Well, I bought this light hoping for the bet, and as others have said, you get the worst pretty much. Flood is nice, but zoomed in not very bright, my HD2010 destroys it for throw with a larger lit area and my UF-T50 is better for flood overall. For under $16 can be too mad, but even at that cheap price it definitely is not worth it, may just take it apart and salvage the XM-L and toss the rest.
This isnât the Sk98 but itâs what I ordered from Meritline
This the Q5 Sipik, I ordered before I realized it wasnât the SK98. Should arrive in the next few weeks.
The SK68, which is what you ordered, is a great light, built really well actually, which is why I had high hopes for the SK98.
The Sk68 looks the same as the sk98 but takes an AA or 14500. What I ordered is something else. Watch the video on
Meritline, itâs not like the Sk68 or 98, you have to twist the head to zoom.
These are Sk68âs or atleast look like them
http://www.meritline.com/cree-led-flash-light-xp-g-q5-convex-zoomâ-p-69326.aspx
There are one or two guys around here who love aspheric lenses, but I think most of us are disappointed in them. You also have a light that basically has no relector, so itâs going to give you a beam that you are not used to, has not spill, and really no hot spot unless fully focused.
They are fun to play with, but I just donât think of zoomies as serious lights.
But then to each his own. I personally think that zoomies are the best thing since I made a flamethrower. And that was seriously funny until the local police officer came around and told me I should probably not be using that any more or he would have to start filing paperwork :cry:
But I digressâŚ
For the size of the package I have yet to find any one flashlight that can do nearly all I want in such a small package as a zoomie can. But thats just my 0,02$ 
The zoomies do give you flood and throw from a single light, I will give you that, but the problem is you can get better flood or better throw from normal lights, but not both from the same light usually. For throw I am not including lights like the Dereelight DBS etc. since they arenât zoomies, they are full time aspheric throwers.
Hell yeah!
Gonna order the 98 next month, canât wait for that!
And therein lies the majority of my qualms. I have to carry another light with me if I stop using zoomies. And another spare battery next to the one I already carry.
And then where is the definition of âbetter floodâ ? or âbetter throwâ?.
To me the best flood is evenly distributed. No hotspot/corona/spill transitions and no artifacts. I need the light to have no distractions for my work. I often find myself working in small quarters with infinitesimally small objects that I need to manipulate in awkward ways places where it was never intended humans to access again. Especiallly not 6â1 humans with a bit of flab 
And in those situations I have learned that the more even the light distribution is the better are my perception of depth and angles relative to each other.
About throw. To me the best throw is one without any spill! My eyes ability to clearly see details about my chosen target are much affected by the backscattered light from reflectored lights. A XML thrower at full blast being fed 5+ amps and putting out 75 + kcd is often of less actual use to me than a 1,8 amp driven XR-E behind a aspheric. And no I cannot use the spill to put perspective to the target the same way that a reflectored light can but that is the whole point isnât it And then again if it is a aspheric lens in a zoomie I just slightly unfocus it to enlarge the target area.
But if âWOWâ that is bright is the point then a reflectored light works best on friends because they can compare it to the maglite or other lights that they know whereas the aspheric light beam apparently seem odd and alien to them. But somehow also draw them. Go figure that one out - I havenât
Anyhow this is not written to end the discussions about the âbest lightâ or âbest floodâ or âbest throwâ differences between reflectored lights and apheric lights. That has been tried over and over on every light forum Iâve ever seen and it doesnât work that way. It is merely to point out that this is what works best for me and as I wrote to TroopLevis: To each their own.
Oh and I forgot: I am SOOO disappointed with the SIPIK company! BAD COMPANY, BAD BAD BAD!
To market this without proper heat sinking. I feel so let down and I am sorry if anyone bought this light because of this thread and feel like they wasted money. I used my sipik sk68âs for years. More or less since they came out. And they never let me down, I like the design and the clip and in fact the whole package. So I was stoked when I saw the pictures on Manafont. Hoping for a complete upscaling of the 68 model to the 98 model was apparently too much to ask for so to the Sipik company all I want to say is
Sorry.
> and now the the star isnât contacting the âpillâ.
Any chance of a straight on closeup of the driver board while itâs open, or any good picture?
Been wondering what people will find when they start opening those up. I bet it varies from one to the next.
Mine arrived this morning. Based on the problems found, I hope this is different when I open it. Gonna test it out when it gets dark.
Any ideas on how to improve heat sinking? Thermal compound perhaps?
What you see there is a 18x6mm solid coper disc.
That should do it UPz
My thoughts exactly. 
Fabricate that disc yourself? Or available for purchase somewhere?
Might just as well dump the star and mount it straight on copper. You know... since it's right there...
No, UPz just likes tempting people with home made things and then saying they aren't for sale. :P
:bigsmile: Cool! I might as well do that.
I see how you still remember that lathe-born mag heatsink 
The copper disk is pretty easy to machine, no electric tools needed. The most important part is to find a correct diammetter stock bar of copper. The hole in the pill measures 18mm (17.8mm in another unit, some tolerance). Go to your hardware store and ask for a copper bar of 18mm, cut a disk using a handsaw of 6mm.
Cut to small bits on oposite sides for the wires.
Try to fit the disk in place, use sandpaper if needed. The hardest fit the better.
Iâve used a vice to push it to the place.
More pics here.
PS: Sorry for my terrible engrish english
I never see any copper bar where I live. Especially not 18mm ones. What are they for anyway? (real usage)