[PART 2] Official BLF GT Group Buy thread. Closed, but Public sales open!

:+1: ā€¦ā€¦ Excellent!!

After a long wait I finally received my 2 GTā€™s. Almost 180 days after I paid the whole amount, almost 120 days after shipment.
I was 269 on the interest list, 185 on the payment list, I am one of the last people who receive the lights. I know that LT was not looking at the list order when doing shipments but I received my 2 lights almost 4 months after shipment. This would surely take even longer if it wasnā€™t for my interventions which were a humiliating task for me especially that a part of the GT Team was on the LT side instead of keeping the side of the people who ordered. Some were trying to imply to me (and not only to me) that the lost/damaged packages are my fault or the local post office fault, some of the packages arrived in their destination in a horrible state. Others asserted that the lost and damaged packages are less than 1% of all the purchases so everything is in order according to them. From the GT Team only Texas Ace has expressed understanding and was helpful for which I am very grateful. The way LT has dealt with people who got their packages lost or damaged was condescending to say the least. Problems which should have had priority in resolving were put off and taken care of as last.

Now a few words about what has been delivered vs. what has been agreed on with the GT Team. Maybe some people from the 4th round do not remember or are not aware what has been initially agreed on but Iā€™ve been following the GT from the very beginning so let me refresh everyoneā€™s memory:

- Packaging is different and a lot worse than what was shown in Nealā€™s video where the packages were drop tested for damage.

- Instead of 2 boxes, first for protection and the second with the GT light, I received just the main box taped with packing tape and an address sticker.

- The reflector is inferior quality than in the V1 prototype, you can clearly see the OP layer.

  • Both of the GTā€™s I received have badly centered emitters.

To wrap up, this was my first and last purchase from Lumintop.
Not only do they make problems with damaged/lost goods but also deliver inferior quality goods from what has been agreed on.

Packaging & 1 box instead of 2 is no big deal as long as the GT got to you undamaged.
My last one had only one box also. No big deal, a non-issue.

Pictures of your inferior reflectors pleaseā€¦. good ones.

Pictures of your badly centered emitters please.

After reading the above editorial commentsā€¦. I do indeed see how hilarious it is. :+1: . :wink:

Frankly, I was offended by Alamoā€™s response to me trying to help him out. I donā€™t want to help people who act like that, calling me names and being insulting. We try to keep BLF a very friendly place for everyone.

Once I saw he quoted my post with Nealā€™s contact link I decided to erase my post as it was no longer needed.

Then his bizaare sounding response to ToyKeeper in post #1963 I knew I made the right decision.

I donā€™t know why I came back a day later to try and figure out his order. I probably shouldnā€™t have.

After his most recent post (#1986) heā€™s still calling me names as well as making accusations now. I wash my hands of him.

I donā€™t think heā€™s insulted Texas_Ace, yet. Maybe he can help him with any future questions.

:+1: ā€¦. Exactly!!!

https://imgur.com/a/p5mCe8P
Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Thanks for rude mark teacher :smiley:

Iā€™m not a good judge of reflector finish, but if you want to try and center the reflector you would need to loosen the upper head from the light engine. The threaded section right above the switch. When you loosen it there you can wiggle the reflector some to get it centered, then tighten it back up. If you completely unthreaded and separate the two parts you need to make sure to put the black centering ring on the emitter first and then thread the head down onto it.

But I hope that Lumintop is working on a next version of the centering piece, it is not that hard to make one that actually does center the led, and if there is one flashlight that demands a well-centered led it is the GT. And trial and error DIY wiggling a reflector is not what you hope for in a high performance flashlight (I had to do that too often already in my budget cheapies).

Here is a video I whipped up just to try and explain how the two different centering ring designs work.

I presume I should polish the reflector myself too?
I know how to center an emitter, this is irrelevant though. This should have been done at Lumintop not in the buyers garage.
95% of the splendor of this flashlight is a reflector and just this most important thing is screw up.

Thankā€™s djozz
I too have cheaper flashlights with better quality of reflector.

No, donā€™t try to polish it or even touch it. The shiny finish is ultra thin and itā€™s very easy to damage it.

Jason, this was ironyā€¦ā€¦.

There has not been much news to add to post #1. I did a small update:

Okay.

It beats me how Lumintop canā€™t get it centered just right. The design of the black centering ring is pretty much fool proof. Maybe the screws are not the best thing to center it on. Maybe their tolerances are not tight enough. Maybe they switched to screws with a smaller head so now the centering ring can wiggle.

I think the reason they switched to using the screws to center it was because the emitter corner would sometimes gouge the black plastic and create a black plastic shaving which could then fall on top of the emitter and smoke up the reflector.

All they really need to do is cut the center hole with a taper on the bottom so it self centers. Done.


.

Thanks for that video Jason. I didnā€™t know what you meant by the light engine. I didnā€™t know there were threads there. Very helpful.

Ok, I donā€™t have time to address each post but first off lets all take a step back. The GB is over now, lets not start up drama after the fact.

I will freely admit that mistakes were made in the GB, particularly early on.

Lumintopā€™s choice in how to ship out and handle orders was not what anyone on here wanted but trying to change it was just not easy to do and most of it did make some level of sense from a business standpoint. It was a case of pick our battles.

Retrospect is 20/20. Would I have done things differently given the chance? Yep. Heck at many points getting involved at all seemed like my biggest mistake. lol

I like to think we corrected most of the issues by the last 2 batches, they went off very smoothly IMHO. These were also how the entire GB was supposed to go. The reflector delays threw a massive curve ball in the whole process no one saw coming.

I apologize to all those that got lost in the cracks throughout this GB. That is something I never wanted to happen.

When this was started the entire GB was only supposed to take ~1 month start to finish. So in that time frame it was understandable to take care of the big issues before dealing with the small ones.

Had we known it would be a 6 month long ordeal, things would of been handled very differently.

The issue with the centering rings was that the first style would melt after extended use, which I did see evidence of in my prototype light. This could smoke up the reflector and cause lots of issues.

I have told them to more to a white centering ring a few times but never really got an answer about it.

Smaller flashlights have centering rings that fit snugly around the led and are centered by the led itself. I can understand that with a reflector this heavy you donā€™t want that in fear of shearing off the led when the flashlight is bumped against something. Their solution is not bad: position the two screwholes for the ledboard very precisely and use the screw heads for precision-positioning of the centerpiece. But those holes must be indeed positioned precise, the screws must have precise heads (preferrably not round but with a straight edge), and the screws must be screwed in with some care so that they go in straight without cross-threading. One or the other was off in part of the GTā€™s.

Thanks for the pictures smokuxx1987. :+1:
As for your other commentā€¦ your barking up the wrong tree my friend. BUT I will be more than happy to oblige you for that ā€™mistakeā€™. :wink: