I was thinking of buying some sony VTC6 3000mah 30A batteries from Neal, which is $5.50 shipped. Do you guys have any idea whether Neal can be trusted and whether these are genuine Sony and not counterfeits?
After reading some of the comments in the Emisar D4 thread, I’d go a different route, especially if I lived in the US.
IMR batteries dot com has the VTC-6 in stock for $6.50, or $6.25 if you buy 6 of them. You’ll pay a bit more, but you’ll get them sooner and have better peace of mind.
I’ve never had any issues with Neal, I trust him and will continue to support him. I can’t even imagine how busy he must be right now, plus he just got married. The only thing I ever received from China quickly was my BLF GT (2 days), everything else was about a month.
Right now as involved as he is & has been with the BLF GT, as well as just getting married…. I imagine he is doing all he can do just to keep his head above water.
He has most likely been getting hundreds of emails & PM’s per day…… there are only so many hours in a day too.
Not making excuses for him…. just stating fact & sharing personal experience.
I’ve had a good experience with him. Nevertheless the next time I’d think twice.
I still believe that I’d get what I paid for. But sometimes he takes long to ship an item. This leads to even more unpredictable shipping times than we’re used to.
And we see that communication can be terrible which can lead to long periods of uncertainty.
Nite Shadow wrote in post #6
:
Bought a light from Neal. Tried to cancel order no response. 2 week later tried emailing again to cancel order. He finally responded that it had shipped already. He lied. It did not ship until 3 days later. Received light three weeks later and it had a discolored part. Asked him to get me a new lens ring. He responded quickly this time that he is not the manufacturer and would not offer any further help. I buy from many overseas companies but will never buy from NEAL again.
Bought and just recieved a Noctigon M 43 Meteor from IN’t-Outdoors. Love the light.
Additionally, and to my surprise, Hank included a new lens ring for my Cyan D4. that I ask him for one even though I did not buy this second Emisar D4 from him (Got a smooth green D4 earlier from him though). This second Cyan D4 that I got from Neal had the aqua blue lens ring and Neal refused to help me at all. The new ring from Hank is a perfect match. Hank did not have to do that but he did! First Class guy and know I can trust him and Int’l-Outdoors. Will never buy from Neal again. I know others vouch for Neal and that is okay. Just telling my experience. ’Nuf said.
If you ordered batteries without a flashlight or battery tube, they will never come.
I made an order for a KeepPower 18350, and heard nothing from him for about a month. When I opened a PayPal dispute to inquire, he simply gave a full refund without any explanation.
He later updated his website with a disclaimer under all batteries stating that you can’t order them independently.
I suppose, order the cheapest flashlights (yes, we’re paying for the “battery container” flashlight) and place the battery inside would work?
Since shipping costs to my country are very high already in the first place ($15 for shipping cost [using AliExpress as reference, as BG/GB/FT don’t ship] of pure battery, maybe use that $5 for a cheap flashlight and avail of ordinary shipping?)