Zooming Model List (2018 Updated) Tell us about your newest zoomie!

I bought a Brinyte B158 with an XP-L HI for my son’s upcoming birthday and to tell the truth, I’ve been playing with it all week. (Gotta make sure it’s working, right?)

It’s a fun light, the head makes it much too large for comfortable carry, but for campsite flooding and the critter spotting, it’ll be a worthy light to bring along. AdvancedKnifeBro’s review video clinched it for me.

I have a cheap twist zoom known as a SAIK SA 9 which has a long throw with a 18650 Battery.

It projects the die at maximum focus -
BUT - going slightly BEYOND maximum focus causes the beam to ‘cross over’ itself and become round at a similar size of the Die.

This could be done on purpose if manufacturers chose to do this.

This is a smaller die with high Candela so beam is visible from the side.

Pay attention;
1)At maximum focus the beam edges a foot in front of the light BUT viewed from the side- the beam edges are parallel= projects the die image.

2) At slightly BEYOND focus- the beam edges have a slight crimp where the beam NARROWS in front of the light 2-4 feet THEN becomes nearly Parallel again=
Projects a ROUND Image but still the same throw,
Round Image at 20 feet is slightly larger than die image but same throw and laser like visible beam and 200 to 400 meter throw.

I would like to see this same thing in a Turbo medium die size at 2.0 to 2.5 amps .

With a glass lens and maximum current this might be 700 to 1000 meters of throw .

I am not an optics expert but logically what is happening is the Beam is crossing over and the image is reversed right to left and slightly blurred to round….

> SAIK SA 9

Something by that name is on sale for $6 right now (though can’t be sure it’s the same light you have — it’s a very familiar shape/size I’ve seen under many names)
http://www.lightinthebox.com/Saik-7W-SA-9-CREE-Q5-LED-3-mode-Focus-Flashlight-3XAAA-1X18650_p187600.html

I just bought a few of these lights…

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Ultrafire-5000LM-CREE-XM-L-T6-LED-Flashlight-Torch-Zoomable-Light-18650-Charger-/262515806626?nav=BUYING_BEST_OFFERS

They are not 5000 lumen lol and they are not
XML LED but they are
actually flashlights[ 1 out of 3 ].

They are a push Zoom quite well made and use one of the smaller LED dies.

The battery says Skywolfeye 5000ma another impossibilty but probably better than those blue Ultrafire.

The light itself has good focus about 200 to 300 meters of throw…
guessing about 300 lumens.

Quite well made for ridiculous low price says
HWA WYS
ULTRAFIRE on one side and CREE on other.

Has beam visible from side about diameter of a penny meaning high Candela and does not get hot at all.

Nice flood mode.

*I wonder what would happen with a De-domed
LED on this at about 2 Amps ?

This uses 18650 and is small and bright.
Light is about 1.6 times taller than a 18650.
Headstands and tailstands.

About 3 dollars with a battery and cheapo charger- the ultimate budget light!

*Anyone want to mod a few of these and send me one back - I will send a few extras for you to keep…

These are a great little light as a gift for someone to keep in car or purse etc. and you might like them for EDC very small but powerful…has low high and strobe.

It all depends how much you want to pay for good mod.
Maybe you are not aware but proper modding could exceed price of such light for 5X.
So even few extras is low :slight_smile:

So good luck in finding one. :+1:

> About 3 dollars

Closer to $6.20 or so, since they charge for shipping.
Plus the cost of disposing of the bundled battery and charger (grin)

I’d stay with a ZeusRay for $7, but then, I like the lottery …

Sending a few Units plus 20 dollars seems reasonable…

Depends on where you live, and how much you buy and ship besides the host — drivers and emitters add up.
You should look up how much you’re going to have to pay for those, and figure shipping to and from whoever offers, if anyone does want to do it for you.

But seriously — once you’ve bought the drivers and emitters, you’ll find a soldering iron is all you need to add, and swap them yourself.

I have bought the “WolfEye” cheapies and wouldn’t bother modding them, they feel like they’re made out of tissue paper.
I doubt they can handle any more heat/power than the stock parts dumps into them.

Just opinion, of course. Others will differ.

Agreed “Sky /pic wolf head / eye”/skywolfeye lights are the worse budget / cheap lights I have bought. I have several lights two times, looking the same but when one has skywolfeye on it the quality is worse.

That’s strange. Mine opened up just fine. If I recall the pill might need a strike with a mallet before it unscrews though. Look through the x65 and “nut light” threads

Got a link? I searched and searched when I got mine but could not find anything. I can’t even figure out how the pill is installed so I can’t figure out how to remove it.

Anyone tried this one?
Skywolfeye A2

Cheap, short, side switch and built-in charging (or detonator…hard to say).

Yeah, search for “skywolfeye” here and you’ll find various people’s comments.

Shorter: lightest, thinnest, flimsiest, cheapest ….

Thread Resurrection!

I recently stumbled upon a photo of this newer side switch zooming light (the Wowtac A3S), and thought it was very interesting as there aren’t many good quality side switch zoomies at a decent price.

Looking at this light made me remember this thread I started back in 2016, it appears there’s been a lot of new models introduced since then, so I thought I’d try and resurrect the thread for 2018! I didn’t want to start a new thread so there wouldn’t be two of the same.

It looks like the zooming market segment is alive and well and has shown no signs of slowing down in the past year, I’m excited to see what 2018 brings.

I’ve updated the list in the OP, added 28 models plus a section on UniqueFire, I’ve deleted ones that are no longer available and fixed any dead links to clean it up and bring it current. Hope to hear of some more to add!

Wowtac A3S Zoomable 1000 Lumen - WOWTAC Official Store (Added to list)

There's a number of zoomies in this thread:

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/47276

The one that appealed to me most, and the one that I ordered, is the ThorFire TA13 from AliExpress.

Severe Cold zoomie:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Severe-Cold-Super-Bright-Rechargeable-CREE-XML-L2-LED-Flashlight-Torch-Zoom-Adjustable-Hiking-Searching-LED/32779310700.html

Jerommel’s comments:

I received mine yesterday, haven’t tried outside. The optic ain’t great, in flood there’s a dark hole in the middle of the beam. Otherwise it’s fair enough.

I am interested in ordering a jaxman z1 zoomie light. Any opinion? Which led should i get? Thanks

Hey guys how about this 1. I just picked one up.

I zoom 1600 lumen zoomable. light. Have not had to open it. Any insight. Here’s link

Great work!!
I love my UF-1504. Got it from MTN as a DIY host and theirs is a generic unbranded version. Paired with a FET boost driver, XPL-HI V3 and IMR 26650 its all I need. It ewasily far out-throws the range of my own vision, which admittedly is very poor, even with my coke bottle glasses. For the price I paid, and its overall size I don’t think I can get more peak lux AND open flood when defocused. I want to try the UF-1508, but my understanding is that it doesn’t zoom far out at all, so its only good for one thing.

For the longest time I hated zoomy lights, but the 1504 changed all that. When it is de-focused it has a very wide flood beam… very versatile and useful.