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The logo for the BLF A8 from WWEFANS/Rey was sometimes flawed. No one it seems from the thread thought it was a fake Trustfire.
Is this only a logo print or is it a problem with light output/tailcap measurements too?
“the light output is very dissapointing to say the least” This sucks bigtime; sorry to learn this about the light for you FMS.
The following page I think will help you with measurements - I know it helped me with my old dmm and the the BLF Mini - from the great member/tester HKJ. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the link, will give it a try when I have freshly charged cells.
Feel like I’m spamming this thread now…but thought I’d post another pic incase it helps others… as I managed to get I’d say a 25% improvement in output by again cleaning first with alchohol, then with Deoxit the traces and aluminium tube end (artistically circled in red )
I had cleaned these when I first got it, but you can see on the cotton swabs how much more crap/grease I removed from cleaning 3 more times!
Also under the end cap the solder joints that hold the battery spring contacts in look poorly done- I touched two of them up so owners may want to check those also.
Will have a play when it’s dark to see if the torch is approaching an acceptable standard.
I was surprised to as how nasty the driver looked on mine. I will have to try that out. The output on mine is acceptable. It is not as bright as my Zebra S6330, but that is rated higher. So I think the output is were they have it listed. Which I would believe to be 2000 lumen not the 2500 that they have listed. That is what is listed in the owners manual.
Agreed that the one that arrived yesterday from Fasttech is not as bright as expectation. I also simply used coton swabs and found the same result in cleaning.
I have both gold and black SRK from CNQ. The gold t6 and the black U2. I also ordered and received a black
one from Fasttech. The logo is filled and not outlined but slightly crooked. It came with the cheap version lanyard. (Dark brown). The drivers appear all the same although I have removed none. The gold SRK lives up to the performance mentioned many times on this forum. The black SRK with the U2s s slightly brighter and whiter (just by eye) doing a ceiling bounce BUT the black SRK from Fasttech is lacking quite a lot in the output dept. Funny enough the battery carrier is the best of all three so I swapped it over to the U2 version. The battery carrier keeps the four batteries separated with no rattle. Oh yes, a magnet does stick to the bezel.
not that I can discern, especially since it is day time. I put the diffuser cap on because it helps and it may be a wee bit more, but I cannot say with certainty.
The light is working okay, it is just not as bright as my previous King, but if it holds out, I still consider it a good bargain (or is it budget?) for $39.
I am taking delivery of the TM 26 this afternoon, so I will compare the King to the TM 26s “high” level which is 1700 lumens and will post results.
Thank you to the poster who put up the pictures. You’re not “spamming” the thread, you are helping.
Just about every budget chinese flashlight I've seen roll through the forum has seen a gradual decrease in quality/output after the first initial batch of lights. Even when it is from the same manufacturer. The original batch of SRKs would get extremely hot when left on high for a length of time. It's possible that they toned them down a bit in the later builds to avoid failure or legal issues.
What I'm saying is that even if the drivers look identical on the surface, one or two slight changes in resistor values may have been made since the initial product run. This light has been extremely popular and reductions in component quality along with outsourcing to several different manufacturing plants to meet the demand may see variances in not only outward build quality but in component quality. This can even occur with the so called "genuine" SRK. Most of us on the forum know that when a great light is released from China it is best to grab yourself one from the initial batch because the quality always goes down in later batches, especially when a light is popular enough that the clones start appearing.
I wouldn't be so hard on FastTech. First off, they are not just flashlight dealers and I doubt any of them are flashlight enthusiasts/nerds like we are. They can only go by the word of their suppliers. If their supplier tells them it is the real deal then they have no choice but to take their word on it until they hear otherwise from the end users like us. Second, I'm sure they would love to know if what they were promised was the real deal wasn't really the real deal. That way they can ruler out that supplier as fraudulent. Thirdly, I am sure that they will make good in some way, shape, or fashion, with anyone who purchased a light that was not up to the promise. They haven't given any of us, AFAIK, any reason to expect anything less that fast, courteous, respectful response to our issues.
Got my black sky ray king from fast tech today and well, extremely disappointed. my 3 amp xml U2 p60 drop in puts out more light then this thing. seriously.
It will be interesting to see how Fast Tech handles this situation. From most people’s reports, their Black Sky Ray King produces no way near the output of the “original” Sky Ray Kings (if it works at all). I have one on order and will definitely not be happy if they expect me to pay return shipping to China (close to $30 from what I have experienced) if the output is substantially less than the Sky Ray King I currently own. How they handle this situation will determine if I ever order from them again and I’m sure it will be the same for many others.
Edit:
Just saw that for North and South American customers they have a return address in Florida.
I have cleaned off the inside again (the black was even on my batteries AFTER the first cleaning) and do find that the output seems brighter.
It was $39 and is showing a very bright light. It seems about the same as the TM 26 at 1700 lumens. The cotton swabs are black, from cleaning it, but it is working.
If it doesn’t die out on me, it is a real budget light that proved its worth.
All these different looking logos, I think i’ve seen 3 different versions now. At this point I could care less if the machining is off. I’m worried that the light output of the fasttech SRK is low. Fasttech emailed me and said it is an authentic sky ray king and there are minor machining differences between batches. Well that is ok, I can handle a few machining errors for $42 but the output listed on their site is 2500 lumen and that is the part that bothers me. I had trusted fasttech to give us honest product information before we buy.
Despite what a lot of people think magnets CAN stick to stainless steel, there is no such thing as a 100% austenetic stainless steel, they all contain impurities that attract magnets to some degree, this is due to the ferite and martensite make up of the material.
FMS, my black SRK arrived today DEAD as a dodo, due to a manufacturing defect.
Firstly without a doubt it had been taken apart before, I suspect it was resent after being rejected, the base cover was loose over the end, the switch outer ring was nearly off, but worse the light didn’t work.
Whoever did the machining, machined the depth for the driver board too deep, so that the part of the body that carries the batteries doesn’t make contact with the outer copper/brass ring of the driver board, I put a bit of tin foil in to test this theory, then it worked, I will be making a SS or other ring to go inside to fix permanently, it’s just less hassle than sending back.
I have the fasttech UV-S5, which is MUCH better quality than the f/t supplied SRK, I also notice on my new SRK that I have to be very careful screwing together as the seal is too big, and pops out the slot, so this has to be pushed in otherwise it would get torn doing up the body.
I’m 100% seriously unimpressed with fasttech now, having to do repairs, it could be seen on mine that it had been apart, presumably sent back as faulty and resent as good to myself, I’ll certainly think twice before ordering from fasttech in future.
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I also have the fasttech golden UV-S5 purchased some months back from FastTech. It is perfect. Bright as heck. The bezel looks a matte dull stainless but does not even respond to magnet and I therefore speculate it is NOT stainless steel but some alloy. Could care less if it was made of plastic…. as the light is SOLID
I was going to get the new FastTech SRK in black and am glad I held off for the holidays even moreso now due to all the negative feedbacks coming out about the new SRK’s from FastTech.
I was going to get the new FastTech SRK in black and am glad I held off for the holidays even moreso now due to all the negative feedbacks coming out about the new SRK’s from FastTech.
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As soon as my batteries are cooked I’ll post up what I think regarding light output, they’re about 4.15V at the moment!!
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