Thanks for the feedback, 2 months is rather a long wait, may have to brave ebay for those items
Customer service is actually better on reputable ebay sellers than alot of those chinese sites, due to the fact that their reputation is stated to everyone.
I have a long history with buying things on ebay (500+ items) and have not had that many problems and normally have got a refund with dodgy chinese stuff - I had just assumed to stay away from ebay as there are similar posts about unknown clones and knock off batteries and they seem slightly more expensive than other sites mentinoed; if they are more reliable and faster however then I’ll give it another look - any reliable sellers for the things i’m looking for?
Tell you the truth, I really don’t know any reputable sellers, but for things like the sipik, there’s a guide to tell if it’d real or not. And the clones tend to be just rebranded or better. I wish another person who bought more things from ebay would come here.
Hi fields, welcome mate.
Beware of any TrustFire/UltraFire battery cells. I have a few of the blue UltraFires I bought with lights when I first started, they are ok but inconsistent capacity. Not recommended in multi cell lights. But hey, when you get a charger and two cells for well under ten bucks with a torch who complains? 
All the cheap chargers have actually worked ok. I keep an eye on them and remove the cells when the light goes green. Voltages have all been spot on.
Still, I could have saved by waiting and buying better quality cells and charger, which I ended up doing anyway.
The orange Keygos 26650 4800mAh are ok, I have 8 or so. Probably not the rated capacity, but they are much,much better than the blue UltraFire 18650’s. All bought from Keygos or one of the other three sellers listed below. I have quite a few Keygos branded lights from these guys and all have been good quality, no complaints so far.
I can recommend the Keygos KE-5 and M10 for bike lights. The M10 takes 26650 cells and will give better runtime. Both are nice quality and very bright lights for the size.
There are many reputable ebay sellers. I always try to buy from the ones with a lot of feedback and greater than 99% positive. Not gone wrong so far. I had one light fail after a week, and the seller refunded my money and let me keep the light, no problems. (that was hit time_hk BIC)
I can recommend ebay sellers Keygos = Cyberport888 = redlog = go_market (these are all the same merchant) lifebike (some clones) topofking = vikicompany = (UltraOK), antiquechina2009 (TomTop), hittime_hk (Buy In Coins) for torches
I’m about to order some protected Sanyo 18650’s from BIC. I have not heard of fake Sanyos yet, and am confident BIC will refund if there is a problem.
digital_freaks have some nice knives.
Delivery times have been 2-3 weeks on average, with a couple of things going past 4. Always got what I ordered.
I have also bought from T-Mart, Dino Direct, Light Malls, maybe a couple of others with no problems. YMMV, other have had some problems but being a member here should help sort out any issues. Most of those dealers have agents here.
Good luck, enjoy your new hobby, and most of all, have fun!
By the way, don’t be overly worried about clones, I have bought quite a few on purpose, and they generally have been very decent lights, with some minor differences from the originals but way cheaper. Battery cells, and maybe chargers, are different matter. Yes, there are clone chargers around too.
Generally though, it’s worth the extra for original quality lights. I don’t mind at all paying extra for good quality. Both have their place.
I found myself mostly nodding in agreement all the way down.
With respect to batteries, there was a thread recently about BIC batteries being crap. I’ve bought from AW, Xtar directly and hkequipment.net. I have tried to stick with name brands in the hope that I don’t get done like this: Ultrafire fakes, opened up and refunded ! (see post #39 especially for a laugh/cry).
If you’re riding off road, you might consider a helmet-mounted light. The folks over in the MTBR.com diy lights forum are super helpful.
Welcome to the nuthouse!
Hi and welcome from QLD
Pretzy’s on the ball.
Batteries from an Aussie seller on ebay - I’ve bought a bunch of protected 3100mAh 18650s and a charger from this guy : http://stores.ebay.com.au/supersports600
- quick delivery and appears to be an excellent quality product. ( better than my xxxxfire cells ).
Also got a good Ultrafire C8 from this guy : Security measure
but the int-outdoor.com sourced XinTD V3 C8 with C3 emitter is way better because of the tint, and as good as they get imho. (without modding) Reasonable delivery time from memory.
I’ve also bought stuff from manafont and have had no problems, and even the ebay HK C8 clones with XM-Ls are OK for around $10-$15. Just make sure there’s a picture of the LED in the listing and the store doesn’t sell mostly crap. I got a Q5 instead of a T6 once.
They’re easy to distinguish - the XM-L T6 has two metal corners : LED close-ups.
