[MK96]

One member from the forum here PMed me about this light so I decided to push the trigger and the light should be on the way A review will come after I get it.

 

[MK96]

... the light came today including a visit to the customs - better said I went to pick it up just a quick measurements @7.4V on a 600W switching supply before I write a longer review:

HI - 4.22A
MED - 1.48A
LO - 0.22A

If I remember these values. More or less it is one of those not underpowered lights with a smaller driver than the 7-up reviewed by me.

 

[MK96]

Now I arranged my time to write a "full" review of this light I got from Lightscastle. It is quite easy to compare it with the noname 7-up I have.

It came in a nice colorfull sturdy package - seems to be a genuine trustfire, none of my lights came like that. Maybe because of I buy the head only. Package contained 3 o-rings, head, 6 cell battery, 1A 8.4V usual "charger"a short manual with some tech data included, warranty card and a QC card wit a date - April 11th 2014 - as hot as it can be

I would say the light is water resistant (IPX4) but can also be made waterproof with some silicone at the seals.
The head can absorb and dissipate heat better than my 7-up. The downside is the weight ~358grams - additional ~80g more! But if someone doesn't mind the weight the light puts out a decent light and can run cooler even in lower speeds. On high mode it takes 4.22A @ 7.4V - I need to measure the 7-up at that voltage to see if there is any difference. The mount is a classic plastic used by many of lights out there. It can be removed and light can be used in a tripod as a camping light where it will perform better than the 7-up due to its body mass. Anyway the head quality is one of the best among Chinese lights and also the build of other components is quite fine. Grey body consists of 3 pieces screwed/pressed together. The driver is easily accessible from the back and is quite small comparing it with the 7-up - one mosfet instead of five a beefy inductor coil and two caps are the main components. And a funny 6 colorfull leds at the back of the light where the mode button resides. A bit useless for me but it is there. LEDs are an XM-L2 but come sort of cool white (light yellow led die). Wire gauge to the leds is also decent. Soldering pretty good too. The leds on the head can be pushed far more but that would need a driver change (some 100W from pcb-components.de or similar). Reflector is a smooth one with a rose pattern and is screwed from the back of the light with 2 screws. There is some thermal glue between the leds and head body.

The UI starts from HIGH-MED-LOW-OFF with hidden strobe - thumbs up for that hidden mode! Stepless will be a nice feature and prolly can be done but most of the crucial components are sanded off any identification. We have some rain now so no beamshots yet but the pattern is similar to the 7-up. I'll update that also.

The battery pack is a 6 cell thing quite heavy in rugged silicone cover and in a carry bag with straps - the whole package the light came in is about 1100grams! It came precharged to 7.7V I didn't test the pack just opened it and saw some 1800mAh cells in 2p3s (5400mAh) - near to advertised 6000mAh. If that is true - and it seems to be it is a nice pack seeing some 700mAh cells around We'll figure that out with my hobby charger. The manual states the light can operate 2.5hrs on high but I doubt. Then it should be some 10000mAh pack. I would expect about 1.25hrs runtime on high but that is a decent time with 32Watts on leds.The only issue is the heatshrink wrapping the cells is cracked on some spots. Connectors on head and pack seem to fil very well together. The pack has also a protection circuit so it should kick in if something goes wrong.

Overall it is a decent light very similar to my 7-up. If someone is looking for an all-in-one package and as long as someone doesn't mind the weight of the whole set. 7-up is more a compact light than this D014 - 2 cm shorter and also little thinner at the back.

I'll update the comparison with the 7-up - draw, reflector, beamshots and test the battery pack. If I am right this light is a dedicated bar light - a monster flood & spill exactly as the 7-up - just need to check the reflectors. On MED & HIGH no need of any helmet light Guys let me know if I didn't mention something important that you like to read about it and I will update it here. For now some couple of shots I made inside playing with the light:

 

[zekia]

Thanks the review. It is excellent and useful.

You said that you'll compare it with your original 7x LED light and you'll make bemshots. But... Because your original light is advertised as it has only XM-L leds (2 lights of your 3 orders have XM-L, only 1 have XM-L2, and there is not any reliable source of the XM-L2 version (link to the comments)), the beamshots should be taken of the XM-L version of your original 7 LED light. (Or compare both the original 7 XM-L and XM-L2 version with this TR-D014 light.)
Anyway, I'm waiting for the beamshots.

 

[MK96]

Hmm since I ride 7-up twins (L2 & L though) the difference between them is barely noticeable for me. I notice somehow that L2 is more like neutral white if it is the only light that is on, using both L & L2 there is nearly no difference. I'll take TF D014 and take some shots of all three when it stops raining. The whole week rainy weather :madmax::incazzato::yikes:

Anyway today I played with the 7-ups and noticed that D014's reflector has smaller diameter. The depth seems to be equal by eye so D014 beam will be narrower. How much we'll see from beamshots. I found current draw of the 7-up from my li-po @7.53V written on the paper:
HIGH: 4.66A
MID: 1.72A
LOW: 0.28A
To get better comparison I have to hook it on the same power supply @7.4V but they seem to have the same mode spacing.

