Advice on bulk buy for security company

Buy / Sell Want to Buy
1

Good day BLF members.
I’m very new to this forum, and fairly new to the world of flahlights and modding.

I am from South Africa, we have some resellers here, but in my opinion the market is not saturated yet.

I have an oppurtunity to procure and supply flashlights to a security company (Owner is a friend, and I mentioned that importing and reselling quality flashlights in south africa is a potential business oppurtunity i have in mind, so he gave me the chance).

these flashlights will be standard issue to their staff, one point to note is that they will not be changing their current holster.

Holster details:
Leather, single loop of approximatly 27mm diameter, loop has no bottom, which means that the flashlight must be held in place by the physical design of the body, meaning, the head of the flashlight must be considerably larger than 27mm, and body and tail must be smaller than 27mm, length does not matter, was only told that it must not be “too long”.

a good balance of throw and flood is required, rechargeable, replaceable battery, durable construction, able to withstand abuse.

We don’t work in USD, but will use USD for reference.
cost to end buyer (Security company) should not be greater than 45 USD. therefore i would say, cost to me, excluding shipping and taxes/duties should not be greater than 23 USD, including the battery.

I would like this to be a potential business venture, and would like to be known for importing and selling quality equipment.

I’ve been looking at many options, but the limiting factor is the holster design, many of the EDC flashlights have the smae body and headsize, and this rules them out Sofirn SC31T etc.

Currently looking at the Convoy M1, as it seems to fit the bill mostly.

Does this community have any other suggestions or recommendations for me?

Feel free to let me know if you need any other info.

PS. High CRI is not a concern here, largest concern is durability (i.e. repeated switching and dropping from height, followed by price).

Thank you in advance.

2 Thanks
2

I hope you have fun here, LumosSA!

1 Thank
3

What do they use now?
High cri is always a concern no matter where you are.

4

They use a generic, rebranded flashlight, that runs a 18650 cell. I think it’s a South African rebranded product called zartek.

Let me rephrase by saying high cri is not high in the priority list when I spoke to my client.

Durability is high, they have a history of rough handling.

3 Thanks
5

For this application I’d explicitly pick low CRI, because higher runtime at same brightness, and more peak brightness is more important than seeing colors better.

4 Thanks
6

Is it the ZA-815?

Screenshot_20240522_151104_Chrome
Screenshot_20240522_151104_Chrome1080×866 61.3 KB

The ZA-815 looks like a C8 clone.
If they are used to that size, I’d recommend the C8+ with a Stainless Steel bezel.

1 Thank
7

This is the message i was trying to put across yes thank you. not saying CRI is not important, i know it is, it’s just in this situation its much lower on the priority list than say runtime and brightness.

9

Thank you for your research! it may very well be this. client has told me they have a mix of units, it’s what happens when they just buy to replace broken or faulty units, they end up with a mixed bag, so he has been hesitant to share exactly what they currently use. but I suspect it’s something like this C8 clone yes.
Do you recommend the stainless bezel purely for durability when dropping? or does it have other benefits as well?

1 Thank
10

Convoy m1 or m21b seems to fit the requirements nicely. Choose 519A for high cri or xml2 u2 for high output. All led options except the w5050sq3 or cslnm1.tg will give you a combination beam.

11

Awesome, thank you for the detailed response. agree that those seem to fit the bill.
I will send a mail to Simon at Convoy and ask what he could potentially offer me as a full solution (battery and charger included).

1 Thank
12

I disagree. If you want the beam to look nice, yes it is. If all you want to do is see what made that noise and not trip over stuff in the dark, no it isn’t.

2 Thanks
13

electricians need high CRI, dont want to cut the wrong colour wire now. Security guard looking into the bush or boot/trunk of a car, into building windows, not a high priority.

4 Thanks
14

High cri may look good but you generally get less light and more overheating for the same amount of battery consumption. From my experience standard cri 70 is perfect for most tasks. For security lumens and candlas are more important. You can see more and have more blinding power if required

4 Thanks
15

All the electrical cables I’ve ever seen have been either red and black, or blue and brown. Even the crappiest LED doesn’t make it difficult to tell them apart.

2 Thanks
16

In modern buildings where you have AC for power outlets, DC for built-in LED stripes, and bus systems going around, you can have a lot of differently colored wires.

We don’t have any bus system and still have blue, brown, black, green/yellow, red, and orange.

2 Thanks
17

Yeah, I recommend it for the durability factor when dropping.
If the Light is dropped and the bezel deforms the glass lens will likely crack.

2 Thanks
18

Yes some “telephone” and network wiring have muted colors with fine lines and not much contrast.
Having worked with this kind of thing for over thirty years, I have had some pretty crappy lights. 6500 to 7000K and , maybe, 70 CRI. I never could not determine colors well enough that I miswired anything nor cut the wrong wire. CRI is important in color fidelity, especially in photography. But low CRI does not mean that the eye (which adapts… or the brain does) cannot tell the difference between colors reliably enough to perform most tasks. I can’t imagine that the times that high CRI light would be required in security or law enforcement would be enough that the tradeoffs in efficiency, output and possibly cost would make it a big consideration . Many around here insist on high CRI emitters. But it is personal preference. This becomes a question of the best tool for the specific job. In this case I am having a hard time seeing where it is important.

4 Thanks
19

The beam quality is totally independent of the CRI value. Beam quality is largely a matter of color UNIFORMITY and a lack of ARTIFACTS, as well as the character of the blends between hotspot, corona, and spill. A perfect beam can be achieved with a low CRI LED, and based on feedback, this is universally preferred to a high CRI beam with poor color uniformity. Luxeon V and V2 are examples of low CRI LEDs which tend to result in preferable beam characteristics in various optics. In regards to those LEDs, it was commonly stated that they are preferable to high CRI alternatives in the same optics.

In regards to color fidelity and identifying wire colors and such, the CCT is critical here. I have trouble differentiating certain colors under a warm high CRI light, like white, almond, black, and so on. I find high CRI LEDs with 5000k CCT to be ideal for color differentiation, and that is what I use for work lights and shop lighting in general.

1 Thank
20

Everything in life is a trade-off. When I’m outdoors and the sun is out I prefer to wear sunglasses. I dislike cold light with a passion. I don’t really like 5000k. I can tolerate 4000k. I prefer 3000k in all of my flashlights whether it’s a headlight or a thrower. Whenever the subject of security or a police light or a tactical light comes up people conjure up, in their minds, all kind of strange scenarios where they think it’s some sort of special light. Other than than an easily accessible and reliable tail switch, the business end of the light is nothing different than what everybody here can play with in their backyards. I find the warm light much better for clearly identifying details whether it’s across the room or out at the wood line 100meters away. So I prioritize accurate reliable information reaching my brain versus a little tiny extra reach or slightly longer runtimes. With any sort of inclement weather or dust or smoke in the air a warm light has advantages. The spill of warm light interferes less with your ability to see beyond what is lit up close to you versus a neutral or cold white light.
Some may dispute my claims. Some may not actually have experience with warm throwers.
I’m not saying that there are not some times where details don’t matter and a little bit of extra throw and run time is an advantage.
Are we trying to throw light down range or are we trying to see and understand what we are seeing to the best of our ability?
Down range can be across the room or a quarter mile down the street.
Again it’s all a trade-off.

1 Thank
21

While I totally agree with this, it is important to remember that not everyone’s eye/brain systems are alike. Nor are their preferences. Buying lights for a bunch of people will always be a trade off. Catering to individual preferences, which will always be all over the place, is an exercise in frustration. I believe that other factors like durability and cost need to take preference.

I think this depends on the situation. In any case visual acuity is far more important than CCT or CRI, or so I believe.

AMEN, as I mentioned above. So all factors must be considered. My opinion is that CCT and CRI fall well behind others in this consideration. For specific individuals it may be important, but in the case of the OP, I think you just can’t make everyone happy, so go for utility.

2 Thanks