Zebralight SC52 which has had its anodizing sanded off and and then polished to provide a mirror-like finish to get rid of ZL’s usual military drab look. Since the valleys between heat fins still have anodizing, it may be the only Zebralight in the world which actually has zebra stripes:
The main difference from a regular ZL SC52… is that this one is pretty.
I won’t bother talking about the specs and performance; <a href=“Zebralight SC52 (XM-L, 1xAA, 1x14500) Review: RUNTIMES, BEAMSHOTS, VIDEO and more! | Candle Power Flashlight Forum”/a>selfbuilt has already covered that in a great amount of detail, and you should go read his review if you want to know what a ZL SC52 is normally like.
The trade:
When Dan / Cereal_Killer posted a thread offering to trade a shine-modded ZL SC52, I thought it was a rather unique and pretty item. I didn’t have anything from his list to trade, but I’ve always thought Zebralights were ugly and should come in more visually-appealing designs. So I commented to say something along those lines, and that it was pretty. Bare metal is often a nice look, though I prefer brass over silver-colored metals.
Anyway, he offered to trade for an item I had instead of what he originally wanted, and we agreed. I traded my 2-month-old H52w (in almost mint condition, reviewed here) for a unique SC52 (modded for a shiny appearance).
Since there are some pretty negative posts about Dan, he knew people would probably be wary and he’s trying to rebuild his reputation, so he was willing to take all the risk himself instead of trading in a more fair traditional fashion. He shipped first, with an agreement that I’d send my item as soon as I received his. My picture above shows that I briefly had both items in the same place.
I sent my item about half an hour later after doing a quick look-over and some basic functionality tests, and PM’d him the details including tracking number. It should be there Monday, complete with the original box, packing foam, clip, headband (re-threaded for better comfort), and manuals. I guess I’m back to my old H51w for now.
The item:
This shiny light, which I’ll call the SC52CK or “aluminum zebra”, has apparently seen some pretty heavy use over time. If Zebralights have nine lives, I’m pretty sure this one had already gone through two or three lives before it was reborn into its current incarnation… but it probably still has plenty of years left. It still works fine and these things are built like tanks.
The good:
- It’s shiny! Polished aluminum is a good look for Zebralights… at least in my opinion.
- The light seems to work just like my stock SC52.
- The rounded edges feel nice compared to the relatively sharp edges of a normal SC52, and removing a bit of metal has made its button easier to press.
- The remaining anodizing in the heat sink valleys provides a nice contrast. One might even say it has stripes like a zebra. (huh, imagine that… a zebra-colored Zebralight)
The bad:
- The lens is scratched up. It doesn’t affect the beam profile much, but it’s a bit cloudy to look into. I might put some DC-Fix over it.
- The clip cannot be re-attached because there isn’t enough metal left and the clip+screws are rusted.
- It seems this light has been very heavily used in the past, given the state of its few un-modded parts: scratched lens, dented bezel, very dirty/gritty threads and O-ring, and corroded clip.
- Several spots aren’t shiny, and seem to still have a bit of anodizing. Especially in areas which are concave instead of convex.
- The ZL logo is still dented into the flat part of the body, and the tailcap has a bunch of tiny parallel grooves as if the metal had a grain like wood.
- Bare aluminum is relatively soft, and won’t resist corrosion or dents or scratches as well as if it were anodized. However, rusted aluminum looks virtually the same as non-rusted aluminum… so I might not even notice it.
For my purposes, this should work fine. It will probably get used mostly as a night light, a display piece, and a generally interesting / unique item.
Pictures… lots of pictures: (a.k.a. flashlight porn!)
Click on any of the pictures below to load a larger version. Many of the details are only visible when zoomed (especially the lens pictures).
SC52 and SC52CK, front view:
SC52 and SC52CK, back view:
SC52 and SC52CK, side views:
Tail caps:
The clip attachment point has been pretty much sanded off. The clip cannot be re-attached:
I suspect this light saw some very heavy use before it was polished. The clip shows a few signs of its previous life. Keep in mind these two lights are the same age, and I carried my regular SC52 daily for months:
When I got it, the threads were extremely dirty and gritty. I cleaned it right away, but it was almost like cleaning part of a car engine. It cleaned up well though, and here’s how it looks after being cleaned and saturated in copious amounts of “Super Lube”:
As long as we’re looking at the tail end, the tailcap shows some grain-like texture, a bit of anodizing which hasn’t been removed, and some little dents or scratches:
This shows a bit better just how much of the tailcap grip has been sanded off. Also, a couple little dents on my regular SC52 while I was carrying it daily:
The Zebralight logo still shows a bit; apparently ZL’s printing process leaves an impression deeper than ink:
Under slightly different lighting, different parts of the logo are visible. Also, this shows how close the polishing is to being a mirror finish, reflecting the camera and my hands in the grip:
The raised area around the button has been reduced, which makes the light significantly more comfortable to use. The button is easier to press without such high borders around it. A little bit of the steel retaining ring got sanded down too though. Additionally, some scratches are visible on the rubber.
For reference, here’s the unmodded SC52’s button.
Moving up to the front end, the lens is scratched and a bit cloudy, and the bezel is scratched and a bit dented. I’ll show it in a few different images. Many of the details may require clicking the image to zoom in though:
The light has a few spots where anodizing is still there. Starting at the head end, this shows a couple little ano spots and the overall amount of smoothing which has been done compared to the original:
On the other side, there are a few bigger ano spots:
Just below the button, some extra ano spots show up. This is the clearest shot I got of the ano spots, so this may be the best one to see up close by clicking to zoom in:
And, finally, the light next to some other bare-metal lights. Despite all its flaws, it’s overall a very pretty light and easily the shiniest, most silver finish. Natural lighting is very forgiving of little scratches, and it normally looks quite nice. This also shows the remaining logo imprint better than the other shots:
(left to right: CNQG/FFL brass beauty, DQG Tiny AAA IV, ZL SC52CK, Convoy S7 w/ SolarForce L2 clip)
