Folomov seems to like using the Nichia E21A emitter, which puts them in a kind of special category. I like this emitter (for certain uses anyway – it’s very warm). If you like very warm emitters, read on! The Folomov C2 is a tiny light, almost like a shrunken Olight S1 Mini, with a 14300 liion cell. It’s a nice little package; read on for more testing and thoughts!

Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the official product page.

Versions

Just one version!

Price

I’m not sure where all this is available but I got mine from Going Gear, and you can too. It’s $34.95 there. (That’s a referral link! Please click it! It’s fun to click!)

Short Review

This has become a go-to bedtime light for me. Often when going to bed I’ll hold a my walking around light in my mouth, and this one being so small and light is absolutely perfect for that. It’s…. probably not the best idea or practice but it’s what I do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

For this purpose, I love a very warm emitter, and again, the EDC C2 is perfect for that reason. I don’t love that the cell is practically unheard of, so if you ever need a replacement, it’ll probably be hard to find.

Long Review

The Big Table

* Measurement disclaimer: I am an amateur flashlight reviewer. I don’t have $10,000 or even $1,000 worth of testing equipment. I test output and such in PVC tubes!! Please consider claims within 10% of what I measure to be perfectly reasonable (accurate, even).

What’s Included

Folomov EDC C2 Flashlight

Folomov 14300 Liion cell with built-in charging

Spare o-rings (3)

Charge cable (USB to micro-USB)

Manual

Package and Manual

The EDC C2 ships in a metal tin, which has been customized. Inside is soft foam.

The manual is comprehensive.

Build Quality and Disassembly

Build quality is good. No complaints.

Is that a teardrop I see there on the head? It’s a nice adornment. The bezel is just proud of the head (on not in), and so if you needed to you could probably remove the bezel. I didn’t need to.

The tailcap has a spring which holds in the magnet.

The threads on the tailcap end of the body are square cut, anodized, and decently lubed. They’re quite long though, maybe 4 rotations to unscrew the tailcap. The pocket clip gets in the way just a little.

The head end has only a button, which is pretty fine since the cell you’ll use is the one that ships with the light, and probably no other cell, ever. As such, fitment is perfect and there’s no bounce within the cell tube.

Size and Comps

Officially 18.5mm in diameter, and 54.4mm long. With cell, the light weighs 30g.

All the product photos of this light really just don’t give a clear picture of how tiny it is. It’s a truly tiny “real light” – not a keychain light (though it’s small enough to be used that way.)

Retention and Carry

There’s a friction fit pocket clip which is very reminiscent of many Lumintop clips. Those two circles and the big slit down the middle… These openings can be used for connecting a lanyard, too – the pocket clip is very secure.

I wish the clip was just a shade shorter (maybe 4mm), so that unscrewing the tailcap was more fluid. This wouldn’t affect how the clip works, either. Otherwise I’m very satisfied with the clip. It’s not stiff, and the mouth allows fairly easy placement on material.

The orientation of the pocket clip does mean that the light can be used on the brim of a hat very effectively. I’m not sure the clip’s shoulder is broad enough to fit over a cap, but the body of the clip is long enough that it’ll still work fine.

There’s also a magnet in the tailcap, which is very much strong enough to hold the light. I believe it’s removable, after removing the spring in the tailcap.

Power and Runtime

As stated above, the EDC C2 runs off lithium ion power. In this case it’s a custom (or “rare” – I’m not certain it’s a Folomov custom item) 14300 liion cell, which also has built in charging.

Bigger cells won’t fit.

The included cell is a button top.

The EDC C2 is rated at 400 lumens, and it does hit that at startup, but for FL1 measurements, I’m seeing only around 189 lumens. The light does have LVP.

Output claim for High is right on target, though. The output tracks downward with the cell voltage, and then ultimately shuts off with a cell voltage around 3V. The claim of “0.5h” is approximately true as is the case with most runtime claims.

The cell has on-board charging, by means of a micro-USB port on the positive end.

Folomov provides a cable, in case you don’t already have a million lying around somewhere.

Charging goes about as fast as you’d want it to – over 1C, and the on-cell claim of 250mAh is met quite readily. Charging is also very consistent, which is a good trait.

Modes and Currents

Mode Mode Claimed Output (lm) Claimed Runtime Measured Lumens Tailcap Amps Turbo 400 0.4h 189 3.16 High 160 0.5h 165 0.75 Medium 50 1.5h 0.28 Low 10 5h 0.07 Moon mode 0.5 20h 0.03

PWM

On the scope, I see PWM on every mode. Yes every mode, even Turbo. This is probably a good thing, and a thing I think Folomov learned with the early EDC C1 lights – uncontrolled Turbo output on the Nichia E21A is the best way to burn out a bunch of emitters.

The PWM isn’t bad – I don’t notice it by eye. Note the timescale below, which is 50us. That’s very fast.

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor. And here’s the worst PWM light I have ever owned. Also one of the very first lights I ordered directly from China!

User Interface and Operation

There’s a single indicating e-switch on the side of the head of the EDC C2. It’s gray (really translucent) and small (remember how small this light is overall), and quite clicky. The switch is proudish, and easy to find.

And yes, in case you’ve made it this far and are still wondering: The EDC C2 is a different-cell, side switch version of the EDC C1 v3. Same UI, same basically everything (even same PWM fingerprint).

The switch also stays lit at all times, when the light is on. It’s always indicating the (approximate) cell voltage.

There are two UI’s. Illumination mode (default), and Tactical mode. To switch between them, from off click 7x. The light will flash 6x to confirm the change.

Here’s a UI table for “Illumination Mode”!

State Action Result Off Click On (Mode Memory) Off Hold 0.5s Moon Moon Click Mode Memory On Click Mode Advance (LMH) Any Click 2x Turbo Turbo Click 2x Special Mode Advance (Turbo>Strobe>SOS>Beacon*) On Hold 0.5s Off Off Click 3x Lockout (Three flashes to confirm) Lockout Click 3x Unlock (One flash to confirm) On Click 3x 1 minute countdown timer (One flash to confirm)^

* This isn’t a typical beacon – it fades in and out approximately every 5 seconds.

^ Countdown starts at 1m but minutes can be added. After the timer, click three more times to add one minute. The light will flash twice to indicate the timer is now 2 minutes. You can add up to 10 minutes total. The manual seems to be incorrect on this matter, but the above works on my copy. The timer seems to activate a lowish mode, not really corresponding to Low. But it’ll time in Moon as well – so really two modes are available in timer mode.

Here’s a UI table for “Tactical Mode”!

State Action Result Off Hold Momentary Turbo Off Click Turbo Off Click 2x Strobe On Click Off

L ED and Beam

The emitter of choice in the EDC C2 is a Nichia E21a, in 3000K temperature, with CRI of ≥98.

There’s a reflector too. The beam is one of my favorites, too. There’s a hotspot, with much less spill (than on the EDC C1 v3 for example). This spot beam is great for walking around the house at night.

Low is quite low – maybe a little higher than 0.5 lumens, but still low.

These beamshots are always with the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.

Tint vs BLF-348 (Killzone 219b version)

Test light left, Killzone 219b right.

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348, because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

Very warm emitter, great for night use to not disturb people around the house

Full package kit includes everything you’ll need to get going

Spot beam is a great beam profile

CRI of greater than 98 is astounding

Size – this thing is just tiny

What I don’t like

Turbo rated at 400 lumens is a bit misleading

14300 cell is quite unusual and will be hard to replace

14300 with only 250mAh is going to provide very limited runtimes

Notes

This light was provided by Going Gear for review. I was not paid to write this review.

This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!

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