I received my Ultrafire clone a few weeks ago, and this light was from a seller on Ebay called “Bobotoway”. The torch itself is great, although it arrived in a crumpled cardboard box, undoubtedly a cause of rough shipping.
The torch does not have the same overheating problem as the Sipik SK98, but still there is a hollow pill. I put some heat transfer compound around the base of the star, to improve heat transfer. I have been using this torch for 1-10 minutes on high every day for the last few weeks, and so far so good.
Of course the less heat produced, the less powerful the torch is, but still, this thing is bright!
Likewise, I got my UltraFire SK98 clone this last week. Regardless of the brand of cell I put in, charged to 4.2v, i’m getting over 2.5A on high. I tried SolarForce V3s, TrustFire Flames, and my crap UltraFire red 3000mAh.
And it is bright as hell and the head and body heat up almost immediately. I’m feeling pretty positive about this beast of a zoomie compared to the sk98. I do not think this is direct drive at all, otherwise my UF Reds would have tripped their protection circuit early like they did with the SK98. And that’s probably a good thing for an XM-L T6 in such a small package.
Now I have a special purpose for those lame UF cells.
I got my Sipik 98 today from Tmart! Had a 60% coupon so i only costed like 6$.
first impressions (compared to sipik sk68 clone):
+
very bright and wide flood
i like mode spacing
-
zoomed it’s not as bright as sk68 clone, led image seems warped (rounded)
led or retaining ring (can’t figure out which one) isn’t centered well
I don’t know yet if my light will melt but i can tell that the pill feels very light, i can’t seem to remove the plastic retaining ring so i can’t see the heatsinking.
After scratching the surface of the star it now sticks :d. After 30 seconds of use in high i’ve opened the head again and the aluminium i sticked to it is blistering hot, so i guess my unorthodox system works :d.
I think the ‘sk98’ configuration is pretty much done for if one goes by the number of offerings on the Chinese form of ebay (there’re only 9 total SK98 link) versus the 5 or so pages for the SK68 link.
how do i remove the driver so i can fill up the entire pill? It doesn’t seem to be soldered to the pill but it sits very very tight.
this is how i fixed it now, the volume of added aluminium is about 1,5-2x that of the star, but as you can see it doesn’t contact the pill => rest of flashlight so all the heat goes to the clump of aluminium.
UPDATE: i managed to get the driver out, it was just stuck very very hard
I’m going to fill up the empty space between my added aluminium and the wall of the pill with some more aluminium instead of desoldering the driver and making an entire new aluminium disc.
I have another question: can the plastic of the wires melt when in contact with the added aluminium?
I did understand your method, but i don’t have soldering irons atm. I just added some additional aluminium foil so i have something similar like your method, with the aluminium contacting the walls of the pill. Should work as well (but not as good) :).
UPDATE: After testing the flashlight, the body gets hot which should indicate that the heat goes from the star - my ghettofix - pill - flashlight body.
Despite adding the extra heatsinking my sk98 still desoldered itself yesterday after only 30s of use :d. Sent an email to Tmart, advising them not to sell this light anymore.
After read through the comments, the SK98 still kept the week craftsmanship of SK68, thanks for your opinion and advice, we hope everyone would notice the SK98 is week in heat dissipation before go to SK98. it seems that some people take it as a acceptable one.
I received this one yesterday. After I applied the aluminium foil trick the body actually seemed to get less hot than before. I let it run for 20 minutes and it gets warm but not too hot to touch. I also have a SK68 and the biggest difference for me is that the zoom-mechanism is much smoother on the SK98 (it’s a little loose actually). With this light you can change from flood to throw with your thumb while with the SK68 I need two hands to change the zoom mode. And of course it gives quite a bit more light than the SK68 (with a bigger hotspot). Flood-mode is perfect and throw-mode is nice to have in the same flashlight but nothing special imo.
I’m happy with it, especially for the price I paid for it :).
Has anyone considered doing a strobe delete on the driver? Is it possible? I know someone was suggesting to get a 3A single-mode. I’m considering options. I like how the SK68 is single-mode. I think a trick zoomie like this doesn’t need low or blinky modes.
I got one of these & inserted some foil behind the star & put some thermal paste on too.It gets warm but not mega hot(Sipik version by the way) For the price I can’t complain but it’s not mega bright in my eyes for an XML, I reckon my old spiderfire P7 is brighter. But it does throw further.
Just an update: The UltraFire sk98 clone is still going strong, and I’ve had no over heating issues. It remains bright and reliable without any heat sink modding. My Sipik SK98, however, has been disassembled indefinitely until I decide I want to heat sink it properly.
