I have several of these lights from when they were still Q5’s and under $10.
The pill is hollow… meaning it has no heatsink to the body except the very outer edge where the LED heatsink has annular contact.
The pill is aluminum so the driver is not soldered to the pill. At best, there is a wire squished between the pill ground trace and the pill. Poor reliability over time.
Notice the “spot” of solder on the spring attached to the driver. This is doomed to fail if you use this for a bike light or other high vibration application.
In most of these, the switch is potted into the tailcap. This means it is not serviceable by unscrewing a clamp ring.
In general, yes, this is a $4 flashlight. Be prepared to make it a good flashlight. I rebuilt mine and they are working very well.
Pretty amazing. Wish the shipping worked for me, but I can’t do the “keep adding stuff til you have enough grams for the price you’re paying” approach.
I wish the photos showed the electronics on the driver.
(That’s assuming they always use the same driver — which would be a wonderful thing to count on)
I can’t expect a seller to actually know what the driver is in the lights they’re selling (that too would be wonderful)
but people here likely would recognize it from a good photograph.
The pill and emitter if they would put a better driver and emitter combo along with a better pill these sipik 96- 98 come by the dozen no one makes anything different or better
I ordered on 6/11. Got it on 6/21. Not bad at all, the shipping I mean Kidding, sort of. The light is decent. I’m bummed because mine didn’t come with that big black O ring that he shows in the picture above. I think that holds the plastic zoom lens in place? Without it, mine rattles. This is a small 18650 light. 5 modes. I love these zoomie lights. I didn’t have an 18650 zoomie so this takes care of that. Very happy with it for $6 and change. I’ll use it on my bike. I love the beam on High mode, not zoomed , FLOODER, my favorite. I’m not a modder so others will have to write about that capability.
I got two of these wayyy back. One of the first lights I modded. Shipping costs are kind of a turn off, but I like these - budget all around of course, from the bezel to the tail switch.
i did reply on your inbox in this forum, here is the below msg reply.
You 06/16/2014 - 14:20 Delete
hi, sorry to reply a little late,
since we was off SAT and SUN.
it show your order was post out last friday hong kong time,
since shipping type is using stamp without tracking,
we do not have a tracking number to provide,
but as long as any problem on our service or item,
please let us know, we will take care it for you.
Dear Dealmetic , what are the chances of getting an upgraded emitter as asked on previous posts to a xml2? Many people have done this mod, and possibly a solid pill, to be honest Iam pretty sure people on this forum would happily pay the difference for the upgrades.right now
As it stands now the light you are selling sits squarely in the middle of the pack of this class of zooming lights with nothing to make it stand out from all the others.
Wow, that would be GREAT! I am guessing it is the BIG O ring at the bottom of the top picture in post #40. This would go between the optic and the bezel, eliminating the rattle I have because mine is missing. Very happy if you would do that, and thank you.
I got the Sipik branded ones at the time - the Sipik SK73, and it was a 17mm driver, replaced with a Nanjg or KD and an XML U3. Again, this was back maybe a little over 1 1/2 yrs ago before XM-L2's and before copper stars. I think I built a copper disc, press fit - can't recall. This was also before I took pics and notes on the mods. I've done several hollow zoomies like this though - building up a pill top, press fitting copper.
I'd guess from the pics above, this a 17 mm driver because the pill screws in to the battery tube, so not much available width - same as the SK73. The SK73 is still available from FT and DX, for example, $10-$12 range.
I still have one SK73 totally stock though. Looking at the pill, this is a slightly different design - my pill doesn't have the o-ring on the top ledge, rather it's below that, inset just above the threading.
As mentioned, it's cheap all the way through. The switch's are always a concern to me since they are not serviceable, similar to SK68's - not sure if they can be taken apart at all, or force pushed out, like I do with the mini AA zoomies.
Hey, I just tried to buy 5 of these (to get all I could for the flat shipping rate) and when I clicked the CHECK OUT button, it tells me the “Shipping option is incorrect, please choose a valid shipping method.” I chose the cheapest shipping option, International Register Air Mail ( 251g - 500g ) $ 9.86 Can anybody help me out?
hi, they confirmed the solid pill with copper (which they said it is better to cool down), and change the led to L2 led, and now is waiting for the sample of the flash, after testing the sample it should be ready for sell shortly, and price will be about 1usd higher. is that really copper is better than aluminum!??
Wicks away or dissipates much more efficiently than aluminum also Dealmetic I did want to tell I received the current form of this light and I must say I am impressed with its small size and output , I was going to modify it with a 16mm Noctigon sink pad and xml2-U2 1c with a 17MM 1 chip driver from mountain electronics but if your are going to upgrade as you say I will leave this one stock and order the new upgraded one directly from you ,thank you for listening I really hope the BLF ERS take advantage of your willingness to listen and give us what we have asked for.
Decent light the only problem I an see will be heat as the current one that I have gets pretty warm @ about 5 minutes on high hopefully it will run a little cooler with am xml2 does any one care to chime in as far as what tint ?Thanks to Richard from mountain electronics he got me to really like the 1c tint anyone else?
By copper you mean brass, correct? Copper is much more expensive than brass and pretty much no one uses true copper in a factory stock flashlight pill, but many claim copper when in fact it's brass. I understand copper and brass use the same word in Chinese?
Kidding, sort of. The light is decent. I’m bummed because mine didn’t come with that big black O ring that he shows in the picture above. I think that holds the plastic zoom lens in place? Without it, mine rattles. This is a small 18650 light. 5 modes. I love these zoomie lights. I didn’t have an 18650 zoomie so this takes care of that. Very happy with it for $6 and change. I’ll use it on my bike. I love the beam on High mode, not zoomed , FLOODER, my favorite. I’m not a modder so others will have to write about that capability.