1000 Lumen Versus 230 Lumen Tactical Flashlight

This is a comparison of an UltraFire WF-502B 1000 lumen and a Vizeri VZ230 230 lumen tactical flashlight. For the comparison, we are using identical 18650, 3600 mA lithium-ion batteries that were charged in the very same charger. The UltraFire has a CREE XM-L T6 led chip and the Vizeri a CREE XR-E Q5 LED. These flashlights have an identical user interface. They both have the very same 5 modes that are changed via the on/off button, and a memory feature to store the last mode. The UltraFire does not have the capability to alter its focus, whereas the Vizeri has a zoom focus. We took temperature level measurements at the start then at numerous points along the test. Their cool starting temperature level was about 81 degrees Fahrenheit. With both lights switched on and running for 14 minutes, the temperature level on the UltraFire rose to 154 degrees, which is far too hot to hold. The Vizeri light was at 104 degrees, which would feel warm to your hand. At 19 to Thirty Minutes the UltraFire reached its highest temperature level of 158 degrees, and the Vizeri reached 112 degrees. Another test at 27 minutes showed the Ultrafire was beginning to drop a little, while the Vizeri reached its highest temperature level of 112. At an hour and 17 minutes the UltraFire is nothing but a faint glow. It began to get dim around 1 hours and 5 minutes, but we ran out of storage on the camera. So we decided to charge the batteries overnight and run the test once more. On the second run, somewhere in the very first 20 minutes the UltraFire totally died. It obviously hit its 158 degrees external temperature level and fried something inside. Upon taking it apart we discovered that it melted the wires inside to the integrated circuit that controls the functions. Quality 1000 lumen lights, which cost around $160, have a "step down" feature to safeguard them from heat buildup. So after an initial burst of 1000 lumens, it steps downs to safeguard the flashlight from heat buildup. So it goes from 1000 lumens, and within 3 minutes, it drops to around 700 lumens, then down to 500 lumens within 30 minutes. Without this protection a light will certainly melt like this one did. The Vizeri light lasted for 3 hours prior to it becoming too dim to be useful. One other problem with the UltraFire is that one of its rubber o-rings broke the second time we changed the battery. You can see that the o-rings are thinner than the o-rings on the Vizeri light. Plus Vizeri provides a couple of spares. The beam on the UltraFire is concentrated in the middle with a big spill area around it. There is no change to the beam. When the Vizeri light is zoomed out, there is just a small brightness in the center of the beam. When the Vizeri light is zoomed all the way in, the focused beam is in fact brighter than the UltraFire, but there is no spill area around the beam. Outdoors you can see the UltraFire has a bigger coverage area, but the Vizeri has a brighter center area. In the outdoors,