Review: Haikelite SC26

LED Flashlights – General Info 26650 Flashlights
1

SPECS

*Emitter*： CREE XHP35 HD/HI
*Material*： Aluminum Alloy
*Battery*： 1×26350 / 2×26350 / 1×26650 (Not included)
*Max brightness*： 2050Lumens
Double AR-Coated glass lens
Aluminium Alloy reflector
Thermal control protection > 55 C degree
Anti-reverse protection ; Anti-discharge protection

Size：85mmx35mm (26350 tube) 125mmx35mm (26650 tube)

1) Group： Low 150lms > 450 Lms> 1050 Lms
2) Group： 2lms（1ma）> 750lms> max 2050lms
3) Group： 2lms（1ma）> 150lms> 750lms>max 2050lms
4) Group： 2lms（1ma）> 20lms > 150lms > 750lms >1200lms >Max 2050lms
5) Group： 2lms（1ma）>max 2050lms >Strobe>SOS

PACKAGE AND APPEARANCE
The same simplest cardboard box as usually. Haikelite use it for all the models. Neverthelles, it is ok to protect flashlight and other includings while it travels to you.

And they are: 26350 short tube adaptor, usual printed page they call “manual” , clip, o-ring and lanyard. трубку, привычно убогую цидульку инструкции, уплотнительное кольцо и темляк.

So, SC26 itself. 1st surpise – it is available in different colours. You are given a choice of CW\NW, HD\HI as well.


2nd surpise – it has some design, feature that most of Haikelite stuff definitely lacks. SC26 is not a masterpiece like Mecarmy stuff, or lot of Olights, but it is definitely looks better than we might expect.

Being modest in asking reasonable and small price, Haikelites never have shown it in size, being quite bulky and heavy. So does SC26,which is larger than other 26650 lights. Though, I must admit, larger no that much to be inconvenient. If you have deep pockets, you can consider it EDC.


Luckuly, with 26350 tube this flashlight is much more compact, and shows why it was labeled “fatty”.

Though knurling is shallow and adds mostly nothing to grip, I can say that grip is ok, especially with clip on. It is like bunch of tiny cuts at body surface.



The last one can be positioned in 2 way, but fits properly only in one position.

The only design feature here is print with logo and model name.

Spring at tailcap is thick and can be easily taken out.

Threads are mid sized. With graphite grease at 26650 tube and regular “fat” at 26350.



There are a lot of cooling fins here, they are deep and almost cirlcle the whole head.

Spring at head is mid size, but is ok for SC26 amperage.

Button is not clicky. But with such UI it is no problem.


And what I don’t like is gap between button and groove around it. Suppose it can gravitate a lot of sand and dirt during real use outdoor.

Button has traditional red-blue indication
Power Indication (single cell) 1. Blue + red a) >3.6V Blue light b) <3.6V Blue light flashes c) Below 3V Red light flashes

OP reflector is quite deep, with XHP 35 on the bottom. Again, there is a choice of HD\HI version.


There is no problem to disassemble head, and after doing this I was surprised to see terrible mess. It seems that too much (bad) of copper thermal paste (good) was put. And when reflector was pressed, it squeezed some paste right up to LED.
Well, I tested about 4-5 of Haikelites and haven’t seen anything like this. So, I suppose, that is only my case. And even so…that is affordable flashlight, you may clean this extras easily.


XHP35. Perfectly centered.

Summary.
Desing is better than before, quite close to real design. Choice of colors and LED option is good.
Groove around button is potentially attractive to dirt.
And below is a good part.

UI
That is soo good and flexible. Cannot believe you get this at such price range.
The only CON here is no shortcuts to lowest-highest mode.
There is mode memory, of course.

By default Smooth Ramping UI: (from 2lms to 2050lms)
Turn the light on: Single Click the button

Ramping light level: press&hold button
Reverse ramping level: While ramping in one direction, release button briefly and press&hold again.
Instant turbo: Double click
Back to previous level: Double click again
Turn the light off: Single Click the button

—————————————————————————————————————-

8xClicks to enter Modes UI from Ramping UI
8xClicks to enter Ramping UI from Modes UI

—————————————————————————————————————-

Modes UI: (5 groups)
5xClicks to select 5 groups ; The light flashes once and turn it off to select Group 1 ; The light flashes 5 times to select Group 5.

1) Group： Low 150lms > 450 Lms> 1050 Lms
2) Group： 2lms（1ma）> 750lms> max 2050lms
3) Group： 2lms（1ma）> 150lms> 750lms>max 2050lms
4) Group： 2lms（1ma）> 20lms > 150lms > 750lms >1200lms >Max 2050lms
5) Group： 2lms（1ma）>max 2050lms >Strobe>SOS

Thermal Protection:
By default when the light is over 45 degree , the light will start to step down to 450lms

To enter thermal protection setting by 10xclicks:
The light flashes once and turn it off to select 45 degree step-down temperature
The light flashes twice and turn it off to select 55 degree step-down temperature
The light flashed 3 times and turn it off to select 65 degree step-down temperature

Power Indication (single cell) 1. Blue + red a) >3.6V Blue light b) <3.6V Blue light flashes c) Below 3V Red light flashes
Digital switch lockout:
When the light in on， Double click followed by a long press to lockout the flashlight; Repeat to unlock.

