Putting myself in a bad position - justifying a $3.50 light... But 18sixfifty is right bout this one, but unfortunately, as typical for under $10, there are inconsistencies, and not much accurate info on it. I've got a few other zoomies that I paid more for, and I find more worthless than this one though. But for sure, you are not getting a $15 light for $3.50, more like an $8 light or so.
If you are looking for a more useful cheap stock zoomie, I'd suggest the Dealmetic.com ZuesRay for $8 shipped that includes an XM-L2, thick pill top, and DD driver.
Yeah I figured it probably was a loose driver or insufficient tailspring/slightly tall battery compartment after that, but I chose to “phrase it positively” as a new “feature” I’ll definitely have to look at it and the others later and see if that’s what they are suffering from too, I guess its possible rushed assembly/loose drivers are the entire issue. You know advising a hammer to fix it is dangerous… But blue light is good for Halloween at least!
If you can’t “FIX” it with a hammer at least after that you will know it can’t be fixed!
I think the idea of de-doming them is probably the cheapest fix though, at least for the blue light part. Even if you don’t own a soldering gun it can still be done. Pull it apart enough that you can pull the star out and hang it someway so that dome sits in some gas. Once it falls off just soak it in a little alcohol and stick it back in. Should still be pretty close to focused and these little XPE’s throw pretty good. I actually would rather have the XPE in this light than an XML. Way too much heat with the XML. But still the XPG is what this light should have in it for best performance.
If you really want them turned into nicer lights you can always send them to me, I’ll toss in de-domed XP-G2’s on noctigons and add Nanjg drivers. Then you will have some little pocket rockets. Just pay for shipping and parts and I’ll do them for you. Even the XP-G2 de-domed will eliminate the rings.
I just got my lights and besides the heads being a bit wiggly <(o-ring missing ?) the lens rattling . (another o ring fix ) sharp as hell aluminum bezel (sanded and filed down) hollow pill and silly metal emitter holder ..and of course the funky blue tint ..All and all i think I'm happier than I expected to be after hearing everyones moaning about these lights .. The star definately needs something to sit down on and the emitter needs a de dome to give it a chance of having a decent tint ..like 18650 said ..it can't hurt anything and probably will help alot .
I don't have ANY rings whatsoever so I don't know what anyone is talking about with regard to ringy beamshots . mine are as good as it gets . I've never been happy with tailcaps I can't access and am always a bit paranoid that they will fail . Probably much moreso if I start running up the amperage .
One nice thing about them is they have a very WIDE beam in flood mode
All and all I'm happy with the 5 lights i got and looking forward to making a few a lot better than they are out of the box .
I’m waiting for the 3 lights I ordered to arrive, estimated within 7 days from now, after 15 days.
At just a little bit over $3 each, as long as it works, I’ll be happy with it. At its price, I can’t complain. Haha
You’re welcome Boaz. One thing I like is they are so light. I hardly notice them in a coat pocket. It has to be one of the lightest and smallest zoomie 18650 lights around. Plus like you said nice wide beam when in flood mode. Some barely have a flood mode.
Of course you’re happy Boaz, yours all turned on. And you intended to mod them already. I’ll be happy too soon, if I get my refund or maybe if I just take out the hammer…I’m just joking around…sorta.
Tks for the offer 18sixfifty, I think I’ll mess around with mine this weekend first and see if I cant get one/more of them working. Won’t a XML produce more light in wide mode than an XPG2? My purpose was just to have some light, cheap borrowers on hikes, and people tend to use wide zoom for that, not thrower mode, aka purple lightsabre mode in current configuration
*EDIT Just took it on a walk with my dogs after I read you got one with no rings and mine has got a bunch, a close half moon of light on one side around the bright center, focused or not, then 2-3 outer distinct rings that when you put it up against a wall you can see are really maybe 7 or so rings. But maybe there are 2 (or 20) different versions of this light.
Very similar to Zeusray, well in fact this is actually its predecessor. This “original” is even smaller (Zeusray was beefed up for more heatsinking). However it is still a bit bigger than the OP light.
IMO, comparing the thin zoomie vs this - dollar for dollar, overall this is the better light for 9cents more.
Which one, the $3.59 one I newly linked? That’s with XPE. Ordered one myself. I have the XML version, I think it was around $6.30, should be interesting to see the beam pattern difference.
xpe will be about 1/3rd the size and probably more lux than the xml in throw mode /zoomed out ,de-domed it will be about half the size of the xml ..yeah the 3 dots around the emitter and the three segments give it away ..you would normally assume a 1200lumen claim would be for a xml instead of an xpe . I wouldn't assume a thing till you have a light in hand .what it looks like in a picture is pretty meaningless ..glad to hear you're the new guinea pig .keep us posted
Just received mine, ordered from the link in the op. I bought 3 pcs., all branded “Ultrafire” and has a chromed clip.
Sent without tracking via China Post, arrived after 19 days ‘only’.
Just noticed it won’t fire up on a flat-top cell, and it’s a lot shorter in real life. Perhaps the ‘aspect-ratio’ in the photo in the Ebay link is slightly off its actual size.
got my one yesterday also ultra fire. very ugly blue tint so i did a dedome and that didnt do much to help this thing has the worst heat sink possible the star only just sits on the shelf (you can hardly call it a shelf) so led just left to burn up. the body doesn’t even warm up as the star has no way if touching it.I’m gona make a custom copper shelf then bond the star to it. that way anyone can use it and not worry about it burning up.
But 18sixfifty is right bout this one, but unfortunately, as typical for under $10, there are inconsistencies, and not much accurate info on it. I've got a few other zoomies that I paid more for, and I find more worthless than this one though. But for sure, you are not getting a $15 light for $3.50, more like an $8 light or so.
I’ll definitely have to look at it and the others later and see if that’s what they are suffering from too, I guess its possible rushed assembly/loose drivers are the entire issue. You know advising a hammer to fix it is dangerous… But blue light is good for Halloween at least! 
this thing has the worst heat sink possible the star only just sits on the shelf (you can hardly call it a shelf) so led just left to burn up. the body doesn’t even warm up as the star has no way if touching it.I’m gona make a custom copper shelf then bond the star to it. that way anyone can use it and not worry about it burning up.