Small flashlight with CREE XM-L T6

While browsing various reviews, including flashlight reviews, I realized that I don't have a single flashlight at home. Well, what I do have could only be called a flashlight in the loosest sense. So I decided to order a couple of inexpensive flashlights; this is a review of the first one.
In short, it could have been better.

I often need a small flashlight to illuminate something while I'm working, or, for example, to make it to the elevator when the light bulb in the hallway has burned out.
With that in mind, I picked out a small flashlight, and it even came with a battery. That was a mistake.
Incidentally, when I ordered it, the price was higher: $8.87. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who got caught by it.

But let's start, as always, with what actually arrived.
The usual yellow envelope and bubble wrap.


The flashlight itself came in a cardboard box, also wrapped in a thin layer of bubble wrap.
The end cap with the button wasn't screwed on, and the battery was inserted backwards. When I saw that, I thought, well, that's it, it's fried. I was wrong.


The flashlight itself looks very neat. I have no complaints about this part at all: the finish is good, with no scratches or anything like that. My wife really liked it—it's small and easy to carry in her purse.


There's a button at the back. The flashlight has a single mode, and the button has a glow-in-the-dark insert, though it's very dim.


When I turned it on, I was surprised by how bright it was and that it didn't get hot. I got curious about what was inside, so I took it apart. It's a zoom flashlight; the LED module is screwed to the section that holds the battery. There's some grease inside (and I managed to get it all over myself). The board at the back supposedly has a driver, and is marked CX-410D, but that marking doesn't actually mean anything.
There's no driver in the flashlight. Current from a freshly charged battery is 1.2 A and changes with the voltage: the higher the voltage, the higher the current. With a linear driver, the current wouldn't change; with PWM, it should decrease. I'm thinking of adding at least a current-limiting resistor. Standard driver boards probably won't fit, since the smallest one I've seen is 17 mm in diameter, while the board in this flashlight is 15 mm across.
The board is press-fitted into the housing, and the board's copper itself serves as the contact. When the front section is rotated, the board can turn and rub against it, so the copper could wear through pretty quickly.


Update: There is a driver after all. It's PWM, and the chip has a hole in it.


The LED looks a lot like a CREE, but I can't say for sure—it might actually be a Cree.
There are several O-rings: two on the front aluminum section with the lens (I struggled to unscrew it and eventually had to use pliers) and one at the back.
The metal parts are machined neatly; there's nothing to complain about.
There's a springy metal ring on the LED module. When you slide the front section to adjust the zoom, it helps keep it from sliding on its own. But the front section has quite a bit of play.


A closer shot of the LED.


The flashlight weighs 43 grams without the battery.


With the included battery, it weighs 61 grams.


Not expecting much, I measured the battery capacity while charging it. I set the charging current to 140 mA (about 0.2C for the previous 14500 batteries), stopped charging when it reached 4.2 V and the current had dropped to about 10% of the initially set charging current.
I got 382 mAh. Since the capacity was measured while charging, I think the actual figure is around 320–330 mAh.


And here's a photo of what the flashlight looks like in my hand. I'm right-handed, by the way, but taking a photo with my left hand is awkward.


Summary.

Pros.
It looks quite neat and feels good in the hand.
Fast, careful delivery; no complaints there.
It's very bright for its size. There's more than enough light to see where you're going at night, and with the zoom set to its narrowest beam, it easily lit up a ninth-floor balcony.

Cons.
There's no driver, and therefore no current limiting: 1.2 A at 3.5–3.7 V is about 4 W. That's a lot for such a tiny flashlight. Why they didn't add a basic constant-current regulator is anyone's guess. Update: there was a driver, but it apparently failed in transit because the battery had been inserted backwards.
The battery is absolutely useless: despite being rated at 1200 mAh, it only has 300–320 mAh. Given the lack of a driver and the 1200 mA current draw, that's pretty outrageous.
Considering the first two points, the flashlight will run for about 10–15 minutes at most. If you install a more powerful, higher-quality battery, the LED will most likely overheat and die. So you can't use it with the supplied battery, and you can't install a good one either.
There's play when adjusting the beam width.
The connection cuts out from time to time while adjusting it.

Overall, it's a pretty dismal picture. Despite its pleasant, neat appearance and high brightness, this flashlight is barely usable—if usable at all. I'm disappointed. I should get a Convoy.
This product was provided free of charge for review by the chinabuye store.

I hope my rather incomplete review was at least somewhat useful. At the very least, people will know what not to buy.

One question while we're at it: if anyone knows what chip might be used there, please let me know. I think it might be worth trying to replace it.

A detailed analysis of the board showed that the driver was probably a step-up topology. That means the flashlight was originally designed to run on a regular AA battery. They decided to sell it with a lithium battery, which, as we know, has a higher voltage—and on top of that, managed to reverse its polarity. Repairing this driver only makes sense if you plan to use it with a 1.2 V battery or cell. It won't work with a lithium battery.