Would you be interested in buying a 4-mode; Very low - Low - Med - High; XP-G version of the Eastward YJ J609 for ~$18?

I guess the potential vendors are reading this forum too. We just have to keep this thread going. If the vote count of those who would buy one hits the 500 mark, they will automatically become availible somewhere.

I'm in for one.

Looking good so far... 21 already in about 6 hours. Imagine how many they would have sold if this were actually available already with full specifications on a website that received 100,000 hits a day! Probably not enough aluminum left in the world to handle the demand.

Nautic wrote:

I certainly would like one of these lights with the specified setup. But I would very much like

to know who I should buy it from. Due to custom dues in this country price, postage and

from which country you buy are very importent. The price of the light could end up being

trible of the original and then its not so good a deal after all.

The vendor is also important for me, as there are some that I would never dream of sending

my money to.

Could you share a little light on these subjects Mr. Admin?

Hi there Nautic, I know what you mean, I also live in one of those countries. Could you PM me your country name, and I'll check with the company as soon as we make firm arrangements for delivery, and I'll let you know beforehand to see if it will work for you.

Nautic and Fran82 both asked about shipping and which dealer it will come from. I honestly don't know yet. But I highly doubt that it will be DX. Here's why: That company is just too big and disorganized to deal with a special case like ours. They can't even reply to a customer service request within a reasonable amount of time, to say nothing of communicating with me about a custom order. I once tried to request that they offer the K-106 3-mode, and you can imagine the confusion that ensued with the language barrier and their ignorant customer reps and all. I wish I could speak Chinese to handle this more precisely. And there's another issue- since DX already sells the EastwardYJ J609, I think we would just be asking for trouble if we use DX. They could very easily confuse our custom order with the original XP-E disco mode J609, and we'll end up with the wrong thing. So instead of DX, my first attempt will be a long shot- I'm asking the manufacturer (purportedly Eastward YJ itself) if they would possibly like to ship the orders to us individually. I doubt it, but we can always hope. From there, if they don't want that, I'll see if one of the other smaller dealers can offer it. Any suggestions or preferences? I know that most of you trust DX most of all, but my experience with DX has been far from good. I wouldn't be opposed to using DX if it were somehow possible, but there are a lot of downsides as I mentioned above. What about some of your favorite eBay sellers who are located in China or Hong Kong and who offer free shipping worldwide?

I strongly suspect that if we can get this first order moving, it would become wildly, explosively popular, and it will end up becoming a permanently available product at more than one place.

I hereby name the product as: the BLF AA-Z3.

Very good sb56637.

First I agree about the confusion problems with DX.

If there is in DX the original J609 and they bring a similar product (the BLF AAZ3) and when we order the Z3 we will receive the J609, the same as happens with the Akoray K106 (you pay 19$ for programable version and receive the 13$ not programable one, both seems similar from outside, only change circuitry).

However RMA policy of DX is the best. I dont know about the RMA policy of Kaidomain.

I know the RMA of FocalPrice ( Complete SHIT) and Lightake (not so good)

So conclusion, I dont know from which HK based vendor get the BLF AAZ3

Thanks Mr Admin for a very thorough and informative post. Looking forward to hear more about the

project when you know more. I´ll make my final decision then.

If I should point to any dealer it would be ITC.

I vote for ITC if the shipping is free via HK post. (and preferably registered mail - traceable mail)

Ebay Seller = perfect!, because paypal offers 100% money back in case of not received item, and now, as paypal policies changed, 100% money back if product arrive defective (or product cost + shipping fee 100% reinbursed)

The manufacturer (I think) cant sell the product directly to us. It will be "competencia desleal" to the HK online shops. Also the manufacturer will not offer us free shipping worldwide.........

I contacted Daniel @ lightake , and gave the details ... Maybe Lightake will stock a 3 mode Hi-Med-Lo .....

At least we have a HK dealer prepared to talk to us , so will see what happens ...

The manufacturer is happy to supply , Hi-med-Lo , we just need a dealer to order Hi-Med-Lo ......

For some strange reason DX keeps ordering/supplying lights with Strobe [ junk function to me ] , obviously it must be something some one wants ? I just want a flashlight with different levels and no junk .

And Im not really sure , dealers or manufacturers care that much ? especially if there selling huge numbers of items [ flashlights ] without our input .

If we keep buying lights with junk modes ? I guess they will keep making them .... I have grown to despise Strobe / SOS ... And any light without such modes is to be treasured ...

Be carefull with sites with no so good RMA policies!

I never RMA , I just fix it myself ..... I expect such when buying cheaper .... Its the price you pay , or dont pay ...

If you buy a light costing the same as a Burger and Fries [ 10 minutes to eat ] and it lasts a month , I consider that value for money

If I buy a light for the same price as a movie ticket [ 2 hours of fun ] and it lasts for 3 months , I consider that value for money

Ive learned a lot from the lights that have been bad , I consider it a very cheap education . There are a few I wish I had never purchased , but I consider that poor form on my part .

