I suppose that could be the case, but as I posted elsewhere in this thread, my first T10 (from the Thrunite store on ebay - no group buy), my Ti and then this Saber 1A all had problems. The contact issues with the first T10 were helped by a complete thread clean and regrease with Nyogel, which damped the action enough to lessen head wobble and intermittent contact issues when going through modes. The Ti is damaged for good, as an eneloop AAA compressed the pil into the head just enough so my other AAA rechargeables, which are a fraction of a mm shorter, now won’t make contact sufficient for “high” mode when screwed in all the way. My T30S is still running strong, and appears to be better made. Maybe like many such companies, Thrunite has some design input but has their lights made for them by one or more manufacturers. The box from my first T10 lists a different address (in a different town) in China, and I only bought it in December 2012. It could be they are farming out designs to the lowest bidder, and saving money by forgoing QC.
I think the bottom line may be that, however they want to spin their identity, Thrunight is more on par with other inexpensive Chinese light companies than with better outfits like Olight, FourSevens, Crelant, EagleTac, etc, at least if you take into account their entire product line. At least that’s the feeling I’m getting having had issues with three of four lights.
I was talking to ThruNite about this thread and showed them.
If anyone is not satisfied with their BLF Saber, send a email to sales@thrunite.com with your order number and a description of your problem with the light.
One would have thought that Thrunite would already be aware of this Post and others and would have had a Representitive address some of the issues and threads that have been posted if they really cared about their product, or the people that bought them. To have so many failures in the same Brand, Model and Batch is a Disgrace for a Company that is trying to sell their lights for Top Dollar, like they are an Elite Brand.
The fact that they don’t have a Representitive on these posts trying to at least address some of their Clients issues and their Quality Control (or lack of it), speaks volumes to me about how they don’t care about after sales service or Brand Quality. It seems to me that they are taking advantage of the fact that most people on this site will try and repair the lights themselves, rather that have to ship them back and wait any longer. That way they can flog off all the crap and only have to replace or address the people that can’t fix their Lights. Way to save Money, Way to Lose Business.
I used to like Thrunite, but now i think it is all just overpriced Crap.
I guess the same ones that read all the threads to offer suggestions and sell their Wares. I’d say just about all of them, they use the forum to sell what they want and read most things to know how to target their sales. How do you think they knew which Lights to offer in the first place, or are you a firm believer that they just had an Epiphany sent by the Devine Flashlight God.
I guess if you don’t think that Thrunite know all about this and every other thread about their product on this and every other Flashlight Forum then you will always be living in the Dark. Also one of their Favourite Customers.
Not sure if they follow these threads on or, but am I the only one who finds Saber’s design bland and cheap?
The rest of AA lights look good, but this one is just, well, cheap looking like some unfinished rough budget light from no name factory.
This was cheap….and bland of course it’s just a tube…but that’s like flashlights look a like
I have played around a bit and compared to other Chinese lights, this is no extraordinary quality like expected(I think that is the problem with all of us).
Mine has flickered yesterday too…and I am always happy to play and to mod with my flashlights but I guess that for a normal customer this light would be a even bigger disappointment…
The brightness on AA is really good and useful, the size is nice. Price was good for a thrunite flashlight(3good sk68 could be have for the same price).
Mine arrived with the same flickering issues and loose threads. I know that most of you like the easier turning but I was hoping it would be tighter than my T10. I don't have any issue turning it one handed off it's tight but all this will do is turn on in my pocket leaving me witha dead light when I go to use it. My T10 did that already and is had is much tighter.
The crappy connections are the worse part. I cleaned the threads and it worked for a while but quickly went to crap again. I will be contacting Thrunite about this.
On the bright side it is brighter than my T10 but instead of being more neutral than my T10 it is far whiter. This was a very disappointing light.
The Archer 1A, also recently offered in a Group Buy, evidences poor QC and design flaws. The O-ring situation is a travesty. Offering to replace with another having the same design flaws simply doesn’t cut it.
Like many here, I posted on the Archer Group Buy thread that Thrunite has lost me as a customer.
