Looking for lights that "out-shines" itself for its size

Those are all FastTech parts: I can agree with that as being an impressive light, but for my build, I used a cooler tint emitter and Nanjg 101AK driver which only drives at 1.4A, but is still very impressive in such a small pocket-sized light:

Driver - https://www.fasttech.com/products/1122401

Emitter - very cool tint U2/1A - https://www.fasttech.com/products/1137102

DenBarrettSAR: Yup those are all FastTech parts. Keltex78: I have ordered two more hosts and will try your emitter and driver combi.
:beer:

This one also has a wow on it:

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/ultrafire-wf501a-flashlight-tube-cr123-mini-p60-host-no-led-emitter-p-4294
plus
http://www.kaidomain.com/Product/Details.S021215

Interesting! Does that host take P60 drop-ins?

Also the comments say CR123 batteries, but what rechargeables would work with this? Would a 16340 work?

Edit: Also the comments say it’s “thin aluminum”. When I first started, I bought a couple of “Police 3W” lights from Buyincoins, and they were really cheap, thin, aluminum. Almost like toys. Is the WF-501A better quality than that?

Yes the 501A & B p60 hosts are both really thin and feel kind of cheap. They’re OK for the low price but you should know what to expect.

Eagletac D25c neutral 2012 edition running on AW IMR 16340. Tiny, ultralight, and around 700 lumens… nearly as bright as my Zebralight SC600 (Mk I). Unfortunately, not at all practical since it only reliably works in max mode.

The Eagletac D25c 2013 edition is much more practical with full li-ion support, but even modded with an XM-L2 it only gets around 500 lumens and lacks the wow factor of the 2012.

These days I find myself using modded lights much more. My brightest is a modded Roche F12 with the body tube cut down to use 1x18350, that powers a 5 amp driver. Light source modded to triple XP-G2 neutral. Very flood due to the tiny TIR optics, but very bright. Probably close to 1,000 lumens. Significantly brighter than my SC600. However, the driver makes switching modes awkward so I’m thinking of swapping it out. Perhaps a Nanjg 105c with the ultra-low mode from International Outdoor, modded with 6 extra 7135 chips.

My other pocket rocket is a modded Sipik SK58 running on a 2.8 amp DrJones electronic switch driver, powering a single XM-L2 neutral on a 16mm copper sinkpad. It’s a zoomie with excellent flood, but not so great throw. Not sure the output, but I’d guess around 700-800 lumens on a fresh IMR 14500.

Historically, I have always gone for pocket rockets as my EDC lights. Lights with great brightness for their size and almost no runtime. However, much to my surprise, when I grab a light to stick into my pants as my EDC, I find myself reaching for my much dimmer high-CRI light: a Sipik SK58 modded to be a non-zoomie. Running on 3.04 amp Nanjg 105c Interntional Outdoor driver (the one with the ultra-low) and powering triple Nichia 219 4500k 92 CRI. With probably around 500 lumens output, it’s far dimmer than the other 2 lights. But it makes up for it with truly beautiful tint and color rendition.

Please share some pics of these lights! Would especially like to see the roche.

Firelight2,

I think that you’ve come the closest to understanding what I was trying (not very well) to ask.

Here’s the Sipik 58 with triple Nichia 219 next to the cut down Roche with triple XP-G2

Here’s the Roche with the body tube disassembled

Another of the Sipik 58 with 14500 next to cut down Roche with 18350

Business end:

Apologies for my poor iphone photography. :wink:

Hi,

Wow! How did you get 3 emitters into those tiny lights? Do you/did you have a mod thread (not that I’d be able to do that :laughing:?

Yes it takes P60 drop-ins. I used this one with a 4.2V CR123A:
http://www.kaidomain.com/Product/Details.S021215

I do not have a 16340 so I can’t tell.
I can say that the Police 3W and the 501B (Sunsky) are thinner and lighter.
This one is thicker and heavier (501A from Manafont).
It doesn’t look like a toy. I recommend it. :beer:

With such a tiny reflector the Trustfire Z1 has no right to throw as incredibly well as it does.

Yup. At just 23mm in width these lights are very small and narrow for 3 emitter lights. The trick to getting 3 emitters inside is making sure the light fits a 20mm triple star and 20mm triple TIR optic.

Roche F12

  • Relatively simple to get the 3 emitters inside. The stock F12 comes with a single XM-L. The platform the star sits on is only 16mm across so is too narrow for triple emitters. Fortunately, when the reflector is removed, the reflector compartment abruptly widens to 20mm about 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the compartment. This creates a shelf about 2mm across around the inside of the light.
  • Put the 20mm star on this shelf, put the optic on top of that, and a lens on top of the optic, then screw in the bezel and it all fits! The shelf is at exactly the right height with no adjustment needed.
  • Of course this leaves a big open area underneath the star which isn’t good for heatsinking … but that space can be used to add a heatsink. I cut some copper sheet into ten 16mm diameter disks, then laminated them together with low temp solder paste and baked them in the oven. to create a solid heatsink. Then I drilled a whole through the center of the heatsink and through the stock 16mm star platform for the driver wires.
  • Stick the heatsink into the reflector compartment with thermal grease, then stick the 20mm star on top and reassemble.
  • Removing the stock driver on the F12 was a royal pain. It was VERY securely held in place by a press-fit brass ring. The only way I was able to remove it without damaging the body was to smash the stock driver to bits with a very wide drill, then use long nosed pliers to pry the ring out.
  • After that it was a simple matter to stick the new driver in. I held it in place with a small amount of arctic alumina and used a bit of copper solder braid soldered to the edge of the driver for negative contact.
  • The hardest part of this mod was cutting down the body tube. Hand tools only here… no lathe… so cutting new threads wasn’t an option. I used a hacksaw to saw the body tube into 3 sections and pulled out the middle. Then I filed down the cut portions till I got a nice smooth cut.
  • I then used a pin-vise drill (available at hobby shops) and a tiny drill bit to drill 2 holes on opposite sides of each section of the body tube. I inserted a small brass rod into each hole. This made it so that the 2 body sections would now slot into place together along these brass rods.
  • Initially I tried to solder together the two body sections with low temp solder paste in the oven. That didn’t work well. Most of the solder ran out of the join and the bond broke with relatively little pressure. I eventually ended up using super glue gel. Super glue gel combined with pin vise rods produces a very strong bond and the tube feels completely solid.
  • The new tube is fully removable. If more runtime is needed, I can swap in an unmodded tube and run the light on an 18650. The positive contact plate on the driver was flat, but I used solder paste to attach a small copper disk allowing the light to work with flat top cells.

