As I am fairly new to BLF (Ex CPF) I have ordered some zoomies from Tmart.
I am just asking who is reliable and good to deal with from all of you guys who have had the good and the bad experiences in buying online here at BLF.
Cheers
I am not here to bash any retailer, but i will say that i have ordered stuff from DX or Dealextreme and i hardly ever get it with inside of 2-3 months. I quit purchasing from there.
Here are the only dealers I have had zero problems with .
Batteryjunction
Shiningbeam ( My favorite )
Lighthound
Exduct
Solarforce
i dont need to say anything at this point.
readers of my post would already know ;)
A lot of that is personal opinion. I personally buy from CNQG, Tmart, and DX. However, some people avoid Tmart since they used to shill post and others hate DX because of slow shipping times.
Edit: CNQG=CN quality goods and CNQG=fancyflashlights.
If your including US sellers lighthound is the way to go. I always have received my orders within 3 days and everything has been perfect except one solarforce host where the bezel was stuck. I called them and they sent me a new head and a prepaid package to send the other one back to them.
I've had good experience with Int'l Outdoor Store, Kaidomain, and Manafont. I've ordered the most from DX and have never had a problem with them except for some slow shipping (but never ridiculously slow for me).
-Garry
Since you are in Australia, I would not list the US sellers, but CNQuality Goods (aka fancyflashlights) has always been reputable, Kaidomain is ok, sometimes not having stock, but they do Ok and seem to always be able to get it if it’s not in stock. I do not know of any other overseas seller that I have not had trouble with, either in the form of very slow shipping (over a month) or in the form of not having stock and not notifying the buyer if they are out of stock. That seems to be a Chinese tradition, keep the money and don’t say a word, LOL.
Good or Great experiences with:
International Outdoor Store (But always pay for tracking)
CN Quality Goods / FancyFlashlights (Again, do tracking)
Solarforce Sales
TMart (IF item is available from US warehouse)
Shiningbeam
Lighthound
SB Flashlights
Protacticalshop19 - US based ebay seller
China Quality Goods/Xtar - Only bought off their ebay site, but very prompt, good notifications
Never ordered from Kaidomain.
Can't tolerate DealExtreme shipping times.
DinoDirect = Just too many horror stories (do a search, dozens of threads)
Manafont - Ok until you have a problem, then not so Ok.
HK Equipment - never ordered from, but never heard anything bad either.
Int’l Outdoor Store and CNQG/fancyflashlights and HKEquipment are 3 of the more notable flashlight specialists. The first two each have some “in-house” quality models, and the latter is more for “name brand” lights. All 3 often have a neutral emitter option which I highly recommend (for example, HKE has the skyray king in neutral). The other chinese B2C sites are more or less similar, though Manafont is notable for decent stock, fast shipping, and low % of errors.
Total Agreement !!
Int’l Outdoor Store , CNQG/fancyflashlights, HK Equipment , SolarForce sales
Manafont , Batteryjunction , Shiningbeam , Lighthound , sbflashlights
Are all good to deal with…
Avoid Deal Extreme & Dino Direct if you can.
Far too many headaches with them.
Some members have had good luck with them ,
the majority however have received nothing short of lousy service.
Honestly I think all stores are good, or all stores can have problems.
Just keep in mind as a consumer, pay with PayPal…if you dont receive anything within 45days you can open a PayPal complaint and dont be afraid to do so. So thats some protection.
When I need it fast with no BS, I head straight to Lighthound. However, as long as it's within a month, I'm usually not in a hurry to get my order. I like having something on the way. Among Chinese sellers, it's a toss-up between Solarforce and Int'l Outdoor Store. Both are pure class and don't hesitate a second to issue an exchange and/or refund when necessary. After that, I've yet to have a truly bad experience with Manafont.
The rest are a grab bag of mediocre-to-FUBAR, often with appalling customer service and Charles Manson ethics.
helterskelterFoy
There are certain stores I prefer more than others but I’m eventually gotten the goods from all of them.
I always use Paypal in my dealings and I have also used IntOutdoor and Tmart for a couple of things or Fleabay and Amazon.
Thanks for the info to help start me off with BLF and my first dealings with the cheaper dealers and interesting products.
I have plenty of stuff like the Fenix TK70, Thrunite TN31, Dereelight DBS-T EZ900 Aspherical, Crelant 7G5V2 with Collimator, Olights SR90, SR51, SR50, M30, Klarus XT11, MiX5 Gold, MiX6 Gold, Zebralight SC600, Maglites and Terralux Conversions, XL200, 3D LED, Led Lensers M1, P14 and the smaller ITP range.
I now want to have little surprise packages that can be had for little money and see just how useful smaller and less expensive lights can be.
Besides, after buying the collection above over the last few years I need to slow down on the outgoing money dept.
This is an expensive and never ending hobby.
Forums are like drug dealers assisting the big guys to sell their stuff to flashahilics for their next fix. Only joking of course, but you guys know what I mean.
We just can’t stop and after that first buy you are hooked!!!
Cheers
You should get the skyray king neutral t5 from hkequipment. One of the brightest, nicest lights out there with a fine tint. TK70 territory in a better package.
The flashlight you told me about is like the Thrunite TM11.
The TK70 has 4 levels down to moonlight almost and good throw and spill.
It also has easy to get at but hidden Strobe and SOS and good forward 2 button placement.
I use it on level 1 or 2 when walking but when I want to check something out I still have level 3 (high) and level 4 (turbo).
This turbo is not like the other turbos that last 5 mins or so before the light can cook eggs on it.
It lights the whole street up.
With the Imedion D size (LSD) NIMH 9500mah batteries I get at least 1hr 20mins on turbo without the light heating up hardly at all.
If I did not already have a 3 x XML big monster TK70 and an Olight SR90 I might consider the Skyray.
The TK70 is also very intimidating when people see it.
If I threw the Skyray at someone I better have a good aim as it is like throwing a can of Coke at someone and you only get one throw.
With the TK70 I would probably have a chance of a few good hits.
Cheers
I finished up buying a Skyray King 3 x XM-L T6 from Tmart because what I originally ordered was not in stock and was holding up my order with the other things.
Here is the link to it and the price was AU$59.39.
.
+1….so true 