Deal alert; 18650 size zoomie $3.50 e-bay

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76

Well, yes it is light because of super thin metal (I feel I could probably crush the tube with my hands), but then buy it from Fasttech, not this seller!! 1 out of 3 I bought are working and it has an extremely violet-blue LED, nothing like the Fasttech pics. I think my 18650 battery outweighs the light.

Off to start the claims process :frowning:

77

Good luck with your claim. Do you think it is worth the aggravation for what you paid for them? Maybe just the principle?

You fared worse than I did!! 2 out of 3 worked for me. Those 2 do have a purplish/blue tint to them and as I mentioned before numerous rings of Saturn!

78

No, its not at all going to be worth the aggravation and time I spend, but yes in principle I want to at least give them some kind of penalty for sending junk and charging people for it. Looking at the Fasttech page Tom E linked these are worse quality even. Right now I’m out $10.50 for trash and one wimpy violet blue inaccurate saturn rings generator, that is annoying… :stuck_out_tongue:

79

Here’re a couple of pics of the one I just got:

The one I got only works with button top batteries, so for some of you whose don’t work, try a button top 18650.

Jim

80

That’s why you only buy one! And if the quality is good go for more. If my one turns up and is rubbish what have I lost? $4 I could have spent that on a bad coffee from the service station.

81

I'm thinking the FT ones and this one are at the same level of quality. Think the stock one I got came from is the name brand/model as the FT one, but comes from another source. Main issues with any of these cheap lights:

  • check if there's a driver spring - if not, then needs a button top cell, or at least some sort of clearance for the cell to make contact. This is more common in cheap lights to have no spring.
  • sometimes the press fit drivers don't have a good ground connection (I just found this in a cheap zoomie from GearBest). You can easily check for this by on the bench by removing the pill, check continuity from the ground ring of the driver to the pill. Could try it with a battery as well and a wire - put the cell in the normal position against the driver, one end of the wire to the cell neg. end, other end of wire to either the pill or driver neg. ring. To fix it, sometimes I use a metal chisel and hammer a notch in the pill edge and driver. The little wedge you make will drive some alum from the pill into the ground ring of the driver. Do this in 2 or 3 spots equally spaced.
  • check if the problem is the tailcap by removing the tailcap and use a screwdriver or jumper wire to ground the cell neg. end to the housing

You really can't expect much for $3.50, and actually this is the lowest price I've seen for this light, and I looked around a lot in the past. I would think the emitter is probably the classic XPE type blue, often seen in the cheap lights, like this one: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/21936, or the GB on this SS AAA light: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/27548, sold here in CW: http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_33495.html

82

Yes it only runs on button tops, and no its not the tail cap either. Really, in such a cheap light it works, or it doesn’t, and if it doesn’t, its most definitely “not as advertised”.

I didn’t really expect much for a $3.50 light either, just a working light with a relatively usable output that didn’t color the wall blue :slight_smile: It is very blue compared to the Fasttech beamshots, and the beam has multiple levels of rings, compared to those shots it seems significantly worse. Rings wouldn’t even have been much of problem if they worked and weren’t so blue and dim. As it is, I can’t really feel good handing it to acquaintances of a friend who forgot their lights “here, use this junky barely working thing that you can probably not see as good with as the reflection of light from my light’s beam.”

I’ll look into modding what I have left like you did probably though, after I get my partial refund. I have a few XM-Ls, and it seems a newbie modder like me could probably just put them in and get reasonable upgrade of non-blue light out of it?

83

Oh and PS, for the $5.80 something or whatever at Fasttech, even if these things worked better, this is a very poor buy compared to the Ultrafire 878 that you can get for $6.99-9.99 Review. Aura Buy UltraFire W-878 Zoomy.

The 878 has a real XML, light output is good, the beam is not blue on any that I had, it can use 26650/18650/3xAAA, it has 3 output levels instead of 2, the body is massive so if you wanted to mod, its heat sinking capacity is great! This is what I had for “handing to someone” lights previously, but one person liked it so much they ended up keeping it, and one was lost. I think I’ll spend the extra $$ next time, $3.50 was too tempting though :slight_smile:

84

So, BTW, for those who got the one I got from Ebay, how do you get the pill out? Do you have to drill your own holes in the front edge of the pill (from my pics above, there are none there) and then use tweezers?

