I still have both lights in question. I’m even currently following my own advice and using the V11R with the AA extender on the road. It’s sitting in my thick-canvas Israeli commando knockoff duffle bag with an Eneloop in it as I type this, though I have some 16430s on me. Personally I like the V11R a little better, because I have no use for the ‘cop mode’ on the SRT3. Maybe you do? Neither red/blue LED isn’t very powerful so it seems a little gimmicky even if you are a LEO. I don’t really use all those weird modes.
Maybe the V11R is easier to disassemble? I haven’t used the SRT3 enough for the control ring to need re-greasing, but that’s something to keep in mind. The grease lasts maybe 1 year of heavy use. I was lucky enough to get my V11R apart without too much fuss, and it’s just about due again. I have no idea how easy/hard it is to re-grease the SRT3.
Another thing to keep in mind is you have a wider range of motion on the control ring of the V11R devoted just to brightness and not any of the other modes, so you have finer control over the light output of the main LED.
The SRT3 does seem a little more rugged and better built, but I’ve banged around this V11R and it’s held up very well. You wouldn’t go wrong with either light. Right now the SRT3 lives in the ‘bag of shame’ which is basically lights I don’t use that often. I take it out once in a while but it’s clunky compared to my sleek Spark SF3 or even SF5 which is clipped to my pocket now
This is great advice which you seemed to just skip right over by saying try fire batteries were recommended to you here on BLF. I don’t ever remember getting a recommendation of buying**fire batteries.
I’ve read the opposite several dozen times. I encourage you to read up on why everyone keeps recommending against *fire batteries.
The problem with the V11R, is that a magnetic ring light that’s variable isn’t super cheap to come by. It’s been out a few years now and there isn’t yet a budget light contender. And yeah it ain’t cheap to replace. I had a Jetbeam RRT01 that I lost- so that was kind of an expensive “OOPS.”
You have to remember it’s an open, public forum.
Some of the answers you get will be adbot stuff or people accepting pay to recommend whatever.
I”m surprised you — identified as new to this stuff —- read such a recommendation — especially recently! — without an immediate flurry of cautionary disagreement.
I recall people here recommending 14500 flames several years back. I bought several to try out and capacity wise they tested out better than an AW I had and as well as a nitecore I bought last year.
I received multiple recommendations for the TF flame when asking last summer, in regards to 26650 lights. That’s when I bought my first A8. And I also received PM’s to the same extend basically saying that the TF flame (w/holo) is a good battery at a fair price and that many were biased against them. They aren’t the mah listed of course, but many ‘good’ batteries aren’t either (though some seem to be slightly higher than listed). Not having a bias one way or the other I decided to go with the recommendations and try them. It’s only been 6-8 months but I’ve not had any issue from the batteries themselves. But then I haven’t had the genuine Sanyo for but maybe a year so I can’t vouch for long term on them either. I also received recommendations on King Kong, Keeppower, Efest and some others. And I appreciate those recommendation and am not opposed to trying them as well. After liking the TF flame in 26650 I decided to try them in 18650 and 14500 as well. So far they work fine, though again I can’t vouch for how they (or any other brand I have) will work long term.
I see now that some people don’t like the TF flame, but I also see that some do. Kinda like the Sipik SK68 in that some don’t like them. But I’ve been using mine for about 3 years now and it still works like a champ. I’ve taken them out into the deep woods for our SEP gatherings and they’ve done everything asked of them. Some say they’d never trust an SK68 in the deep woods yet I have and never had a problem in three years (and of course it isn’t my only light out there so if it breaks or gets lost I have layers of back up. And really, I’d be out less than $4 if it did break or get lost). So for me, if it works then it works. Like I mentioned in another thread, I can buy (and have) 18 SK68’s for the price of one ‘good’ flashlight (around $70). But if I lose that $70 flashlight I’m going to be pretty bummed out. If I lose an SK68 I’ll reach into the drawer/pack and grab another one. Mine’s lasted so far 3 years so if that’s ALL they lasted I’m good for the next 50+ years. Same with batteries I suppose and I always carry back ups anyway.
All I need a light to do is to turn on when I click it. Every light I have ever owned has done that, except years ago a cheap metal light.
I always read comments that indicate that if the light did not work it would be catastrophic. If one is a professional, then get the light recommended by the dept.
However, I have not found the Sipik SK68 is unreliable. Understand that price does not necessarily equate to reliability. A statement that one cannot afford to use a specific light because it is unreliable should be backed by experience and numbers. If one does not believe a light, such as the Sipik, is reliable. Prove it.
Again, if all I ever had from this day forward were C or D Maglites and mini Maglites, I would not ever be without light. Not one has ever failed in camping, car, and other outdoor use. For less than $100 dollars I could stock my gear, house, and cars with Maglites. I realize that professional people who use them on duty need some specialized lights, but otherwise we are just playing with lights mostly. I do like small single cell AAA and AA lights that will fit in my pocket.
I assume that you two will eventually catch up with the rest of us on the “SK68 is cheaply made” front.
From my perspective there are 4 primary areas of potential shoddiness in a cheap light:
Shoddy driver. This may be shoddy assembly, shoddy components, or both. (many failure modes and schedules)
Shoddy switch. This is pretty straightforward. (Two failure modes: either won’t turn on or won’t turn off. The schedule could be today, or it could be tomorrow.)
