Comparison of my collection

[Corwyn]

I don't know much about flashlights, I don't have too many and I suck at taking pictures, but hey not knowing smurf never stopped me from talking alot so here's a review of my glowy stuff and a nubish comparison.

Here are the contenders:
SkyRay Kung 9500 XML-U2 Gold
UltraFire XML T6 2000 LotusHead
UltraFire Q5 300 Green - Sipik clone
Lighinthebox branded 1-Mode 9xXP-G2
Smiling Shark SS-5039 3W
Maglite Solitaire
Led Lenser K2L
Victorinox MidniteRogue(TM) ok, ok it's the light of a Silvertech Signature Lite


Note: I put in only one power level per light as for some reason they appeared very similar on my camera. The SkyRay and the LotusHead have 5 lightmodes each. The Ultrafires and the Maglite are zoomies so put in both extreme photos.

SkyRay Kung 9500 XML-U2 Gold
Rated: 9500 LM
Price: 40$ off eBay
Battery: 4x18650
Conclusion: no surprise that it's the performer of the bunch. This monster is more a floodlight than an actual flashlight so it doesn't show that well in the photo, buit trust me, it feels like daylight. Apart from its chunkyness and rattly button it's a solid buy.



UltraFire XML T6 2000 LotusHead
Rated: 2000 LM
Price: 11$ from SPAMCORP
Battery: 1x18650 or 3xAAA
Conclusion: My favourite pick of the bunch. Very strong, well made and easy to carry. Also it's got 5 modes and a nice zoomie. What's not to like?
Well QC is iffy.. I bought 2 and one was rattly. Also the Chinese geniuses decided to make the zoomie bit ridged as "self defense" - just what the TSA was waiting for... so be careful when taking this in an airport as it might get confiscated.

On wide it's just amazing.


On narrow the light has artifacts... still travels a whole lot...


UltraFire Q5 300 Green - Sipik clone
Rated: 300 LM
Price: 7$ from SPAMCORP
Battery: 1x14500 or 1xAA (used AA for this test)
Conclusion: Got some of these as gifts as they were cheap and nice (I got mine on offer at about 4$) and decided to keep this one. The look great and work great. The finish is a bit lacking. Button is tricky to push one-handed and the light is a tad yellowish, but still very very good light for a 1xAA.

On wide it floods nicely. It is just a bit too pale and yellowish to my liking.

On narrow it's nice and crisp. Switches modes really fast too


Lighinthebox branded 1-Mode 9xXP-G2
Rated: 120 LM
Price: 3$ from lightinthebox (I got mine for 1 Euro from a local guy)
Battery: 3xAAA
Conclusion: Despite not being CREE and having 9 traditional leds this performed quite well. Floods well and gives a nice colour, even if a tad faint. The problem is the cheapness is felt all over: it creaks, is unevenly cut, the rubber feels ultracheap, it makes a cheap sound, the lanyard is atrocious. Also it feels too bulky and heavy for its results. bigger and heavier than the small Ultrafire and giving a tenth of the bigger UFs light with the same 3 AAAs



Smiling Shark SS-5039 3W
Rated: 50 LM (I couldn't find data anywhere, my Luxmeter said 50 lumen, but it outshines most of its competitors)
Price: 3$ from SPAMCORP
Battery: 1xAAA
Conclusion: I got it as funsies. I was unhappy with the Maglite (more on that below) and bought the cheapest 1xAAA I could find. Great surprise. Very bright, good workmanship, nice light colours, great grippy surface, nice clip. A very very nice flashlight with very nice looks.. ow and the rubber feels great



Maglite Solitaire
Rated: 2 LM
Price: 7$ off eBay (got mine from a fleamarket for about the same)
Battery: 1xAAA
Conclusion: Well.. it's the oldie of the bunch and it uses incandescent bulbs.. and it shows. Messy light, very yellow, very spread out, and very weak. I know you all love it, but it's definately a passee product. On the plus side, the quality is just flawless.

Wide beam - dirty and messy


Narrow beam - a tad better but ow so yellow


Led Lenser K2L
Rated: 25 LM ("Western lumens" this time, not Chinese ones)
Price: 14$ off eBay (got mine locally for about 9 Euros from a fishing store)
Battery: 4xAG13
Conclusion: My first proper flashlight and still my edc. Flawless quality, small and bright, easy to use and carry, aircraft-grade materials and the lightring is just awesome. The only drawback are the AG13 batteries which are quite hard to find. Also unless the batteries are at 100%, any AAA willl outshine it fast.



Victorinox MidniteRogue(TM) ok, ok it's the light of a Silvertech Signature Lite
Rated: I've heard people calling it 5 LM. My Luxmeter said 10 LM so I'll go with that
Price: PRICELESS (well a SigLite is 35$ on eBay, but you also get a knife and stuff, as you might know  )
Battery: 1xCR1025
Conclusion: Well, it's bright and useful. Clean, crisp and gives a nice, white-ish colour. Biggest advantage is you will always have it handy (I'm using it more than all the rest combined). Biggest drawback is the battery which is quite hard to find, rather expensive and can be tricky to change.
And its biggest quality is being brighter than the Maglite 



And just for funsies, here's how a UV light looks with the same camera settings:

[NKlamerus]

Great writeup!

I really wish there was a Mini-Mag Pro in that line up!

The solitare is a disgrace compared to the rest...

[dks]

You need more lights
The sky ray king is one of those lights I always forget to buy..
The sipik clone is better known as the sipik68 clone as there are other sipik models too e.g. the 26 I think.
Taking pictures with a camera is tricky. The camera will always try to get the overall  brightness and colour balance the same for every picture by adjusting iso, speed, aperture, white balance and many other software parameters making it hard to compare lights in two different pictures.
There are two simple ways to get comparative results.
One is to go on full manual settings, if your camera allows that (with most non SLRs even manual is not 100% full manual e.g. the white balance or/and iso may still change) so that you photograph each light with the same setting - write it down so that you remember it next time.
The second method is to photograph the lights you want to compare together so the camera settings will affect them equally and enable you to make a comparison - you can also take a picture with a reference light, a standard if you want to call it that.

[Corwyn]

Thanks for the points. I actually used manual focus and chosen the setting so it would show something intelligible (I got full black or full white on most other settings).
Thing is I made a mistake, but made it consistently so the results can be more or less comparable. 
Used same camera, same settings, fixed on a tripod with 10 second delay, put all flashlights in the same spot. Also took all photos in same level of light in a 30 minutes interval.

Taking all in one picture was my original idea, but.. I didn't have enough room and... the Skyray just drowns out any other light. It even drowns out my ceiling lightbulb.