Survival and Emergency Preparedness

The Sipik or SK68 was the flashlight that got me started on the move from incandescent bulb flashlights to LED flashlights. Decent little flashlight that can often be purchased for as little as a buck on Ebay and other sites. Uses either an AA or 14500 battery. A regular AA battery will typically yield about 80 lumens, which is brighter than a 5D cell Maglite using an incandescent bulb. A 14500 will yield as much as 300 lumens. Goes from flood the spot with a simple pull on the head of the flashlight. Usually comes in either one-mode or three-mode (high, low and strobe).

Decent little light that is inexpensive enough to have a drawer full of them. If you lose one you simply grab another out of the drawer. Occasionally you get one that isn't all that great but in general I've gotten decent lights.

Gotta have a thread on this nifty little light

1. Warning. You make sure that you actually see a picture of the light and it is marked SIPIK. There are a lot of knockoffs that will say like sk68 or Ultrafire sk68 or {make up a name} sk68.

Just because something is listed on eBay or Amazon does not mean that the seller is legit.

I bought 3 more genuine items from Dealestreme this a.m. in ONE MODE for $3.11 each. Deal with people light Bangood or Gearbest or Dealextreme if you want to deal with reputable dealers with whom you will do future business. or find a decent seller from one of the US flashlight websites.

2. Yeah, I know. You want to get bells and whistles with every dollar you spend. Do NOT assume that your 7 year old daughter, your 85 year old grand dad has your knowledge of flashlights ( 3 mode - 5 mode, last setting memory) or car transmissions (like why a manual transmission is technically better than a ten speed automatic). They don't have your knowledge or experience through osmosis and won't have it in an emergency. Obtain and gift ONE MODE, simple aa battery lights. This year I am giving cheapie PRC battery testers at Christmas. You would be amazed at how many people go through life with a dead flashlight and have no way of testing the simple battery.

bdc wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2019 10:09 am 1. Warning. You make sure that you actually see a picture of the light and it is marked SIPIK. There are a lot of knockoffs that will say like sk68 or Ultrafire sk68 or {make up a name} sk68.

Absolutely. Also look at the advertised lumen output. I've seen SK68 flashlights advertised as high as 3500 lumens. That's more than 10X more than a legit Sipik can actually output. Those are Chinese lumens and is purely a marketing gimmick.

Here is an example of a Sipik being advertised on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Tactical-Flashli ... 368&sr=8-2

You can see in the description: SIPIK zoom Mini Flashlight LED. Output bright can come to 300 lumens (MAX). That is a truthful description as a Sipik is capable of 300 lumens using a 14500 battery.

Now here is an advertisement from Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bright-3500-LM ... 44e908241e

Notice the description: Bright 3500 LM Ultrafire SK68. That is a 'looking-for-a-sucker' ad. Now the light might be a decent light that puts out 200-300 lumens using a 14500 battery, but it makes you wonder just from the misleading/false/lying to your face ad.

I've been EDCing a SK68 for about 5 years now. Great little light. Never realized till now that you could boost the output with a 14500 battery...DUH! So thanks for the tip though the thing I like about them is they use one regular AA battery which is common as dirt. Anyway I bought a handful of them a few years ago to give to the family. They are very, very handy.

Mac66 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2019 2:48 pm I've been EDCing a SK68 for about 5 years now. Great little light. Never realized till now that you could boost the output with a 14500 battery...DUH! So thanks for the tip though the thing I like about them is they use one regular AA battery which is common as dirt. Anyway I bought a handful of them a few years ago to give to the family. They are very, very handy.

A good 14500 will absolutely get the most out of your SK68's or any AA/14500 flashlight. Really ups the lumens noticeably. I carry my Nitecore EA11 with a 14500 and have a small plastic battery case in my EDC sling bag with two 14500's and two AA's as back up. And like you mentioned, AA's are available everywhere. And even with an AA battery, the SK68 or any of the other types are still plenty bright. Don't quote me for exact numbers, but IIRC, the 5D cell maglite using an incandescent bulb is only in the upper 30's for lumen output. SK68 using an AA battery is around 80. That is a substantial difference not only in light output but weight, size and cost of batteries!

I don't disagree that a good 14500 battery will get a different performance. A person has to know if using a 14500 battery in the place of an AA battery would cause a flashlight to overheat.

I did order another 4 sipik sk68s this last week. Today, I went to my bag of AA flashlight parts and tried to set up one sipik sk68 light from parts. Failed this time and threw out the body. Sometimes, flashlights give up the ghost without having been stored with batteries in them. Just happens. Have had that happen to a few sipik sk68s, but I still buy them because they are cheap. Had it happen to a couple of no name lights a couple of weeks ago and tossed them. Those were using 123a batteries.

In that regard, I do say that I tested boxes of Surefire 123 batteries that were way over 10 years old last week, and they were still full power. So, it confirms that you buy quality in batteries.

bdc wrote: ↑Sun Dec 15, 2019 6:49 pm I don't disagree that a good 14500 battery will get a different performance. A person has to know if using a 14500 battery in the place of an AA battery would cause a flashlight to overheat.

I did order another 4 sipik sk68s this last week. Today, I went to my bag of AA flashlight parts and tried to set up one sipik sk68 light from parts. Failed this time and threw out the body. Sometimes, flashlights give up the ghost without having been stored with batteries in them. Just happens. Have had that happen to a few sipik sk68s, but I still buy them because they are cheap. Had it happen to a couple of no name lights a couple of weeks ago and tossed them. Those were using 123a batteries.

In that regard, I do say that I tested boxes of Surefire 123 batteries that were way over 10 years old last week, and they were still full power. So, it confirms that you buy quality in batteries.

When I ran the public safety dept at a college we had AEDs that took 123a batteries. Each unit used 10 batteries which had to be replaced every two years. At that time we had 10-15 units so we replaced about half of them on an alternating schedule every year. I kept the ones we took out and saved them for the flashlights I gave my guys. By the time I retired we had hundreds of spares so I took a couple boxes of used batteries home. That was 8 years ago and they still work fine. But I mostly use my sk68s for EDC simply because they use AA batteries. I hate using up my stash of 123s.

a big plus one on that.

I've actually been using Ultrafire and they have been working great.

Bob wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 8:49 pm I've actually been using Ultrafire and they have been working great.

The batteries or the flashlights?