Anyway have fun and watch your wallet !
Thanks for the heads-up Suncoaster. I’m in need of batts and this seems a good bet, as I’m in Brisbane.
Fields, I’m about to get a couple of UF2100’s to try on the bike. Have been using 2 Ultrafire C3’s with 14500 batts on the road bike for a couple of years. Bit of foam and an o-ring to clamp on bars.
Now I want something brighter for the cagers of Brisbane and the 2100’s aren’t much bigger than the C3’s
UF2100 is a well made light ! I would have Erik also known as E1320 put 2 new pills E-Tomic 7135 3.5 amp and you will have around 1800 lumens in front of your bike !
If you are after a cheap P60 drop in try ali express. You can get xml U2 1a 3 mode drop ins for $10- $11. H M Slow strobe. They draw over 3A on high.
Wow,
You go away for a few hours and there is a lot to read,
I’m in Brisbane everyone too, nice to know there are BLFers everywhere,
I ride a roadie, mostly on a trainer but are getting out more and more and for longer and longer and don’t like some roads with no light and also being less than visible to motorists
OK so the gist is that if it looks ok then go for it in terms of torches and then make sure I get what I paid for
I like the look of the international outdoors c8, that site previously would not open for me
Would you guys recommend buying as much from one store or from multiple?
What’s the best place to buy solar force from?
I did not know that E120 sent overseas, I guess I’ll have to PM Him
Does anyone have a link to the aliexpress drop in?
Batteries and chargers will be my next challenge, balancing budgets vs quality vs safety
Thanks for the advice everyone
Cheers
Suncoaster, Do you mean you like the T6 emitter tint more-so than the U2? These are the 2 options they give.
Has anyone else ordered from this seller?
Yes
The Neutral White 3C T6 gives a warmer tint, and gives a daylight or natural look to outdoors at night.
It’s very different from Cool White.
I’m not sure if it’s available in the U2 yet.
You apparently sacrifice a bit of output for the nicer tint though.
There are plenty of previous threads about the torch vendor and the tint, which are what persuaded me to buy one.
Torch:
Tints:
Vendor:
Do yourself a favor and buy the Jacob A60 from Deal Xtreme. The Small Sun C10 is another winner for the price. $15 for either of these lights shipped is hard to beat for the money for what you get.
And welcome.
What would you get these in place of?
Concerning the TwoFish (TwoFake) knockoffs: I bought some from DX (one and only order) and CN Quality Goods this Spring. Both work about as well as the original. DX took exactly 31 days. CNQG usually take about 3 weeks for regular mail. If you go for air/tracking and include some of these in a larger order, 10-12 days, but I'm in U.S.
CNQG has a sister site called fancyflashlights.com Mostly the same look and selection, prices are different with shipping included. Sometimes you can find a mis-match and get a great deal. FF seems to be better for single item purchases, CNQG better for multiple item purchases with the shipping spread around. Run by Ric-CN, a member here on BLF.
Welcome Feilds,
I have a few Solarforce lights, the L2, L2m, L2i and L2p are all good, I really like the l2p for look and feel (quality) and wish I had bought that first and may not have bought the others and some other cheapies if spent the dollars in the first place.
http://www.solarforceflashlight-sales.com/product_detail.php?t=FB&s=7&id=432
For dropins, I make my own but I also have the manafont 3 mode XML which drives hard.
http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/ultrafire-cree-t6-3mode-memory-led-dropin-module-42v-max-p-5178
I have a number of zoomies, the sipik 68 (get the grey from manafont it does not scratch like the black) is a classic and should not be over looked and still impresses those at the pub after a few beavies
http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/sipik-sk68-floodtothrow-zooming-cree-q4-convex-lens-led-flashlight-grey-1aa-p-5822
I have the C8 from KD which you cannot go wrong with. This is also a great/easy light to mod with new drivers and emitters.
http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S020144
For chargers, again I have a few. I am really impressed with the ML-102 charger as it uses USB and can charge from car/computer or walwort but only does lion. (I have another $2 cheapy usb for nimh)
http://www.intl-outdoor.com/ml102-usb-charger-for-18650-26650-battery-p-243.html
Batteries - The Sanyo Xtar 2600 are good and protected and I normally set my friends and family up with those, Most of my gear now has drivers that alert on low voltage so I am using unprotected Panasonics, there is not too much in it as far as performance goes but I want to know I am getting the most out of my setup.
edit : added links to products, no referrals.