Flashlight Reviews Positive/Negative Ratio

LED Flashlights – General Info
21

When I see a product on Amazon with mostly positive reviews, I make a point of going to the negative reviews first. See what they say and how they say it. If there’s a really intelligent thorough negative review, I’m more apt to trust that than the most glowingly positive review. A well written positive review? I’ll check the reviewer to see their history. Sometimes you find some with nothing but positive reviews—suspicious. Padding? Absolutely. Amazon tried to mitigate this with a verified purchase indicator. But sellers can get around this, especially if the item isn’t very expensive.

But you’re right—always good to fan out and read reviews from multiple sources before buying.

22

when I got into flashlights I did some research before buying my first 18650 and ended up with the Zebralight SC64c LE.

I never heard someone pointing out the poor finish and sharp edges under the pocket clip which I ended up filing down. Surely was mentioned somewhere but not in the 5+ reviews and opinions on this model I came across. You’d think it would be worth mentioning but it would probably shatter some people’s phantasies about the “perfect” edc light.

Getting stuff for free is another factor. That’s why I usually take such reviews with a grain of salt.

23

Well, I haven’t reviewed that light but I have one. I’ve never noticed any sharp edges but I don’t use the pocket clip and I haven’t removed it either. I guess a thorough reviewer should probably be looking for that stuff though.

24

Nearly all non-commercial reviews (those pure text reviews on e.g. BLF) are honest. It is easy to see why most reviews are positive: No matter if you bought it or accepted a sample for a review - you pay with money or lots of time, i.e. you’d do this only if there’s a good chance the light is ok.

Now what if you got a review sample that’s not good? This is a rare case, but it can happen the reviewer lie about it. Hm, most of us would know, and the reputation of the reviewer would be gone for good I guess. OTOH, if he tell us the truth, he’ll never again get a review sample from that manufacturer, preventing further bad reviews about his bad lights (happened to me).

I have had two attacks on my reviews, and that was quite sad. Not that anyone could point out where I (or others) were wrong; in one case it was just stated that all users doing reviews for samples are commercial reviewers. Really sad. The other attacker was just throwing dirt, and he was successful - no further review samples for me from this manufacturer allthough the light was good and the review was positive.

I digress, but the point is: Doing reviews is a hard job for more than one reason. It would be nice if that could be acknowledged.

25

It’s the corners on the mating surface between flashlight and clip. I removed mine since I never clip it either. Its not sharp like a burr but IMO unpleasant to touch.

26

Lets be honest here, if you do reviews and slam the products regularly no one in their right mind is going to continue sending free review lights - it is obviously not in their interest.
I find some reviewers do give their honest opinion and appreciate it, but they are careful not to ‘over do’ the slamming - maybe if they had bought that light with their own cash they may have not been quite so forgiving……
Can we expect them to do that over and over - no of course not.
I appreciate their work , although for some it’s become more of an income stream rather than a hobby review, that is perhaps where the honesty starts to water down and it’s more about getting as many lights as possible to sell on rather than to give an honest review and risking the free supply of lights.
There has to be a balance obviously.

27

I can’t speak for anyone else, so I’m just gonna put my stank on the situation and that’s it.

I “pre-screen” lights, or, well, anything I review. It’s got to be something I’d normally want anyway but maybe didn’t go out of my way to get. First, I don’t want to review crap, waste the time, and have said crap as “payment”. And yeah, there were a few lights I was hesitant to review, but turned out to be quite good. Eg, I thought the WK30 was a “gimmick” light, but turned out to be and still is one of my favorites. The E3A? Liked the freebie so much I bought a few more.

I was offered to review one of those wifi lightbulbs that go r/g/b and variable brightness, and was told that I’d get reimbursed on them seeing my 5-star review. When I asked what if it’s not so great, or if I couldn’t get it working with my phone, etc., then what?, and never got a reply back, so I obviously passed on that.

Most times I’m asked to review something, no one even waits for the review to be posted, and I either get the light comped or just have it shipped to me directly, so it seems implied that I can be honest about it, ’though in reality, yeah, a negative review would probably mean the end of most or maybe even all future reviews. But thankfully, I never got a lemon, and all the lights were top notch in quality, etc.

But if a beam is fried-eggy, I’ll say so. One recent light had the dreaded next-mode memory, and I even bolded “NMM” to highlight it, knowing that for lots of people, that’d be an instant pass. But for The Muggle, it probably wouldn’t be a big deal.

