GB Clone Offically "SOLD OUT" 10/21/18 XPL HI 1300LM Focusing AKA Cometa 2016

My cometa got marked as shipped today.

Paid 9/24, marked as shipped 9/25, then within a few hours reverted to back order, shipped 10/10

Hopefully it actually ships.

TheOnlyDocc nearly quoted my reaction word for word when I got the first couple GB lights, you have definitely gotten one of the worst.

Nice to hear that i am the lucky one :sunglasses:
I shorten the silikone nob inside the rubber boot. Grinded all edges i can find smooth (all brass edges are sharp enough to cut isolation or your skin), reflowed the led, changed ledwires to 20AWG, and put some silikone grease on the thread (the scratched one that holds the lens). Reassambled the light and now its working fine.
Tomorrow i will try to make some beamshots of the Cometa and the 1504 side by side. Both with fet driver and XPL Hi led.
Seeing both lights on the shelf got me thinking about the SBT-70. 12Amps generate a lot of heat. And the 1504 is a lot bigger. Also the much bigger lens would give me possibly a tighter beam.
If the SBT-70 goes into the 1504 the Cometa will get a Seoul Viosys Z5
Taking care of the XPL Hi (and also reflowed 219Cs on 10mm sinkpads for another mod).

Finally! A solid zoomie!

On mine, the MCPCB retaining disc is made of a plastic, not Al (?).

A plastic mcpcb retainer disc…?

Or are you referring to this plastic piece in this picture.
Could you post a pic. Please ?

No, not that one. It's on the front of the light, over the LED.

No kidding, that is a first for sure, and definitely safer from how they soldered the leads,
Thanks, that is really odd and really it’s a first that I’ve heard of, I wonder when and how or why they ever went to all that effort on these Cometa’s
Thanks

Could you take a pic for us?

I had already put kapton tape over the leads and then plinked it on the desk for that Al ding but no... Plastic! My only concern is that it melts... almost prefer the Al since I know to insulate the leads.

Sorry. I have problems posting picks with imgur. It looks just like the Al one, black. But I gotta snooze! I'll see if I can do it tomorrow.

Mine is plastic tto.
I was wondering why anyone would feel the need to put kapton on the solders, then saw that the original one was in anodized Al…
Wise choice, both for safety and cost.

So i guess they did fix it then, Well that’s good to know i probably got older stock.

I got an aluminium retaining disc.
LED and wires are soldered nicely too.

I'll trade you disks!

Yes, the soldering is good!

Sorry, i will keep the alu disc. It’s a nicely made part. (the brass pill is nice too btw)
I will put a thin plastic washer around the LED though, because it looks as if it is not really pushing down the LED PCB on the pill.

I was wondering the same that the alu disc might not have press on MCPCB firm enough.
Are you sure it is not pressing on MCPCB enough? Hope you can share your investigation here.

Okay, i just had a good look, and i see it does press down on the MCPCB.
Sorry, i guess i hadn’t looked well enough earlier.

People, it is a completely sh(it) torch, in almost every way possible.

You may think that you are getting a bargain, that just needs a little bit of fixing up, but really you are not.

Waste your time if you must. You still could have the real deal instead.

I sympathise with Banggood, they got lumbered with a huge pile of these useless dangerous things, because nobody there (Neal, CPF It, or whoever) had their eye on the ball. Or just on venality.

The unsold stock all got sent back to Manker for re-work, but that was also incompetent.

At the end of the day, Manker made them, it is almost laughable how badly they did it. They tried to rip-off the Jaxman Z1 but utterly failed in every important area. They even scammed Jaxman into providing a hundred or so of their excellent aspheric lenses, for the first bunch. Quite what is fitted now is a mystery to me.

No wonder Jaxman was fizzing. I could tell you about the treachery, lying, deceit, and the cowardice of senior CPF It. personnel, but you probably wouldn’t believe it, it was so bad.

Anyway, snap these up if you must, there are plenty left in the UK warehouse (that is also the EU warehouse.)

Then feel a bit dirty about what you have just done.

Oh, and that stupid 2016 logo is making look aged very fast. Which it is.

Banggood, clean out the decks (I think you already are). Then put this behind you. Better still, just find a recycler who will take them away for scrap.

Well, of course you can put it this way. Still, I assume this flashlight can be a bargain for those who know what they are dealing with. The only worries I currently have are that I may be overlooking something I should take care of when disassembling the Cometa and doin' some kind of "check and rectify".

So far, I noted following potential hazardous areas that might cause shorts:

  • solder joints on LED aluminum board (potential for bad solder jobs)
  • sharp edges on the pill that might damage the insulation of wires
  • insulation disc on the rear side of the pill is crucial as the outer rim of the pill might cause shorts when in contact with the positive pole of the battery

Should there be anything else to be taken care of, I'll be glad to hear about it.

Grumpy day again, TT?

The Cometa group buy is long past, there’s old stock left that BG want to get rid of, and they found the right price to find enthousiasts for them (I think it is a good deal for what it is too btw). You can revive all the old pain and frustration, but AFAIC that is coupled to what happened back in the days and not to the current clearing of some old stock.