I have this one. It uses 3 AAAs or 18650. Brighter than my SK68 with AA. It has a hollow pill.
That’s the UF-838 I mentioned earlier. Different stores have different names for it.
I have several. My Raysoon TD398 is well made and works well, but it has a hollow pill and had a next mode memory driver until I changed it. For a compact 18650 zoomy, I like the Sipik SK-73, except that it does not take protected batteries. There are lots of similar lights that do take them and that are about as good.
My present favorite is my Yezl T9, but it did not work out of the box and would not have been a favorite as shipped if it had. I put a new driver, a new led and a lens from a UniqueFire UF-T20 in it. I filed the bezel ring to make it fit over the new lens. The T20 worked well out of the box, but it is pug ugly and the Yezl is beautiful to see and hold.
I really think that most of what is out there is good. I don’t like long focal length (thin) lenses that can be identified by the long zoom, or lenses that are much smaller than the head diameter. Other than those and next mode memory, it is mostly a matter of what size you want and of esthetics. Big lights have more throw and cool the led better but are harder to carry.
I’m doing estimated distance to 0.25 lux. It’s just the inverse square law.
So, take your lux, multiply by four to get the quarter-lux value, take a square root. For 148 kcd lux, that’s sqrt(148000 * 4) == 769 meters.
To convert distance to lux at 1m, it’s the opposite. Distance squared, divided by four. So, to get 500 meters, you’d need (500*500) / 4 == 62500 cd worth of lux.
It’s not going to be exactly the same in reality, but it’s the closest standard estimating method available.
If wide flood is of interest the UF-T20 is not your best option. I have one and it’s not wide at all, even after some modifications for wider flood beam.
I have a couple of these: http://www.dx.com/192004
I’ve modded them for wider beams (stock still wider than UF-T20). These lights have hollow pills so heat management is not the best.
I’ve recently ordered a couple of these: http://www.fasttech.com/product/1206500
According to the reviews the pill is solid and according to some posts in this forum it’s got a very wide flood. Mine aren’t due for a few weeks though, so can’t say for myself yet.
For wide flood, I like the UF-838. Its optic almost touches the emitter, which gives it the widest aspheric beam I’ve seen. The main issue is the hollow pill, so it isn’t good at heat management.
For throw, a modded UF-T20 works well.
As soon as I get time, I’m planning to mod my UF-838 with a de-domed XP-G2, some heat sinking, and a new driver. I think I can probably get about 60 kcd worth of lux from it, and still have a pretty wide flood mode (not as many lumens as XM-L though).
this has very wide flood >>>
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/For-UltraFire-E17-CREE-XM-L-T6-2000Lumens-cree-led-Torch/1549609009.html
with 18650 Battery charger and Car charger >>
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/UltraFire-E17-CREE-XM-L-T6-LED-2000Lm-led-flashlight-light-lamp-1x-18650-Battery-charger/1340021920.html
check this ‘People Bird’ flashlight 
, the quality looks good >>>
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/PB-M169-LED-Zoom-Flashlight-CREE-XM-L2-U2-Torch/1838417141.html?s=p
and this one:
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/PB-M168-LED-Zoom-Flashlight-CREE-XM-L2-U2-Torch/1246134_1838389836.html
http://www.people-bird.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=5
Has a lens with a really big focal distance…
No wonder it floods well…
That looks similar to one I have:
It neither floods well nor throws well, and was one of the worst lights I ever bought. I can’t say whether the one linked a couple posts ago is the same though. I can at least say its obviously-false “2000 lumens” spec makes me reluctant to believe any of the other specs. It also claims to be only 1 watt of power, which might be enough to get 75 lumens from the XM-L inside it.
To light a room, one can take the lens off. The quick way is to unscrew the bezel ring and take off the ring and lens. To get something like a hemisphere, take it apart and put it back together without the sliding head, bezel ring and lens.
The SK98 might be pretty ok but the reviewers just didn't like zoomies, i used to like them till I got a C8, and a Convoy M1 and S2, now you can't pay me to go back to zoomie
I got a SK-98 at one point too. It was nice in that it was truly the bigger sibling of the SK-68, and quite a bit more bright on flood mode. I even got a decent tint. However, the zoomed spot was kind of huge and dim, and the flood wasn’t particularly wide. And I got a bad one which had a lot of parts put together wrong and was too short even for unprotected batteries and had a hollow pill and would get so hot it’d probably un-solder itself if I left it on high for long.
But I’m with Bort. I used to love zoomies, and now I never use them except for rare and very specific purposes. For example, they can be used as portable image projectors, when paired with a loupe and a transparency sheet. A particularly wide and evenly-distributed zoomie beam can also help with photography sometimes, as an external flash of sorts. And a truly laser-like long-reaching aspheric light can be used to point at things or view objects far away with no spill to make the pupils contract.
I think the last time I used a zoomie was when I projected a TARDIS around a movie theater while we waited for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary movie to start. That was in, like… November? I forget. In any case, I use lights at least a dozen times per day and that was about six months ago, so I guess that means I haven’t used a zoomie since like 2000+ uses ago.
I too got a C8 after using zoomies for a time, but it didn’t convert me. It is better made than any zoomy I have and certainly puts out more total light than any zoomy did out of the box, but I rarely find it useful for my purposes.
This is a great little 18650 zoomie - excellent thrower and zooms to give good flood. Well regarded on this forum - the Small Sun ZY-C10:
I see DX has sold out at the moment but no doubt there are other suppliers on aliexpress etc with stock.
Best little zoomie thrower I’ve come across for the $$. Bunny rabbits at 100m are no problem.
well, this flashlight is scientific, yours is not… LOL
This looks similar, but with some differences… maybe it’s newer than the previous two flashlights… uses (18650/26650/AAA) Batteries…
Here is another one :
UniqueFire M2
Good looking light, but that’s not a zoomie.
probably not as good as the others mentioned, but no sharp edges, bezel is not too large, and zoom is smooth. Smaller than many. I doubt 3xaaa will fit, but I can try it later.
On a standard sipik style zoomie, how much would dedomed vs. domed LED make a difference?
I think the SK98 is a better option than the 68 if you are up for some modding.
Check this one out I found on eBay for $5:
Scroll down the page for some pics…
Okay: now I see this thread is old… overall, I think the XP-L HI helps in this application. I don’t have a good reference though…