PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS IN OP Spark SF3/SF5 Flashlights + SG3/SG5 Headlamps —— CW or NW —— $44 shipped w/tracking – minimum met!

Argh!
I’ll let it run for a while to see if it improves…

I also think the SF3 is just picky about cells. I actually get the flickering on turbo with my brand new AW cells. My theory is that the SF3 is pushing the battery so hard on turbo that it’s causing grief with the protection circuits. I think the flickering is the protection circuit partially tripping. For whatever reason my EagleTac cells just power off when they hit that point, where the AW cells seem to step down a little and flicker for a little while before the protection circuit trips all the way. The TF flame cells seem to go about 30 seconds before they trip the protection and just power the light off.

My SF5 doesn’t have this problem, but then again it doesn’t seem to be as bright on turbo. I think the SF3 is just pushing the batteries too hard. I was thinking of getting some AW IMR cells next to try.

i only usually buy the rcr123 in imr - i have kinoko and aw and both seem to work ok

The IMR cells aren’t protected are they?

No they aren’t.

I’ll try some RCR, I have AW protected and IMR, and some Nitecore/Eagletac.
For now I tried with CR123A battery, after leaving it on for a little while it seems to flicker a bit less.

they are not protected, but the chemistry has been known to be a bit safer than traditional lithium ion

but if you dont feel comfortable not using protection then i guess dont use them :slight_smile:

My thought of the day was maybe that it’s the protection circuits causing people grief and not the batteries themselves. Either way this SF3 is a fussy beast and seems to push a 16340 about as hard as it can be pushed. I get about 1 amp even on the tail cap reading for turbo and an EagleTac 16340 hot off the charger.

All things considered the SF3 NW is already one of my favorite lights. The SF5 NW is neat too. I got mine from Wallbuys so I don’t know if it makes a difference, but the tint on my SF5 is a little warmer than my L10-219. It’s absolutely fantastic ! I wish the SF3 was this warm, but it’s still nice and neutral. Even though it’s a little quirky, it’s still so much lighter and smaller than the SF5.

One thing I noticed about the SF5 is that with a regular AA cell, turbo is the same as high. It only gets a higher high when using a 14500. I also noticed that high is about the same with an Eneloop as it is with a 14500, which is interesting. The SC52 is supposedly optimized for an AA but I don’t own one of those. And the S15 Ti is also supposed to be optimized for an AA and it has similar output as the SF5, so I wonder if the SF5 isn’t purposefully optimized for an AA as well. Either way, both of these are fantastic lights and I’m so glad I got them. I should’ve ordered the SG3 and the SG5 as well for the whole set!

I just tried some AW and Nitecore protected, and it does 9 times out of 10 trigger the protection when I tries to activate turbo from any mode except max (when in max the success rate is higher, maybe 5 out of 10).
With IMR, no problem. I noticed the double-clic has to be quite slow in order to activate the turbo mode.

Are the threads gritty on yours, or just mine? I’m starting to think I prefer my Olight S10 over the SF3 :weary:
I’m more interested in shortcuts to moonlight than to turbo…but both choices are understandable, and shortcut to turbo probably makes more sense to most people.

PS: my concern with IMR is the lack of low voltage protection with the SF3 (or am I wrong?). My Zebralight cuts around 2,7V, which is quite low for RCR and quite high for CR123A, and the Olight S10 does not cut at all.

This is the graph of SF5 taken from a review on CPF.

I’ve noticed that the turbo is only 55% of the turbo on SF3. Regulation while using Eneloop is not that bad and I’m sure it will get better with Eneloop PRO. I also ordered both unprotected Sanyo 14500 and Eneloop pro to feed the SF5. It is quite sad because I really like SF3 but IMO Spark should improve the driver in the future. My S10 L2 does not flicker even on turbo (1A tailcap reading) with the same cell but to be fair it will step down to about 60% after 4 minutes. So it is not pushing really hard like SF3.

@Lithium, you can access the moonlight /lowest mode by holding down the button from off. It will cycle back to the lowest mode.

Got my SG5NW today. Great shipping, it was in the mailbox on Friday according to tracking. That’s eight days from order to delivery. NICE!!!
As for the light, it’s mostly good.

  • The output is good
  • The tint is perfect for me, very nice
  • The finish is nice, not perfect but nice
  • The clip is OK, but backwards and not reversible. Will see if I can get used to that.
  • The headband fits my head but not the light. Headband must be made for the SG3 body diameter. It’s too loose. The workaround is to leave the clip on when inserting into headband loops.
  • The threads are well cut but sharp and a little rough sounding
  • aggressive knurling on tailcap and lens ring, no grip issues there
  • carbon fiber wrap is nice, has minor finish issues (up close, noticeable seam and imperfections at edges)
  • Modes are useable, would rather cycle like the Wizard (hold for the next mode, not restart at Min)
  • Nice UI feature: From Off, double-click to get Super. Turn off. The next start returns to saved mode (a-la Wizard Pro, I like that)
  • Accepts protected cells, TrustFires are working fine, not tripping protection yet.
  • The standard wide lens EATS a ton of lumens. I’m probably not going to use it and stick with the add-on reflector I ordered with it.
  • Brushed finish is inconsistent, on some parts (about half of the anodized surface) it is not noticeable at all
  • Tailstand is unfortunately not great, due to poor cap design. Aesthetics won out over function here. Headstand is also not good due to protruding button.
    Here’s a pic with the Wizard Pro, which up to now has been my EDC. While the SG5 is a very nice light, the Wizard has nothing to worry about. I’ll use the SG5 for sure;

