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

That is a really nice clean mod, Great job, :+1:

Berrylium copper spring? Looks great!

Wellp, my order without cells was ordered on the 24th, and is just being processed through Xiaoumen or somewhere.

My order with cells from the 25th is still “back-ordered”, expected shipping date 10-04.

Yah, right. Stiiiiill waiting…

Anyone know where to p&m about that without having anyone just cancel the order?

I was hearing in my head the phrase "patience is a virtue" with an Asian accent (?) after reading your post. LoL!

For my order, somewhere, a check mark in the 'signature required' field was filled in. Argh!

First I would like to thank T18 for posting this deal :+1:

I bought the light with the Vap battery,
it was delivered in a bit less then 3 weeks

my light was also dropping out of turbo to moon after 10 seconds or less

but after reading I found that it was the temp setting
I turned the temp / heat setting off and it is working fine now

I also opened the light and the solder looked fine
but I insulated the blobs anyways as a precaution

I like the light so much that I went back tonight to buy another
but the price is now 47.99 :person_facepalming:
hope they lower it again,
I would definitely pick up another

Iwon’ttellyourwife, your quit welcome, I sure didn’t expect this thread to become as long as it became.
I to saw how BG raised the price of some 20 more units and they are claiming it’s for sale at 50% off the original price of $95 something,
This light has never sold for that much, imagine what light you would buy for $95, not the Cometa I hope… ha ha
The most they have ever tried to sell this light for was $65 and that was way to much for this clone, and $40+ is ridiculous as well.
All of us BLFers probably saved some poor soul from buying a potentially very dangerous surprise at $15.99,
I do think we all got one over on BG this time, especially if you got the free cells,

Amen!

Yesterday afternoon they had 148 of the 3Bs, priced at £20.90, in the UK warehouse

But mysteriously this morning (early) they only have twenty, at the bargain price of £37.14 (a massive reduction from the proper price of £72.79. :open_mouth:

Be quick, buy buy buy, only 20 left, unrepeatable offer …

Do they take us for monkeys ? Sadly some gullible idiot might just take them up on their offer.

If they had any ethics or moral compass, or sense of shame, they would either scrap them, or unscrew the driver, cut the LED wires, and sell them as a “DIY host, includes free LED and BLF driver, no warranty, only experienced people need apply”

Because that is all that they are.

And will never be as good as the real thing, even after hours of “fixing-up” with your own un costed time and materials. And every time you look at it, you will know that it isn’t the best, was shamelessly ripped-off from the original designer, and perhaps you should have saved the money and put it towards something much better. And not been knowingly complicit in further continuing fraudulent and deceptive practices.

Edit: and cheap.

Meanwhile you can buy the real deal from Jaxman, for under $60, or about £45.

Who would be so stupid as to take up Banggoods’s offer now ?

I dare say they’ll be back on a better offer soon enough, I think they still have a big stockpile to shift.

Failure should be it’s own reward, not further rewarded. And I disapprove of rewarding failure by continuing to buy this dirty thing, no matter how appealing the price might be.

Cometa: the gift that keeps on giving…

Edit: here is a little word-cloud that might attract the search engines, because all mention of the “C” word seems to have vanished from BG:

XPL HI 1300Lumens 8Modes Dimming Brightness Long Rang Long Shots LED Flashlight 18650/26650

Thanks for confirming the issue to be firmware related. I disable the temperature thingy since I got the light.
This light is really nice. But I really hope it has a mode that is two levels of 50% and 100%. Its mode options below are really not suitable for me. Now I am using mode 1 which is 1300lm, it gets hot when battery is freshly charged, else it is fine to just let it on Turbo all the time.

1 — 1300 lm
2 — 5, 1300
3 — 5, 293, 1300
4 — 5, 135, 543, 1300
5 — 5, 79, 293, 688, 1300
6 — 5, 54, 178, 419, 813, 1300
7 — 5, 47, 135, 293, 543, 858, 1300
8 — 5, 35, 99, 213, 365, 613, 953, 1300

I ordered two Cometas with free 26650 and 18650s. I have already received the free 18650s.

