Atlanta flashlight factory.

Went to a gun show today and there were a couple of guys selling zoomies at their booth. An older gentleman was messing around with a couple of 2x18650 zoomies. One had a tighter zoom than the other and the man asked the seller about it. The seller stated that at their Atlanta factory the workers assembling the lights make them both ways because some people like a tighter zoom and others like a looser beam. Almost busted out laughing right there. Sk68’s they had were going for $10 and had “Made in China” lasered into them with no other marking. Seemed to be doing quiet a few sales. Started to call him out but didn’t want to be mean.

You should have called him out on it. I hate dishonest salesmen.

I’d most likely have called him out. From my point of view it’s more mean to let the older gentleman get hoodwinked than to call out a dishonest salesperson.

Don’t go there.

I’ve seen & heard these guys at the shows, including the “Atlanta Flashlight Factory” guys…
I just kept walking. Some of these vendors are selling xxxx-Fire batteries (with xxxx-Fire chargers) to a very uninformed public. So yes, some are outright lying, and some are potentially putting their customers in danger. What would you say to these vendors?

> What would you say to these vendors?

It ain’t easy to deal with deception. By definition, if you’re fooled by it you’re a fool:
https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Apuffery
which excuses a multitude of sins.

Read any news story about any subject you’re familiar with.
Awful, ain’t it?

And the typical responses fall toward the political extremes.
That hollows out the middle ground, where we might find agreement:

1) There oughta be a law
or
2) The free market will take care of it

Good luck with that choice.
Wish I had a good answer.

Yep, all they had were crap batteries, no name brand ones. Not a good idea to use crappy batteries in a series light like they were doing.

I don’t really care which country’s exploited children make the product as long as they are up front about the product’s origin, and the price reflects its point of origin. What I don’t like are companies that fool people into thinking something is made somewhere else for a big markup on the down-low.

Not only is there a special circle of hell reserved especially for that level of douche-baggery, but I couldn’t see that it wouldn’t eventually catch up with them. Hmm seems maybe that’s what’s happening here :slight_smile:

I assume that’s why these guys are working the show circuit. So they can avoid things catching up with them. As long as the business is at the “stall vendor” size reputation doesn’t matter too much. If they were in it for the long haul and wanted to establish a brand, franchises, whatever… things would be different.

I was thinking that too, but it seems like long term they are just delaying the inevitable discovery of who they are.

Either way, it sounds like that particular show circuit desperately needs a reputable flashlight seller.

The problem is that even the knowledgeable folks at a gun show are typically not in a position to know which flashlight vendor is snowing them.

Imagine the attendees at a computer show. Now imagine that there are two gun vendor booths there… one selling crappy ones and one selling the quality budget options. [I’m talking about \$200 pistols marked up to \$400-500 *vs* \$500-600 models from the decent folks] Again, many show attendees are just not going to know who’s feeding them a line of crap. Demonstrating a cheap, unused gun on a vendor table it mostly looks and operates fine. I’d go so far as to say that a lying salesperson will have little trouble making the cheap gun appear superior to the ‘decent’ gun. As long as nobody has a few units with 500 to 10k rounds through them there will be very little to back up anyone’s claims. This goes for both the good vendor and the bad one - all you have is their word and their demo. (Same thing for your holo sights, laser sights, etc: without brand knowledge or experience it’s not easy to know good from bad until you’ve actually used them until they break or get out of alignment. Some of the folks at a gun show may know which cheapy gun products to stay away from (many will not), but few of the folks at a computer or flashlight show would.)

Same thing with an Ultrafire battery… it looks and feels like any other 18650 when you’re rolling it around on a table. In fact, it may even have a holographic sticker indicating it’s authenticity. The numbers on the side are in the 4k to 6k range. Tell me what Samsung, Sanyo, Sony, Panasonic, MNKE, LG, etc etc etc cell can do that? None of the good cells have these trimmings. It’s child’s play to hoodwink folks who are slightly out of their element.

If those salespeople ever wear out their welcome selling flashlights at gunshows they’ll move on. There are plenty of other ‘opportunities’.

Last year in my country, in a multi-national expo convention there was this booth from China selling “RECHARGE HIGH POWER TACTICAL LED FLASHLIGHT KIT” among with other “tactical” bullcrap (tasers, batons, cheap camo gear, lasers, knives, etc). It was a unbranded, low quality XM-L 18650 light, 2x 2,200 mAh batteries, and a generic 2x18650 charger. It was the lowest quality flashlight I’ve ever inspected.

