seeing as how these older hosts are being cleared out at a discount, some of these imperfections aren't surprising.
Hmm this really surprises me. My Soloar L2m typeII finish and overal machine-work is OUTSTANDING... in many ways better than my Surefire.
Just snapped these pics this morning (56k!!). I pack-carry these inter-changeably and use them at work, although lately I have been preferring the smaller L2m.
Well maybe they have found someone to make them cheaper. What I have also noticed is the knurling on the bronze L2 is quite poor the diamonds are not uniform and it looks like the blade slipped. The grey one has very good knurling. You can see the diamonds.
Let me tell you there is nothing high quality about these 2, but that does not mean I don't like them. At the end of the day they were $9 each I had some gift tokens at DD so I got 2 very cheap drop ins, 1 XML and 1 XPG. so when all said and done they won't stand me at much. However If I'd paid full price for a complete torch, I would not be very happy at all. And if these 2 are anything to go by, I WONT be getting an empty P1 for $27!
You really are in Jetbeam territory.
Marc.
Marc: "The grey one has very good knurling."
From what I can see (which is quite a lot; great pics, btw) the knurling is excellent for a budget light. In the first photo there are some tiny machining marks on the half-diamonds, but overall looks like a very good job. Strange that the other nasties are so poor in comparison. Different machines/operators I guess.
Sorry you got a poor light, hopefully SF CS will see you right.
Heres the last Solar L2 I had in my possession... nice host, and I didn't recall anything grossly-poor in terms of overall quality. Definitely on-par with the other lights pictured, including the ones shown in the background. Maybe their quality has dropped? would be interesting hearing others feedback. These pics were taken a while ago.
Yeah, it's the bronze one that has bad knurling. But I'm not to worried, like I say they will be cheap torches when finished. They will be my only Solarforces though! I do expect to get the grey one replaced though.
P.S. Thanks for the pictures compliment!
Marc.
I have purchased nearly all of my Solarforces from Jo (same vendor) and never received such garbage.
You would be 100% justified in requesting an exchange or refund. Had my first Solarforces looked similar to yours, I would have never ordered another.
the L2 hosts you bought are older, discontinued models. they are no longer made and have been replaced with a new version of the L2. that's why they are on sale at clearance prices. that they would be of lesser quality than what you would typically expect from Solarforce is not surprising because they are probably the last few that they had in stock of that model. this often happens when you buy things that are on clearance, that's why they are on clearance. you have to deal with a bit of a lottery with clearance items. some of them are problem free, some of them could be less than satisfactory. if you get unlucky and get a messed up item, you have to contact the seller and they will probably send you another one. but this is what happens when you buy things on clearance. it's the hidden cost of buying on the cheap.
anyway, i have a 2011 L2 and it is nearly flawless. hard to believe it cost me just $12.50.
I can't agree with this, there should at least be a disclaimer stating defects may be present, give the customer the information. This would simply leave me with a bad impression, I would not order again and at very least I would never recommend them if not actually discourage purchases.
As it happens I am happy with all my Solar Force stuff so I hope this is just a blip.
what is there to disagree with? i said that stuff like this often happens with clearance items, which it obviously does. i didn't say that it was right.
Sorry must have read wrong, I thought you were saying if you buy clearance items then you should expect a lottery in the quality.
actually, that is what i said. if you buy an item on clearance, you should expect that there will be a higher risk of a quality lottery than there would be with full priced items. especially with an item like the old L2 where owners in the past have reported getting units with bad machine marks, it only makes sense that some of the last few units in inventory would potentially have problems as well.
what i did not say was that the buyer should accept receiving a poor quality item or that Solarforce was justified in sending out a poor quality item. Solarforce clearly needs to send out a new host and make this right, as they probably will.
If it was a clearance sale at discounted prices, then there are no backsies, returns or complaints. At least where I come from.
I wonder if this will be the same.
Viktor
I could see that, if they had specified all sales final - no returns, but they did not. I suspect if they had, there would have been few takers. And I don't mind that kind of sale, IF it's at retail and I can examine a product before I buy it. The SF website simply lists a reduced price, no mention of 'some defects'. They seem to have a pretty good rep for customer service, let's see what they say.
It was "limited promotion deal" and not clearance sale. End of story.
Ok, I follow, and really not trying to argue.
But I'm not kidding. Around here, if it's sold at a clearly stated discount price, you can expect that the seller won't accept any returns or complaints -> it's a final sale.
Warranty is respected, though, as it should be.
I'd say defects like these might even be covered by warranty, for a product like this.
Viktor
i did not mean that Solarforce-Sales listed the older L2's as being sold as-is and non-refundable. i meant that the current price of these older L2's reflect their status as discontinued items which have been replaced by a newer model (see post #32).
btw, not all stores have an all-sales-final policy when it comes to clearance items.
To be honest I feel that both of the L2's I received are not what I would expect, not from what you guys have been saying in your reviews. The grey one has a lot of faults as you have seen and the bronze one has bad knurling and a miss aligned logo. It would also be nice if it was the right colour (sand) But I can live with these problems on the bronze torch. I do however think when Jo sees pictures of the grey torch, he will send a replacement.
As for the sale on these items, I do not think clearance items should be imperfect other wise they should be sold as seconds, in which case I would have paid a few dollars more and bought the new L2.
Marc.
Must be our culture I completely agree, clearance is normal products sold at discount to clear room for new stock. Seconds are sold at discount due to imperfections (slight and don't affect operation at that). Clearance and seconds are two different categories that others here have failed to grasp
Yes I think you are right. But I think if they are seconds they are bad value.
Marc.