When did they cheapen up the noctigons?

I got a new batch of noctigons in from Hank at international outdoors. They were not the same as what I’m used to. They were not smooth on the back and they were a lighter shade of red as well. More of a pink color. I’m not knocking Hank here either. They were delivered very fast and I got the right amount. I’m just curious when this happened. Since I was away for a while I don’t know if this has already been commented on or not.

One thing that might be a bonus is that they don’t seem to be as prone to having the surface lift off if you use too high of a temp, although I could be wrong on this. Maybe I was just careful enough that none of the dozen that I just did got too hot. But I did leave a couple on at the end a little longer than I normally would and they didn’t lift up.

Hmmm… anybody got any ideas?

I dont have any new ones like that.

I wonder if maybe it was just a bad run of them? I tried to get a picture but it’s hard with the glare. This was the best I could do. All but one of them were like this. With scratches in a straight line across the back. I picked the one out that wasn’t scratched by the color, it was darker red than the rest and had the coating like the ones I always get. I guess I could ask Hank what’s going on with them. Definitely not the quality I’m used to, that’s for sure.

I sent Hank a message and I’ll let you guys know what he has to say. I tested them and they are direct to the copper, so at least they didn’t mess that up.

First I’ve seen of this as well, although I have not bought any for a few months.

Looking forward to any updates. Thanks for keeping us posted.

I’ve had both versions, first the darker red ones, then the lighter coloured new versions, they started selling more than a year ago or even two years ago. I liked the darker red better for the colour but although the appearance of the new batch is less crisp I did not notice anything that should reduce performance.

Thanks and yeah, they seem pretty good still.

Hank got back to me and said that for now the factory is making them this way. He didn’t say when they changed but obviously it’s been a while, probably tons of old stock still floating around.

I just used some and didn’t have any problems, they are very smooth just not flawless like before.

And this came just a day after I ordered :frowning:
I was suspicious why they reduced price on them and set MOQ to 20 pcs…
Now I know.

No, the new type has been around for more than a year, so it has nothing to do with the sale. I have been using them for over a year as well and they are fine, nothing wrong with them.

I don’t think there is too much difference in performance but if you were doing a build where you are really pushing it, you could always lap them down and fit them to the surface and make up for any loss pretty easy. For throwers I could see lapping them but probably not for multi-emitters unless you have a lot of time on your hands.

Do you think the top changed too? I know that on the old red ones I had to be careful with heat or the top would peal off. Usually happens when I’m taking emitters off of a bunch at a time and not paying close attention. These seemed like maybe they wouldn’t do that as often.

I don’t know actually, have not payed much attention to differences between the batches apart from noticing the colour change. Perhaps Hank knows more about that.

Based on the above exchanges, in fairness to Noctigon, l believe the thread’s title has become just a little inappropriate.

I usually order selection 20mm XP and XM sometimes 16mm also (10-20 pcs) every 2 months, always received them with nice and flat bottom, I only had problems with trace lifting with one of them.
It would be shame if they used lower price to lure customers so they could get rid of large quantities faster. Anyhow, it will take about 3 weeks for them to arrive and then we will know, until then it’s all just speculating.

If the title was disparaging to Noctigon, maybe. I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with the title the way it’s worded though.

IMO, to say “cheapen up” when the consensus (with regards to quality) so far is to the contrary, it does look unfair to me.

I may have misunderstood, but it seems to me that the posts above say the Noctigons have indeed been “cheapened up” in appearance, though performance is still similar/same.