PERFORMANCE
I got NW HD version and happy with it. )


There is no PWM-shimmering at any mode.

amperage
2 - 0,018
20 - 0.037
150 - 0,3
750 - 2.3
1200 - 3,9
2050 - 6,9A
What about light itself, SC26 doesn’t show anything different from other similar flashlights. 2-3 years ago SC26 might even be wow-flashlight with its 2klumens, you have to pay at least 100$ to buy something that bright.
Well, you all know this )
At 200m range even budget thrower, C8+ with XPL-Hi overperformes SC26 and that is no surprise, I suppose HI version will be quite close to it.


But at 100m range Haikelite SCS26 shows it best with decent balance of throw and sidelight.

About 40m



And 10-15range.

Choice of temperature to activate stepdown is a good feature that I met only at GT\GT mini. I really like this and prefer 65 degrees. Here 2 high modes are long, and flashlight is definitely still comfortably hot, you`ll not play “throwing hot potatoes” with it.
See charts below, 55\65 with cooling are not seen at close-scale chart, see them at other pic. They are to long to put them among with other ones in close-scale pic.



OVERALL

+ good choice of colors, NW\CW, HD\HI. You can precisely pick what you want.

  • flexible ui
  • 26350 tube
  • great and affordable price
  • there IS design here
  • LED indication

- mess near LED (not constructive CON, suppose that is only at my flashlight)

- groove around button is potentially messy.

- poor and cheap package

  • clip fits flashlight firmly only in one position.

If you need compact and still quite powerfull flashllight with good UI, and don’t wanna spend extra buck on this, SC26 is a good choice. In 26350 version it will be really compact with the same good output.
пщеI like Haikelite approach, in their price-range they are good. I hope that they`ll keep their stuff affordable and still good.

2

Nice review ,looking for Hi vs Hd beam shot .

3

Oh I recognized that thermal paste.

It’s the HY610. Extremely hard to apply, and low thermal performance, along with crap paste consistency, usually resulting in a very poor application.

However, it is really cheap, and I get why they would take it.

But why really? Higher grade Chinese thermal pastes don’t cost much more, and in bulk, it costs just a tiny bit more to pick something like the HY710/HY810.

4

thanx for info.
i`ve sent link to review to haikelite representative here

i hope they are nice guys there and will give us anwers

btw. may be it is not that crappy? numbers are good. guy, who posted it said this paste is definetely good

5

Based on those beamshots there’s one thing I don’t like - narrow spill. For a EDC-ish flashlight with versatie beam it can be a little pain in the … at close distances.

6

Personally, I wouldn’t call UI a pro.
Ramping is very slow and annoys me a lot. So I stopped using it, I’m with modes. At that point I would be neutral towards that UI, but sadly it comes with mode memory. So overall I count it among cons.

7

well. that`s subjective

i`ll not argue about this.

i tell me feelings and i do definetely like ui.

8

I like the UI too, no problem with the ramping speed. I have the HI version. Nice light

9

Most people prefer having memory mode, especially with ramping lights or lights with many brightness levels, otherwise it’s hard to remember and very inconvenient to find the ideal mode again. With that said, I prefer no memory mode for my night time EDCs because I like to start at moon light. However, for the majority of my flashlights, I like having memory. Some drivers like the ones on the Reylight TiLan allows you to enable or disable memory mode, which is a feature I wish all manufacturers would include in their flashlights.

10

You can have both. In some Nitecore flashlights from off you can access last used mode or lowest/highest mode which is quite handy.

11

Me too.

In my uses, perfect modes are perfect for a while. Hour later I’m in a different place, looking at stuff from different distance and having different ambient illumination.
If I put off the light for a moment, it’s good to be able to easily go back later.
But if I put it off for a day, memory doesn’t do anything good. It only makes it impossible for me to guess what level will it start with.
Even with lights that have shortcuts (like Narsil) I forget to use that shortcuts and just click the button. And end up with near-turbo.

I’m not aware of any light with this feature, but I’d love to have short-time memory.

12

RampOS and Narsil has that too

13

Thanks for sharing your impressions. I agree with your review and really enjoy my SC26.

With lights that have mode memory I’ve been getting into the habit of ramping or switching down to a lower level so I don’t blast my night vision out of commission accidentally. Once you learn the quirks of your favorite lights, it’s not too much of an issue. I like that I can quickly get to turbo with a double click instead of having to ramp up.

It’s kinda big for my pants pockets but a jacket pocket will be fine once the weather changes for the cooler. I’m a bit puzzled by the direction of the clip. I have mine set up upside down but you’re right that it doesn’t exactly fit that way. All in all it’s a favorite for around the house and property and with a Shockli 5500mAh cell it’ll last for a looooong time.

14

the very 1st day as i posted this review, i contacted Haikelite perpresentative , asking to post feedback about thermal paste.
no reply, as you see. neither me in PM (i asked them before about amperage), nor here.

well, that`s not cool. definetely.

15

Does anyone else notice that when the SC 26 heats up in the group mode that the UI gets erratic? Mine will slowly change levels at different rates when the button is pressed and held. Sometimes it will shut off completely requiring the tall cap to be opened and shut to reset. It does not seem to be affected while in ramping mode.

16

Someone put a smooth reflector on the HI version, from which it fits, I searched and could not find … tell me please

17

I measured the stock as 29.90mm (diameter) x 24.15mm (height) 7.20mm opening

This one might fit

18

Thanks you