Disappointed from FocalPrice Sipik SK58 (maybe bad LED?)

That is an Osram Golden Dragon emitter, but even good LEDs can be let down by bad drivers and poor lenses. From what I've heard of the SK58 it's really hit or miss. I wonder if Sipik used the same driver for the Cree and Osram versions and the Osram LED just doesn't play as well.

For the record, I've got an Osram version and while it's not as bright as a comparable Cree on the same battery (Sk68), it's certainly not bad.

As to the colour variations on the emitter at full zoom, I do NOT think it's a phosphor problem. I think it's actually the crappy plastic aspheric lens that's causing chromatic aberrations. It certainly fits with how chromatic aberrations tend to occur, at the edges of major contrast changes (edges of the emitter, or between the two dies on the emitter surface).

semi-burned in the location? chinese sites show its low-price labor in the way of price label. just take the comparison the beamshots,then do it.

I just ordered a Sipik SK68 from them last week, so I can confirm this shortly. It doesn't say it uses a CREE Q3, so it probably isn't. I should have verified this before ordering. I'm not a big fan of these manufacturers that keep the same model # but change out the guts depending on the retailer.

Oh for the love of...

THIS IS NOT THE SIPIK SK68. This is the Sipik SK58 which is advertised as having either an Osram led OR a Cree led.

I know this thread started off discussing the SK58, but apparently, the same LED confusion also applies to the SK68, which is why we've discussed both here. I know the thread has veered slightly off course, but it is the same manufacturer and vendor under discussion, so I wouldn't let it get to you.

That's a close up on the emitter itself (sorry, that's as sharp as I could get):

Actually the photo is quite sharp. It is a recent make of osram golden dragon i think. I got several older...

I am not sure that that is a Osram golden dragon. It seems a chinese copy of the osram GD

H)

I have one of those I bought from manafont and its brighter than that. Has an xre though

correction. Its not an xre, looks like the OP's but no defect

I have an SK58 that I bought through Amazon. Unlike the original poster's, the Golden Dragon emitter in my SK58 had no flaws and worked perfectly.

However, I decided that the output from the Golden Dragon was insufficient for an EDC light. I replaced mine with an XML for MUCH more flood. If you want more throw a good replacement would be an XRE.

And here I thought no one had stuck an xm-l in one of these yet.

I'm still waiting to find a neutral white one... cool white is annoying, but neutral xm-ls seem out of stock absolutely everywhere... even Cutter is out of stock, if I for some reason decided the $16 shipping was worth it.

My Golden Dragon was reasonably uniformly colored, until the first time I used it with a 14500 for more than ten seconds. Now it's even worse than the pictures above. I think it overheats and kills the phosphors. I have two thin L-shaped strips of yellow, the rest is blue. Probably 75% of the light is blue with 25% white...

--Bushytails

one word .. focal .. they are known for selling seconds or foul ,used junk . avoid them right off the bat .

If you want a non-clone Sipik SK58, try ordering from Amazon. That's where I got mine and they appear to be the genuine article without any manufacturing defects.

They also ship very quickly. I'm in California and I just ordered one on June 13 and it just arrived three days later on the 16th. Note that the Amazon description is wrong. This is the standard Sipik SK58 with an Osram Golden Dragon. It does not have a Cree emitter.

Now that my second SK58 has arrived I plan to apply the following modifications:

  1. Replace driver with 2.8 amp Shiningbeam 3-mode driver. Hoping it will fit with a little filing on the edges of the driver.
  2. replace emitter with Cree XM-L T6 from Shiningbeam
  3. bend strip of copper sheet into a ring and put it around the threads at the top part of the pill. This will prevent the pill from screwing completely into the body of the light. This will increase the travel distance of the telescoping mechanism and give a much wider angle flood mode, without affecting spot mode.
  4. Add extra heat-sinking below the emitter. I don't have a lathe so can't make a nice copper slug like Match. Instead I'm planning on cutting 1 mm copper sheet into disks and then laminating them onto the inside of the pill below the emitter with thermal epoxy.
  5. Add a reflector - will cut up my last old Uke AAA lamp module and mount the reflector into the light. This should significantly boost the brightness of flood mode and eliminate all rings in that mode. Spot mode will have an ugly corona, but range will be unaffected.
  6. replace metal o-ring with rubber o-ring. Lubricate all o-rings. Add thermal grease around pill threads.

If all goes well, I expect the light to be significantly brighter than the stock model. With about 12 minutes of runtime on max on IMR 14500.

I never understood the appeal of the SK58, especially in comparison to the SK68. I had a genuine SK58 and while it was an ok light, I never really cared for it much. I just felt cheap and shoddy compared to the SK68 and couldn't compare in performance for light produced, ability to wick off heat, or general solid feel. I gave mine to a friend who never had a zooming light and loves it.

The 68 is way too large, ugly, heavy, doesn't mod well (from what I've heard - haven't tried), doesn't fit protected cells well (same - haven't tried), and has a clip.

--Bushytails

While it is larger (mainly due to finning), ugly and heavy are a matter of opinion. I rather like the look and prefer the heft of it. Feels like a real tool instead of a plastic toy. I’ve owned both at the same time and compared both.

It does mod easily depending on what you want to do with it (driver and emitter) and takes a much stronger emitter and driver due to excellent heat sinking ability.

It fits protected cells just fine, as I run protected Trustfire Flames in mine without any issue and they are very long for 14500 cells.

The clip can be removed if you don't like it. I prefer mine as it stays at the top of my pocket and away from coins and such that would scratch the lens or wear at the finish. Don't like the holes left behind by removing the clip? Put a drop of loctite on the screws you took out and put them back in without the clip. Don't like the screw heads sticking out and never want to use the clip in the future? Grind off the heads of the screws leaving the loctited threads inside or simply fill the holes with epoxy then touch up with black sharpie and they disappear.

But that's the beauty of flashlights (or anything in general)...we all have different tastes and thankfully there are more than one flashlight out there. If only one flashlight was ever made and we all liked it then there would be nothing for us to collect, compare, mod, or inspire. ;)

Johnny

The SK68 fits protected cells perfectly well and mods quite easily, so... no, neither of these are true. It also has a far superior lens to the SK58.

Just got my Ultraok version of the Sipik68 today .

It will now become my new EDC .

I like the build , the tint , the clip , the clicky ,

and it's fun .

Thanks to this review,before I bought I have read this,so useful,but I dont know whether now is better