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.
to desoldered itself this mean huge amount of heat,you should not be able to touch the flashlight.
That would be the case if the heatsinking was well designed but all the heat stays on the LED star (although i added some aluminium on the back).
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 :).
Welcome to your new home, Snippo!
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. 
Against a HD2010
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.
So to reply to my own post, here is a photo of the driver module from the SK98:
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x97/zx3junglist/2012-10-01163239.jpg
it’s definitely 20mm. Anyone know a source to buy a new 20mm single mode driver?
One little advice from me, don’t use a 2eurocent coin for heatsink. it’s made from iron which is a bad heat conductor.
A 10eurocent coin is much better because its made from copper…
Meritline has this for $9.99:
http://www.meritline.com/cree-1000-lumen-memory-white-led-flashlight—-p-86910.aspx?hq_e=el&hq_m=2545487&hq_l=35&hq_v=be92bb949b
Mine hasn’t arrived yet. I’ve orderd on 4th October on mana font. Normally the manafont packages arrive very fast I’m so upset.
Anybody else who is waiting?
The UF version retained the 3 modes from the 14500 version, might have to grab one
Save yourself time and money…rewire it for direct drive.
So finally mine arrived today, so I had to make my own coin…
For the first tests I use only thermal grease and no glue but it seems to work good, without heat sinking the flashlight doesn’t got hot and now it directly gets warm…mission accomplished.
The zoom is harder to move than the sk68 one. I have lubed it a bit up and loosens the pill that helped but not perfect. The mode changes every time when I switch it on. It seems not much brighter in flood with mid mode.
Has anyone tried this in mule mode? As the sk68 (clone) easily lights up my backyard like day with fresh charged 14500 trustfires with the bezel+lens taken off