    Some quick measurements
    table(table#posts).
    |Mode|Batt Current (A)|Output (Lumens)|
    |Min|0.004|0.5|
    |Med1|0.2|4|
    |Med2|0.12|32|
    |Max|03|77|
    |Super|0.77|196|

Notes:

  • TrustFire Protected 14500 at 4.05V

I think the inconsistent of brushed finish was intentional. You can clearly see the mixture of both matte and brushed on the body. I like it a lot.

The S10 looks like a good competitor to the SF3 but I am unable to find a NW version in Ti with the XM-L2 to match the S15 Ti that I have. Hkequipement has the S10 in Ti with a NW tint but it looks like an XM-L not an XM-L2.

The S15 compares favorably to the SF5 but it has a horrible clip and tends to turn on in my pocket sometimes and I have to soft-lock it out. I do like the user interface better on the S15 though. But all things considered, I think the SF5 has it beat by a small margin. My SF5 has a beautifully warm tint, carries much better in my pocket, and from what I can tell uses a 100% constant current circuit. It also doesn’t turn on in my pocket. It would be nice if it had a shortcut to moonlight like the S15 but at least it has a mode memory. Whoever designed the S10/S15 clip was on crack. My wife saw the S15 clip and said “that’s like carrying your gun in a special holster that points it at your face, nice” and she was right.

Got my SF5NW today and I’m really impressed. First of all, I didn’t get a tracking number but I had faith that HKEquipment would deliver. I have never received a light as quickly as I have with HKEquipment. I will buy from them again, even if I find an item a few dollars cheaper elsewhere.
The light itself is quite nice.

  • The tint is one of the nicest tints I have
  • The build quality rivals the Zebralight SC52. Very similar builds, in fact. Excellent anodizing.
  • The switch has the nicest feel of all my lights, with a little less effort than the SC52 and the Solarstorm SC01.
  • Very nice UI, though a hidden strobe wouldn’t hurt.
  • Although larger and longer than the SC52, I think it would carry better since it is less bulbous than the SC52.

- Threads are smooth but I prefer the tighter fit of the SC52.

  • Slightly wobbly tail stand due to the raised circle on the tail cap.

Nice! But you still have ~1s of the previous mode used.

Anyway, I used the light yesterday night, and depleted the AW RCR that was in, so left the light with no battery in this night. This morning I put a cheap Chinese CR123 (Nextorch, probably not the worst amongst chinese CR123A), and guess what, my light is now working perfectly! No more bogus UI, no more flickering! And things gets better, since it also works flawlessly with RCR!

I am a bit confused about the reason(s) of this behaviour, maybe the light felt that it was on the edge to spend the rest of its life in a box in my “light storage unit” :party:
Now I’m starting to like it.

@Racer: I don’t think the Ti S10 ever came with XM-L2 (maybe I’m wrong!). Mine came with an horrible tint XM-L, turns out it was more the fault of the lens than the led. These lights are easy to modify. I found out thermal path was not that good (of course, Titanium, eeh), the driver/led/button is like a small module.

I’m quite certain that my NW SF5 is a 5C1 tint. It’s unquestionably warmer than all my 3C lights, and it’s also quite noticeably warmer than the 4C Roche F6 I just received. But compared to the 5C1 P60 drop-in I have here, it is very similar. 5C1 is one of the loveliest tints I’ve seen yet so it’s a wonderful surprise, and just adds to the awesomeness of this little light.

In hindsight the fact that the brightness bin was specified as T5 was a pretty big clue that the tint bin was going to be on the warm side.

Thanks for the group buy, received the SF3 NW, really nice !!!

How is the parasitic drain on your Sparks? I measured mine and found 0,101mA with RCR, which is a bit high…what do you think? I know it’s like 250 days on a 600mAh RCR, and that you can very easily lock out the light, but still… In fact I measured the drain because I’m sometimes under the impression that the light is not fully off…do you have that?

To compare I measured other lights :

Olight S10 : 0,006mA
Zebralight H31fc : 0,025mA
Sparks SG3 : 0,106mA
Sparks SF3 : 0,101mA

Seems about right as reported by this review.

Yep, I was just re-reading it.
Before buying I just caught “around 1.4 years on 1400mAh CR123A”, which was more than ok, but with a RCR it’s less than half that. I guess now I have an excuse to use my light more >)
Now my problem is I have too many CR123 lights to use, I don’t know which one to pick when I need one :weary:

I just measured .106 mA on my SF3 with an AW hot off the charger. Not a factor for EDC as far as I’m concerned, and if it ever bothers me, well, an eighth of a turn locks it out.