In the three years I have been a flashaholic and after 40 some lights, I can look back on a pattern in my light buying.
I started with a good medium priced light because I wanted something with high quality. Olight S20.
Not being able to afford lots of lights that cost anywhere close to the $89 that the Olight costs, I started looking into budget lights. Over time, I found that I really wanted some of the higher end lights and concentrated on lights of high quality but costing on the high end.
Now I have found one that I bought on a hunch several months ago for only $7. Ordered it as a throw in on a battery order because it didn’t cost much at all. Who whould have thought this little light would become one of the very first lights I grab when taking the dog out at night?
Sipik SK68. I use it with 14500 L/I battery for brightness.
I wasn’t a fan of the zoom patern at first. Had to get to the square beam pattern but now it doesn’t bother me at all.
I love that it only has one mode.
I love the zoom.
I love the size.
I love the price.
I love the throw.
I love the flood.
It’s just so damn handy. Battery life isn’t great but who cares? It’s easy to have a spare and keep a few charged and ready.
I think I will buy a bunch for stocking stuffers for Christmas.
I have 4 of them and agree totally. Great to throw in the pocket in case things go late and it gets dark on you. Also good for lending out to friends with a AA.
Poor battery life. What cell are you using? These may help if you have low capacity xxxFire types or old batteries...
800 KeepPower (CNQG, MD, WB) & Group buy
I love zooms for flood! Without any spot.
Yes, all I have at the moment is Trustfire 14500s. I know they are crapy batteries but I wasn’t expecting to like the SK68 when I bought it and so I didn’t order good batteries. I will have to do so as I like the light so much. I tried eneloops and wasn’t real impressed with the output so I am looking to get some better quality L/I batteries.
You should really try this as well, it’s quickly becoming my favourite now. $2 for a short time.
For the batteries, any 14500 will get short runtime on single-mode sk68. TF Flames does around 650-700mAh, that’s not bad for half price of premium 800mAh brand.
I picked one of those lights up on my last order. Not something I use much. On the other hand, I do use the Tank 007 E09 and FandyFire Sl 1 that I bought at the same time. Small and bright.
I concur wholeheartedly with OP.
It is one of the few lights that I have more than one of and it is for the exact same reasons as the OP.
Only mod I ever did to any them that I care for was exchange the emitter for a warm XR-E in one of them.
I have them dotted around the house. They’re handy even with low-ish battery, I like the flood beam.
I like the tons of them I have and have gifted too, but at $7 you are paying too much. All mine are sub-$5. I wish I got 40 at $2.50 like boaz did that one time.
For the past few years I have gifted my brother flashlights. It started with the Maglite 2D LED. The next year it was an XM-L C-8. Then the HD 2010. In September I gifted him the triple emitter Warrior. His favorite of them all? Yep, the little SK-68! Second place goes to the Mag. Apparently, he really likes flood to zoom lites.
well, $2 is a great deal. Is the light usable? H, L, Strobe, is nice. 20 lumens on high? Is Wallbuys reputable?
thanks,
patrick
I have gifted more than 7 of them to relatives, and have a few of them on my drawer.
They are cheap and handy. good price/performance.
They’re very usable. 20lm is way understated, this light puts close to 100lm on 14500. Real XPE emitter. The low has an acceptable PWM (which I’m sensitive to). Build quality is decent, with decent anodizing and threads. Way better than your normal $2 police lights.
Runtime on high around 1hr with TF flame 14500, which is great balance between brightness and runtime.
IMO for $2, it’s worth it just for the driver alone. To get the cheapest AA boost driver normally will set you back a bit more than this whole light.
I have to say that I really hate them even though I occasinly buy one to give away to children in my extended family.
I don’t like zoomies, the beam pattern on either zoom or flood is both horrible and the tints are always blueish/purple.
i used to like zoomies till i got a decent xm-l light that is pretty much better at everything
i wouldn’t mind an sk68 type light that is not a zoomie for tossing around and loaning and runs on an eneloop but i have not found one yet
I agree something built as thick and not a zoomie for around the same price would be OK.
There seems to be 2 versions of Sipik SK68, one with the XPE-Q3 emitter and another with Q5.
Which is better?
Q5 will give more output, but the Q3 may be a nicer tint or colour rendering if the manufacturer decided to spend extra on better chips (not likely on cheap lights)
The Sipik SK68 ( and its clones) have been my favorite EDC light too. I have a lot of them in verious modded and stock forms.
