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.
Ditto.
So I emailed them about my never ending flicker story…I think I have to solder a drop on the contact like someone mentioned here, but a light which is advertised as “durable Strong reliable” should light up without modifications….
The customer service has done nothing until now.
April 15th:
Hello,
I have received my light last week and it makes problems more often than i thought.
I had to clean the threads several times because it doesn’t lit up anymore. I thought it was healed after adjusting the negative spring but yesterday evening it flickered again… I am sad, this is a light I can’t trust.
My order number is:
Order #1….
With kind regards
………………………
I got this email two days later:
Hello customer,
We are so sorry for inconvenience caused!
could you let me know the details about the problem?then we will evaluate the light and report back the findings .
W’d like to resend new one for you.and we’ll improve our products.what do you think of this proposal?
Waiting for your reply.
………………………………………………………
So I emailed them the problems again, …wtf and thought they would send a new one. this was on April 17th
Hello,
I have mentioned the problems in my last mail, almost every time I use the light it flickers or doesn’t light up totally. When I clean the threads and everything it turns often on again but just now it doesn’t light up…this is a light I can’t trust.
Please resend a working light.
Kind regards
……………………………………
Yesterday I checked the account and no shipping confirmation or else so I wrote a short mail that I am waiting for reply
…….
This mail came today:
ok，we resend a new one today.
and could you return the original one later?
Best regards
Grace
Customer Service
ThruNite
……
i mailed them this message just right now, yep not to kind I know but I am really pissed off because I thought they would handle the situation
I don’t understand, where should I send the light to?
I won’t going to send the light back to china as it would cost more than I paid for the whole light.
I am sad that you have done nothing for the last week…seems the customer service is crap like the light.
Without kind regards
………………
Have I something missed in there mails? Never heard a single word of sending back or getting even an address?
This is far away from a satisfaction……especially if it is a common problem.
You don't send it back unless they provide you with a prepaid shipping label to ship it back with. I was talking with David, from Thrunite, on Monday about this whole issue. He told me he plans on replacing them but they will not have the BLF laser etching on them as they will be standard Saber 1A. Personally I think this is better for us because I am convinced that they will be better quality than the assorted randomness we all received with the "BLF Edition" of the light. I mentioned that I would just remove the pill from the new one and use it in the BLF head so I have a working special edition and he said nothing about returning the original.
If he plans on replacing the defective ones and wants them shipped back then he will have to have all the replacements relasered as it was the whole point of buying them. I still haven't heard anything from him about when he would ship out the replacement.
Well, Thrunite sure has exhibited an apathetic attitude towards the issues expounded upon in the beginning and has now seemingly addressed them albeit to a “senior” member like yourself JohnnyMac. I find that somewhat disturbing to say the least. Having to “drag out” a response from a business is a sign of less than stellar business practice IMO.
I’ve got mine working alright but still experience an occasional misfire due to the SLOPPY threading/contact issue. I think they should send all of us a new light and re-laser them too.
ETA: Or better yet like JM mentions…remove the pill from re-placement Saber and put it in existing lasered BLF head.
My BLF light still misfires and in high mode will sometimes flicker even when the head is snugged down and all contacts (incl. battery) just cleaned. The contact problems are worse than my T10, as that light misfires but once solidly “on” won’t then start to flicker when laid down on a table or moved around. I have received the same email regarding replacement, but no follow-up with shipping notification, no info about paying for shipping for the requested return to Illumination Supply, etc.
Why doesn’t Thrunite step up to the plate right here on Forum?
Seems like they are just ducking and hoping the problem will go away.
They know BLF’ers are pissed about these skeletons from their closet.
I just spoke with David a few minutes ago and he said that Thrunite will be replacing the defective BLF Sabers with new lights. If you haven't done so yet, or have already sent an email to their sales department, send an email to either service@thrunite.com or service@thrunite-store.com. I sent the email to both. He told me that they will ship out the replacements ASAP.
Thanks JohnnyMac 
Hope they follow through!
Just sent David at Thrunite my original order email receipt with order number and request for re-placement.
ETA: Thanks for the info JohnnyMac. Hope it goes through and they get replaced.
This is a welcome development especially as mine started playing up early this week.
I e-mailed yesterday with my order details and received this prompt reply.
[QUOTE]Hello customer,
Sorry for the inconvenience caused.we'll pay more attention.
and a new one will be send out as soon as we can.
Thanks
Best regards
Grace
Grace
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for sorting this out.
+1. Received ths speedy reply to my query. And now….the wait.
Hello customer,
Sorry for the inconvenience caused.we’ll pay more attention.
we’ll resend a new one for you as soon as we can,please kindly wait for it.
Thanks
Best regards
Grace
Customer Service
ThruNite
service@thrunite.com
Tel : + 86 755 268-51083
Fax : + 86 0755 268-06626
Skype ID : Grace1988514
Sorry to hear about the problems with some(how many?) of these lights. I have to say after using mine daily since I received it that it is a very nice light. The threads are tight and smooth, the fit of the pill is much better than my Mini 01, the knurling and anodizing are flawless and the beam is narrow with useable spill. The only improvement I would make is a more evenly spaced medium and I may swap in an XP-G2 R5 3D and even that will be simple due to how the emitter is installed.
i keep missing these deals…
IIRC they were banned from the forum for posting their sale threads in multiple forums instead of sticking to the Commercial Seller's Spot forum.
….but execution and/or QC undermined that. It’s interesting that several people have posted about having no trouble at all with their BLF Saber. Makes me wonder if the “BLF” printing went on lights from different batches.
I’ve gone over mine completely twice now: cleaned all contacts, made sure the pil is tight (it arrived loose), removed the tail spring and cleaned all contact points on spring and tube, tried different batteries, etc. It’s much better now, but I will still sometimes snug it down in “high” mode and the light will flicker or run dim. It’s hard to imagine that this is just a contact problem. And as I noted above, the head thread tolerances mean that the “misfires” of the original T10 are repeated here, which is a pain if you’ve turned the light off on “low” so you can turn it on again on “low” to check on your sleeping children and it skips to “medium”, which is very bright in a darkened room.
What a contrast to Rey’s “Bonny” that has been in my pocket for the past couple of days, working just fine (except for the faulty protection circuit on the batteries - but that’s not a reflection of the light’s quality).
I still think it’s the bottom contact spring that’s causing most of the issues. Since I bent the spring on my saber there have been no issues. I took a few pictures to try and show the problem.
Here’s the way I bent the end of the spring. Sorry for the blurry picture.
Here’s the bottom of the battery tube. I don’t know if you can see it here (kinda hard to take a picture down the tube) but there is a small step near the base where i think the spring was sitting and not making contact with the bare aluminum.
