G'day & Which budget brands have actual quality control?

G'day fellas. I am searching for my 2nd LED flashlight (torch actually but the internet teaches us Aussies to speak American). Last time, a few years ago I came up with a Romisen RC-N3 Q5 from shiningbeam, mainly from the reviews & recommendations of what you lot call the "other" forum. This forum however is much more in tune with my nature. I delight in finding no-name food & booze that tastes as good as brand name rather than getting greater pleasure from something just because of its brand.

Which budget dx/kd/mf/ebay/etc. brands or even individual torches have good quality control (i.e. you have 99% chance of getting what you expected & it lasts for years) or are shining beam romisens the lowest cost that you can rely on?

Sean

ITP

Solarforce

Akoray

Come to mind ...

Tank007 is generally pretty good.

Romisen maybe?

Solarforce does, I think.

sipik sk68 for under 10 bucks!

Thanks fellas. Nice to know that there are some reliable budget brands.

Aloha and welcome to BLF seantheaussie!

Hi Sean,

Probably the best deal I've had (price vs. performance) is this one here:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/skyray-s-r5-cree-xpe-r4-5-mode-320-lumen-memory-led-flashlight-1-18650-2-16340-32749

Build quality is good, decent beam profile, and bright! Been using mine for biking and have used it extensively.

I notice that DX has lowered the price a little, since I bought mine ($21+). All the more reason to get one.

Btw, I speak as one who has bought, over the last 14 months, more than 20 "torchlights" .

Cheers!

not exactly sure what those are, but i have two lights, oops sorry, torches, from shiningbeam that are both very high quality. i have the mg-pli, with an mc-e, and the mg p-rocket, with an sst-50. the p-rocket is, imo, underdriven, and i don't trust myself enough to replace the driver, so i am thinking of selling it, but it is unquestionably high quality. the pli is also very high quality, and i have bought a romisen from shiningbeam as well, and it is of equal quality. i can say from my experience with product quality and excellent+ customer service that i recommend a look at the shiningbeam line-up.

i do not work for them and have received no compensation for my views, and this is not spam.

I think the definition of quality control for budget lights is ... not horrible junk ..I've only had one light Not work and it was on the edge of not being a budget light.$$$.i'm surprised how good some of these lights are .. if you drop under 5$ for any lite you can bet it's very questionable .under 10 for a AA and it's questionable beyond that I think bang for your buck the budget route is hard to beat..I think you'll have good luck with almost anything unless it's on the "garbage don't ever buy it list ".maybe that should become a sticky ..

i think there are real nice, bright, good quality lights (ahem, torches) for very little money that are way better values than the non-budget name brands.

I think that sort of list is the very definition of what should be a sticky

Dx is always a risk: quality control wise. But even better known brands have problems. I suppose the best advice is to buy from a seller that has a good return policy but then you pay for that in the price. I've bought about six uniquefires from dx and given some away to friends. No one has had a problem with them yet. I did get one dud that works sometimes/ doesnt work sometimes.

welcome, I think you can communicate with us on forum while you want to buy one type of flashlight, because different types have thier own good non-budget name brands