Help Choosing a Flood toThrow Zoom Light

I want to get another one of these. I am very curious about them. I have 2 Sipiks SK68 lights and turns out I enjoyed them way more then I expected thanks to throw feature. I really like the aspheric. It also turns out I want more, I want brighter flood and much more throw out of a Eneloop or 14500.

I wanted to know if there was anything better then the Sipik SK68 for it’s size that can throw further. I am looking for something as when I researched all I ever hear about are Sipik SK68 and I am sure there is something better out there I just want to know mainly about that.

I like using Eneloops and 14500s. I like the most throw when zoomed out possible. Size is not that important. I don’t care if it’s overdriven as long as the design allows for reliability through proper heat sinking.

All suggestions welcome thanks BLF prowlers!

I do not know of any better than the one you got that uses 14500 batteries.

With 18650 there are some, this one is one of the cheapie ones that throw further, but it will not be clearly brighter in flood.

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/small-sun-zyc10s-cree-q5-3mode-floodtothrow-led-flashlight-black-18650-p-8459

If you want it to be brighter in flood, you need to go for an XM-L one, but the throw will be less.

Funny, but I just ordered This One from ebay, it looks a nice compact light and I am guessing shares some body parts with the 980L clones. It looks much nicer to me than the new Sipik.

Not what you are after though I know

I’m curious about zoomies as well since I’m planning on getting one as a gift. I was previously settled on the SK68, which would be super cheap, but I’m thinking an 18650/3 x AAA might be more practical. The problem is the Romisen is twist zoom and is quite cumbersome.

I’m not trying to hijack the thread. Hopefully we can get a variety of the newest and best flood to throw lights.

I really like my Poppas W-878, but it’s more for flood than throw. Review here. My tailcap measurements here. Beamshots here. I like the battery versatility, but I don’t know how long it would last on 3AAA’s.

-Garry

From some perusing at the other place, I’ve heard that a german company called LED Lenser has several patents to some excellent zooming technology, apparently with TIR optics, that they aggressively defend, so there are fewer zoomies thanks to their unwillingness to share. At least that’s my understanding. They license their lights in North America as Coast, but thanks to their patents they’re not in the realm of budget lights.

My LL P7 is the only flood-to-throw light I’ve seen that delivers the same level of brightness when zoomed in or out. It’s undetectable to me, at least, when doing a ceiling bounce test anyway. Perhaps there are some others, but certainly none of the cheap ones.

I’ve got a Led Lenser P7, and it performs by far worse than most of the budget zoomies but for the build quality.

If they used aspherical lenses, it would be great, but they don’t, and they do not throw that mucho comparing with almost any with aspherical.

cainn24, they perform thay way because they don’t even let it focus for throw, the end of the travel on the head is a few millimeters short, so you

never see the square of the die unless you unscrew a bit the head.

It’s funny, because seeing the image of the LED is a pet peeve of mine, so I like it that they stop just short of that so you still have a round hot spot.

I know that the P7 is a measly 200 lumens, but the point is that the ideal zoomer for me would work exactly the same way, just with a much brighter LED inside it.

For 18650 and a low budget, its still the Smallsun ZY-C10. But you should use another driver, the stock one only pulls about 1.4A.

This

You consider 1.4A under powered for a XR-E?

I have the stock model and I think anyone would appreciate it and notice the difference over the Sipik.

Yes I do. :)

Mine is running 2.1A now and thats great for throw. After I filled the pill with tin, my Saik SA9 clone (DD on high, somewhere about 2-2.3A) gets way hotter.

/edit: Of course its way better than all the budget aspheric throwers, mainly because of the large optic. Die image is about 1/4 the size of a typical FTT. But brighter is better. :P

people begin to slip into what THEY think is a better flood to throw light ...like it or not you can't change the basic understanding of what a good light is .

an led lenser is going to have a better body and knurling but not perfom as well and be more expensive .

a sipik 68 may be cheap and bright on a 14500 but unable to fully throw

cheap xml aspheric lights have lots of flood but can't focus down to a small super hot spot

add a few more variables like this to twists , pwm , poor construction ,quality of lens or beam quality efficiency and it's guarenteed that no one will agree . Some of the more obvious reasons to buy each light should be emphisized as well as their weaknesses .

i like the Tanks and edi-t's pretty well ...well made quality is zy C-10 sounds like what a flood to throw is supposed to be .. but with the xml being so popular the multitudes of ftt lights with an xml were inevitable and seek to redefine what a flood to throw is .

I had a quite a read.
I was mainly looking for throw. Surprised at my SK68s. Another Sipik SK68(gift light)arrived today and it was not nearly as bright as my campingsurvivals Sipik SK68(from ebay) which draws 2.4a. Not even sure if it would be much brighter but I tested it side by side with my friends clone and was much brighter on a single Eneloop then his clone UltraFire(or Trustfire? I forget) Sipik SK68. If I still had my lux meter I would have given out a number but comparing it to my PA40(SMO) which is nearly 8000lux @1m it was pretty bright. I am easily convinced that the camping survivals Sipik has a different driver then the norm due to the significantly(a big difference) brighter throw hotspot(and flood) in my campingsurvivals SK68.

I simply want brighter hotspot on these aspheric lenses with a Eneloop(primarily) or or AW/IMR 14500. Don’t really know why I am liking it so much but it’s entertaining me for now :stuck_out_tongue: Was hoping to try out some XR-E R2s EZ900 and stick them in my campingsurvivals SK68 to see if it would appease me but can’t really find any(dereelight is out).

I don’t really here to much about other 14500/AA lights when it comes to further throw. I only here about the Sipik, was hoping to get any other light that can simply out throw it and brighter. Not really worrying about modes/runtimes just that it works and turns on everytime and makes me happy.

PS: If anyone knows where I can get some XR-E R2s EZ900 please let me know, thanks guys.

@Animal: I've been searching EZ900s all along, but you wont find really good ones and imo its not worth the hassle. Die is 10% smaller but if you stay in the Sipik size, you wont really notice it.

You could switch to XRE R2s anyway, they are likely to produce more light/pull more amps than the current ones. But it wont get really bright on Eneloops.. on 14500, yes. But 18650 is a great size for cells, too. ;)

So is it basically a futile effort to look beyond the SK68 considering it’s already very inexpensive anyway? I still like the battery options of the PoPPas (accepts 26650) but I’m not sure about its output.

What do you want to know about it? It’s awesome on a 26650 - 4A on high (direct drive) with huge flood area. You see my beamshots? Or are you looking for output on AAA’s?

-Garry

I would prefer above average throw over above average flood. How would you compare throw to the SK68, for example? The 26650 capability sure is tempting. How’s output on AAA? Yes, I read your review. Thanks!

My Poppas is great for flood, but for throw it is so so, the lens is not as good as on the Smallsun ZY-C10 or the Yezl T9 which is same diameter as

smallsun but a bit worse.