kuan

I bought two of those Ultrafire chargers from DX. One of them turned out to be a fake.

Unknown Cyclist

I was just wondering about how the MC-E stacks up against the P7 ?

I've never used a MC-E, but the fact that it can be run with the LEDs in series or parallel is of interest to me.

Has anyone directly compared the MC-E with a P7 ?

Also, why does the P7 get so much more coverage ?

Obviously I'm a P7 fan, because it was highly recommended to me and works great, but maybe in a alternate universe I'm a MC-E fan ?

Any thoughts ?

znomit

The P7 hit the market a few months before the MCE so the cheap torch makers tooled up on that.
In theory its as bright as an MCE, same way a P4 can be as bright as an XRE (all 4 leds use the exact same dies (dice?)).
It doesn't require a MCPCB to configure it as 4p so its simpler to build a torch around it.

Unknown Cyclist

Hi Znomit,

Have you used both ?

Cyclist0383

Interesting. How did they differ, and what lead you to believe one was phony?

znomit

I have a P7 and an MCE but haven't been able to work either of them into anything useful yet.
I went through a bunch of MCE optics before settling down with a 20mm triple XPE instead...
The MCE has a much larger selection of optics available and the ability to run it 4S makes it a better option for a dyno light.

Quick look and theres only three MCE torches at DX, about the same price as the P7s...

evblazer

I have an MTE MCE torch from DX.. The best part of it I think is that it doesn't have memory and it starts on medium.
Other then that I really don't see much difference. The MCE was the one I put a slit in and dummy cell so I could use an external 4P 18650 pack with it. It seems now you can buy something similar off the shelf although I guess mine has one thing they don't an attack crown. Very useful for when I ram into all the loose dogs with my lowracer.

Unknown Cyclist

That's one of the reasons I was looking at it.



It would be ideal if it was more of a thrower than the P7 or if there were suitable optics to make it so.

socalrider

I have found that some of the MC-e's because they use different optics have a little tighter beam than the P7's.. They are still mostly flood lights but have a little better throw.. If you want a true thrower look at the Fenix TK11, that is a long burning throw monster..

https://www.4sevens.com/product_info....roducts_id=497

With the new 3000mah cells it gets over 3 hours of burn time.. BTW, I received an email from Brian at Shining Beam and he says that he will have the PLI MC-E lights back in stock this week..

The PLI MC-e is one of the nicer MC-e lights I have tried.. 3 modes (high-med-low).. Very nice feel in your hand, compact product, just 4 ounces without batteries.. Small enough to be used as a helmet light if needed..

1:15-1:20 burn time w/ gray TF 2400 battery.. 1:30-1:35 with UF 3000mah battery..Both of these are for high mode.. It has a hard out at these times and drops to a reserve mode which is less bright than low, so you have to swap out batteries once it drops off..

Unknown Cyclist

I've just been having another look at this light and the reviews of it:



One thing that is of interest to me is the weight.

Apparently it weighs in at 320g including the 4 x 18650 battery pack - this compares very favourably with my P7 Aurora which comes in at 374g not including the mount, so the HA-III SSC P7-C (SXO) 3-Mode 900-Lumen LED Bike Light Set is significantly lower in weight than my Aurora and very likely brighter.

The head unit weighs in at about 100g and looks to be reasonably sized.

Has anyone got any thoughts on whether this would be suitable to mount on a helmet ?

seeker333

Have you bothered checking voltage on your 18650s after you hit the low V cutoff ? Like yours, my PLI cuts off after about 75 min on a 2400 mA TF. Clearly they're not actually regulated at 2800mA, or they'd cut off in under an hour.

My PLI hits the cut off (well, way down) at ~3.5V (measured this 3X now). The spec says cutoff at 2.8V. I'm wondering if they all actually cut off at 3.5v, or perhaps I got a dud. I think you can safely pull 18650s lower than 3.5v, so the circuit is not optimum IMO. Current too low, and cutoff too high.

MY PLI has a distinct donut hole in the beam pattern when riding. Clearly inferior illumination to my "good" DX MTE P7, and still a little inferior to my "bad" P7. Based on this limited experience, I think the mc-e in general are not as well suited to bike lighting as the p7 lights.

Unknown Cyclist

Wow, I'm glad you pointed that out, your PLI definitely sound inferior to your P7s and as I've been very impressed with my Aurora P7 I have to say it sounds like the PLI is quite inferior to that as well.

I was just wondering whether I should add a PLI to my growing torch collection, sounds like it's one to steer clear of - if it's running at a lower current then claimed then it can't be producing as many lumens.

How much cheaper was it than a P7 from DX ?

kuan

The legit one checks the charge every few seconds. While charging the LED's stay red and blink green every few seconds. When it's done charging the LED's turn green and stay green. That's the way it's supposed to work.

