Sipik HK22
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary:
| Battery: | 1xAA (14500 successfully tested by another owner) |
| Switch: | Reverse Clicky Side Switch |
| Modes: | High > Mid > Strobe (no mode memory) |
| LED Type: | Cree XR-E Q3 |
| Lens: | Glass? |
| Tailstands: | Yes |
| Current Price: |
$14.50 |
| From: | TinyDeal.com |
| Date Ordered: | 02-March-2011 |
Pros:
- Tailstands by design
- Nice bright, smooth beam
- Good overall quality
- Less common side switch design
- Simple, clean design
- Threaded brass tripod mount
Cons:
- Lowest mode is not very low
- Worthless strobe mode
- Relatively large
Features / Value: ★★★☆☆
Let me start by prefacing this review with a disclaimer: TinDeal.com was kind enough to send me a sample of the Sipik HK22 flashlight for review. Nevertheless, I will still try to be objective with this review. I am not receiving any monetary compensation from TinyDeal.com for this review. All opinions are my own.
The Sipik HK22 is a fairly new flashlight design that is available at several online retailers. I had a good experience with another Sipik flashlight, so I was curious to review the HK22. It has several attractive features. The price is affordable, the design is attractive, and it breaks from the statu quo by offering a side switch and a tripod mount. In addition to the side switch, it offers three modes. Although one of them is a worthless strobe mode, at least it only has three modes, so the nuisance of switching modes isn't too frustrating. The HK22 does not have mode memory, which would be nice, but again is not strictly necessary with a flashlight that only has three modes. My most significant complaint is the lack of a true low mode, which will be discussed in the Battery Life section of this review. I would also like to see a pocket clip, but that's probably not the purpose of a flashlight with a tripod mount. It offers a cheap wrist strap, similar to the one found on most other generic flashlights. I am very glad to see that this flashlight can tailstand, which I count as feature, and a very important one at that. Most importantly, the HK22 tailstands by design, in contrast with other flashlights whose ability to tailstand varies across samples and manufacturing batches. Since it has a side switch design, there is no switch boot that can protrude from the tail. The beam is nice and smooth, thanks to the light orange peel type reflector. The emitter is a standard fare Cree XR-E, verified visually. I am unsure about Li-Ion 14500 support on this light. Neither the packaging nor the product page mentions anything about 14500, and I don't own any to test it. The HK22 has few other distinguishing features. The price is very reasonable at $14.50, but several other lights such as the Trustfire F20 offer a true low mode, mode memory, and a pocket clip for a pricetag around $12.00. So I am giving the Sipik HK22 a respectable 3 star rating for its balance between Features / Value.
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★☆
The Sipik HK22 is a visually attractive flashlight featuring a clean, cylindrical design that is free of worthless fins and crenelations. The bottom half has a nice diamond pattern, although I would prefer it to be a slightly more aggressive knurl. As mentioned previously, the side switch design leaves the bottom free of switch boots, so has a nice flat tail that solidly tail stands. The side switch could be useful for those who need to use this light with gloves. And the side switch feels somewhat more natural than a tail clicky when holding it in the hand with the thumb pointed forward so that it rests comfortably over the switch. And this design would be practical for mounting on a tripod for those who need this feature. So the overall design is very good. Build quality is quite good. The light only disassembles into two pieces approximately in the middle of the body. The threads feel smooth and effortless, and there is an O-ring where it should be. Apart from that, my only complaint about the design is its large size. It measures 107mm in length by 22mm in diameter, which is almost a full centimeter longer that a Trustfire F20, and much larger than most other 1xAA lights.
Top to bottom: Sipik HK22, Trustfire F20, Eastward YJ 609, Ultrafire UF-H2, Fenix LD15
Then again, I suppose the purpose of the HK-22 is not to be pocket EDC but rather for tripod mounting, where size is less important. The HK22 has only a few minimal visual flaws. There are few tiny nicks in the paint, and few small blurs in the diamond pattern. Inside, there is a nice spring for the negative contact, and the head has the strange protruding positive contact that I've seen in a few other lights recently. I don't know why they would use a positive nub to contact the positive nub of the battery, but at any rate in practical terms it doesn't seem to affect anything. The flashlight arrived without any significant dirt or grime, and fortunately everything worked out of the box without tightening or tweaking. Interestingly, the printed box it came in is labeled with Sipik, but a blurb on the back side says "Tank007 products are checked strictly in each producing procedure to make sue [sic] safety in use". So as I suspected, Sipik appears to have some relation with Tank007, which is a good thing in my opinion. Tank007 also offers similarly designed tripod mount lights. So in summary, the Sipik HK22 has good overall quality, in a relative large package. It receives a strong 4 star rating for this criterion.
Battery Life: ★★☆☆☆
Battery life is my biggest complaint with the Sipik HK22. It is advertised as having High > Low > Strobe modes. But in reality, low mode is not very low. In the lowest mode, it appears approximately as bright as my Trustfire F20 on medium. This negatively impacts battery life. In my runtime test with a freshly charged Eneloop, output was stable, but faded quickly after 4 hours. I require at least 12 hours of runtime on low, and many budget lights offer close to 24 hours of runtime if not double or triple that. So I'm unimpressed with the battery life, and I am giving the Sipik HK22 only 2 stars for this category.
Light Output: ★★★★★
The brightness and beam quality are good selling points of the Sipik HK22. Despite using an older Cree XR-E emitter (Q3 according to another owner), the beam is surprisingly bright on high, right up there with some of the best lights I own. When tailstanding indoors, it comfortably lights up my entire kitchen at night. Outside, the beam throws well, clearly illuminating the tree I usually use as a reference. The beam quality is another very positive point of the HK22. Some flashlights are incredibly bright, but fall on their face with a beam pattern that shows many rings and shadows, thus making it difficult to see objects without moving the beam around to avoid the shadows. However, The Sipik's light orange peel reflector does a great job of smoothing out the beam. It gives a nice hotspot, with a smooth transition out to the edge of the aura, with no rings or shadows. It is definitely one of the prettier beam patterns in my collection. The beam is balanced between throw and flood. The color temperature is neutral. The color temperature is slightly more "fruity" in tone than the vanilla color of my Trustfire F20. So I am very happy with the beam and brightness of the Sipik HK22, and it receives a perfect 5 star rating in this criterion.
Summary: ★★★★☆
In summary, the Sipik HK22 is a good choice for a unique side switch flashlight with a tripod mount. The overall design and beam quality are quite good. It is simple, reliable, and affordable, albeit not such an outstanding value as other budget lights. However, the poor runtime on low and relatively large size make it considerably less useful for me personally. Taking all this into account, the Sipik HK22 receives an average rating of 3.5, so I'll round it up to 4 out of 5 stars.
Thanks again to MrCool at TinyDeal.com for sending me the Sipik HK22 for review.
Do you own the Sipik HK22? Give it your own star rating below!
