Review: “HM Q5 LED Flashlight” (1×AA/14500 zoomie) from Dinodirect

Here’s my review of the Dinodirect giveaway light:

It even comes with a yellow warning sticker :wink: :

Size compared with other AA/14500 zoomies:

It’s a bit longer than a Sipik SK68 clone, but lighter - ~56g versus ~62g. It also feels better in the hand and has a nice color. The king in the size and weight department is the silver zoomie (~32g!).

In peaces:

Crappy photo of the business end:

Hollow pill, as usual:

Driver (14mm):

High > Low > Strobe, next mode memory :frowning: Fortunately pencil modding helps making memory only last for less than a second. This way a quick half press still advances the modes, but a slightly longer one (or a full on-off cycle) defaults it back to high. Goodbye accidental blinky modes!

The overall build quality is pretty good for the price. Only the tailcap has some sharp-ish edges (comparable with SK68’s crenelated bezel). The clip is weak. But this light comes with 4 o-rings, something the other two can’t brag about. Here’s an example:

And after aplying some silicon grease on all the threads and o-rings you can feel the air resistance when zooming the head in and out. That’s an indicator this zoomie might actually be waterproof.

Another thing I liked - this light has the widest flood beam of all three. It’s as wide as a Zeusray! And it’s bright.

Current draw with a freshly charged Keeppower 840mAh 14500:
High: starts at ~1.5A
Low: ~0.35A

Overall, I like this light. It looks and feels better than a SK68 type light, has a very wide flood beam and all the o-rings included. Is it better than my Sipik SK68 clone? I think it is.

EDIT: Coupon code to bring it down to $4.99: BLFHM

first link for the ‘giveaway’ thread is

see also other threads about this model

http://budgetlightforum.com/node/35380
http://budgetlightforum.com/node/35350
http://budgetlightforum.com/node/35121

Could you show me where to draw a pencil line please?

UPDATE: after finally being able to get the driver out, I managed to disable next memory with the pencil trick.