By the way Vectrex, I wasn't trying to label you as the culprit of this security mix-up. It's not your fault or Manafont's, it's just a bad design decision in the online storefront software they installed on their site. I actually linked the first Manafont ad banner to their flashlight section followed by my own osCsid by accident... think of the issues that would have caused. Fortunately they caught the error quickly for me.
I should really figure out how to add a "Country of origin" field under the username on the left side of posts. We need to remember that even among native English speakers our sense of humor differs greatly, and even more so when speaking a second language (or 5th language in the case of all you incredible European linguists). When speaking a learned language, tact is usually the last and hardest thing that you learn to express.
Update on the manafont security issue. They were fast to act on it and gave me a detailed explanation:
Hi midieval10,
Thank you very much for taking the time to report the issue you have experience.
First of all, we are deeply sorry about the issue. I apologize for the inconvenience caused.
After the primilary investigation. We found that the security issue was a result of miscommunication among our IT staff. The "security backhole" got opened by mistake during a short timeframe of system upgrade. The "security blackhole" was fixed right after the system maintenance.
Secondary. I can guranntee the same problem would never happen again. The mainenenace was complete and issue has been properly addressed.
Thirdly, we do not store your PayPal information and we have no access to your PayPal account, therefore no one had a chance to access your PayPal account in this incident.
Let me take this opportunity to give my sincere apology to you, becase your privacy is truely important to us.
-Manafont
They really do care about their customers. I surely will be buying more lights from them in the future!
I ordered a Romisen RC-C6 at Manafont 09/09/10 based on Don's review here on BLF. I have the RC-29 from KD which I like very much and was hoping the RC-C6 would be similar but more compact and with a not-so-high mode to expand runtime.
The light arrived 22/09/10 and was in good condition but with two different fresh primary CR123A I got just very dim output (current on tailcap on "high" 150-160 mA).
I contacted Manafont the same day and got an email from Jim the next day. We had some email exchange including me sending some pictures to Jim and after a few days he sent me a personally checked and very thouroughly wrapped and packed new light.
The new light arrived 07/10/10 but showed unfortunately the same problem. I asked Jim about the originally stated battery specification being CR123A which I believe means primary lithium and he answered that he had tested the light actually with a RCR123 Li-Ion battery only, but that he had gotten the CR123A spec from the manufacturer. On my proposal did he change the description immediately to avoid that other customers get in the same situation.
Although the replacement light turned out to have exactly the same issues as the first one I am more than satisfied with the fast and professional service and communication with Manafont/Jim.
(Now I only have to decide if I should do a driver swap or get some RCR123... well, maybe both since I have now two of them)
Personally, I don't like using disposable cells when I can avoid it. However, it isn't just the RCR cells, it is the charger and I'd strongly recommend getting a multimeter so you can check voltages and so on. However, it seems you already have a multimeter.
There are a lot of junk chargers out there - the Shekor from KD is one of the better ones and isn't expensive.
I still have several of these cells which are the cheapest out there - they will live for 2-3 years then die. I wouldn't really recommend them though.
These are well recommended and not that expensive. But you really want to ask Old4570 (Matt) as he's done some heroic testing of RCR123 cells. In fact, he knows way more than me about cells and chargers. I'd go for whatever he recommends.
Don't believe the capacity markings on any RCR123 - the best of them might do 500mAh - most won't. Every single RCR123 maker grossly overstates capacity.
Yes, I will probably get some RCR123 in the nearby future both for my economy and the enviroment.
I have already read old4570's thread about the Shekor charger on CPF and it seems to be the best budget solution for smaller cells.
What I do like about lithium primaries is the cold weather tolerance and the shelf life. The RC-C6 was planned to lie in the glove department of my car for an undefined period of time "just in case" and where I live (Sweden) it can get quite cold during the winter. As far as I understand this would not be an ideal setup for a LiIon battery.
It would be interesting to test this. I can probably get my freezer below -20oC. It would be interesting to see how different cells get on at those temperatures. I will have a think about how I could do this. I have some good and some very cheap CR123s and several RCR123s so I will work out a method.
It very rarely gets that cold here, the all-time record is -27.2 in January 1982 in Braemar, about 60 miles west of here.
Indeed. I have read a few threads about low temperature performance of different types of batteries amongst others on CPF, and you all know for sure the batteryuniversity, but I never came upon a cold temperature comparison test between Li-Ion and primaries.
Don, if you are seriously willing to go to the task I'll be glad to send you some CR123A for your test.
Gee, I wish I had some of these for my lights in wintertime!
Just now trying to get an old laptop to see its wireless card so I can get it onto the network to load the drivers for the meter. The laptop is not co-operating. At the moment I've attached a thermocouple to the meter and stuck it in the freezer. Just now it is saying -13oC when it should be about -25. Must experiment with positioning.
If I can get the lightbox to fit in the freezer, then I can measure output, if not I'll have to measure current draw. I'm going to put the RC-C6 in the freezer now and let it chill down overnight. I think I will improvise some sort of lightbox that will actually fit in the freezer. Since what we are looking for is the difference between room temperature and frozen, we needn't worry too much about absolute values.
The lightbox doesn't fit and the laptop is giving me fits. However, I'll think of something.
Speaking of manafont storefront issues, I was ordering the BLF custom light, and the first checkout steps confirmed I had just the light in my cart, but after login through paypal, it seemed to add everything I had in my cart from some prior session and was billing/invoicing me couple hundred dollars (I was using the cart as a "wish list" and just dumping all the interesting stuff I see in it). It was right before the last step so I could go back and change the new cart, but that's a kinda major bug.
