cell you need to use the left side only.. The pila charger is the best 18650 charger out there but it is not cheap..

http://www.flashlightz.com/product.php?product=171829

Has anyone here had luck modding a P7 light to use an external battery pack? I'm pretty comfortable with DIY electronics so I think I may try it. I'm thinking of using a battery pack (well 6 or so batteries taped together and wired in parallel) to power 2 P7 lights. Now, if I keep these batteries always together, there shouldn't be a problem with the voltages being different and inducing them to charge other batteries in the pack but has anyone tried to charge a bundle like this with a normal charger?

As for actually connecting the battery, what is standard procedure here? I was going to cut out a cylinder on a lathe (non-metal) and put some metal contacts on the end and then probably just drill a small hole in the barrel of the light to run wires from that metal contacts out to a quick disconnect harness.

Are there any decent P7 flashlights that take three AA batteries? A single 18650 battery is 3.7V, so three NiMH AA rechargeables (3 x 1.2V) should be equivalent. I have a healthy investment in rechargeable AA for my other lights and not interested in another battery type & charger.

Are there any decent P7 flashlights that take three AA batteries? A single 18650 battery is 3.7V, so three NiMH AA rechargeables (3 x 1.2V) should be equivalent. I have a healthy investment in rechargeable AA for my other lights and not interested in another battery type & charger.

You'll need to either build a battery pack (wire them in series) or just invest in some 18650s. A pair of protected batteries + charger runs less than $20 altogether. At first I was wary of trying out a new set of gear, but these lights are well worth it. To get the equivalent amount of output in something like a Dinotte, you'd need to spend about $400.

I got the Trustfire multifunctional charger and it is a little cheesy. One contact slides to accomodate different batteries. The slide binds, however. After 12 hours the charge indicator light was still red but the batteries worked in the light. I can fiddle with the batteries and make the indicator light change colors.

Good luck with the charger! Mine had the same issues, and quit working after a very short time. Hope you have better luck.


I really like the P7 over the Dinotte. Actually, I bought 2 P7's but gave one to a friend. We ride together at night.
I will probably get a Pila charger, or something similar. I think it is worth it in order to see well and be safe at night. I'll probably get some extra batteries, too.

Does the Pila work with Trustfire 18650 batteries?

Thank you! I too have plenty of NiMH AA's in the 2500ma range. My LED (luxeon III, and K2 emitters) all use AAA's. I bought some 900ma NiMH AAA's, and they are OK, but man, AA's would last 2-3x as long. Yes, the flashlight body would be a bit fat, but still well worth it.

Would anyone here know how these flashlights handle the cold, 0 to -30C?

Thanks.

Would anyone here know how these flashlights handle the cold, 0 to -30C?

Thanks.

I haven't tested them, but I presume they'd handle it pretty well. The construction is rugged, and the only downside might be a slight decrease in battery life due to the cold. And that might be offset by how warm the light gets on high mode.

Anyway, I've taken a twilight ride and another night ride since the last time I posted, and the light's holding up wonderfully. It's great to just be able to see, and to not have any doubts whatsoever that approaching vehicles are aware of me. I'm thinking of buying a second one and taping a red blinkie lens over it to use it on low-mode as a taillight.

Are there any decent P7 flashlights that take three AA batteries? A single 18650 battery is 3.7V, so three NiMH AA rechargeables (3 x 1.2V) should be equivalent. I have a healthy investment in rechargeable AA for my other lights and not interested in another battery type & charger.

Hey Juggler, this guy will build it for you. Same price as his regular handbuilt. http://elektrolumens.com/EDC-P7/EDC-P7.html

I'm thinking of buying a second one and taping a red blinkie lens over it to use it on low-mode as a taillight.

Don't bother, you are wasting your money, it will still come out pretty white. You need red LEDs.

I have started two threads on that topic, if you are willing to go the DIY route.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=381557&highlight=

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=440641&highlight=

I'm preparing an order for a P7 flashlight from DX right now. planning to get the MTE SSC 5 mode P7
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12060

plus 18650 charger and batteries. Im planning to mount it parallel to the top tube. I was wondering if anyone has confirmed that the longer protected cells can fit in that particular p7 flashlight.

NEVERMIND. i answered my own questions. i found a pair of protected ones that someone has confirmed to fit.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790

If anyone is interested, I have a charger and protected lithiums from deal extreme. I am sick of waiting for my P7. I commute and the wait has severely cramped my style. I would like $23.00 for the set, including shipping.