Might be worth push the full amps to the D014 and get 0-100% modes with driver, dimmer and variable resistor. The D014 is easily moddable and has a lot of mass to dissipate the heat. But that would require some 6S li-po battery, power cable swap, senser driver and some of those dimmers:
https://pcb-components.de/index.php...category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=64

https://pcb-components.de/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=8&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=64

The comparison shots with some wall beamshots @LOW - don't know if they have sense:

 

[MK96]

And as I am talking about modding this light if you do it the hotspot remains the same size. Dual setup makes it logically wider. That is why I am using twins.

 

[-Archie-]

MK96, thanks for review! Seems like decent light. I wonder how so many indicator LEDs are arranged: is it some kind of "voltage gauge"? Also, I've never seen tripod mounting among bike lights. As I understand, the case has 1/4" thread directly compatible with tripod screw?

 

[MK96]

Yes, it is a 1/4" thread, just need to unscrew the plastic mount:





Meanwhile I've added a balance connector to the pack and it took a charge of 2700mAh to jump from 3.85V/cell to 4.2V/cell. I assume the capacity is somewhere between 5400-6000mAh:

 

[MK96]

Thanks -Archie-! No the 6 LEDs aren't a gauge, they are just in an on/off cycle - quite useless:



I could imagine a voltmeter showing the total voltage of the pack on such big lights. Would be the most precise info you can get

MK96, thanks for review! Seems like decent light. I wonder how so many indicator LEDs are arranged: is it some kind of "voltage gauge"?

 

[MK96]

Initial discharge to 3V/2A showed 4791 mAh. I would say it is close to 5400 mAh pack, just need a couple of cycles.

 

[MK96]

Second discharge and batt gave ~5100mAh, nice I would say.

... and the beamshots ordered lo-med-hi - just think they are not the best one MTBR settings (ISO 200, F4.0, 1.6s, daylight) and a friend's Canon EOS 550 DSLR but a bad place to take shots IMHO. Anyway better than nothing. Road is down the hill but just a little.

power 7 XM-L T6:




power 7 XM-L2 T6:



TF TR-D014:



and reference w/o bike lights

 

[zekia]

It's good that you've made some beamshots. But unfortunately these beamshots are not useful. The only thing I can see is that they all have similar brightness and one of them have a slightly different tint (nothing more can be seen). So I still have some questions.

1. Does the TR-D014 have hotspot?
2. Which light has better flood?
3. Which light has balanced and smooth transition from flood to hotspot?
4. Which light is the brightest overall?
5. How far do they throw the beam?

Questions that are not related to beamshots:

6. Which light lasts/would last longer (with the same battery capacity)?
7. Which light stays cooler and has more runtime at full brightness when you're not moving?

You should make some beamshots from the same area (and same camera) where you did it for the original 7 LED light.
For example: http://forums.mtbr.com/lights-night...ont-bicycle-light-lm-884687.html#post10906038

 

[MK96]

Hi zekia!
Yes, exactly, I will go to that place and compare it there, I was thinking about this as I saw the result beamshots. That one with a different (warmer) tint is power 7 with xm-l2.

To the questions:

1. TR D014 hotspot is wider from the wall shots and I confirm this theory by the next set from the same place I was for the first time
2. power 7 has more flood (from the beamshots)
3. Show us next beamshot set, but I think TR D014 is the answer
4. Overall is power 7 little brighter, but you didn't really notice it (from ths beamshots), TR D014 has very low intensity low setting
5. How far they throw - hmm cannot say exactly, but very far - maybe around 100 meters far on high
6. TR D014 lasts longer because it eats less on every mode
7. definitely TR D014 stays cooler, power 7 heats up quite quickly on high

 

[zekia]

Thanks the answers.

I've edited my post and added numbers to my questions. Now the numbers are confusing. The answer for the first question is missing.

 

[MK96]

Didn't notice it so mine is edited too now

 

[zekia]

What mount do you have on your left light in this photo? (It doesn't look like a general O-ring mount.)

IMG_20140517_204223_zps0d23bf6d.jpg Photo by kuzmami | Photobucket

 

[MK96]

That is the Cateye H-24 mount, works flawlessly Didn't manage to take shots at the same place because I'm finishing my dissertation in two weeks so I'll take them after I submit the work.

 

[supersaian]

My dear. so how long actually the light run in high emitting mode?

 

[MK96]

Didn't measure, but 4.6A and ~5100mAh battery would give something about one hour on HIGH.

 

[supersaian]

Didn't measure, but 4.6A and ~5100mAh battery would give something about one hour on HIGH.

It means the Manufacturer is not telling the truth to their customer. It stated in their web site that this light could be run at High Emitting Mode for at least 2.5 hours.
:madmax::nono: