I received this month a fake product from AliExpress. I made a PayPal claim and I need to send It back. I feel bad for sending it back because this way the seller will probably selling the same fake product to someone else.
What is that fake product?
Could you link it?
How and where would you send the product back? Does it even make sense to return it from a financial point of view?
I only order at Chinese shops when I can pay with PayPal.
PayPal also offers “return shipping on us” (up to $30 on 12 eligible purchases a year.) So I don’t have to pay for the return shipping.
But the product I ordered is not flashlight related. Bought 2 USB sticks (JetFlash®790) The price wasn’t even that cheap (compared to the prices in my country). So I was really surprised that they were fakes. They were much slower than they should be and 1 wasn’t even usb 3, the USB sticks didn’t even have a activity led). (Store: Scarborough Fair USB Flash Drive)
But I do have positive experiences with the Convoy and Sofirn Store. The Sofirn store has delived al my orders within a week!
Never actually buy flash memory, like USB drives and SD cards.
It’s way too risky to do.
I agree, my reasoning was that I didn’t have any financial risks because of PayPal. But I learned from it. The time I wasted on solving this wasn’t worth the gamble for saving a few pennies… For me it’s now more matter of principle. I don’t like to get screwed.
wow, what an experience you had.
I always buy SD cards and flash storage from China, but I make sure it is always a cheap Chinese brand like Mirza or something. They are actually quite good for low speed applications like Raspberry Pis.
Alternatively you would have to find out which stores on AE sell real products, like we discuss flashlights sources and trustworthy shops here.
I’ve never had any problems with the cheap SD cards or flash drives but I did go cheap once with a wall/USB charger for a Apple Shuffle Gen.2 I had. The first time I used it to charge the Shuffle, I came back in about an hour and the charger had melted the casing on the Shuffle!
Advice taken! I have now signed up with AE and placed my order. What I didn’t realize about the Sofrin SF13 was that there were 2 versions. One had a max output of 320 lumens and the other had it at 420. I clicked on the 420 one. It was $9.60 instead of $9.37, but I think it’ll be well worth the extra 23 cents. 
I’m curious how it can be so much brighter. They both use 2AA batteries and also have the Cree XPG-2 emitter.
You just got the NEW Version where they kicked the output up a bit at all levels LEDlove. See info below … :+1:
Sofirn SF13 New Version LED Flashlight AA Cree XPG2 420lm
US $9.60
Low (8 lm)- Medium (55 lm)- High (196 lm)- Turbo (420 lm)- Strobe (420 lm)
…….
…….
SF13 LED Flashlight AA Cree XPG2 320 Lumen
US $9.37
Low (5 lm)- Medium (45 lm)- High (180 lm)- Turbo (320 lm)- Strobe (320 lm)
…….
###########
…….
Here are the runtimes & other specs for the NEW Version you got.
Thank you for the data sheet. Sounds like a winner!
The fact that they bumped up the numbers (especially by 100 lumens at the turbo end) while using the same emitter makes me wonder if the LED is overdriven at that level. So, would running it at 420 lumens cause it to die sooner?
It’s not overdriven at all. It’s underdriven in fact.
The XP-G2 is rated at about 600 lumens, so running at 420lm will not be a problem at all.
They probably made a new driver that can output more power.
Interesting! Most lights I see with this LED are advertised to put out 180, 220, or 280. I know of one at a Menards store that claims 280 and only has a runtime of 1.5 hours. I think it’s an XP-G2.
Well of course, it is driven off of a AA cell, which has at most, 3Wh of energy.
Driving one at 5W wouldn’t be very smart, so 400lm+ of output are usually in bursts, even if the light can handle it.
Is the XP-G2 cheaper to make than the next one up, the XM-L? Almost all of the budget lights seem to have the XP-G2, but it seems that the price has to really go up before XM-L is used. I remember it wasn’t all that long ago when XP-G was the latest and greatest.
Your welcome… :+1:
No, as Blue said; it is not overdriven & the LED will not die sooner .
I also think I remember reading that after 3 minutes or so on Turbo it steps down to High.
Enjoy…… 
That, in :-D binary, equals 11. 
So, how good that Sofirn SF13 actually is? Is it easy to disassemble as it comes? I would swap the emitter, of course. 