85

+1 B42. What I did was get some decent cheap emitters like these XP-G2s from FT - qty 5 for $2.23 each. Just put one of these in the cheap GearBest zoomie (linked above) and came out real nice! I got plenty of SinkPAD 16's, so I did use that, sanded down to about 14mm to fit, sanded it down to be thinner (about 1.24 mm from 1.55mm) but still you could simply replace the whole stock LED/star for a few more cents buy it pre-mounted for the size you need. For under $3 it's a real nice mod upgrade: better tint, more output, still has decent throw. In my zoomie, looks like all the blue is gone, just more of a pure white. In zoomed In (throw), the emitter pattern is smaller than a XM-L2 and bigger than the stock XPE.

I got cheap zoomes with XM-L2's, XP-E2's, and XP-G2's and I'm thinking the XP-G2 is the best trade-off of brightness and throw.

86

Tks Tom, but I think (unless there is some other reason for not putting an XML in?) the XML should output more total lumens, which is what a new user would like anyways in hiking.

87

The ones I got in the past had and XPG in them the smaller XPE is giving them rings but also a little more throw.

88

That is pretty much what I do with mine, although I go with an XP-G2 because it gets rid of any rings. The original ones I had gotten where XPG and that was one of the reasons I recommended them. But I still think for next to nothing they are great lights. Maybe this will get a few guys into modding their lights.

89

As for the guys who got bad ones, I would file a claim too. Cheap is one thing, not working is another. I’m sure if you bug them enough they will offer most of your money back and then you have some cheap hosts. For the record I bought three and they were all working.

90

For the record, I’m not blaming you, I’m frustrated most by the percentage of working lights I got. That its a dim blue XPE and not an XPG adds insult to injury and makes it not worth it to me for free as is.

But, the fact I’ve got some XMLs to practice putting in and they wont want a bad rating for $7 and are likely to refund probably makes it worth it in the end.

I’d still not recommend anyone buy these over the Ultrafire 878 though, just absolutely no contest on any front except if weight/size is the most important to you, and for only $3.50 more getting an XML, non blue and bright emitter, good quality and weight host with smooth zoom, 26650/18650/3xAAA is worth it.

91

I found a new feature: zoom in or out firmly, and it changes modes automatically!

92

Without a doubt you are having a problem with either the driver not making constant contact or your batteries are not making contact. Someplace the power is being cut off to the driver. It’s probably what is wrong with your broken one’s as well. Do you have any of the longer protected batteries? If you do give them a try and see what happens. I would also try taking the driver out and putting it back in place firmly. Heck use a hammer if you need to. Something to make that driver really stuck in place.

93

Got mine in the other day….they are NOT XM-L

And just like everyone elses, they are crap, they make light but it’s got a really bad tint and ringy and just feels “cheap”

Just letting the kids have em…worthless for modding as the aluminum body isn’t even got enough heft to absorb any heat. Sure I could mod it, throw in a XM-L/L2 and put in a better driver but that would cost me MORE than the entire light itself…and then you couldn’t drive it over 2100mA w/o it getting way too hot too fast

edit these are “ok” for GP use and for ultra cheap 18650 flashlights…there are better, but these are ULTRA BUDGET :wink:

94

The fact that it is thin can also be a virtue - it has very tiny footprint. And heatsinking is enough for the current it’s driven at. Feel free to disagree. For me, I put mine (bought before this) a spare laptop pull 18650, stash it in a toolbox - then forget about it. It barely take any space but always there when you need it.

If a friend decide to “borrow” it, I don’t really lose much.

One free mod is to dip your emitter. If you don’t like your tint then there’s nothing to lose. Mine came up more neutral after dedome and much nicer beam.

95

I am having good luck with de domed xpe's . The tints improve and the emitter projected is about 2/3rds the size before de doming ..How many amps are these pulling stock ?

I'm so anxious to hate these too ...

come on mr postman .!