Below are some draw rates on 3 SK68 examples. The results seemed interesting enough to post for your amusement.
My son recently loaned me his SK68 so I could do some comparisons with my recently modded and seemingly similar clone (to his). But when I dropped my 14500 into his light I was surprised at the result and so I charted this table (instead of bothering with beam shots). Draw is H/L on the 3-modes.
The lights:
1. Single mode XPE acquired through Amazon from BBQBuy
2. 3 mode XPG2 (orig XRE) acquired from TMart (UF labeling)
3. 3 mode XPE also acquired from TMart (no printing on tube)
Battery | Charge | 1-mode | UF3-mode | 3-mode |
TF14500 A | 3.41V | 0.75A | 0.85/0.23A | 0.40/0.13A |
TF14500 B | 3.88V | 1.31A | 1.4/0.40A | 0.77/0.19A |
Eneloop A | 1.26V | 1.63A | 1.50/0.44A | 2.20/0.55A |
Eneloop B | 1.25V | 1.82A | 1.53/0.44A | 2.20/0.59A |
Duraloop | 1.31V | 1.82A | 1.49/0.39A | 2.24/0.59A |
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TF14500 A | 4.19V | 1.65A | 1.71/0.43A | 0.99/0.23A |
The batteries:
- Trustfire Flames A & B acquired at the same time
- Eneloops A &B acquired from Amazon at different times
- Duraloop is a white top acquired at a local hardware store
All were somewhat discharged. Higher draw rate (~1.7A for the UF light) observed in the TF when they are at full charge. I believe the XPG2 did not have much of an impact on draw rates with my sample; it was pulling in about the same range before the XRE was changed over to the XPG2.
My first take away is that his 3-mode light is very efficient with NiMH cells and not very efficient with (my) l-ion cells. If you get a few of them, you might want to select which you prefer for the battery you intend to use, and whether you want it brighter or to have a longer run time.
Next, screen shots comparisons are really only valid to the specific lights unless you get cell/charge/draw rates to also evaluate. A 2.2A NiMH draw is going to be brighter than at 1.5A and the impact will be even larger when using l-ions voltages.
The other take away is that even though the 3-modes came from the same source/warehouse just a couple months apart, it’s always a complete lottery as to which parts will be inside of them - and how they will perform.
I’m not planning to take these apart to compare drivers, but that would be an obvious next step if you should run into similar findings.