DBSAR
No, it was just to show you the flashlight, I bought it from another dealer called lan-yrd who has good feedback.
Still, I wanted to swap it to an XP-G2, and now I learned I replaced it with a fake XP-G2! :bigsmile:
NicoleK
I think it’s the seller that matters, not the Ebay itself.
I agree with Dimking, the sellers matter most.
A few good aspects of buying from Ebay compare to other stores often mentioned on this forum:
Ebay’s shipping has been quite reliable and relatively fast to me. Ebay’s sellers seemed more concerned about their own reputation than some of these often mentioned on this forum. It is easier to get refund from a seller for a non-satisfactory product. If comparing a good Ebay seller to GB, I would 200% in favor of a good Ebay seller. After the fiasco with the lost shipment and etc, I would never buy from them again. So far, I haven’t had such problem from Ebay sellers yet. I actually like and trust FastTech. However, I haven’t receiver two of their packages for over 40 days with free shipping. I’d only buy from them with a tracking number even that means costing more. Ebay’s shipping is reliable and fast over 95% of my orders. For the rest of the 5%, get refund or replacement is very simple and easily done.
There are a lot of fake products on ebay and you can easily tell. However, GB, BG and DX are not much better. Again, one need make sure who you are dealing with when buying from Ebay, the same as from anywhere else and one need to set correct expectations.
I just e-mailed to one of them saying they are selling fakes. Wonder what they say.
The faked XP-G2 is rated at 130 Chinese lumen at 350 mA! ARRGHHH!!!
just saw a few LB XML2 clones from my local flashlight stores
like those pics above, the xml2 phosphor is dotty and missing that black dot marker on the corner
nasty blue tint but they aren’t too bad looking compared to generic XML leds
Looks like LB has 2 different clones for an XP-E. Here's one
Here’s two:
Or it is neither Cree nor LB :zipper_mouth_face:
I have one of those too, i believe its just another variation from LB or an equivalent. The one i have has a horrible tint and not very efficient, about the same as an incandescent bulb for output vs. Amp draw. Less than 100 lumens and suck over an amp & a half at that.
Here is what 2012topdeal replied to me:
——-
Dear thedimking,
dear friend.
you can compare with it with cree xpg2 led, if it is not the same, i will refund for you.
our item is 100% orginal cree xpg2 led .
can you send a picture which you get it?
eileen
——
The last phrase remained enigmatic to me, (I don’t think the problem here is that English is not my mother tongue)
but I sent them the side-by-side picture and gave them a link to this thread.
If they follow with what they said, I think it’s o.k. However, its still a hassle.
I just noticed lck_led_com raised the price of XP-G2 s2 twice recently. I don’t see a reason to buy this from them again at this price. Their LEDs seem genuine but their price gets less and less attractive.
I bought the fakes for $1.80, which is too good to be true for a genuine XP-G2 NW (I should have guessed that before, lol)
thats a relief
I bought a Cree XP-G2 Neutral White R3 from lck_led_com for $1.43 on Sept. 23 and it is genuine. So it was possible. Unfortunately, it is $2.45 now :(.
so how does everybody feel about the huge inventory of LEDs FT just got in?
If you look at the bin / tint combinations and some of the pictures I feel there are a number of fakes littered in there.
i never seen them yet. Have any links?
The ones I bought from the before all works fine. The performance are consistent and as expected. These are unmounted so I have no way to test them. Please let us know if any one buys and tests them.
I see no suspicious leds in the pictures, And they are not exactly the latest and the greatest, I guess they found back some old reels in the cellar.
The pictures of them look like genuine, but the Lumens they listed sounds off. (148lm for XP-G2, 300lm for XM-L) unless it’s nominal or lower raring and not maximum in their listings. (Those ratings are close to the ratings from Lattice brights website for their clones.
I don’t think the people in FT are that technically savvy. They just list whatever the suppliers gave them. As somebody pointed out before, The standard test current for XP-G2 is listed at 350 ma. 148 lm is exactly the s2 bin generate at 85 C in the spec. Similarly, the lumens of XP-L is listed at 700ma. 300 lm is exactly the U2 bin produce at 85 C. Of course, we will not know until someone test it out. Right now, I think they should be o.k. based on my past experiences with FT.