Sipik 58

  • The pill on this light is only about 20mm wide and fits a 16mm star. It wouldn’t fit a 20mm star. However, the interior of the sliding bezel is wide enough for a 20mm star if you can get one into the light.
  • The pill I used in this mod was from a Sipik 58 clone. Unlike the regular Sipik 58, this clone had a hollow pill.
  • I used a hacksaw to chop off most of the top of the existing pill.
  • I cut a single 20mm copper disk and several 16mm copper disks.
  • The 20mm copper disk went onto the top of the cut down pill and the 16mm disks went inside the pill directly below to serve as a heatsink.
  • I put the entire pill with all the copper disks in the oven with plenty of low temp solder paste and baked it to make a new pill. After it came out of the oven I drilled a hole through the center of the new pill for the driver wires.
  • The new 20mm triple star sits on top of the 20mm copper platform in the modded pill. One problem was how to remove the pill to change the driver. The original pill had slots on the sides into which a needle-nosed pliers could be inserted to unscrew the pill. The new 20mm star was so wide there was no room for slots.
  • I solved this problem by using a pin-vise drill to drill 2 holes on opposite sides of the top of the pill. I inserted 2 very short sections of brass rods into those holes and super glued them into place. When the new star is inserted two of the notches on the triple star engage those rods. The entire pill can then be screwed in or out by inserting long-nosed pliers into 2 other notches on the triple star and turning.
  • Once the light was fully assembled and working I used arctic silver to permanently glue the sliding bezel to the body.
  • the existing bezel on this clone Sipik 58 had an aluminum bezel with plastic aspheric lens glued in. I removed the lens from the bezel using thermal shock (2 pots next to each other: one with ice water other with boiling water… use pliers to repeatedly immerse the lens in each pot for 15 seconds at a time). I then filed down the aluminum bezel. The new bezel worked but still didn’t look that great. I ended up using a bezel from a Roche F12, which fit perfectly.
  • The Sipik 58 is too narrow for a 17mm driver. Fortunately a Nangj 105c easily fits with a little filing at the edge of the driver. The driver was then glued to the bottom of the pill with arctic alumina.
  • For both lights I removed all the anodizing with Greased Lightning, then polished them up with Blue Magic. The actual lights look shinier than in the pictures I posted.

Well, if you want custom triple emitter lights better start saving your pennies mate! :stuck_out_tongue:

VERY nice work Firelight! That Roche is amazing.

Very impressive , sir .

Hi,

I’ve been continuing to review the suggestions, and I’m starting at the “cheap” end :).

I just got a “UniqueFire UF-K21” from FastTech:

https://www.fasttech.com/p/1300400

and I was out with it tonight, and I also had my SC52 with me.

Quite frankly, I was a little surprised. I really think that this UF-K21 (with 16340 battery) is just about as bright as my SC52 (with fully-charged 14500), has about the same amount of throw, but also has slightly more flood, than my SC52.

Both the SC52 and the UF-K21 lit up my back yard equally, and both were able to throw to a stand of trees about 50 yards away equally, but, I compared the area covered side-to-side by both lights, and the UF-K21 beam was a little wider than the SC52’s.

The SC52 has more modes, and the low-low, and the built-in battery level feature, but other than that, light-wise, I think the UF-K21 is pretty much equal or better. Plus, the UF-K21 is like 1/3 the price of the SC52!

BTW, the UF-K21 also a magnet in its tail, like the Xtar WK21, but at least the one I have, it’s not a very strong magnet.

I love my NiteCore TM26.

Ohaya,

You just saved me some money, as that SC52 has been on my wish list. I also bought the Uniquefire UF-K21 back in April and was blown away by it.
It sounds like the Trustfire Mini-01 would not please me after owning this Uniquefire as the Trustfire is still the old T6 and this light is the U2 and is driven fairly well.

I have never used anything other than the Xtar 16340 that I ordered at the same time from FastTech so can’t comment on lower power usage.
This little light seems like a hidden gem.
On mine the magnet will hold it on the fridge but still isn’t super strong.
Thanks,
Keith

What a great thread! Have you tried the one-mode UF-K21 that is supposed to be 700 lumens?

Hi,

No, I haven’t, just the 5-mode one.

Based on my experience with the 5-mode one, I’d guess that the 1-mode one is probably seriously bright :)… FT lists:

so I may have to try that one in the future.

For now, I love the one I have, and use it all the time at home, including just last night. It’s like the first light I grab for stuff around the house, because it’s pretty bright on high, but also has the lower modes for close-in work.

Thanks,
Jim