Guess the price… $75!!! I Almost cried… There were tons of people amazed by the 500lm output and a couple people actually buying it, mostly foreigners from neighbors south american countries. I felt like I had to do something about it, but what could I’ve said? “Sorry for interrupting sir, but I’m a flashlight expert, and my most honest advice is please don’t buy this.”

I almost went back to the car to get my 3x XP-L triEDC, but that wouldn’t change anything, they would just keep selling after I’m gone. :_(

That too funny. I haven't been to a local gun show is several years, but I bet there are similar imaginary factories in Columbia, SC. Kind of scary hearing about 2S lights with questionable cells and chargers being dispensed to the general public. What makes it worse is that some of the unsuspecting purchasers may live in apartment buildings.

One of the things that tickles me when at typical gun shows, is the very high percentage of vendors that have stories of having a friend or relative that had to draw a firearm on someone or some group of people. The stories are even more popular at vendors that sell concealed holsters. My wife likes to check out the purse holsters when we hit a show. Invariably, the story involves a female having to draw from one of their holsters (that they sell) and the assailant fleeing in terror.

Not much you can do. The onus is on the buyer…caveat emptor. Especially if the lights have “Made in China” on them…lol

Might be fun to mess with them, though. Tell ’em that your from Atlanta and would like to come down an visit their wonderful manufacturing facility. Or better yet, that you know a gun magazine editor that would love to see how their “American” lights are made. :cowboy_hat_face:

I know it won’t stop them, but it might be fun to watch them squirm an back-peddle a bit!

Nice! I’m not so quick on my feet, but that’s a good line. Better than what I’d have said on my own. I’ll hang on to that.

In our country the onus really isn’t entirely on the buyer. Selling especially unsafe, defective products is often legislated against. OTOH IIRC Wal*Mart and Tractor Supply have both been seen to sell series lights w/ cheap 18650’s, haven’t they? That doesn’t make it right, that just shows that the problem here is on a larger scale than scammy gun-show booths.

This reminds me of why my famliy doesn’t take me to any ‘Renaissance Faire’ kinds of show where you find the people selling mystic magic crystals.

There are lying flakes and crap artists at all extremes, the “liberals” and “conservatives” both get these hangers-on who want to find suckers to fool.

So when I see one of those booths selling crystals, I wander up and do the wide-eyed naif act getting the whole spiel spoken about centering and focusing energies and what not.

Then I keep pressing about where, exactly, did these crystals come from? How did they get them? Where?

And then I start to keen and rant and shout about how they’ve ripped the crystals from their proper place on Earth and destabilized the global karmic balance and how they must, MUST take them back URGENTLY to where they came out of the ground and put them all together again because Earth’s axis ….

About that time the family drags me away, just as I’m getting a good lather and foam up.
Point being — challenge the crap artists closest to home, the ones who infest groups you believe in and support.
Those are the hard ones to challenge. It’s too easy to say it’s only happening to groups you argue against.
But these people find suckers everywhere.

I recommend teamwork of this same sort if you decide to challenge the crap sellers at gun shows.*
You want friends to drag you away before the people challenged try to hurt you.
They might be better armed than the new age flakes.
Then again some of these Ren Faire people carry swords ….

For a good (albeit entirely one-sided) take on the mindset that preys on gullible people, this is a very good read:

You could write the same story about the New Age advertisers. Someone should.
EDIT well someone has, the “Dr. Oz” crap anyhow is getting written up:
https://www.google.com/search?q=dr+oz+bogus+health

I think Rick Perlstein (“The Long Con”) sums it up — those who are in the game to sell crap believe that successfully fooling suckers is natural and normal and they succeed by being winners at the game. That’s everyone from people working little booths at fairs (and faires) up to those scamming and lying to win at local and state and national politics.

“Don’t be fooled again.”

  • (edit: p.s. — yeah, I grew up in the South, I’m not sure anyone from elsewhere could pull this off, YMMV)

+1 for Hank (again)

(Hank) The voice of reason.

Man, I was all excited about a local flashlight factory!

It could be they order stuff from China, then change the heads or accessorize them somehow and call that a “factory”. Or they are just full of it . . .

The modern Carny…

There really is a Atlanta flashlight factory. 4sevens is in a industrial park
in North Metro Atlanta R&D and distribution