A box arrived today. Which was posted in Shenzen on Saturday night - arrived at lunchtime today.
In the boxes were these two.
These were very kindly sent by Shenzen Wholesale for review. There will be more pictures and reviews of both of them at the weekend. They are an Xtar WK20 (CR123) and Xtar WK30 (AA)
Personal policy, I don't think I ought to keep review lights so there will also be a couple of giveaways in the future.
For a sneak preview, my first impression is that they are both very nice and the WK30 came with some nice accessories.
I'll start a giveaway thread once the reviews are done.
1235 lux / 222 lumens on high with the provided Xtar CR123. I need to do some homework to see if it'll take RCR cells. It is tiny, shorter than two CR123s. And very light, 20g empty, 43g with a CR123 and the lobster-claw clip. Maximum diameter is 20.7mm.
So far got part of my DX order 1 Led headlamp , 4 Trustfire TR 001 chargers , 2 18650 case , 20 cr2032 , 4 sets of red/black trustfire 18650. Still waiting on my other half .
Also got laptop batteries to harvest some cells from.
Yes, it appears to be a 3V light which is a black mark from me - CR123s round here cost a lot and eBay is fine as long as you don't want the cell right now. If I do the cheapest I've seen lately were $11.20. Each.
I've got the total output numbers for the WK30. The rest of the testing will get done at the weekend.
Don, I purchased 10 Eveready CR123s from Lighthound for $1.45 US each and they have performed as good as the $10-$12 ones I used to get at the local store. Is there an issue preventing you ordering/getting these?
International shipping from the US is rather expensive - then I'd be liable for import duty, VAT, and the PO ransom fee. The PO fee would be 50% more than the cells cost ($21). I've never bought a CR123s from a retail store, and I hope I never have to.
The duty-free import limit was dropped last week from roughly $29 to $24. And the cost of the postage is included. So I'd now be looking at $50 for 10 plus a few pennies in VAT. I can get them cheaper than that.
It is usually quite expensive for us here to buy stuff from the US and get it shipped. For some reason our Customs are far more vigilant about stuff coming from the US than almost anywhere else. Especially when the exchange rate is better than it is now. If the exchange rate goes over $2 to the pound (Currently around $1.6), Customs pretty much open everything bigger than an envelope from the US.
I was quite surprised not to get hit with a large post/duty/VAT charge for these Xtar lights as the Customs paperwork declared a value of $46.
1) a red iTp A3 EOS keychain light. Nice broad beam, lights up a whole room. Two modes, a medium and high setting.
2) Romisen R3 N3 A very short CR123 light, with an optional tube that you can screw on and use it with 2 AA batteries. ALso a floody, but light up my entire front yard as well as my neighbors yard across the street. SB included a freebie Cr123 battery with the order
I got one of the lower grade Ultrafire MCU C7's from DX today. Although I know this isn't as good of a torch as it used to be but I still think it is quite nice! I never had an original so I can't compare but I really like this one alot! It is bright and the finish is great and threads on mine aren't to bad. I wish it was drove harder though. My sample is only drawing 790mA on a full charged 16340 cell. I like the 3 modes and memory is instant...I do wish the low was even lower though but I guess it was a better choice being a bit higher in a High Low Strobe arrangement.
I know some that have purchased the original super high quality one will probably disagree with me but I still find this to be a very nice torch and can highly recommend it and am happy to add it to my collection! I will be buying more as spares! I will now also be buying the overpriced Manafont XP-G version as well just because I can't stop myself!!! I am ill!!!!
P.S. I am also expecting a SRM763 and a AKOray K109A programmable torch from KD!
I got my Jetbeam BA20 from GoingGear just a few minutes ago. BA20 is a 2 mode (245lm and 30lm), 2xAA light with R5 led. It has a good body, tailstands and has a forward clicky (modes change by head turn).
Don - Wow, so you have to add that to every light you consider purchasing. That would be the tipping point for my wife; no way would she remain quiet when she learned of import duty.
Mostly not. I do actually take care that as many of my orders as possible are below the limit (Was £18 until last week, now £15 and there is a lot of talk about abolishing altogether). The highest it can be in the EU is the euro equivalent of £18 as I understand it. Denmark is much lower than that.
I have never had to pay import duty on an HK/China package.
The basics of the rules are here but you also need to find out the commodity code (Of which there are over 14,000) to find out how much duty is involved. Usually the amount is zero and you just have the VAT (20%) on the item and its transport/postage/whatever costs. If this is below £9 (US$14.40 at the current exchange rate) the Customs waive it. Import duties only start at £135.
However, the Post Office will charge you a customs clearance fee which will be either £8 or £13 depending on which bit of the PO handles the parcel. Unless it has gone up. Again.
But not if the Customs wave it through. UPS fifteen years ago charged £25 for the same complete lack of service, and others were worse I'm told. This is for showing the CN22 to a Customs officer then picking the parcel up again. Complete rip-off.
