I’d suggest the Brinyte b158. I’ve been using one for the past couple weeks and it’s definitely a contender for a solid, quality and useful zoomie. Under $30 too.
I'm a fan of zoomies and own dozens of them that I've collected over the last 5 years. Virtually every light I own was purchased with pocket EDC in mind however. I have very few big lights.
In the $5-$40 price range for a pocket EDC size zoomie, which one do I feel is the best?
No brainer: On The Road i3
This light is pretty amazing for a zoomie. It has a bunch of great features not found in typical cheap zoomies:
Glass lens - not the optical acrylic found in most cheap lights.
Brass pill - unlike the typical aluminum pill, it is quite easy to solder to brass pills. Very handy when replacing the driver.
Solid shelf
Screw-in cover to hold the star flush with the shelf. Much better than the typical press-fit plastic washer found on most cheap zoomies
Flawless matte dark grey anodizing - I suspect it is Type II though, so it probably won't last nearly as long as the more expensive Type III found on premium lights. Not sure how long it will last, but it sure looks great.
Top notch build quality. Much better than almost every other zoomie
Absolutely tiny size for a zoomie. It's the same size and shape as an Olight S10. Much smaller than a Sipik 68.
Excellent output. Even unmodded, it outputs many more lumens than a Sipik 68, not as throwy though due to use of an XML2
Comes in neutral and cool white. The neutral has a great tint.
Good host for modding: accepts 16mm stars. 15mm drivers will fit with included retaining ring. Or omit the retaining ring and it will fit a filed down 17mm driver. I modded mine with a 4000K XPL HI 5A2 tint and a 15mm FET driver. I'm quite please with the result.
That’s also a good light. Cheap at only $10. Has a solid pill, tailcap e-switch with green/red LED battery indicators. 2 modes: hi-lo. Build quality is excellent for a $10 light with much better anodizing than typical cheap zoomies.
However, having owned both, I think the On the Road i3 is a superior light. It has a glass instead of plastic lens. Both use the same battery, but the i3 is much smaller and much brighter.
If you’re considering the SK68 then you probably have to consider the Coast HP1. Difficult to beat for ~US$10. The only real downside is the cool white LED.
My general attitude to modding:
As my modding experience and skills have improved, I find that I’m no longer satisfied with stock. So much so that when I purchase a light I usually have a pretty good idea of the mods I’d like to try with it. Sometimes these mods are minimal (such as an emitter swap). Sometimes they are radical (such as adding a sideswitch to a light designed for a tailcap switch).
I own dozens of small zoomable lights, including some non-premium ones. None of them satisfy me unmodded in their stock configuration. Every one of them could be or has been improved through modding.
Actually, in the last couple years I’ve only purchased one light, zoomie or non-zoomie, that in my opinion is perfect as-is without any modding whatsoever (Zebralight SC600w III HI).
Regarding improving the On the Road i3 through mods:
The light is beautiful as stock, with a fairly bright flood and decent spot (running on Efest IMR 16340). However, it isn’t perfect.
Emitter upgrade I much prefer XPL HI in zoomies as it gives much more throw in spot mode.
More output needed The output of the stock light is good, considerably brighter than a stock Ultrafire UF10, but it still wasn’t good enough for me. I like pocket rockets that output the maximum amount of light possible. Naturally this meant upgrading to a FET driver.
UI upgrade The stock light had a pretty standard mode cycling with a double-click shortcut to strobe. I wasn’t impressed with this setup. The shorcut should have been to turbo not strobe. Since I needed to replace the driver anyway to improve the output, upgrading the UI seemed the right thing to do. Currently I have a 15mm FET driver with moppydrv firmware, with its 20 user-selectable mode groups. This is ok, but the light would be even better with a DrJones H17F…. the king of clicky drivers. I think there may even be room to fit an H17F inside too, though it might require dremeling the bottom of the pill a bit. This is on my list of “future mods” to do with this light.