The fake one just stays red all the while it charges. No indication if the batteries are charged or not. It doesn't blink green while charging either.

socalrider

My PLI also has a distinct donut hole, a little more pronounced than 2 of my p7's.. I would still include it as a good helmet light option, the runtime is a little better than many of the p7's I have tried over the last year.. I have not checked to see where my cells were when they cutoff. I will check that the next time I ride.. I still think this MC-e light is a good choice for a bike / helmet light.. Most likley this is being driven at about 2000mA.. I would send the ?? to Brian at SB to see what he thinks about yours being a dud..

socalrider

I would send a message to geoman, who is a regular poster on BF.. He sells that light for only a few bucks more than DX

https://www.geomangear.com/index.php?...roducts_id=138

Unknown Cyclist

What does he charge for postage ?

I'm not in the US.

socalrider

send him a message and find out??

Unknown Cyclist

I guess I'll have to.

I've just been trying the postage calculator on the site but it doesn't work.

Cyclist0383

Bryan mentioned this over at CPFMP, and the new batch have a different reflector. He mentioned the possibility of getting replacement reflectors for current owners if there is a big improvement.

Cyclist0383

Jaa, that's exactly what I've heard the fake ones do. I hope you don't still use the fake one; god knows what it's capable of doing......

FWIW, my real one also blinks red-green while charging. I bought it from the battery seller AW over on CPF.

bigeasyrider

I ride with one MTE P7 five-mode light and one MTE P7 eight-mode light on my bars. I first got the eight mode, but soon after wanted a second light. Other posters had indicated the five mode was a little brighter and I also found that eight modes was more than I wanted or needed, so that's what prompted me to get the five mode. If I had it to do again, I'd get two five-mode lights, but that said I don't find much difference between them and they've both been rock solid for me. I street and park ride, so I'm not taking them on hilly terrain like if I were off road riding, but the streets in New Orleans can be very pot hole ridden. Still, I've not had any issue with either of them changing modes or flickering or anything. They've just worked really great.

I use the blue Trustfire 18650s and the Ultra Fire charger everyone has discussed here. I make sure I'm close at hand to the charger when charging and pull them off when the charger goes green, but again I've not had any problems. I've tried different mounts from DX but have settled on the snap in mounts. They hold the lights very firmly but also allow for quick release when I want to take the lights off the bike. I think they're ideal.

Separately, I run on my helmet (using a two-fish lock block mount) a Cree Q-5 that I got from Shining Beam. I bought the gray CR123s from DX and also charge them in the Ultra Fire charger (using steel balls from one of my kid's toys as a spacer). Using a single CR123 rather than two AA makes that light brighter and weigh less, though it cuts its run time to about 45 minutes, which necessitates changing it more often.

I use two PB super flash blinkies for the back.

Truthfully I could get by with any one of the flashlights I use, especially when riding through partially lit streets. (When street riding I only use the lights on the medium setting.) When I use the whole set up, though, on full brightness (such as on the MUP in the unlit park at night), everything is lit up beautifully and it really gives me confidence that I can see and be seen. I couldn't be happier with my set up. There's not a lot of money invested in it and it provides me what I want. Some may complain about shorter run times and the need for battery changes, but that doesn't bother me. I even kind of like prepping for that aspect of the ride, so it works for me. I have no gripes, save for wishing I had two five-modes rather than a five mode and an eight mode as I do. Great lights and I'm thankful to BF for all the very helpful discussion that clued me in and informed me about them.

That's my two cents.

Unknown Cyclist

Great review and very informative, having seen a fair number of people on here complain about having bought torches with too many modes, I went the whole hog and bought a 2 mode torch, do you think you'd be as happy if you had less than 5 modes ?

I notice you use the blue trustfire 18650 + Ultrafire WF-139 combo, which much be about the most used set up on this forum, are you using the protected or unprotected batteries ?

Like you, I am very happy with my set up and likewise my torch, charger and battery combo has performed faultlessly and of course, I'm also thankful to all the advice I've received here.

One last question, aren't you even slightly tempted by the new P7 cycle light ?



Longer runtimes....easier charging.....

seeker333

from cpfmp:
"Zeruel,
The first batch of the OP reflector for PLI is not very ideal. Many of them have small lumps in them. So, in the next batch we hope to get rid of those lumps and make the output beam even more smooth."

My PLI has a few little lumps - they are few and very small. I do not believe a new "lumpless" reflector will eliminate the donut. I think a larger diameter head, lens and reflector are needed - like the one on my MTE P7s.

cman

I have the MTE 5mode P7. Works wonderful and fully recomend for anyone. I rode through a 1.66 mile old rail tunnel and it was perfect. A cyclist coming the other direction said " I thought you were the end of the tunnel."

Unknown Cyclist

Hi socalrider,

Many thanks for the handy advice, please feel free to comment on anything you like, as will I.

IF a supplier charges a premium price on the basis of higher quality goods and BETTER QUALITY CONTROL then clearly, it is of interest to all of us how said supplier then performs.

As much as I would like to be able to buy several of each torch on the market and compare them for the benefit of all, I really don't have room to store that many torches.

Suppose I was about to buy this item - do you not think that it's fairer that I should be aware of the quality of the components ?

I was shocked to hear of this serious quality control issue and am as entitled to comment as you are.

I appreciate the honest input of others and you should do so too - even when it doesn't suit you.

Anyway, I'll refrain from telling you what to do, and perhaps you can do the same in return.