SPARK Technology Flashlights *Review / Shootout*

[toby_pra]

Hello!

After offering these flashlights for a while now, i thuoght you to give some little impressions
of these good quality flashlights...

Spark Technology is a new brand, the people who stand behind this brand, where earlier the
oney who developed the Zebralights. So all these lights have a very nice, natural finish, like you
can find with a Zebralight or the older Surefire ones. Most of the newer brands, produce only
flashlights with a black finish (what i personally dont like).

All the lights i introduce here, use the new and very bright Cree XM-L Led either with a cool-white
or warmer neutral-white tint. The beam is perfect to my eyes, it does have a large spot
and much sidespill, for every use. Also several levels of brigthness provide the right light
for every situation.

Especially the SL6 is a very bright torch with 800Lumens on high, these Lumens are out of the
front lumens, but later more (with the beamshots ). Also with the SL5 models you get a very
bright AA using torch, with lots of lumens, you can run these AA models also with an 3.7V
Li-Ion cell....

The flashlights and also the headlights come with extra o-rings and a diffusor lens. The flashlight
models also come with a solid and well made flashlight sheat.

The special with the SL6 and SL5 is the possibility to use either the switch in the tailcap or
the one at the head, when walking with the dog or using with a tactical handle. The models
are perfect for every situation...

What makes these light special?

*a very nice natural finish
*a wonderful useful beam
*a good build quality
*much brightness for its size
*2 switches for the SL models...

...and IMO a good option to the others in this pricerange like Fenix, Jetbeam and Co.

But for now some pics...

 

[toby_pra]

The beamshots are made with fresh cells, and each light is set to high/turbo.


1. SL5-190NW (flashlight)

2. SL5-220CW (flashlight)

3. ST6-460NW (headtorch)

4. ST6-500CW (headtorch)

5. SL6-740NW (fashlight)

6. SL6-800CW (flashlight)

Hope you enjoyed the little review. These Sparks are really little pocket rockets!

 

[turboBB]

Spark Technology is a new brand, the people who stand behind this brand, where earlier the
oney who developed the Zebralights.

Ah, I didn't know that! It also explains why their lights bear more than a passing resemblance to ZL's. Very nice lights, hopefully I'll add one to my collection some day. Thx for posting these awesome pics and beamshots.

Cheers,
Tim

 

[candle lamp]

Thanks for the nice beamshots. toby pra!

You love Spark lights very much. I agree the lights are very well made and have nice beam profile.

 

[hazna]

Spark Technology is a new brand, the people who stand behind this brand, where earlier the
oney who developed the Zebralights. So all these lights have a very nice, natural finish, like you
can find with a Zebralight or the older Surefire ones.

This is interesting to hear. Could you provide a link to the source of this information?

 

[toby_pra]

This is interesting to hear. Could you provide a link to the source of this information?

No sorry...cant find the source ATM, i am sure you'll find it.

 

[Bass]

Thanks for the information and beam shots Toby, they look to be great lights.

 

[OneBigDay]

Thanks for the writeup. The SL5- looks like a sweet little light. 4.2v compatible, nice styling and side switch, compact size. Another one for the list

I'm surprised more manufacturers aren't doing side switches on high end lights. If somebody could build and demonstrate empirically that a side switch is just as reliable, I predict there would be a lot of converts.

 

[Federal LG]

Nice lights!

I got my eye on SL5 for a while... Probably gonna get one next month.

Thanks for the info and pics, Toby!

 

[toby_pra]

Glad you like it...

 

[DisrupTer911]

Question about your SL6-800CW.
WHen you select a mode, the next time you want to change, does it start at low again and works it's way up?

My ST6-500CW can be set on a mode & the next time you press & hold it goes up one level. It doesn't start over at low again.

Strange behavior for the SL6 IMO.

 

[jake25]

Disrupter, that's right on the SL6. Each time you start ramping it'll start back at low.

 

[toby_pra]

Yes thats right Sir...like the Zebralights do AFAIK

 

[brembo]

I find myself browsing the WTS Headlamp section more and more often. The 460CW keeps grabbing my eye. Have you strapped one on your head yet? It looks to me like the lights's engine/reflector sticks out far enough to make it a bit floppy, is that the case? If it's fairly stable it's going to be hard to resist the purchase much longer.

 

[spankone]

you get a very slight bob with it, otherwise its hard to notice

 

[TRK]

Question about your SL6-800CW.
WHen you select a mode, the next time you want to change, does it start at low again and works it's way up?

My ST6-500CW can be set on a mode & the next time you press & hold it goes up one level. It doesn't start over at low again.

Strange behavior for the SL6 IMO.

I like that the ramping always starts from low because it's like a short cut for me. I tend to use my lights in two modes, high and low. So the UI for this light reminds me of the short cuts for my Nitecore D10 (my EDC) where a double click gets me to high and then if I press and hold the button, I go right to low. The short cuts are not exactly the same but they get you to the same place. Might not work for everyone but this works great for me!

 

[Federal LG]

I decided to get one new Spark for me, but I got some questions...

I intend to get one 1xAA Spark. It will be the SL5 model, but I can´t decide between XP-G R5 Cool White or XM-L T6 Cool White LEDs.

I mean, what´s the difference between them? Are there any "flood vs. throw" difference? I really don´t understand why 2 lights have almost the same output, but different LEDs. Any hint?

Help someone...

 

[brembo]

I decided to get one new Spark for me, but I got some questions...

I intend to get one 1xAA Spark. It will be the SL5 model, but I can´t decide between XP-G R5 Cool White or XM-L T6 Cool White LEDs.

I mean, what´s the difference between them? Are there any "flood vs. throw" difference? I really don´t understand why 2 lights have almost the same output, but different LEDs. Any hint?

Help someone...

As you mentioned the flood/throw is going to be a bit different. The XP-G is a smaller emitter and it's surface brightness is higher, thus will tighten the beam somewhat in the same sized reflector versus an XM-L emitter. Also the XM-L is a bit more efficient when driven optimally, so runtimes might see a single digit percentage (same lumen output) increase. Would be very hard to impossible to detect with eyeballs however as the beam profile is going to make that direct comparison useless. If it were me I'd start looking at some beamshots and let that be the deciding factor (flood vs. throw). If you are going to frost the lens or use diffusion tape, then I'd be digging into the runtime specs as the emitter type at that point is just an efficiency game.

 

[Federal LG]

I don´t care (too much...) for runtime or output. I prefer throw than spill. I would choose the model with narrower spot, if this is the difference between these 2 LEDs.

Never heard about these T5 / T6 LEDs...

 

[Federal LG]

I was wondering...

I have one Zebralight SC51w. If I´m correct, it has a XP-G LED on it, right? So I suppose Spark SL5 with XP-G will have exactly the same beam profile as my Zebra SC51w, right?

If it´s right, I´ll definitely gonna get one Spark with XP-G. I like XP-G´s beam profile. And probably it has more thrown than the XM-L version...