Hey everybody,
long-time lurker, first time poster here (old habit from back when Usenet was actually useful ;)).
I don't want to bore you with a lengthy introduction, but since I recognize some of our DX forum regulars - I go by 'lowrider' over there. (I realize that it's a tad bit weird to be posting a review as a first post, and with the semi-recent influx of spammers, I thought it couldn't hurt to mention that.)
Anyway, I ordered a Skyray 1JC8 on 9/3, mostly as a test purchase. Both, the coupon and the referal, worked (thanks! :)). Just like Nil Einne, I received no status updates which came as a bit of a surprise since I order quite a bit of stuff from China/HK-based retailers and, well, they're generally not shy about sending email updates (and signing your email address up for whatever they feel like). The light was dispatched from mainland China on 9/9. They also updated the order page with a picture of the package, clearly showing the address label. That's a feature I rather like and I'm not aware of any other retailers that do this.
The light arrived on 9/21 (continential United States), after customs opened and inspected the package which happens rarely. Just to put that into perspective: I have several hundered orders with DX (1888 orders), over 100 with FP, a ton of overseas eBay orders with the odd order from KD, LT and all the other DX clones thrown in for good measure and I'd estimate that customs takes an interest in less than 10% of my orders. With a dataset of n=1 as for as BIC orders go, I'm not going to jump to any conclusions but I thought I should mention it. It's obviously no biggie but it does slow things down.
In my case, BIC didn't send the light in an envelope but rather in a black bag. I don't know about about other parts of the world, but a black bag with no markings whatsoever (except for the label and the handwritten, illegible customs declaration) tends to scream "porn" or "sex toys" around here. Now, I'm a proud flashaholic and my wife fully supports my addiction, as long as I get her some cute AAA/10440 lights every once in a while. ;) My point being, I'm a very lucky guy. If your lady is the jaelous type, you might want to explain the black bag.
The flashlight itself was wrapped in two layers of bubble wrap. Unfortunately, there is a rather noticeable ding, about half an inch long, with bare metal visible. I am pretty sure the light wasn't damaged in transit because there's absolutely no damage whatsoever to the bubble wrap. I am guessing (and I should probably stress that I'm really guessing here) that BIC is selling QC rejects with cosmetic defects, much like DX does. To tell you the truth, I'm just not that bothered by it. I used to hang out over at the other place years ago so I'm quite familiar with the "shelfqueen mentality", as I like to call it. I have some ridiculously expensive lights myself and, well, those usually double as my duty lights and they tend to get abused rather thoroughly. This would have been a good opportunity to test DIC's customer service and if this had been a $50 purchase, I might have bothered but, well, it's a $12 light. It doesn't really bother me and in any case, I'm just not going to haggle over a couple of bucks. Just be aware that you might be getting a QC reject. That isn't necessarily a negative if you know what you're getting and price it in accordingly. DX and most (if not all) competitors work the same way. That's why it's a lottery. Your particular reject may have a ding, a scratch, rough threads or it may be unreliable. And then there's the emitter lottery, but I digress. But, hey, that's all part of the fun, isn't it?
As for the 1JC8, I don't really have a whole lot to say yet -- sorry. (Oh, and by the way, Don, thanks for your excellent reviews! I've bought flashlights more than once on your recommendation and I've never been disappointed.) I've just been too busy with work lately and it's likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future. Like I said over on the DX forums, it has a glass lens and aluminum reflector. All threads were completely dry, GITD O-ring up front, GITD tailcap, won't tailstand, reverse clicky, single mode, o-rings in all the usual places. The beam is ringy and less than pretty. I haven't really had the time to test it, let alone really use it for more than half an hour but side-by-side with a WF-008 ($16.99 at the moment over at FP, btw), it performs pretty well as far as throw goes. I can't say anything about reliability - sorry.