OK OK Stealth is the name I have given it.
here is the official page: http://www.tmart.com/U-KING-ZQ-X916-XM-L2-1000LM-5-Modes-Waterproof-High-Brightness-Flashlight-Black_p350845.html
Saw a review of a light like this on BLF (branded Ultrafire) and could not help but think about stealth things. The curves, triangles and general smoothness.
Some people look at me not understanding what I mean, others see it.
Anyway, when tmart asked me if I could do a review on it last September I gladly accepted for I was eyeballing the Ultrafire but am not a big fan of Ultrafire branding.
This cute little (fire)fox logo looks a lot better.
Great joy when it came and was an early production sample without any logo!
Thanks Ray, for the review sample, the patience and for the code to bring the price a bit down for BLF! CODE IS King6
The U`KING ZQ-X916 comes in a U`KING box with a lanyard.
When I took it out the very smooth nice feel appealed greatly to me.
There is no knurling but the size and edges of the tailcap make it not slip out of my hands. The cigar grip is my favorite way of holding it.
It fits my fattest and longest 18650 cells without a problem
Tail, switch peeks out no tailstanding stock
So OK after using it for a while stock i really loved the feel and how it handles, lack of tail standing, cold white tint not so much.
So what could we do to improve it?
Check what kind of parts would fit:
Aha those are some standard sizes and the easy to remove pill makes working on it not that hard.
But wait, first some beamshots stock:
House 100m high fogbank passed
So all in all stock not a bad light, preferences in look and feel make it a really nice light for me.
Now I had Kronos X5 that I baked.
“Olive drab” was the color named and well beside the small 14500 giving me too short runtimes for my liking this color was not ideal IMHO.
So I decided to use the good parts of that little light.
And well see what baking the U-King would do.
After taking it apart and putting it on the flames I realised this was a mistake.
It took very long to change colors, just as the X5 had behaved. but it was starting to change so no way back.
I removed the biggest head section from the flames when it just had start changing and was red, thinking two tone could be a nice result.
And indeed, no shiny coppery/platinum colors, the rest became olive drab.
Hmm, but putting the two colors next to each other I kind of liked it.
Scuffs and marks from months of use, flashlights seem to not like being carried in a pocket with keys and all sorts of EDC tools
An extra washer and the switch is not deeper so tail standing is now possible.
Again dings and nicks from extensive use.
The cold white XML2 replaced by the 3A XPL Hi
That LED is happy
Applied thermal grease on the screws of the pill, it warms up pretty fast (faster then a Kronos X6 or Bistro/XPLhi fitted C8) so cooling is good,
This light is a little less of a giggle maker as the X5 was. But the much longer runtimes, nice feel, interesting two tone coloration make it one I really like and people seeing several lights next to each other tend to grab this first.
And now a question.
I would like to remove the anodisation entirely
I have read about heavy chemicals.
We have septic tanks so flushing down stuff like that is not an option.
However I can bring it to chemical waste if needed.
Would removing the ano ose the risk of it losing its smooth feeling?