Flashlight addiction on a budget :)

I’m about through with the budget Chinese dealer phase personally although I have been there :slight_smile: However, I’m curious as to whether anyone has approached the long shipping time problem this way…
Just order a $10-$20 light every week for several months. That way you always have something arriving.
I’ve been waiting for my UF-T50 for about 3 weeks now after not having ordered from HK for a while and it’s been more annoying this time to me for some reason.
If I was just starting out trying all of the budget lights I think that would be a good approach. Just order something every week.
Has anyone approached the long shipping times this way? I’d consider doing it now if there was anything left that I still wanted.

I absolutely do understand your thoughts, there!

I learned that HK (Hong Kong that is, not Heckler&Koch) post takes about six weeks for delivery to Krautland, and so far, I have never been disappointed in well over a year. Orders from the US take considerably shorter (about 10 days) to be delivered, but are far more expensive. So far, I just LOVE ordering things from England. UK shipping costs are WAY below German or Austrian shipping costs, and just about as quickly delivered - like, three business days shipped from Wales, London or the Channel Islands to my home. And for what they charge me for a small parcel, be it amazon or antsupplies or army-surplus.co.uk, I could barely send a letter in-country over here in mainland Europe.


Currently, I have four more Sipik SK68, two LedLenser P7 (from the Chinese outlet centre, almost half of the regular price), and a couple of drivers and LEDs on order. And a few very generic P60 dropins and O-rings from the UK, as they were cheap.

Saving so much, I almost don't feel bad anymore for buying that ancient, out-of-productions "laser-products" (i.e. "surefire") P6 on ebay, today. Admittedly, that purchase was rather unnecessary, and will just add a collectible to my collection which won't see any use at all.

That's more or less my accidental default procedure. Didn't really plan it, just what happens when buying from DX,DD etc..

Buying 4 $10-$20 flashlights a month is no better than buying one $40-$80 flashlight a month. :wink:

I know how you feel, gcbryan. I expect 2-3 weeks, if it goes longer it becomes annoying. Last order from HK took 46 days and I'm really hesitant to order from that vendor again. I have 3-4 vendors stateside that take 2-3 days to ship and I trust them and prices are still reasonable. As far as China vendors go, Solarforce and CN Quality seems to ship pretty fast. I went on a bit of a spending spree over the last 2 weeks (7 lights) from several different vendors and they are trickling in here and there - kinda like what you are talking about.

Sure it is if the goal is to get something in the mail every week :slight_smile:

Yeah, the only reason I considered ordering another light was because it was available at Manafont. I’ve had fairly quick shipping times from them in the past.
This time it was (supposedly) shipped at day or two after my ordered but it’s still been 3 weeks now!

I have the feeling/experience that shipping with Registered Hongkong Post is faster.

My recent orders included 2 HKE orders for both of which i paid 2.00$ for insurance (=tracking number) and the items arrive within days!

Now i am testing DD. Before never paid for shipping and delivery time varied greatly. Since CNY is over and this time i paid for tracking number i wouldnt be surprised about fast delivery. (will report in the DD thread)

It is annoying not to receive anything in the mail if so many little orders are already in transit (see my sig). Once i got everything, i cant be annoyed anymore ;) and will then move on to a new harmless and useful hobby (spoons, ..) where i can bulldozer another community anew with kreisler's controversial and polarizing presence ..

Some seniors on this forum will be well shot of me and my green buddy when that time has come. Problem is i've been continually adding to my purchase list and the counter in my sig never reached the zero ("0") since! :tired:

i am not a troll but you folks are real flashaholics, so rock on!!

Hello U.S. dealers!! How about supplying some of the good lights from overseas??

I would have already bought some if they were available here from a good source. I have no tolerance for long shipping and go without before I'll put up with it.

Poor Gcbryan ....you've struggled for so long to figure out why so many of us feel the need to bury ourselves in flashlights . Now you know .If you have 300 children you won't be pacing the floor in expectancy of the birth of next one . Don't buy just one light ..Buy 8.

The long shipping times kind of help me because I tend to wait until I get a light before I order the next one. If I got lights in a couple of days, that could be trouble!

this is a good reason to do more modding

ie, I order stuff constantly, but it might be a $2 lens, some glow stuff, a driver, etc.

this helps distract me from the stuff that gets delayed, and gives me something to toy with for a few minutes (iow, help me forget about how I just wasted another day of this short life at work)

I'm normally passive about shipping times but this last order from Manafont that I'm still waiting for has become quite irritating. 6 weeks and all I get is "if it doesn't arrive in the near furure, let us know."

I keep telling myself there's nothing mission-critical about it but the casual assumption that I should politely accept their indifference is offensive. If my drive-through order at McDonald's takes too long, at least they offer me a free drink. Think these sellers grasp the concept of customer service as well as a 17 year old McDs employee?

sorryfortherantFoy

you know they pee in that, right?

4 sevens are giving away a free tshirt for all orders over 99 USD. Hmm might buy a Ti pen for $99.00. Hmm not over $99 so I might buy some deoxit gold while I'm at it. Hey theres the CPF8 discount too so I need to buy something else. Damn it, there's a sale on a neutral white quark mini x 123 on sale for $36.75. I have one but why not buy another. Yeah so I may as well get a 10 pack of batteries for $19.00. Better take insurance $7.00 WTF $150+ later and the shirt only cost $15.

on a budget edc! you cant be serious with buying any 4sevens stuff. overrated and overpriced, even i must admit it (unless you count their stellar customer service into the products' pricing, the cpf code and the global FREE shipping!). well if you are serious, here the ti pen for a bit less:

have fun with buying 4sevens stuff!!

I don't think they do free post to Australia. hey the tshirt is budget though

The reason I joned this forum was because I wanted to get into flashlights, but on the cheap. BLF was just the ticket. With that said, most all of my lights have come from Chinese/HongKong vendors. I have had ZERO problems, In fact, it seems they all break their necks to be courteous, let you know what is going on, and try get you the item as fast as possible.

Most of my buys have been FREE SHIPPING, and since they come from overseas, I know I am looking at a 3 week to 5 week wait time. Most of my lights fall in the 3 week wait time. I had lights that came in RECORD time, 9 days. This was from the ebay vendor GO MARKET. I purchased two Keygos Ke-5s, and they arrived in a record shipping time of 9 days. Also, from the same vendor, I ordered two Keygos M12s, ordered them together, one a kit (batteries/charger)and one plain. When the package came in 3 weeks time, only one M12 was in the package, but it was marked on the package that two were supposed to be inside. I notified GO MARKET. He said he would check. A couple days later, he told me they are shipping me out another one.

Two weeks go by, and the missing M12 never showed up. I contacted GO MARKET again, told him the second one didn't arrived, he promptly gave me a full refund, and told me if the missing one does show up, to let him know. I agreed. I never OPENED a case for the simple reason, from my experience, all the Chinese/HongKong dealers I have dealt with (Redlog, Tomtop, citw, and Go Market) have all be straight up. With that free shipping, IMO, one cannot expect super fast shipping. IMO again, anybody ordering from Chinese and HongKong vendors, should expect anywhere from a 3 week to 5 week shipping time. I have heard of people waiting 2 months. But, after 3 to 4 weeks, I am contacting the vendor. If the vendor is courteous, and standing behind the order, as in, sending out another unit, I am good with that.

Also, I have lately been dealing with DX, and their shipping times are long too. It was 2 weeks before they even shipped a couple items I had ordered. The reason was, they were backordered.

I like the cheap prices, the free shipping.

Sorry for the long post, just giving my two cents..

ceh