I bought my SRK from CNQG when it first came out. I wish I could help with the new models. So many, I can see why a first time SRK buyer would be worried. Good luck on your hunt!
I just noticed that you posted in the thread I created about the Fasttech gold SRK I just got and figured you posted there because you had the same driver. Your picture looks similar.
Yes the black one I got last week has the same crappy driver as your gold one.
Look, these things change so often you'd have to buy, just from FT, all six versions they currently have listed and compare them. And then one of their suppliers would change something with no notice 2 weeks later and you'd have to start all over again. They even have two versions of the UV-S5, I don't know what's different between them. I have only personally seen the $45 UV-S5 (good) and the $37 black CW SRK (bad). According to their pictures on-site and reports of people who bought them a while back, the $37 CW SRK used to match the pictures, now it doesn't.
I haven't seen any reports of the cheap driver showing up in the UV-S5 yet, but who knows how long that will last. I will only buy another one if I can find a reseller willing to look inside and tell me what parts are in the actual unit that will be shipped to me.
I think that if one of these sellers were to verify the driver and find a “good” one they could definitely move more units. I would have paid more money to get a good one- one things for sure though- it looks like Fasttech no longer sells the desirable one. Oh well. I don’t have the time or money to play the SRK lottery. The only way I’d ever buy another is if I knew it was a good one or not.
And let me be clear: Fasttech is getting screwed by their supplier/s with these, or by whoever is responsible for the, ahem, 'engineering' changes being made to either cut costs/increase profits. FT surely isn't requesting that these changes be made, they need to let the suppliers know they're being sent unusable junk.
To be honest, whenever I hear someone name drop a retailer here I always assume it’s because they got free lights to review from them. Or it’s “I got one three month’s ago and it was a good one”- which is no guarantee that current stock is good. If retailers actively came on here and assured us that current stock is verified then I’d trust it. That and there’s about 2 dozen retailers here that occasionally pimp their goods, it’s really hard to keep track of them.
Can you personally guarantee that CNQG’s current srk is the good one?
This is the one I bought too. Don’t know why I picked this one. It cost a little more and had a lower lumens listing. I really don’t have any other SRK lights to compare it to but I have no conplaints with my light. On close inspection of the outside of the light, it matches up perfectly with the SRK lights most here are saying are the best quality and most likely original.
I can only compare it to my BS Terminator in preformance. With it’s 3500 lumens, the BS overpowers this FandyFire UV-S5 as would be expected but for 1/3 the price the FF isn’t a bad light and doesn’t fall too far behind the Terminator. If I had just one, I would choose the Terminator but the SRK will do just about as much at a lower price and I wouldn’t feel lacking if I only had the SRK.
And in this thread there are various reports of some people getting a light that doesn't match the description, while others got what they paid for. So that leaves us in the same situation: how to know if you're gonna get a good one, or a bad one? It's still just as much a lottery as it always was.
I thought I had read that, when perusing the 3000 srk threads here. So basically unless the seller has opened up the exact light they’re selling to verify then there is no guarantee. You’re either playing the lottery for a $50 SRK or a $36 one.