I’ll agree that its nice when companies do check into social media and message forums in an effort to improve their product, but i don’t expect them to be like big brother and be in every thread ever written. This would be a monumental task, it would take many hours a day to read every post made at BLF and the other forum and all the other forums. If would also be incredibly inefficient. Don’t forget there is more then just flashlight forums, theres an entire internet of people who might be talking about your product, it may be mentioned in comments on blogs about an unrelated topic, mentioned at unrelated forums, yahoo questions, personal websites, gripe sites, image storage sites (which may be in picture form and hard to search for), amazon and anywhere else on the information super highway.
If any company has people who read all the information added to the internet daily i will be insanely shocked. Even google spends a lot of manpower and resources to automate, organize and index whats new.
A market research team should be interested in what others are saying about their product, a large company would conceivably have focus groups, researchers, strategists, advertising ‘experts’ and hopefully product research divisions. However if you think they are personally watching everything you say and do then you should have far bigger concerns then flashlights.
There is hardly any of their workers that aren’t asked to join these Forums and push their Products, suggest their items and in some cases review them and or start rumours about other Company Rivals. I read it all the time. Doesn’t cost them anything, they’re already on the Payroll and members of the Forum. Anyway, Sounds like you might have more trouble than me with the Clown eating you en all. You have a nice Day in Cloudland or Clownland. Take care. One last Question, do you work for Thrunite of have you had any of their Free items to Review. just Curious.
No i don’t work for them, nor have i received or ever had the opportunity to use one of their products.
I’m not saying they cannot have people who visit forums and see what people are saying about their products, what i am saying is that you can’t expect that every time someone says their name anywhere on the internet they are there reading it, though in this case that would be helpful.
There is no reason to totally slam Thrunite yet. As someone who got a bad light, I’m just as disappointed as many of you are, but I’m hoping Thrunite will come through with some great customer service and replace the malfunctioning lights as quickly as possible, at no cost or trouble to us (which will mean they will have to pay return postage for the bad lights).
As I wrote above, it may simply be that these were early lights from a new producer. My original T10 box indicates production in Dongguan City, but my BLF Saber 1A was made an hour south, in Nanshan. I wonder if the BLF Archer lights being discussed on the other thread were also from Nanshan?
Whatever the case, I’m willing to give Thrunite the opportunity to do the right thing and replace all of the bad BLF Saber 1As. I think that would go a long way in restoring confidence. Now if they could only change the emitter tint, too….
I got mine today, I was shaking waiting to see what happened. I had charged up my Tr 14500 in anticipation, and put out a new AA….gulp, fired it up, and wahla it works. Great little torch, mine had clean treads, did look like it had been tested … works on all batteries from 1.2 to 4.2, I love mine…not dark yet, wanna try it outdoors , but worked fine in the house…good luck…love mine…Edit: After playing with it, the threads could be tighter, does have a tendency to fire-up in my pants, but everyone thinks I just have a bright…head…
Thrunite has contacted me and offered to send a replacement light and return the first one. That sounds fair as long as the replacement works as described and they will pay for return shipping. Have other people with bad BFA Sabers been promised replacements?
Thrunite also requested that I return the original light to Illumination Supply’s address in California. I thought I had read somewhere that IS had stopped being a reseller for Thrunite, but maybe not. At any rate, if both the return and replacement could have been handled domestically it would likely have been faster (I’m assuming a 2-week wait for the replacement, but if it’s faster I’ll post). I’ll keep my fingers crossed that there are no problems with the replacement.
I thought that under closer inspection all the main QC issues raised in that thread were found to be false.
The lense is actually AR coated, but not with one that lets the most light through in the green area of the spectrum (purple reflection). Also the o-rings in the head are present under the lense, but over one side of a rim in the reflector (like the SC600) and obscured by the bezel.
I bought a Saber 1A a while ago and it works fine, the only issues I have is that the threads could be tighter (though they are still better than my Quark Mini AA and iTP A3 upgraded) and efficiency on moonlight and max isn’t great. I really hope others get their issues sorted soon because otherwise it’s a nice little light.
The design and execution of the tailcap O-ring inter alia are the prime issues with the Archer. The AR coating is marginal at best as well. I find I much prefer my L3 Illumination L10 and am sorry I went for the Group Buy.