01251 UltraFire 3.6/3.7V Battery Charger
05790 TrustFire Protected 18650 Lithium Battery (2500mAh 2-Pack Blue)

If you let me know tonight I can drop it off at the post office when I head over there tomorrow. It will get to you faster than Dealextreme can get it to you, if I walked it to your house. seriously

Once they actually ship, it takes about 9 days. The bigger delays are in waiting for particular lights to return to stock. That's why ordering quickly's a good idea. It took me about three weeks before I finally got everything, but half of that time was spent waiting for DX to get the light itself.

What's the best p7 model? DX has 19 models listed.

http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/search.p7

I'd recommend getting one with at least high, medium, low, a strobe, and voltage regulation. I got the 8-mode because a.) it looked the nicest, and b.) it was regulated, and c.) it had eight modes.

So far, I've only used high and high rapid strobe when riding, but I like having the availability of the other modes. I use high rapid when riding off campus in the daytime, as it's the most attention-getting mode on the light.

So if I were buying another light, I'd buy the 8-mode again. It has the most modes, it looks nice, and it's regulated.

I've had my P7 for enough time to test it out. I would not want to be without it. I got the 8 mode because it is regulated. The charger, while not the best, has been keeping the batteries charged. My Dinotte is now my (reliable) backup.

And what are you guys using to attach it to your bike? Will the Twofish lockblock work?

And what are you guys using to attach it to your bike? Will the Twofish lockblock work?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8274

Took the plunge, P7 8-mode, charger, 2 TrustFire batts, mount. We'll see how long it takes to arrive. I hate waiting ;-)

man..i was going to order a P7 light. ended up also adding the charger and batteries, plus a CR123 everyday carry light, plus those batteries, plus dropin SSC P4 LED for my headlamp, plus a pack of 10 microlights. i need to stop! its like buying bike stuff.

one of the best looking p7's that is out there right now is from electrolumens.. He is known for great regulation to maximize runtime.. I have bought flashlights from him over the past 5 years and have never been dissapointed. They are priced a little higher than some of the chinese made ones but will yield 1:30 to 2:00 of runtime on high..

http://elektrolumens.com/EDC-P7/EDC-P7.html

I've got one of those on the way, too. My first from elektrolumens, and I'm really looking forward to it.

I've got one of those on the way, too. My first from elektrolumens, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Please report on how it is. Thanks!

wayne's flashlights are top shelf but he sometimes get way overextended and usually has delays in production.. The attention to detail and ruggedness of his lights are one of the best qualities.. He also is a master of regulation and his lights usually run much longer than other similar torches..

I've had my P7 for enough time to test it out. I would not want to be without it. I got the 8 mode because it is regulated. The charger, while not the best, has been keeping the batteries charged. My Dinotte is now my (reliable) backup.

Something else I'd like to add. I can see no reason for getting the 2 mode light. If you shut off the 8 mode for more than 2 seconds it goes back to the 1st (low) mode. The 2nd mode is high beam. It's not a problem to stay within the hi/lo modes.

I bought a one mode P7 light from DX and have tested it for two off-road mtb rides. Results were fantastic on the handlebar. It puts my 2 x DIY 20W halogen light (handlebar, helmet) to shame. Add a helmet light and it's all you need.

I chose the one mode P7, as I'm only interested in the high mode for off-road biking. That, and I can't to be wasting time cycling through modes.

I bought a one mode P7 light from DX and have tested it for two off-road mtb rides. Results were fantastic on the handlebar. It puts my 2 x DIY 20W halogen light (handlebar, helmet) to shame. Add a helmet light and it's all you need.

I don't see how that's possible, unless you simply weren't putting enough juice into them. A single mr11 at nominal voltage is rated at ~ 400 lumens, and an mr16 ~800. Overvolted 20% they're about twice those values.

Those p7s from DX put out 400-600 lumens, right? Even elektrolumens claims only 700+.

A single mr11 at nominal voltage is rated at ~ 400 lumens, and an mr16 ~800. Overvolted 20% they're about twice those values.

Source? I've never seen those sort of figures before. First, MR16 has a larger reflector then an mr11 so the beam is better focused. All else being equal, a 20w MR16 does not produce twice the lumens of a 20W MR11. Second, halogen lamps provide around 15-20 lumens per watt. Third, overvolting by 20% yields around ~85% gain but reduces the bulb life by 90%. So that high end 5000 hour bulb will only have a 500 hour life. Fourth, look at the manufacturer's MR11/MR16 lumens/spread chart for a comparison. Fifth, enough poster on this forum, and others, have already shown that a 3xcree setup beats a 20W halogen light.

Other advantages of the P7 include, less heat, better efficiency, and no cables to snap while off-road mountain biking :thumb:.

Does anyone think we've hit a plateau for high power LEDs using AA batteries? Will it be CR123 or 18650 from here on out, or will another breakthrough keep AA's in the game?