Well more disappointment… A classic bait-and-switch from Banggood.com! In the side-by-side pictures, the advertisement is on the left (first image).
Before we get to that, let’s look at the plastic bag they were sent in. The plastic 18650 sleeves were both smashed because of this. The packaging shows just how much abuse they took on their way.
In the next picture, you see the Banggood advertisement on the left, and the delivery on the right. The arrows show the 18650 sleeves I mentioned before. The markings I circled are clearly different. No idiot would confuse the lights by accident.
Moving on, in the next picture, the red arrows identify some of the sharpest edges! Again, the advertisement on the left shows a rounded rear edge. And the one on the right that I received has very crude machining on every edge of the light. The green arrows show the buttons are different sizes. And the green circles mark lousy knurling on the one I was sent.
Moving on you can see the advertised one on the left has a much nicer lanyard keeper. And the tail cap insides are different.
And finally, the advertisement and the flashlight markings show CREE 1800 lm, but that’s not what’s inside. The board is clearly Latticebright, and according to the counterfeit CREE awareness thread on this forum, the LED itself can be confirmed a Latticebright counterfeit by the square pads the red arrows point to.
So my conclusion is I am a victim of Banggood’s bait-and-switch scam. Should I not be mad? Why do other buyers let them get away with this?
EDIT: The reasons it is inferior compared to the one in their advertising picture I already own from Amazon are 1) cheap/sharp edges hurt my hand 2) counterfeit LED, 3) horrible red tint from counterfeit LED, 4) just plain junky compared to what was advertised. 5) distorted, rainbow lens.