Wonderful, today i received cone's giveaway, a FREE Sipik SK68 in green :D
Huge parcel (therefore 13.17$ postage paid omg), didnt even fit on my PC scanner lol!
In it, white foam pads and a high-quality USPS envelope, cushion mailer:
The content was bubble-wrapped:
and consisted of the free flashlight plus freebies, 2 really nice custom paracord lanyards (my very first of this kind!) and a sweet message card:
After seeing so many reviews and user photos the SK68's dimensions were exactly as expected. I was surprised by its substantial weight and was really thinking that it included a battery. Pressed the button, no light, no battery in it haha, the SK68 simply weighs that much, 68g, very solid built:
After shining around with 1xEneloop AA (up to 1.88A on freshly charged cell, more typical reading within the first 10 seconds: 1.8A) and with 1x14500 (up to 1.5A on freshly charged HQ TF cell, more typical reading within the first 10 seconds and a poorer Trustfire cell: 1.3A), i disassembled the main parts for lubing purposes:
There is no single doubt that this unit is (much) brighter than my Romisen RC-29 copy! 2 obvious reasons for it: RC-29 current draw is less (1.3A Eneloop, 0.8A 14500) and the reflector is white plastic:
As the above picture suggests, in Zoomed-In mode the focused dye size on the white wall is much bigger (yay, lol!) on the SK68. Later tonight i could try to estimate which torch has further throw. On the white wall both dyes looks equally bright/intense, the difference being only the dye size.
I am very pleased with (my unit of) the SK68. It has a 1-mode reverse clicky (unlike the Romisen RC-G2 which has tactical momentary activation in a forward clicky), build quality is very good as expected, zoom sliding mechanism feels nice, beam profile and tint is the same as in Romisen RC-29, pocket clip is very tight and appears sturdy, the light is small-ish but clearly heavy-ish (feels good tho), tail cap and switch is of high build quality, button is generously recessed, tailstand perfect, with this type of flashlight i dont miss multiple modes because you can adjust "brightness" by zooming in or out, because of the pill construction i do expect excellent thermal path and flashlight body heat sinking, i like the looks and feel better now that i own a personal copy (but i prefer the looks&feel and build quality of the Romisen RC-29), i wouldnt hesitate recommending this model/unit to non-flashaholics looking for a cheap bright power LED flashlight (but they shouldnt wonder that this model depletes Eneloops in no time whereas RC-29's runtime is decent). While it is brighter than RC-29 (and i certainly recommend the use of 14500's in both torches), its lumens output is not as high as my 1xAA XML flashlights (((i am gonna do a ceiling bounce check tonight))).
What i like:
+ high amperage driver on Eneloop and on 14500, ~3.0W performance as labelled!
+ very nice beam profile and tint, as expected, incl. sharp mapping of dye
+ construction, overall build quality, tail cap/switch, pocket clip
+ overall smaller than RC-29
+ no sharp extremities cant tear up pockets
+ as simple and mass-produced as it is, the percentage of production rejects should be very low. you could probably buy tens of them as gift for friends and relatives and not risk junk samples in your shipment
What i may dislike:
+ since it is smaller in dimensions it should be lighter than RC-29's 66g
+ short(?) runtime
What could be improved:
+ 1-mode forward clicky, instead of reverse clicky
+ water-proofing (see missing o-rings at lens and at slide mechanism)
Technical score, total:
5/5, same as RC-29. Both serve great as loaners and beaters for non-flashaholics, camping, barbecue, parties. If the price difference didnt matter, my personal preference would go to Romisen which looks and feels "superior" to me, let alone the sound of the company's brand name. If price matters, then the SK68 has the better price-performance ratio, admittedly.