Yesterday I received an email from Banggood informing me that the Chinese warehouse was out of stock and that the product had been discontinued, but that I could have the torches posted from the UK warehouse without the 26650 cells.

Perhaps Banggood just put 128 aside for unfulfilled orders?

Edit: I’m not arguing with the rest of Tom Tom’s post, just pointing out that Banggood does seem to be trying to fulfill orders and might not be sitting on a huge stockpile.

Got a mail from banggood today. Theybsaid the oedered item was out of stock…bla…bla…
I will ask for refund.

I have already received a return for the Cometa from 26650.
It’s a shame of course, when the seller places the goods, you pay for the goods, and then the seller realizing his losses goes to outright cheating ….

Alright, thank you guys for your input. So far, I noted following issues that one should take a look at before actually using the Cometa:

Short circuit risks:

  • 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
  • driver pocket / driver shelf oversize (approx. 19-19.5mm) while pass thru hole is about 17.8-18mm => 17mm driver can be moved over enough to short out on one of the SMD’s or positive lead
  • MCPCB isn’t screwed or glued => risk of board-rotation and shearing-off of leads when tightening the cover

Operational malfunctions/ flaws:

  • Turbo drops out to moon after exactly 10 seconds => Fix: adding a 5 Ohm resistor between led+ and both C1 and D1 or set off the temp / heat setting

  • Rattling inside the head due to zoom mechanism => Fix: still in clarification / adding high-viscosity lubricant, o-rings or kapton tape might help

If there's anything more to consider or if something needs to be corrected in my above mentioned points, I'll be glad to collect any further input and summarize it here. :-)

I’m sure they want rid of them, who wouldn’t.

But I suspect some automated algorithm is observing this, re-pricing based on recent past orders, and oscillating wildly, with no (sensible) human in the loop.

Interesting times. And pick up your “bargains” whilst you can.

But don’t forget it is still a sh(it) torch, meaning sh (dont talk about it) and (it) meaning a complex UI. Nothing more.

You could do much better, for just a few dollars more.

And what prevents to place two screws and get rid of a headache ? :person_facepalming: :face_with_monocle: :stuck_out_tongue:

Tom Tom, I can understand that you feel frustrated about this flashlight and how things went south in the past between CPF Italia, Banggood, Manker and Jaxman. However, I would greatly appreciate it if we all could focus on the technical aspects of the Cometa, it's great benefits regarding the low price and how any potential flaws can be identified and rectified. In my humble opinion and without any offence, griping over and over again about the past, the price fluctuations on Banggood or why one should not buy this light distracts a bit from finding out how to get the best out of this light.

So, I take this as a solution for the problem, right? If so, I will be glad to include it into my list.

For the Problem of Driver shelf oversize on Pill,with risk of short.
We can try to screw a P60 brass on the cometa pill instead the stock ring,
then put the driver
hope will fit.

So far, I noted following issues that one should take a look at before actually using the Cometa:

Short circuit risks:

  • 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
  • driver pocket / driver shelf oversize (approx. 19-19.5mm) while pass thru hole is about 17.8-18mm => 17mm driver can be moved over enough to short out on one of the SMD’s or positive lead
  • MCPCB isn’t screwed or glued => risk of board-rotation and shearing-off of leads when tightening the cover => Fix: tighten the MCPCB by mounting two screws onto it

Operational malfunctions/ flaws:

  • Turbo drops out to moon after exactly 10 seconds => Fix: adding a 5 Ohm resistor between led+ and both C1 and D1 or set off the temp / heat setting

  • Rattling inside the head due to zoom mechanism => Fix: still in clarification / adding high-viscosity lubricant, o-rings or kapton tape might help

If there's anything more to consider or if something needs to be corrected in my above mentioned points, I'll be glad to collect any further input and summarize it here.

No I don’t think that you do. It is quite visceral, and some behaviour just is not acceptable, even after a few years have gone by.

Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzLT6_TQmq8 for a more eloquent expression.

The girl from Tiger Bay expresses it more clearly.

Well, what can I say ? its different.