It didn't fit our mail-slot so the crazy mailman decided to leave it on our doorstep. We live in the city and our doorstep is next to the sidewalk where people pass by all the time. God only knows how it managed to still be there when my wife got home during her lunch break. I think I'll file a complaint with the postal service so it won't happen again. All this started when they replaced mailmen and women with goons from the unemployment office...
All that aside, the light is excellent, the entire light is the same color *phew*. The current in high at the tail as many reported only +/- 1.70 A with a fully charged TF flames. Luckily re-enforcements are on their way in the form of a couple of KD 8*7135 drivers, so all will get fixed in a little while :)
It's worth the wait! I got mine Monday. It's a nice light on AA, but really screams on 14500 (gets warm fast). The tint is a little cool, but mostly just white. Throws better than I thought too. I'm working on a full review. I took the beam shots, but still need to do pictures of the light itself and some runtime and current draw tests (usually do that while I'm actually writing the review). I'm doing the BLF Tank and the UF 2100 at the same time, so it's a lot of info to process.
I don't own a dedicated 18650 thrower yet and I kind of like the light. I will leave a neutral rating if I get the refund and a negative if I don't. The light is easily worth £5... even hosts do cost more. My guess is that he already is loosing money at £5. What bothers me more that he is still selling the light under the same description.
A couple of cheapies arrived today from Bluelans. A no name SK68 and an SA-17.
The Sipik "clone" seems to be the same as my other Cree branded one. There is no lub on any of the threads though and the drop in was missing a rubber o-ring compared to the Cree. Weight feels the same in the hand and the finish is good with no nicks to the anodising. Light output with AA batteries is similar and a bit whiter than my original. I will try them side by side tonight to get a better idea. The Zoom function felt a little loose at first however now I've had it all apart and back together it feels much the same as my other one and doesn't change zoom distance unless you move it. I will add a bit of grease as there is none in there, which will improve the feel. Likewise to the tail cap, which feels very rough.
The SA-17 is a 3xAAA push to zoom. I need to go buy batteries so don't know what the light output is like. The zoom is tight and very smooth on this one which makes it feel better quality but is no good for single hand use. There are a few tiny nicks in the body finish. The threads are very lightly greased but you wouldn't know when unscrewing the tailcap as it feels rough. I'll add some heavier grease to help. The rear clicky protrudes so no tailstanding, (except at a precarious angle!)
The order took 11 days to get here in the UK, which is very good. The lack of lub and missing o-ring was disappointing as they weren't the cheapest for the Sipik type but both are easy fixes.
still nothing.. weird that those mcpcbs were paid on 9. october and arrived sooner than the cqg s1 which i paid for 16. september and still hasn't arrived:(
I've got the same from other suppliers. Items shipped later have arrived but one shipped earlier from Manafont (who I trust) has still not arrived over 1 week later. Annoying, isn't it? China/HK mail can be very erratic at times.
Today I recieved a very unexpected package. I ordered a Trustfire X9 from ebay for $36.99 from seller 'go_market'. I recieved it today 9 BUSINESS DAYS AFTER ORDERING. This is incredible and is by far the fastest I have recieved something from over seas.
I found the light of very high quality, and the parts are very well color matched for the most part. Double o-rings on the tail cap which is something I like to see. Clean thick glass lense, beefy threads. I was impressed. Popped a battery into it and....nothing. Damn. It was all too good to be true.
Luckily I just tightened the switch up which was loose in the tailcap and she worked nicely. I have yet to measure with a fully charged 18650 but right now the highest reading I could pull from the tailcap was .7a in high from a battery reading 3.56v. Pretty bad, so I will test it with a fully charged cell Edit: it only draws 1a from a fresh cell. And it's still bright! Can't wait to see it at 2.8a!:Dsoon.
Luckily I have a 2.8a driver ready to go in and then I will see how this thing compares to my UF-980L :D
I'm a sucker for stainless steel lights - even if it is far from optimal for something as hot-running as a hard-driven XM-L. When it arrived, it struck me that it bore a remarkable resemblance to the Aurora SH-032 which is a rather nice R2 18550 light.
So I dug out the 32.
I'll do better pics when we get some daylight tomorrow. The only real difference is that the SH-032 is a polished finish and the T60 is a rather nicer satin finish.
Repeated Bad Words!
The editor has just lost 3/4 of this post.
In summary: The Aurora SH-032 and SH-034 heads and tailcaps are interchangeable - as are those from the 270-T60, so by taking the head from it and putting it on the SH-034 body you have a nice (Obviously high-current cells only) 16340 light.
I don't have the 2100. Here's a pic of the inside of the head end. It isn't very good - I will get some better shots when it is light again. They announced the 5-mode the day after I ordered the 3-mode. Pity it isn't H M L instead of H M Strobe.
4ell yea!
