i dont have good enough leads to check the current, but with the lens off the ceiling bounce tests show that the lens is eating up a good 10% of the output lol.
I second measuring the current, please. Low quality leads don’t make the test not worth doing. Plus, I doubt the current is so high as to matter much.
Also, in WIDE mode, are they just as wide as each other? With that big lens, I’d hope the beam is wider than the SK68? Would really like to know!
Thanks for the review.
Ive got one of these coming from the same supplier. 
m10 if you don’t want a zoomie lol
the M12 if you want high output
this is you want smaller size
you should test the emitter with just the lens before going through the trouble of swapping (although, depending on your set up, swapping might be the easiest way to test).
I’ve had several budget plastic lenses make output look purple and swapping to a glass lens made it nice cool white with no purple at all.
The only thing that would make me want a bigger zoomie is because it will have a bigger lens and therefore smaller hotspot/better throw.
But this one just doesn't have that. They put the same diameter lens in as the sk98, with a thick green ring around it. Is this because that lens just happened to be available? A bigger piece of plastic would not have cost much more, and would have improved the throw significantly, would even have made the throw a bit impressive (which is quite an achievement with an XM-L inside).
Just ordered one of these too. Will have to wait and see I guess.
Come on, jmpaul! I see that you have the same lux meter as I do. Forget the ceiling bounce and test the lux at 1m between this one and the SK68. Pictures can deceive but meters say believe.
sorry about neglecting this thread all week!
i am usually quite busy during the week - i will try to update post 2 with answer to questions and also take some lux readings over the weekend
Picture of the dropin please
have the dropin aluminium under the star?
That is all i need to know for decide If I should buy it
Nice review! Thanks!
So nice that it made me to buy this light.. ;)
The pill is solid and there was even some Fujik under the star.
My sample is reasonably driven at 1.6A. Modes are 100%, 50% & 10%, no memory - starts at high after 3s off. Low mode is not 4 lumen, more like 40 lumen (I think your lux readings confirm this).
Flood (for me) is the more important feature of a zoomie.
Which zoomie would you choose?
I don’t care if it uses 1 o 2 18650.
This SK98 clone from FT?
Trustfire Z1/Z5?
Palight M900?
XXX?
Just got mine through. Some very good and a little bad.
Plus points:
-clean and unbleamished
-surprised at the output. It’s way brighter than an sk68 on a 14500. I don’t have tail cap readings yet. But I’m certainly not disappointed
-tint is very good. Not sure if I’ve struck lucky but the tint it almost identical to my Klarus NT20. Very neutral white edging on the side of cooler. But a million times better than my z8 and as good as any of my other lights
Now the bad:
- the head is very lose and has no resistance. This mean tip it head down and it zooms. Tip it up and it slides all the way to flood. I guess there should be some kind of friction ring to stop this happening. Any ideas on what it need to do or adjust?
Thanks.
sounds like they forgot to put the metal c-ring under the slide part.
I always take those out and put an oring in the slot anyway.
I got this flashlight last Monday. I removed the metal ring that you can see in the top picture around the brown part. I used two 20mm o-rings, and I added a bit of grease inside the tube where the pill will slide. Remove the pill and check if the ring is missing or broken.
Update.
I removed the pill and replaced the metal spring clip with a rubber o-ring. Now the head slides smoothly but importantly remains in position too.
Have to say I’m quite impressed so far. When on mine tail stands fine too, although is a little wobbly when off.
On a 4.0v 26650 INR I’m getting 1.66 at the tailcap. Reckon it’d be higher on a fully charged one. Not massively driven I admit, but more than enough to be useful. The beam is also 100% artefact and ring free in flood and almost as good in full zoom.
Just charged my 26650, 4.14v off the charger and 1.79 at the tail cap. I know you can drive an XM-L harder, but I’m not sure this needs to be. It’s very usable as is.
Only reason to do so, imo, is if you want more throw.
And a better, or rather more efficient way to do that is figure out how to put a wider glass lens in there.
I just got outbid on one. Who knows, a couple 
and I’ll probably just ‘buy it now’…
so your thinking of getting one of these aleto’s dave? thats good, then you can compare this with your m12. so i know which one to get.
I’m getting this (should be here soon’ish) and the M12 clone from DX. Well, the DX one shipped yesterday so it will be a while…
relic, please let us know your thoughts when they arrive.
how about the trustfire or uniquefire z5…i hear thats a performer as well.