Almost two months and it didn`t arrive my golden 1.99$.
Is it strange?
I don’t know. Maybe the post is slow cause stores are stocking up for Xmas. I got mine fairly quickly.
Mine showed up a couple days ago. Seems lower quality than SK-68s in fit, finish, appearance, and weight. I popped a freshly charged AA in and noticed it wasn’t as bright as my SK-68s. It worked for less than 30 seconds before flickering off & going dead. I haven’t taken it apart yet to troubleshoot, but have never had this happen to a SK-68.
Compared to my $3.50 AA lights, it would have been worth no more than $1.99 - if it had been built well enough to work without problems for years, as the SK-68’s have.
Of the many times I’ve been a sucker for < $5 lights, the only one that continues to exude quality and dependability for me are these:
I do not have the light yet; however, I can say the shipping is horrendous.
I’m fine with 2 weeks shipping, 3 is pushing it, but this light is going on almost 6 weeks. It’s killing me and I agreed to it at time of purchase. 
It might be that the below standard ones, probably from start-up problems go at the lowest prices with no brand name or model number. My $2 one is fits well everywhere, but it would make sense that they not be too picky about what they sell for the lowest prices. The pill was screwed in very tight on mine.
Wallbuys has a promotion for the black one again for $2.99: WallBuys.com is for sale | HugeDomains
Till the 20th of November (Hong Kong time) according to this page: WallBuys.com is for sale | HugeDomains
I received my second one from Wallbuys today (black to reduce rings). I didn’t want to modify the original one I got for $2, but I modified this new black one and it supported my claim to finding a requirements or design error. The head is mostly covered by a sort of scolloped pattern of longitudinal rounded ridges. At its bottom where it meets the body, there is a 3mm section that is slimmer and round. I filed off most of that with a somewhat dull large mill file. It is greatly improved. It is shorter when telescoped in. The flood is much wider. And the total output is almost correspondingly greater. The lens is closer to the led, so more light strikes it. It must be rare that such an easy mod. can do so much.
Recevied mine today from WB… Gold version described as 1 mode but with 3 mode circuit board. Not good as a sipik but for 1.99 is a great deal.
Not for modifiers, light hogs and collectors, but it is slim and light enough to carry in my shirt pocket and the 68 isn’t.
Fritz - I used a disc sander (cheap Harbor Freight bench top combo unit) to sand down the sleeve piece as you wrote about in post #46 - that worked really well!! Thanx for the tip!!
I am modding mine though - cut down a 16mm Noctigon and mount a XP-G2 R4 I have laying around.
The file worked well except that I slipped a few times and took the anodizing off the outside in spots. I think I should have found a dowel that fit inside the head to support it, I was just holding it with my fingers. I tried spraying Easy Off oven cleaner spray lye sodium hydroxide NaOH to oxidize it, as a cheap substitute for anodizing, and then black marker, and that seems to help, though it took of some of the original color. The ceiling bounce clearly does increase. I don’t see much to be gained by other mods. I would like it to start in low, but that doesn’t seem worth swapping drivers.
I'm getting 1.2A measured now with a XP-G2 on a cut dowm Noctigon. Replacement 15mm drivers are hard to find. Saw one on DX but single mode, 2 7135's with a slot to add a 3rd. For this light, may be nice to add a 3rd and piggyback a 4th to get 1.4A. At 1.2A, it does get warm in a couple of minutes. The pill is not hollow - has a solid top, but on mine there was no grease or epoxy - star was just sitting there, pushed down by the black plastic piece onto the rough surface pill top.
Ok - some #'s:
Stock AA zoom, KP 14500:
- 1.00A, 99 lumens (OTF @30 secs)
Mod'ed AA zoom, KP 14500, XP-G2 R4 on Noctigon, upgrade wires from ~30 to 28 AWG, sanded pill top to 2500 grit, AS5 under star:
- 1.15A, 180 lumens (OTF @30 secs)
Mod'ed zoom slide assembly by shortening it, allowing it to zoom out further:
- 1.15A, 224 lumens (OTF @30 secs)
With a fresh DLG unprotected, I get the following:
-1.21A, 235 lumens (OTF @30 secs)
I like it 
! 80% bump on the LED/star/wires upgrade mod.
Edit:
For comparison, a UltraOK Spik SK68 clone I have on a fresk KP 14500 gets 1.14A, and 228 lumens OTF @30 secs. Roughly the same as the full modified AA zoomie.
Throw: full up AA zoomie: 5.8 kcd, UltraOK SK 68 clone: 12 kcd
I believe the UltraOK throws a lot better because of the bigger aspheric lens. also, the UltraOK clone has a shiny metallic piece around the emitter, plus the emitter is a XR-E whchi may throw better than a XP-G2, not sure...
Note: all lumens measurements were made in full flood mode, and all throw measurements made in full zoomed in mode
I like that you were able to measure the increase in total light out from shortening the head. Of course, equally beefed up, an SK68 will cool much better because of its size and weight. I am surprised that the pill is not hollow. Guess they worked out a way to assemble it quickly around a solid pill center. Maybe this will be a common modification host. Maybe they aren’t done improving it themselves. Thicker wires seem like a change they could make with minimal increase in cost.
What a POS, sorry guys, if not for the $1.99 price, I’m sure I’d be stoned to death for posting this.
The switch on all 3 of mine is flickery, the output is very poor.
The only upside it is pretty and does work, sorta. 
I’d never give $4 for one with such a poor switch, the output I can deal with, not the switch.
One of my switches is going flickery as well; only about 15 minutes of use so far. :\
[quote=unknown00101]
One of my switches is going flickery as well; only about 15 minutes of use so far. :\/quote]
All three of mine, one $2, one $4 and one $3.50, work fine. Maybe you got ones from before they got the production line tuned up. The questionable ones might have been dumped at the lowest price to help provide start-up capital.
Perhaps, I should have noted that mine do this when holding in the mouth more so than the hand.
That’s what she said! :bigsmile:
But crap switch for sure—using just AAs
Interesting point. They are much more comfortable in the mouth than SK68s are. Polyethylene lights up to 2C size are comfortable in the mouth but in aluminum AA seems about the limit, and small AA is better than large AA. So far, mine works in my mouth, but I add grease and furniture wax and so on, so maybe it wouldn’t have as I got it. Saves getting out a head light.
I got this light from TOTO88 | Bocoran Slot Gacor Hari Ini for $6 something. The knurling is all very good, and additionally the spacing is less on the head where one has to have grip to focus the zoom. Then there are additional micro-grooves on top of the rectangles of the usual knurling, as I have seen in pictures of much more expensive lights. This sort of unexpected artistic quality is unlikely to be seen in the production of the slim 3 mode and its imitators.