What if we were to apply chrome plating to the flashlight’s head? That should result in mirror like surfaces inside and dramatically improved exploitation of the LED’s light… Just had this stupid idea!
Cheers
Hope your particular unit was defective and it’s not a generalized issue… I just don’t want to regret this purchase.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Cheers
I hope so too… I hate to see newbie get burned on their first few lights… 
I am interested in how this light does too. Keep us informed and let us know when you recieve it.
Still waaay to go before I receive the torch!
Once I get it I’ll do a few cheap fotos (and maybe dissassemble it to check on the inside).
Cheers
I’ll throw out some sobering wisdom for ya; budget lights, especially in the bracket we are discussing, are really budget lights. And that means build quality will vary drastically from sample to sample; some lights will work as good as something Fenix puts out while most others will not work at all or will annoy the heck out of you (i.e. have “next mode” memory, not be well driven, be damaged on arrival, suffer from bad heat protection or other design flaw, etc). It’s a crap-shoot much of the time unless you know the seller and company and have built up rapport with them and know they will back you in the event of a defect. In general, have low expectations (you can always jump for joy later!)
For this reason, many switch and pay more for name-brand lights (even though they, too, can have problems) because they get tired of playing the budget game. And I admit, I’ve been tempted myself from time to time—and fallen, even recently. And even with all the “will this light have the right driver” questions to be asked, the minimalist/cheapskate in me demands that I not overpay for something. So I truck on with higher quality and time-tested budget lights. As long as one will make the sacrifices, there is hope! That’s why, before making a purchase, it is solid advice to research a light if at all possible. I’ll say that most of my impulse purchases came back to bite me. I know (like you in this case) that you can’t always go in armed with knowledge, which is when that “I’m feeling lucky!” part of your brain takes over. Just depends if you want to gamble.
In time, you’ll likely experiment with both budget and upper brands and find that you can have your cake and eat it too with budget brands. I have gotten rid of most of the junk I had from China, but I still sometimes surrender and look for that awesomely unlikely deal to come along. As with anything, you get better at it the more you invest.
If it happens to not work, fun little light to set aside for when you inevitably start modding.
It has the same shape and color of a zoomie I picked up at an electronics market in Hong Kong in June last year. Mine happens to have a “sacred fire” logo on the side though.
For what I paid I am happy with it and it has turned out to be very reliable. Of coarse I can’t say weather the insides are the same as in the light you have purchased, so I guess this post won’t help you very much.
The only thing that concerns me about the flashlight is the driver… to be fine it should work similarly with either one or two Li-ion cells, with regards to light output; after all, a 3A discharge is less than 1C for a King Kong 26650 and that is handled with ease.
Does your flashlight perform well with either one or two cells, Mike C?
Cheers 8)
I’ve only run it with two 18650 cells. Never tried any other cell configuration. I’ve had it running continuously on full blast for about an hour, it performed well but I do not have the experience as many others here have, so I cant help much. I haven’t tested what current it pulls on the tail cap.
It did however have the dreaded next mode feature, but I solved that with the help of this thread, post #33 to be exact: Attention! Solution for most of those next mode memory drivers!
Post #72 I posted a photo of the driver, followed by comments on the solution.
What about that “next mode” feature? The driver always remember and starts in the last mode used or something like that? Or some different pesky behaviour? (sorry just too lazy to scan the entire thread lol) 
Cheers
My light has five modes (high, mid, low, strobe, SOS) just like the light in your link. The “next mode” means that if I have it on high and turn it off, the next time I turn it on it will turn on in mid mode. If it has been on in mid mode and I turn it off, the next time I turn it on it will be on low mode. So if you want to run the light on high most of the time, each time you turn it on you will have to cycle through mid, low, strobe and SOS to get to high… Very annoying… I’m very happy that the pencil trick worked for me, now it always starts on high.
LOL what an annoyance! I would have sent the engineer(s) in charge back to the design table after such a dumb decision.
The pencil trick doesn’t sound like an exact science, a resistor of a given value soldered to the cap legs sounds more reliable to me. But alas, I suppose everyone has access to pencils with ease.
Cheers
Agreed, but I hate soldering so small components… drawing a line is so much easier
I’m around 10 for 10 on fixed next mode flashlights with a pencil… science!
I tracked the seller’s feedback looking for negatives on purchases of these flashlights, only to find many “lucky” persons who got their stuff at bargain prices. I barely saved an Euro in the auction vs the “Buy it now!” packs, but after all it was me who placed the bid, so can’t complain. I also bought a charger plus 2 of these INR26650E cells separately.
Hope my toys arrive sooner than later, can’t wait to lay my hands on them!
Cheers
The light that is scattered around in the head of a zoomy is usually more bothersome than useful, partly because it is ringy. If you really want spill from a zoomy it seems that white color would disperse the light better than a shiny surface would. On the other hand, if you want to light a room with it you can take off the head or take off just the bezel and lens.
OK Fritz, just a while ago I’ve been toying with my SA-9 and just checked that myself: removed the bezel and lens… What a difference! The light spreads so much better to fill a room! Great advice in any case!
Cheers
Oh boy, if that's the same light - ugh. Lens is way smaller than head diameter -- total waste of radial real estate. I've seen these before and it's a shame - can't even say it will have more heat sinking. "bigger width aspheric - more throw" That's the general rule anyway...
Well, the light arrived past monday, and I’m taking my first impressions of it.
It reads “UltraFire” on a side, and just above it the words “HWA WYS” can be read.
The charger I’ve received charges very slowly, nearly 10 hours to bring mid charged batteries to full. Wow! 
It’s not very bright, the led is lightly driven. Did a quick measurement of 0.36 A at the tailcap on high, with full batteries. That means less than 1 amp of current on the led, even considering full efficiency at the driver. It’s a 3W light, but it’s way floodier than my Saik SA-9, and more intense.
After 2 hours of running on high, batteries were still above 4 volts. The head barely gets warm to the touch. This is probably going to mean the light will deliver more than 8 hours of runtime even on high… (doing runtime testing) What a runtime beast!
Pill looks good (to me of course), solid stuff. Will try to upload a photo later.
Lens… plastic, and scratched. lol
Driver has 5 modes, and the dreaded last mode memory.
Tailcap current raises as battery voltages drop, it seems to drain the batteries at a constant power rate.
More info later
Cheers