Review: Smiling Shark SS-004 CR123A or 16340* angled flashlight/headlamp

Smiling Shark SS-004, CREE Q3 1 mode* (which isn't)

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆


Summary:

Battery: CR123A or 16340 if unprotected
Switch: digital soft switch at top
Modes: 2, high - 2Hz strobe - off *
LED Type: Osram golden dragon *
Lens: plasitc convex
Tailstands: Yes, designed that way
Price Payed: 7,5USD
From: Neverbuying
Date Ordered: 10 january 2011

Pros:

  • Cuteness in very tiny package
  • Floody beam pattern
  • Doubles as headlamp (actually is sold as headlamp)
  • Very good headband with rubber flashlight holder
  • Inexpensive

Cons:

  • Not able to use any protected 16340 or any above 34mm in legth (there is a report that a protected solarforce 16340 fits)
  • Lack of protective circuit for overdischarge of rechargeable li-ion cells
  • 0 orings (cannot be fitted reasonably well) not water proof but probaly somehow splash resistant
  • Quite cold color temperature for an osram
  • Wrongfully advertised as cree Q3 1 mode
  • Silly name and logo on front of a stylized shark with a big grin... (who come up with this nonsense anyway?!?)

Features / Value: ★★★

Features a soft digital switch which is nice. It would eat a battery in a year dry but by unscrewing the tailcap a 1/4 of turn disables the circuit effectively. It has two modes, high, strobe, off without memory function. There is no ramping unfortunately. It is very small measuring 60mm by 22mm. The headband is actually very good, not outstanding but good. Camo coloring may not appeal to everyone but i don't care. It would be nice if the light would feature a pocket clip. That is a major flaw in the design. Some DIY is needed to fit one anyway if wanted. I used a clip from a screwdriver. It has an osram golden dragon for the emitter which is wrongfully advertised on the page, along with being 1 mode which clearly isn't. The strobe is actually not half bad. A steady 2Hz is quite attractive if you want one at all. Feels just wrong to call it strobe since blinking fits the description better. For such a compact flashlight heatsinking was adequate during a full 50min runtime in which i carelessly managed to go below the reccomended max voltage drop allowed of a 16340 cell or most rechargeable lithium cells which is roughly 3V.

Design / Build Quality: ★★★☆☆

Where to start? This is the worst flashlight to review concerning design and build quality so far. It is so bad at first but when you get over a few times when disassembled you realize that it has some really ingenious approach to many solutions that felt cheesy at first. The emitter is suspended on wires from the driver. Then it is fitted into the lens cavity and an aluminium half moon shaped piece keep the led there. The aluminum bit also doubles as heatsink. To prevent shorts it is fitted with a non conductive presumably thermal pad. The idea is good but the execution is just poor. That approach would require very precise machining which we all know isn't present in such price range. Can be fixed easily but it is tedious to do so. The only one thread is smooth and fully anodized and lubed. Above the body thread there is a gap which is supposedly meant for fitting one thin oring. I found none that would fit in a way that the tailcap would screw over it. Someone might get lucky. So, design ain't half bad but has the usual half assed execution. The lens is plastic and a bit opaque. Looks like it has seen some wear already. No oring behind or in front of the lens either. The lens add a little blueish tint to the output beam. Fitting a CREE Q5 or similar might be very hard since there is hardly any space for a star and wires would need to be soldered directly to the emitter. Heatsinking one would be also not very easy but i think it can be done. That said i would sugget to keep it stock anyway.

Battery Life: ★★★★

For the test i used a new protected tustfire 16340 which was stripped off it's protection PCB to be able to fit. I charged the cell using XTAR MP1 charger plugged into my pc usb port. Used a spacer made from an "audiphile grade" steel banana plug. Left it sitting on top of my computer which has a 200x200mm fan venting hot air on top to aid cooling. At 50min mark i noticed that output has dimmed by half or more. I checked the cell voltage and was not happy to find out it has reached 2.03 volts and climbed to 2,29 in a few seconds. It sent it to charging shortly. If it goes boom i will let you know. :) Remeber, discharging rechargeable li-ion cells below 3V is bad and can lead to disaster when recharging a overdischarged cell. I got lucky this time it seems.

The current draw was 700mA at 4,19 cell voltage and 500mA at 2.2V this along with 50min gives me an rough guesstimate that my cell should be near 600mAh capacity if discharged at 700mA. Perhaps 550mAh seems about right. The lack of protective circuit for overdischarge isn't really a good thing. You better be carefull with those unprotected cells. I had hopes the driver would stop when the cell reaches the 2.7V mark but i was wrong.

Light Output: ★★★☆☆

It's purely a flood light. It is not very bright but decent. I would guess the output is around the 60-70 lumen mark. A sipik SK68 zoomie on a good AA is a bit brighter for a bit longer runtime to add some insult. The beam pattern looks like on most zoomable flashlights. Comparing it to the UF-H3D is very unfair but since i will do it i can can say the UF-H3D is as expected far better. The unusual thing was the cold white. My past experience with osram golden dragon emitters was alwas much more warmer. Later i found out that the lens add to the coldness percieved since it add some blueish tint to the output. For a headlamp it's output is quite adequate. Runtime could be better lumen wise.

