Rant & Rave

I like the Chinese made lights that I have, sure, but..... the reason I have them is because you can't get a Maglite with the latest brightest Led in it. I would pay $49.95 for a 3D cell Maglite with a Cree XM-L Led in it. They just are not in existence, so to China I go.

@ pounder (re Maglites): "..that and they just don't push technology like other companies do..evolve or die man..and they're not evolving fast enough.."

Agreed, and I for one can't understand why they're not doing so. With so many guys here at BLF able to "mod-a-mag" you'd think it would be comparitively straightforward for Mag Instruments to do the same thing on industrial scale. Maglites no doubt still have a loyal following, but I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that so many people still don't seem to have discovered high output LED lights. I read somewhere that the company are struggling to survive; they need to raise the bar, it's a mystery why they haven't. Surely it can't be production costs?

I get the frustration of the OP but I disagree with some of the points. I do get tired of the frustrating aspects of dealing with the current Chinese dealers but it is more or less expected given the prices.
When I buy from China my mindset and expectations are not the same as when I buy from a U.S. dealer.
If you want to spend $60 for a flashlight you will get a good one where ever it’s made (including China).
If you like to mod flashlights you aren’t likely to mod a $60 flashlight. The whole hobby of modding lights is because of the Chinese lights.
I don’t get the attraction for Maglite however. Who buys 2D flashlights these days. Maglite makes nothing that I want. It’s a dinosaur of a company as far as I can tell.
I basically use Zebralight headlamps, P60 type lights and bright single AAA lights with one or two single AAs thrown in for good measure. Maglite isn’t even in the running for anything I’m interested in. I’ve never even owned one.
I’m old enough to remember when “Made In Japan” was mainly seen on cheap products. Now my car is made in Japan and it’s the one the I’ve had the least problems with by far.
It’s a manufacturing learning or “life experience” curve as far as I can tell. First you make T-shirt and eventually you are making high quality products.
Japan can’t make flashlights that are any better than those made in China if you keep the price the same.
It’s frustrating but that’s the “price” we pay for having the option of purchasing inexpensive products.
All countries sign postal service agreements so the U.S. has nothing to do with the low postal prices in China. Chinese manufacturers do pay for shipping but those prices are low in China.
You’ll notice there are more and more companies in the U.S. that offer “free” shipping and sometimes there’s no threshold dollar limit to be met first.
It’s just included in the price directly or most of that companies advertising budget is just used to subsidize shipping.

Maglite 2D (incan) here ~40$+ (LED 3D 65$).

A ton of other, better lights can be bought with this amount of money, if you happen to have Visa / Paypal and you are able to do search with Google and read at least something in english.

For 15-20 I kinda understand getting a Maglite.

Maglite, love them or hate them. China, love it or hate it. I'm probably the worst when it comes to buying from overseas. I've lost 3 good jobs in the last 15 years, to closures due to China. I don't like to buy from China, but sometimes I feel forced to because the US does not make anything. Well we can't compete any more, just like many nations. We fail as a nation, because we got too expensive and besides you can't compete with slave labor, no way to win against that. Just like Mexico, can't beat the labor costs. + No regulations about pollution, chemicals, etc. Hell most plating has left the US because we regulated it to where there is no reason to try. Cheaper to do it in China and ship it back. I would love to see the US get some guts and slap tarrifs on all incoming goods, so that they were $1 more than anything we make here. It would hurt, but in the end, it just might save us. It's all another Rant.Sealed

I haven't bought more than 3 or 4 chinese made lights and so far every one was poorly made and looked strange. I like the sleek Maglite style. I don't like the funky shapes on most of the Chinese stuff. Looks medieval, like a knight of the round table should be wearing one.

Everyone has an opinion and it's good to see what people think. It's something to give an opinion on, although it's just talk really. Just a way to pass the time and stir up the pot...

my xeno e03 and xtar d06 are much higher quality than any maglite I've seen...

and they should be at 2 - 4x the cost.

(edit) in fact, so are my ultrafires and trustfires, and they didn't cost more. the only junky lights I've have that were made in china were purchased locally.

the only reason they make junky stuff in china is because 'we' buy it.

money rules

in the federal reserve act

woodrow wilson did

december 23, 1913

edit: for those thinking that only applies to the US, look into where the bankers were from...

I don't care where anything is made just so long as it offers great Value For Money which, as my screen name suggests, is my core addiction.

i think you bought the wrong 3 or 4 Chinese lights. there are many <$20 Chinese lights that are made well and look nice and sleek. i know it's just a rant, but please be careful about making a blanket statement about all cheap Chinese lights based on such a small sample of experiences.

and regarding China, it's true that their government subsidizes many of their manufacturing industries, as well as their overseas shipping, and that allows them to compete unfairly on the global market. it's also true that the US government subsidizes the corn industry, as well as many others, allowing it to compete unfairly on the global market as well. so there's a give and take on that stuff.