Shoddy machine work. This is pretty easy to catch on to and something you can easily check for yourself.
Shoddy assembly. This is usually something which is easy to check for, but in the case of the SK68 and other lower-level cheap lights it can be difficult due to the use of press-fits.
I’m not picking on the SK68 & clones. The SK68 is an amazing thing! Not being a reliable tool isn’t directly correlated with the price payed. It’s correlated with all the things I mentioned above.
The easiest thing to pick on with the SK68 is the cheap switch. I think that those cheap boost drivers can also fail, but I don’t know how this compares with expensive boost drivers for 1xAA. AFAIK the biggest source of failures on these inexpensive small lights is the switch.
I understand what you’re saying. I have no doubts that the components may not be the same as a light that costs many times more. In fact, I’d hope a light that costs many times more would be many times better. But from what I’ve read, this isn’t necessarily the case many times. And I have to go back to that fact that I’ve been using my particular SK68 as one of my EDC’s for several years now without issue. I’ve given many away as little gifts. A couple went to my two handymen who use them far more than I do (under sinks, in the attic, inside an air conditioner etc). I told them to put them to the test and let me know. Last I heard they’re working fine and they just use it with a AA. So while it might be cheaply made, so far at least they’re far better than the price you pay.
I ordered five more off Amazon for less than $15 just to have a little personal stockpile and/or the occasional gift. And really, if/when they do fail me it will provide a good opportunity to monkey around with modding/fixing it.
I’ve sure gotten $100 worth of use out of my V11R sitting on the nightstand wherever I happen to be for the last couple years. Lately I’ve seen it as low as $46 without the extender. There’s also a Ti3 sitting next to it on the nightstand. There used to be a SWM V20C also on the nightstand complementing the V11R but I gave it away a couple days ago because I never used it. In the woods I mainly use the D40A.
In the next week I’m going to go live off the grid for a month or so on some acreage in WA state to test my sister’s “doomsday prepper” setup. I own most of the same budget lights as you guys do, which I’ll be bringing as backups, but I expect my trusty V11R and D40A to continue to serve my needs even when their use is going to quadruple.
Either way, two is one and one is none. And even far away from home, I’m looking at an L10, a Ti3, that little AAA group buy from GB and my trusty SF5 on the table in front of me.
Edit: Regarding those TF flame 14500s: I have a couple that are >3 years old and still test higher on the Opus than some new Olight 14500s I just bought from Illumination Supply. I don’t know if the TF flames are still the same quality these days and obviously YMMV. I did notice that HKEquipement is selling them and they are a trusted vendor, so I would be inclined to trust theirs, or at least take a chance on ordering.
I just ordered the TI3 a couple of days ago. And I ordered the Tank007 E09 this morning from FT as well. Looking to upgrade my EDC keychain which currently has the ML Solitare LED and ROV mini-led. I think the Ti3 & E09 will do quite nicely.
Eh? You got these recommendations
— from people you know personally?
— from people who have a record of posting here for a while? (look below the name for the total number of posts and date joined)
— from people known reliable?
Maybe you got advice from people you should consider reliable.
But they’re telling you “many were biased against them” — where do you think that “bias” comes from?
Just not liking the name?
Personal animosity?
Reasonable people may differ. But — it makes me wonder who’s giving you this advice[
Heck, it makes me wonder if Trustfire was using bots or employees to push their batteries.
Longtime readers here, as far as I am aware, never recommend Trustfire cells, based on the public record.
Hank, as far as I’m aware Trustfire uses unknown cells but may be head-and-shoulders above other *fire brands… best judged on a case by case basis. I know for sure that there are specific instances where real members here have recommended at least specific Trustfire cells.
That said, there was and is no resounding recommendation for Trustfire from BLF as a group. I read the the Trustfire stuff in a similar way to the “well it works for me! <shrug>” response on the SK68’s. (Granted that SK68’s don’t inherently entail li-ion safety concerns.)
You’ll like the Ti3, Dave. Personally I prefer it always come on in moonlight (unlike the I3S) because I tend to stay in places where it might be disruptive to shine a bright flashlight to use a restroom at night in a house or hotel I’m not used to, and tend to walk shin-first into all the furniture without at least a little bit of light.
Blasting out 100 lumens at the people sleeping around me just to get to moonlight mode would be both pointless and rude, so I always keep something I can start in moonlight mode nearby when I’m on the road. One good thing about the Ti3 as a nightstand light versus something like a V11R is that the Ti3 is light enough to put in your pajamas pocket or even the little pockets that come with some sleeping bags like my Coleman. And sometimes inside the sleeping bag I keep a little light like the Ti3 inside my pocket while I’m sleeping if I think I might need to pepper spray a bear on short notice. Who knows what will visit your tent here in the Northwest
That was one of the features that caught my attention as well. It’s shipped so hopefully I’ll receive it towards the end of the week. I ordered the Tank007 E09 today from FT. It took a couple of months to receive batteries from them but I understand that delay is specific to batteries and other items are much quicker…I hope :bigsmile:
Reviews on DX are favorable. People say they’re around 2300mah which sounds about right for a Chinese 3000mah rating. OtherFires are usually around 1200mah or so.
