Sipik SK68 or "What cone is buying with edc's money"

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights
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First off, I'd like to thank edc for the generous giveaway. It really was quite exciting to win. For those of you that are interested in what was purchased, here it is. A three pack of Sipiks from Meritline. They were ordered today at 11:00 AM, and I'll report back as soon as they arrive. Perhaps I'll post how my first dealings with this company went in a distinct post in the "dealers section".

Pretty much all of my "in use" flashlights are cr123a based so I figured it was time to branch out. I likely paid a bit too much getting them from Meritline, as there are clearly cheaper places to get a Sipik from, but I really wanted the three different colors. Why three of the same light? (Ya, like I'm the only one) Well, my two grade school aged sons have an ever growing EDC collection in their favorite colors (red and blue). So, thanks to edc, there were actually three lucky cones last Sunday.

I still have $1.12 left and I think I'm going to go buy a Tan Sunwayman RO1A from HKEquipment. Not the most practical torch, but I really want to see Sunwayman's "tan" before I pony up the cash on some of their other, more expensive, earth tone offerings. The $1.12 will at least take the sting out of buying something I don't need. :glasses: Plus, it's sooo cute. _the_'s review pushed me over the edge, so a big kudos there. I'd post a link to HKE, but the page isn't loading at the moment.

Not to go off on a tangent, but my intent earlier in the week was to go with all AAA lights for the three of us, but the offerings all seem liked they were lacking in some respect. You'd think that for such a common battery that there would be more/better choices. Oh, well.

In any event, I'll be sure to update this thread with my impressions of the lights when they get here. Actually, look for the AAA Sunwayman in the "AAA section".

Thanks again edc.

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Nice! I like all the different colors and you're gonna have to post pics you know. I'd like to see it. You lucky dawg!

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Wow, three lights! Great choice.

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Nice - great choice. The three Cones should be very happy with these. The boys in particular will be thrilled with those little beauties.

Cone, to really see all that is available in the AA format, you might consider branching out a little further (14500). Same size, different planet. And eneloops are the greatest batteries ever made.

Good thing about this size is you can affordably collect a lot of lights. I'm working on having a different edc light for every day of the week, although honestly AAA works even better for that. I'm enjoying 'discovering' some pretty nice little packages, usually well below $20 a pop.

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@ fishingfool- I plan on doing that, although I have to first learn how to do it. Likely going to have to get my bride to help. As an aside, this is why our Maine Coon is my avatar. She put it up there to be funny and I don't know how to get it off. I can barely log on here.

@ edc- Don't forget the AAA Sunwayman, So, actually, something like 3.1 flashlights due to your generosity and the exchange rate.

@ BetweenRides- Aside from some old Maglites that don't get used anymore, the only AA lights in the Cone house are four Pentagon M.O.L.L.E. lights that we each keep on our respective night stands. I do run Eneloops in those. Those are, indeed, fantastic.

My problem with 14500s, or the 18650s that would fit in most of my other lights, is that a) I'm lazy and like the convenience of primary batteries or simple rechargeables, and b) I'm not that technologically proficient that I trust myself to use Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries. You guys had a thread up where you had pictures of very impressive looking homemade (I think the word y'all use is "hobby") chargers that, quite frankly, made me dizzy just to gaze upon them. Then there is all that checking voltage and whatnot. That's pretty complicated for a guy like me.

That said, there are some lights that really, really appeal to me, like this Sky Ray or this one, so I'm sure I'll be forced to learn sooner or later. Truthfully, I figure my boys are real good at math and science, and already like flashlights, so it won't be long before they understand enough of this stuff to help the old guy out.

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Those Sipik SK68s look nice.

I'm sure your family will love them.

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So, the package from Meritline arrived today midmorning. Pretty standard small padded envelope. All three lights were in bubble wrap inside of nondescript white boxes. The three boxes were then placed together in a ziplock bag. There was no paperwork in the individual boxes and no spare parts. Not that I was expecting either.

The colors are very crisp and the anodizing is pretty good with only a minor blemish here or there. I knocked off a couple of snots which left some bare aluminum. Like I said, very minor. The knurling is even, but not very deep. Pretty low traction, relatively speaking.

I was surprised to see that they can tail stand because the switch is recessed. Pretty cool, that. My Romisen RC-A4 has a quite similar body, but the switch protrudes, so it can't tail stand. I know some people really like their lights to have this feature, although I don't hardly ever need a light to do that; most of my lights can't do it anyway. I'm sure my sons will dig that their lights can, though.

All three lights fired right up. The three seem equally bright running on fresh Eneloops. Again, it's mid afternoon as I write this so I'll have to wait till later to see how bright the really are. The tightness of the zoom head varies considerably between the three lights. You can almost get the red one to fully deploy just with momentum. The red one also had a stripped clip screw. No biggie, as I can rectify that. My experience with the Rominsen has show that the clip isn't that great in actual use because it terminates at a hard, 90° shoulder and the pant material gets jammed up. But, for eight dollars a piece, I wasn't expecting perfection. And I generally don't clip carry, so that's pretty much a non issue for me. I'm also not sure how useful the zoom feature is, I guess only time will tell.

Overall, I'd say they are quite nice lights. I can see why so many of you give these as gifts.

Meritline got them to me in one piece and in twelve days, so kudos to them. The only negative was that the price for the 3-pack varied considerably while I was debating what to buy; and still does vary, actually. I've seen $18-24. I noticed this on other products from them as well. I'm not really sure what to make of it, but other than that, this deal went as smoothly as one could expect.

I'll get some pictures up ASAP. I need Mrs. Cones help for that, sorry to say. So be on the lookout for pictures and my riveting report on the Sipik 68s after some actual use.

BTW, I'm still waiting for the Sunwayman from HKEq. It was ordered on the 17th., so maybe it will be here soon.

And I'd like to say once again, Thanks edc!

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Make sure there is a pic of Mrs. Cone holding one of them :)