I sugested ITC for the same reason as Fran82: free postage, better PayPal protection and

I can add much better RMA than any other dealer I know of.

LT (and some others) are out of the picture for my part, If they dont improve their policies.

I have modded a few lights and can do it again, but as a rule I want a working specimen

from the dealer, so Old´s metode is not one I can support. Besides it will keep all those

who dont mod out of the game.

I throughly share your point of view.

quote:

There are a few I wish I had never purchased , but I consider that poor form on my part .

end quote

I believe averyone of us with a bunch of flashlights has some that became categorized as miserable purchases. You can't truly get to know untill you try out. It's the price you pay to learn so it's not that bad. Gift those to a kid that fell in love with it when you get some random wife visitors at home. ;) Just leave it around to be seen, you might make someone happy with a few $.

I'd be in for at least one, possibly 2.

I'll take at least 1 and if I like it I'll buy more.

Is the advantage of this light over the EOS A2 that it's brighter? If it's similar quality, I'd take one and recommend to others, but if if worse, I'll still take one, but then it's more of a tradeoff.

On subject of vendor, at least Lightake provides a reply to queries. KD just ignores you, DX doesn't care about hobbyists. ITC is probably decent but they also wouldn't reply to my question about XP-G drop-ins (like which version is better with 1 cell), and only interested if you want to buy something from them straight away.

Hi agenthex, to me the J609 looks much nicer than the ITP EOS A2, and it's tailstandable, clicky, and potentially significantly cheaper. And potentially it could have an XP-G emitter, which we would all love. Otherwise, I'm still waiting for a killer deal on the EOS A2, it does look like like a great light, just a tad pricey for my liking.

OK, potential demand of 33 and counting... Looking very promising!

So it appears that most of our more opinionated users generally agree on ITC as a possible vendor? Sounds like a pretty good option. I personally would not be opposed to buying it from Lightake either. But again, let's wait to hear back from the company to see if we can possibly swing a shipping deal. Fran82 mentioned the issue of breaches of contract with the HK retailers if Eastward were to sell the lights directly to us users here. I imagine that could be an issue, although it still doesn't seem like it should be. In this case, we're not simply asking for a cheaper price on a product that other dealers sell. We are asking for an entirely NEW product that nobody sells yet. So I don't think DX or KD could complain about this if they are simply not interested in the product.

Some of you were wondering why DX and friends continue selling lights with strobe and SOS. My guess is that people buy them and usually don't like them, but they don't have any other option of south of $50.00, so they just live with it. And from the Chinese suppliers' end, I suspect it's simply an issue of lack of perception or "feel" for their target market. They probably mistakenly conclude that their consumers will think that MORE MODES = BETTER VALUE. Adding cheap "bling", gimmicky features is a common marketing method. But ultimately, as someone mentioned, they just want to sell what people will buy and make money. So BLF is here is to tell the world that they will sell far more and probably make way more money if they offer some lights without strobe and SOS. And my personal wish is for a light that has an EXTREMELY low mode that offer 60 to 80 hours of runtime on an AA.

Thanks guys. Please make sure that if you are interested in this light to respond (once) in the poll, that's what we'll use to impress the manufacturer with our numbers.

Otherwise, I'm still waiting for a killer deal on the EOS A2, it does look like like a great light, just a tad pricey for my liking.

Yes, but what makes the EOS lights "worth it" is that they have superior build quality (that and no shit modes). Everyone makes a $10 aaa xr-e light, but many are willing to shell out for the A3. It is somewhat assumed here that Eastward meets this bar?

While we're still dreaming, I'd like a neutral-ish (4500K, or just 5000K WH tint is perfect) bin. I'd buy 3 even if they dropped every other feature if they can guarentee that.

I don't know why higher end lights still use WC. I can't think of any reason to prefer it over WH and I can't imagine it would cost much more.

I guess we don't know. The design is really nice, though. If they will do the custom modes with an XP-G emitter, it should be well worth the (very approximately) $18 price we're aiming for. And again, if I'm going to pay more than $15 for a light, I really want it to (1) Tailstand and (2) Be a clicky.

Why click? That takes up mores space for an EDC. Size is why, say, the Tank E07 is worth its price.

Bring on the suggestions! This thing might turn out to be a designer light.

So while we're building our dream flashlight, I'd like to propose the following mode lineup:

  1. Moonlight low (1 lumen)
  2. Low (6 lumens)
  3. Med (40 lumens)
  4. Maximum (150 lumens on NiMH)

In this case it would be called the BLF AA-Z4, of course.

And personally I think that the low mode should come first, because if it defaults to 100% High, it won't turn on at all when the battery is really low. What do you guys think?