Recommendations for a spotlight to scare off wildlife at night?

On CPF, there is a "New Posts" button, But.... once you read the post/thread, the thread disappears from the New Posts list, until another post is added. :(

On this forum, the post/thread does not disappear from the Recent Posts list after it is read. You can still easily find it, after you read it. :)

Kind of. People have gotten used to abusing Amazon’s return policy and now accept it as the norm. The fact that Amazon doesn’t really care or can’t audit the volume of returns they receive only exacerbates the problem.

I will only return items to any storefront if they are unused and unopened unless they are damaged or defective in some way. If I open and test/use the item and decide I don’t like or want it, that’s not the store’s fault and they shouldn’t be liable for the cost of return shipping, restocking, and reselling the item as used. If I don’t want it, I can resell it myself.

Then by your own definition, all the inventory you open, inspect, and test from your store don’t meet that criteria. Is it sold “as new?” The factory seals have been broken, and they’ve been handled and used after they’ve left the factory.

It’s not culture. It’s how business is conducted, and part of the cost of doing business, like shrinkage.

In most places, return policies are not actually compulsory by regulation, they’ve offered due to competition. Retailers don’t have to accept returns, or have liberal policies, and “all sales final” is perfectly legal under most conditions that don’t involve defects, or other circumstances. Competitive pressure is what motivates retailers to offer them.

Like all policies, they can be abused, and retailers take measures to discourage that, including tracking returns, and reserving the right to refuse them from abusive customers. But, most customers are honest. Retailers are less concerned about petty offenses, and more so about systemic, organized fraudulent activity, including from their own employees.

As for the OP’s question — lights likely won’t do jack. I’ve come across raccoons that didn’t flinch when hit with 3000+ Turbo lumens at close range, and only flinched at a strobe, before sauntering away on their own.

Yes, but as an authorized repair agent I’ve been given express permission from the brands to carry this out, so I’m considered just another factory worker who has better QC than most.

And yet, that still doesn’t not meet the definition of factory-sealed. There are categories of products where dealers and agents do in normal course perform configuration and final assembly and testing in their facilities, but they are few and far between, if not non-existent, for packaged consumer goods, flashlights included.

I believe most consumers, myself included, would not expect what you do to be considered normal practice, regardless of whatever value that may add for some customers. The expectation and full faith is in the factory to ship non-defective goods, and to only seek support if that does not occur.

I don’t know if that’s normal practice in NZ, but it’s certainly not the case here in the U.S., and I doubt there is much if any demand for it.

It’s needed when selling the cheaper brands like Sofirn, Wurkkos, and Convoy. Firefires isn’t cheap, but I had to stop being a dealer because of how poor the QC was. First order of 24 flashlights had 8-10 units with issues, the worst being a faulty head in a box without a body. I’m still owed two flashlights, but the only way I was going to get them was with my next purchase….umm, no thank you.

Sofirn - dirty contacts, wrong lube on un-anodized threads preventing connection (45pcs SD03 had to be cleaned and re-lubed), uneven shelf causing 6pcs SP70 LEDs to die, covering up scratches etc etc etc
Sofirn make Wurkkos models, so much the same
Convoy - everything has worked fine, but fingerprints on inside of glass, dusty reflectors, uneven shelf, LEDs off center, poor spring bypass. Had to install a 2nd spring on everything as it was quicker than redoing the bypass. Thankfully Convoy (Simon) now use a high current spring

For my hunting lights I assemble them all myself to make sure it’s done correctly with Convoy’s hosts…

The customer service is very good though, I don’t even need to prove a unit is faulty, I just tell them what I need or what the issue is and it gets sorted. It’s a very different story with Mateminco/Astrolux, I have to send a video proving it, even as a dealer. It’s very annoying.

I’m pretty extreme with my testing and it’s probably not amazing since it takes up a lot of my time. I also batch test every order of batteries and check voltage on all of them before shipping too.

I call it the Walmart effect. Unquestioned returns made everyone expect it everywhere.

quick follow-up as promised...

got both the cheap $20 spotlight and the SF47T charged them and took them out at night. unfortunately, we had a bit of fog/mist in the air so everything was fuzzy...

I have no idea what battery or LED in the cheap light, but I like it very much, nearly as bright as the SF47T, the beam is well focused, very sharp border, almost no spill. it is large, but lightweight, no idea as to the run time, but I won't need it for more than a few minutes every night.

amazon.com/gp/product/B07BQCNB16

and I do like the SF47T too. seems very well made, the beam has more spill which is not a bad thing as it makes the lighted area larger, the hot spot is smaller than the cheap one and a bit brighter, the strobe mode is better than the cheap one which is more fast blink than a strobe.

I am keeping them both...

A light alone wont scare them off. A noise will. :+1:

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Right. A thrower taped to a pellet gun offers three incentives for a critter to think twice: Bright light, noise, and pain. I know this thread is a few months old but it seems worth mentioning. Critters don’t come back for at least three months after said encounter.

Look at motion sensor noise maker at amazon. I have problen with coyotes in the area and old dog and cat going out worries me, say one 30 feet from back door last year. also motion sensor lights out near where I see a trail.

Spotlight to scare off wildlight at night?

… you’ll want one of these.

  • Excellent throw
  • Comes in single or double mounts
  • Offers protection against the most aggressive wildlife

:stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

How about a pocket green laser? Anything in the 1+ watt range should be sufficient

This is a different approach and may not work for you, but I have had good results in keeping critters out of my yard. I got mine from Amazon its the Orbit 62100 Yard Enforcer. It uses your water hose and motion detector to spray the critters if they come in range. It works pretty good and you can adjust range and frequency. Its like an impulse sprinkler. About $100

I don’t know if this would deter black bears mid summer. They may come back for more. :smiley:

like pennzy said: “I don’t know if this would deter black bears mid summer. They may come back for more.”
we previously used a Scarecrow Brand motion-activated one.

bottom line:
it worked for deer.

it did not work for:

  1. local dogs. they loved chasing it back and forth in a semi-circle.
  2. raccoons, skunks, etc. came at night to drink the water left in the dogs’ semi-circle.
  3. birds…all kinds (even turkeys) liked to drink out of the ditch depressions or bathe.
  4. insects…numerous. mosquitoes laid eggs. various flies came together to make more flies.
  5. finally, yes, bears. well, just one lonely juvenile male. he hit the “bar” and moved on.

thank goodness we have a well.
a city water bill would have been way too expensive.
even at that, we did not leave it on all the time.
sort of looked like Crow T. Robot from MST-3000.

My ED-209 works lots better.

Hmm...

Weird spam...

A link to a website selling Michael Myers costumes, but it doesn't really make sense.

I like MM more than most people, but, it's still spam.

Does anyone know whether ammonia repels black bears? Had a big bruiser already. Although we don’t leave any seed out overnight they still smell it.

i would think that just a sniff of ammonia would cause nearly anything to turn and run. It burns so bad that no bear is gonna want seconds on that.