What you got today

Jerrycobra · September 20, 2012, 3:31am

my eo3 came in, now waiting on the 14500s to pocket rocket

kreisler · September 20, 2012, 7:18am

Oh, i like it a lot!! I like it better than expected! :D

Here the details:

kreisler:

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.

M3TAL_L0RD · September 20, 2012, 10:18pm

Couldn’t resist for $10.99 incl. shipping 0:)

Also got this one from DX

gords1001 · September 20, 2012, 9:44pm

I got an underdriven uniquefire uf-v3, I’d be upset, but it has the nicest beam you’ve ever seen. The reflector is odd, but it really does its job, tight intense hotspot and a smooth spill with no rings, plus its small, smaller feeling than a c8. I like it, I like it a lot. :bigsmile:

mags · September 21, 2012, 4:34am

Where did you pick it up from? Looks really nice…

gords1001 · September 21, 2012, 6:33am

Here you go.

Everything’s in there.

_the · September 21, 2012, 6:05pm

I got today these:

Blackshadow Darth from Ric

Thrunite T10 & Ti from thrunite-store.com (red firefly as you can see.. grr..)

"X6" driver from KD (but I don't have a X6, yet)

GITD O-rings from KD

Sirius9 · September 21, 2012, 6:16pm

NICE one I kinda expected to be smaller judging from pictures at ff.com, I like (all except that to shiny “Magnet control switch” thing)…

kreisler · September 21, 2012, 6:22pm

T., you're not going to review it and or compare it to its big brother the King, are you?

;)

Nice quality stuff you got!!

JohnnyMac · September 21, 2012, 6:30pm

Awesome haul! I’m waiting for the exact same lights to arrive except my Darth is NW. Hopefully the Darth will arrive in 2 weeks or less. I anxiously await your impressions on the Darth!

Who knows when the Thrunites will arrive. I ordered them 2 weeks ago and still no sign of them. I don't think they've even shipped yet.

how2 · September 21, 2012, 7:57pm

From where for $10.99

_the · September 21, 2012, 9:02pm

I is small. Significantly smaller in diameter than King. (About 5mm longer though)

Sure and sure.

Do you really think my Darth would be CW?? ;)

I'll write my initial impressions to Darth thread, soon.

Your Thrunites will be shipped from US, mine came from SG, that might make the difference..

JohnnyMac · September 21, 2012, 9:08pm

_the_:

Sirius9:

_the_:

Blackshadow Darth from Ric

NICE one I kinda expected to be smaller judging from pictures at ff.com, I like (all except that to shiny “Magnet control switch” thing)…

I is small. Significantly smaller in diameter than King. (About 5mm longer though)

kreisler:

T., you're not going to review it and or compare it to its big brother the King, are you?

Sure and sure.

JohnnyMac:

_the_:

Blackshadow Darth from Ric

Thrunite T10 & Ti from thrunite-store.com (red firefly as you can see.. grr..)

"X6" driver from KD (but I don't have a X6, yet)

GITD O-rings from KD

Awesome haul! I’m waiting for the exact same lights to arrive except my Darth is NW. Hopefully the Darth will arrive in 2 weeks or less. I anxiously await your impressions on the Darth!

Who knows when the Thrunites will arrive. I ordered them 2 weeks ago and still no sign of them. I don't think they've even shipped yet.

Do you really think my Darth would be CW?? ;)

I'll write my initial impressions to Darth thread, soon.

Your Thrunites will be shipped from US, mine came from SG, that might make the difference..

Hmm...Ric told me the NW weren't in until a couple days ago and he shipped it then. As for Thrunite, they forgot to ship mine and finally resubmitted my order yesterday. Horrible service!

CheapThrills · September 21, 2012, 9:15pm

Got today 2 intellichargers, now doing a little test.
HD2010 from Lightmalls arrived also, has a ton of scratches and dings! Some Sipiks to go, also…

_the · September 21, 2012, 9:16pm

Right. Mine was shipped in "world record" time. Arrived to Finland yesterday, and to my local post office today.

Item No.	Posting Date	Status Date	Status Description
RF103XXXX12SG	18-09-2012	20-09-2012	Arrived at overseas (Country code: FI)

Agree. They also said that I could request a specific color for the free Ti by email. I requested Red Firefly and got Black 3lm. :(

M3TAL_L0RD · September 27, 2012, 10:56am

From http://www.thrunite-store.com/ but it was on sale back then

EDIT: Seems that you can still get it for 10.99… postage is now cheaper

_the · September 22, 2012, 7:17pm

Welcome back to BLF M3TAL_L0RD! You had a long pause, but we are glad to have you back!

JohnnyMac · September 25, 2012, 4:16am

My Thrunite T10 and Ti finally arrived this morning. Took 2 weeks for them to ship my order and only 3 days to arrive.

GottaZoom · September 26, 2012, 5:27am

The first of my 2 SK68 clones described here arrived.

Biggest problem is I am not certain which one came! The envelope only has a PO Box # but both were coming from HK and I can’t find seller addresses. Numbers on the label don’t seem to relate to either order. Ebay would be 14 days, the Amazon light came in 13 days from shipped to mailbox.

Visually, it looks like the Amazon light with no logo. Unfortunately it is only a single mode and I was hoping for the 3 mode mentioned in the Amazon reviews.

Duraloop at 1.28v draws 1.8A for 2.3W
Eneloops (avg of 4) at 1.43v draws 1.00A for 1.43W

TF flame at 3.51v draws 0.9A for 3.2W (another is charging)
TF flame at 4.22 draws 1.75A for 7.4W (charged 2nd cell)

~~If a freshly charged 14500 will do 1.7 or 1.8 like the Duraloop then it could hit 7W.~~ Amazon.com as seller sent these Eneloops with embossed date code of 11-10, so not sure why they are not delivering the amps and watts.

Since this is my first FTT, some additional observations:

- Smaller than expected, but not lighter

- Zoom is really good for outside, inside not so much

- 7W gets comfortably warm in hand

- Easily throws very good light to 150 meters, reflectors to 300 meters

- This one has no spring at plus end, perhaps none do

- LED appears to be set in place with a metal washer held down with a press fit plastic ring

- O-rings at tail cap and bezel, but nothing for zoom or lens

- Lens appears glued in place

- Clip screw holes open to inside

Works with toothbrush travel holder as a diffuser wand

Nice pocket rocket with lion - simple and capable EDC with NiMH - guess I’ll look for one with low next.

NightCrawl · September 25, 2012, 8:24am

This: https://illuminationsupply.com/nichia-nvsl219ath1-4500k-92-cri-b10-bin-20mm-triple-star-p-160.html

this: https://illuminationsupply.com/carclo-10507-100-mm-lens-front-narrow-array-p-145.html

and this: https://illuminationsupply.com/carclo-10508-100mm-frosted-medium-array-p-146.html