It also does the odd step of saving the paypal token so that even when I went through the whole checkout process again, it doesn't ask for the login, which is a bit of a security hole combined with the above issue about session id's in the url.
Anyway, this kind of stuff happens with smaller time dealer. Their live chat OTOH was quite helpful.
The light is now at just under -22oC (-9oF) having been in the freezer for 20 hours. I've not yet figured out how to get good measurements in the freezer so I'll pull it out and do instantaneous, 30 second and 2 minute output measurements. Unfortunately I can't do these in the freezer but the light should still be pretty cold at 2 minutes. 229, 241 and 290 lux with an RCR123 which was fully charged for this test. It is not comfortable holding a light at -22 degrees.
Here's the comparison: Top row is lumens at -22oC, bottom row is lumens at room temperature.
Temp
-22
+20
I'm probably going to have to build another lightbox to do more thorough testing, one small enough to fit in the freezer.
I don't have room-temperature numbers for CR123 cells in this light. Probably best to do room-temperature numbers then toss the light in the freezer for a day.
Once I've got a smaller box I'll do instrumented runtimes with different cells.
That's probably done on PayPal's end. The seller has no idea what your PayPal password is and can't authorize any purchases without you telling PayPal that's what you want.
I don't know that it matters since the LED will start heating itself before too long. Maybe you could just keep the batteries in the freezer and have wires coming out to the light and lightbox?
You can see from the numbers that the light was warming up - output does not normally increase in such tests.
Just thought of another way - I can freeze the cells (in bags) into some water which will keep the temperature nice and low for long enough out of the freezer. Then I can take the blocks of ice (Which has a nice high specific heat capacity) and take them to the lightbox.
It has warmed up dramatically this week, we had snow a couple of weeks ago, and temperatures of -5C - it is forecast to be +10C tonight. With high winds and rain.
Again.
Or I could just have gone outside and got at least lowish temperatures.
The only problem with taking the measurements on the kitchen floor was a very large dog who gets very interested in what I'm doing by the freezer. It is difficult to take measurements when she's standing on the equipment to get closer to me. It's also hard to read a meter when she's licking my face - not as much because she loves me as because it was feeding time.
One thing I noticed with my C6 was that the plastic disc holding the switch in contracted more than the aluminium and made the switch action very mushy a it was sliding inside the tailcap. The Q5 version has a much better tailcap and is probably better for very low temperature use for this reason.
I've ordered another small solar cell from DX and have stashed a smaller cardboard box under my desk. Then I can do the instrumented stuff with a laptop sitting on the freezer.
Yes, I know paypal itself is reasonably secure. What's done on Paypal's end is that they probably give you a temp session token back for a request for payment. Even though it works for a bit before expiring, this shouldn't really be saved and reused since it's just a security risk with very little upside. You can check that's different than how DX or any other paypal using vendor does it.
I orderd 3 items from Manafont on Monday (25 Oct) and was almost immediately informed that my order was being processed.
The very next day (Tues) I got an e-mail saying my order was being shipped!
I've ordered stuff from all over and I've never seen things happen this quickly. I live in Singapore and am waiting to see just how long my package takes to arrive. Ordering from DX and LT and FP has taken anything from 8 days to 11 weeks! Let's see if Manafont will set a new record. Will keep y'all updated.
Just thought I'd add my experience, based on five orders (so far). All orders were fairly small, usually just a couple of items (flashlights and/or knives). They seem to be pretty good about getting orders out the door. Yes, it's a smaller operation and they arguably have less overhead than the large(r) players but what matters is that I got my orders within 3-4 weeks, which isn't bad at all. Packaging was the regular yellow, padded envelope we've all come to love with plenty of bubble wrap to protect the flashlights. All knives came in a cardboard box with no extra bubble wrap (ie. if the manufacturer doesn't supply bubble wrap you're not getting any). All items were exactly as described. No complaints from me.
I had no reason to contact their customer support. I don't really have anything bad to say about their website either. I wish there was a way to actually sort by price, date listed, etc. and the items on the invoice page should probably be clickable but that's usability stuff. Their website works even with JavaScript disabled which is nice for those of us who like to use mobile/embedded devices other than smartphones. The item weight listed on their website seems to be slightly higher than the actual weight but not by much. Their reward system is transparent and actually works: you tick a checkbox to use your points and that's all there is to it. No CSE, no partial refunds, no going back and forth. That's the way it should be. Pictures show the real thing and the items I ordered were exactly as pictured (ie. no photoshopping away logos or any of that). There is no RSS/Atom feed. Edit: There is no wishlist feature either which is a real shame.
As I see it, you have to pay for a tracking number, no matter how much you order (I could be wrong about that since all of my orders were smallish). Prices are mostly on par with the competition (sometimes a bit more, as they seem to round up a lot; I don't think I would have even noticed if I wasn't so used to seeing $1.99 instead of an even $2 everwhere).
As long as they keep adding more knives and flashlights they'll be getting some of my business.
I've had no trouble with orders from Manafont that weren't problems with HK (or UK) Post. I've still not received my BLF special ordered in October, though the Ultrafire H3 ordered two weeks later arrived yesterday. There is a package waiting for me at the PO which is probably either the BLF special or another MrLite light I ordered - which was ordered before the H3. Though it might be a DX order of a PSU for a Dell laptop, but it should be going elsewhere, not here so I hope it isn't that.
. I live in Singapore and am waiting to see just how long my package takes to arrive. Ordering from DX and LT and FP has taken anything from 8 days to 11 weeks! Let's see if Manafont will set a new record. Will keep y'all updated.