The picture below does not accurately represent the beam i see. The rings are similar but start to vansih with distance. Can be clearly seen at 1 metre where this picture was taken and below. Color temperature is way colder and tint is leaning toward blue.

Dealer experience: ★★★☆☆

I bought the flashlight form the infamous "neverbuying.com" which has earned a negative reputation on BLF. They needed a week to ship the goods and for shipping the trustfires 16340 1 day faster they even splitted the order in half. The flashlight needed 19 days from shipping and batteries sent 1 day earlier needed 30 days. HK post at it's finest. :) The communication is not too bad but i filed a complaint on this one being 2 mode wrongly advertised as 1 mode and with a CREE q3 emitter. I will let you know how they handle the issue. Yes, i dislike it being 2 mode if the second mode is blinky i have no use for. I'm waiting for their reply a week already. Would have not bothered but since i do reviews and like to add the dealer experience getting something as wrongfully advertised on a few levels require investigating a bit for the sake of the community. Expect to read the epilogue of the issue when they eventually come up with one.

Summary: ★★★☆☆

I don't know where to put this light. I like and hate it at the same time. It is cute and works decently. The lack of the possibility to use protected 16340 is perhaps the most negative point of this flashlight. That along with a missing cree and a funky strobe mode lowers the overall rating of the flashlight by 2 stars. Also worth of mention is it that decent retailers have yet to be found for this little lamp. I bought it since i was way too curious what is like and bite the bullet. I might mod it a bit in the future changing the driver for one that gives me a shut off when the battery voltage gets too low. I admit i like this little thing but the drawbacks it has might not appeal to many. With few modifications at the factory this one could get into a 5 star rating easily if kept under 10usd and perhaps powered by 1 AA. I don't know why they don't make one like that for cheap.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to ask questions i did not cover in the review if you have any. :)

Update as of 5th March 2011:

The light is two weeks in non-working condition. The switch and led are fine the driver went bad, Unabe to fix it or swap a driver (unaware of any that could work with this kind of switch) the flashlight is now a cute paperweight.

Update as of 30 april 2011:

The flashlight went back from the dead. Not on it's own but with a substantial help. Required through disassembly, cleaning, wires change, and complete soldering rework of the driver along with all other contacts. 1h of work.

But now works as it is intended. Still the way it's buitl it might come to have to redo the solsdering or even rework it so it lasts better.

It's definitely cute like you said.

Thanks for the review Budgeteer.

If you just collect lights and want one for the showplace shelf i can easily reccomend it.

I think I told you guys I'm sure it's two modes, now feel it.

I went for the Cree version of this, here's my very quick summary:

Good:

- great logo (I really like it)... But the logo was clearly visible on the product pages anyway so I think it doesn't make any sense to state this as pro/con.

- electronic switch

- cute (with a great logo rofl)

- the headband indeed, considering the price

Bad:

- electronic switch (bad because it's harder to mod it this way)

- you can clearly feel this thing was rushed together. Obviously made without any concept, everything inside is shaky. The lens (which is shaky, too, as it isn't really attached to anything) is the worst one I've ever seen, with a transmittance of below ~70%, not to mention the fact that another ~30% of the led output don't even reach the lens in the first place. Budgeteer, I don't think I could find any traces of ingeniousness in mine...

I'm not easily disappointed with (also very) budget lights, but this one's garbage imho.

"Budgeteer, I don't think I could find any traces of ingeniousness in mine..."

I did, i like the way the thought the sinking for such a light. You confirmed my suspicion that the lens might be just like that not just mine.

I however like the switch and do not think it is worth changing at all.

thanks for the review

I should agree with it almost 100 %

There is only one remark mine protected solarforce 16340 fits this light perfectly

Really? Can you measure the exact lenght of the solarforce 16340? Anything above 34mm doesent screw completely on my sample.

Any chance of some beam shots? :)

Will do try today. Since it is 2 mode, for the blink mode you want the beamshot in dark or bright time of the blinking? XD

Done!

Thank you sir for the very nice review! Very balanced and objective, and great details in the photography. Frontpage'd and Sticky'd.

So it has a digital switch for $7.50? That's impressive.

We should ask Daniel @ Lightake to look for this light, it sounds like the worst of the whole thing is dealing with Neverbuying.com.

Thanks Budgeteer! I might get one just for the cuteness factor. Embarassed

I am using this one http://www.solarforce-sales.com/product_detail.php?t=BC&s=23&id=84 and they are really small if to compare with black Trustfiries, I will measure it on weekend

I wonder if the Quarrow Fishermen 1AA Angle Light is available somewhere from a chinese vendor.

The price looks interesting and there are some striking similarities in the host with the UF H2B .

Cool light, nice review, stupid, stupid name. Thanks Budgeteer!

Very. I'm surprised there are no clones around.

Maybe the Quarrow IS a Ultrafire clone.... attack of the counter-clones so to speak... ;-)

Would have bought 2 5 min ago but they don't accept paypal. Doh!

Did anyone found this flashlight anywhere else with international shipping that accepts paypal?

Vectrex wrote:

I wonder if the Quarrow Fishermen 1AA Angle Light is available somewhere from a chinese vendor.

The price looks interesting and there are some striking similarities in the host with the UF H2B .

Did anyone found this flashlight anywhere else with international shipping that accepts paypal?

+1 around $10 is a steal