There is a lot of Chinese junk but the sweeping statement "all Chinese flashlights are junk" is only true as far as junk Chinese flashlights are concerned.

I have a Surefire 6P LED I bought at Fry's two years ago for $89 plus tax. It was rated by Surefire at 120 lumens. I also have a Solarforce L2 with an UF XM-L drop-in. L2s are $12.50 right now so let's call it $30 total. Put aside the fact that a Solarforce so equipped, stomps a mudhole in the 6P's behind in terms of brightness, on medium . . . I defy any thinking person to show me where the L2 falls short when compared to a 6P. In terms of machine work, threads, fit and finish, anodization or whatever happens to matter to you, even a bad L2 is at least as good as a 6P. Aside from a warranty, the L2 is simply superior product.

A higher quality flashlight that is at least three times as bright . . . you could own three for the price of an inferior 6P.

Anybody that thinks Chinese lights are junk, owns too many 502Bs. (or, in my case, one too many Sky Rays)

/rantFoy

But but but..candlepowerforums said the solarforce sucks and the surefire was amazing!! ;)

Have I been reading too much CPF / too little BLF since this is the first time I hear anyone actually saying, that Surefire lacks quality compared to Solarforce?

I have always thought, the Surefires are even better made than Solarforces High quality products and thus cost 3-4x more?

If i really want to spend on such stuff, i'd go for Polarions, Elzetta, Malkoffs....

I completely agree with this. If you haven't tried a Solarforce, you don't know what you are missing. I have two solarforce lights, one L2P with an XML drop-in. You can get this setup for $30 and will blow the doors off a $60 maglite LED in terms of output in a much much smaller form factor. The quality is there too, I would take the Solarforce L2P over my maglite in terms of quality. I also have a solarforce L2 with the solarforce MPP-1 turbohead. This setup costs $52 shipped and will out-throw by far any light that maglite sells. And again, the quality is outstanding. I am not going to pay more for a lesser product? If Maglite made anything even remotely like this in terms of output and quality, I would probably buy it and even pay a bit more. But they don't. American companies need to step up, and not just in the flashlight world.

I don’t think I have to own something to have an opinion about it do I? I find nothing strange about that. There are many on here who have opinions of China who have never been there and even opinions on governmental policies that they don’t even understand.
I don’t mod lights or I would probably have some use for a Maglite (maybe). I also don’t particularly like larger lights. A P60 is about as large as I’m interested in. Therefore why would I like Maglites?

Old lumens says right up front he's old and grumpy ....So whats your excuse ???

I was excited to see a thread where i could rant and rave and then i realized all the ranters and ravers were here already ...RATS

Some old lights old and young whippersnappers like Gcbyran can agree on >>

http://wordcraft.net/flashlight7a.html

http://wordcraft.net/flashlight5.html

http://wordcraft.net/flashlight7.html here's a lively group (kill me first )

No convention since 2008? Somebody needs to get crackin!

Now that’s how you do a rant! :slight_smile:

@oldbobk - you said it better than I could have.

Maglite does not care about modding and modders because we are about 0.005% of their sales. Their sales was built around Police, Fire & Security! A strong light that will not break. A plastic reflector and lens to help from breaking in a fall or a fight. A sturdy switch design for the same reason and an overall strong body/head to last through the issues that many police, firemen and security people see. Also it's doubles as a billy club if need be. That is the main theme of Maglites and that is where their sales are going. They are not about to make modifications to a light that sells more than any other single light, for a bunch of modders who don't even know a good general purpose, long lasting, useful light if it bit them on the butt.

But, the basic design still allows for modding and more mods have been done to Maglites than any other flashlight around. By modding, I don't mean "drop-ins" that aren't modding at all. They are just changing parts, like changing spark plugs.

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I, myself, don't really care for Maglites, other than their potential to be modded. I wouldn't use a stock Mag for personal use, but then again, I wouldn't pick one of the budget lights either. I'm not going to buy a $65 light or anything expensive. It might be great, but I won't like something and I will want to do something to it, so why buy an expensive light that I'm going to end up modding anyhow.

I would like to say that my first post was incorrect and I did generalize way too much. Not all Chinese products are bad or of low quality. I personally have just not found a good one yet, but they must be there.

It all boils down to what you want and your preferences. It's interesting to see the different replies and the way people percieve things. The bad part of the internet is that we are (for the most part) strangers and anonymity can be a good or a bad thing.

I will also say that the first paragraph of this post was intended to rile the masses. It was not intended to offend anyone personally, nor was it directed at any one member.

Take everything with a grain of salt and you will not get as upset... but you will die of high blood pressure from all that salt!Tongue Out