That said, I try to really put a light through its paces, in practical use. I don’t have a light sphere, don’t log light output ’til the cell crokes, none of the hardcore stuff people do in way way way more detailed reviews. So I’ll use it as a nightstand light, around the house, in the yard, around the block, etc., and it’s definitely my impressions as far as usability, etc.

I’ll test any included cells to see if they hit the mark, go over the ano looking for any dings, chips, voids, etc., check the glass and reflector for prints and/or dust, etc., and so on. Unless it’s really bad, I tend to not notice pwm, and normally don’t even think to check if a light has it, but if anyone asks, I’ll definitely check. And I’ll intentionally screw with the UI to see if any odd combinations does anything… weird. I found the “police mode” on the WK30 that way, and I don’t think the original manual/sheet listed it.

So for me, it’s definitely first impressions of the build quality, the UI, the beam, overall ergonomics, etc. For lots of lights/brands, frankly, I have to find something to hate on, even if it’s a nitpick, because it otherwise looks like a glowing shill-review from a fanboy or light-whore. Like, oh yeah, the clip is chromey instead of a matching matte-black.

Or maybe I’m just easily impressed. :laughing:

That said, too, there are some brands which I won’t touch as far as a review, like Wubens. Aside from the dream TO46R and the quite-nice keychain twisties, all Wubens in my experience have awesome hardware but the most braindead UIs. I’d sing the praises of the hardware, but really hate on the UI to the point of recommending not to buy one, which I doubt would go over very well. But hey, some people like ’em anyway. Also, even solid brands like Sofirn, I loved the original SP10s, A and B, got a bunch, but don’t want an S precisely because of the UI.

So… do what youse want and feel comfortable with. For a free light, a thorough review, even without spheres and runtimes, etc., is a pain in the ass and a lot of work to do. So you gotta be willing to take the time, use the light (none of this unboxing and then clicking a few times crap), take notes, even of subtle quirks, collect your thoughts, write it out, reread, edit, lather, rinse, repeat, ’til you’re happy with the final product. And even then, of course you’ll forget something that you wanted to mention.

28

Amazon reviews don’t cross over to BLF well in my opinion. 2 different audiences. I always feel that if you get to wonky in an Amazon review it will get flagged. Lets face it, most Amazon buyers aren’t into flashlights like we are and an Amazon review on BLF sticks out like a sore thumb. Not enough detail. Also I feel in a BLF review, it should be stated that the light was free. Usually it is obvious when multiple reviews show up for the same light but still. Can’t say that in Amazon.

29

Amazon reviews in general are not to be trusted. There are tons of paid reviewers. There are also reviews matched to the wrong products or reviews that survived product updates and no longer apply. Common sense goes a long way towards spotting shills but Amazon reviews are a mess.

One example is how rarely you will see films with less that 4.5 stars. Only the most egregious B-movies that are completely disowned by their studios get less than 4. If you check you will find lots of 4.5/5 movies on Amazon have 5/10 or 6/10 reviews on IMDB. (if not worse)

30

I like the reviews here especially when combined with the discussion around them. Wonder about the etiquette for adding to a review with your personal experience. Should one do one’s own review or add on to an existing one? One example was a review of the Ti3 V2 claiming NMM. I had several that most definitely did not have that show stopper. Only 1 out of about 7 that I bought had that problem. Unfortunately, it was the one I kept;-) (I chose for the lowest moonlight and it doesn’t always go to next mode but it is certainly not reliable in terms of it’s memory.) Only flaw to an excellent light IMHO. Honest review? Yes. Accurate? Depends on what batch you get. I think that is the essential problem with any review. BLF will most likely sort it out with discussion. Another example is the SC31 pro. Perhaps calibration? Perhaps variable manufacturing QC? An excellent and I believe honest review showed thermal management that is completely different from my experience. However, in this case I also have a sample size of one. Maybe I just got a good one? Seems like from the consensus discussion, if calibrated, the thermal management is quite good.
Positive vs negative can sometimes be a completely different animal. Some see lack of built in charging as a large negative. Unless it is behind a water tight seal I see it as a huge negative.

31

I don’t trust Amazon reviews much when it comes to flashlights. The reviewers might be paid shills. Even if not, they probably aren’t flashlight experts.

I find reviews here on BLF to be much more useful. They tend to have much more detail, are often made by flashlight experts, and discuss the pros and cons.

I am much less trusting of reviews that are 100% positive. Every light is a compromise and nothing is perfect. Even the best light has things that could be improved or are done better on other lights. Even highly positive reviews should be honest with the pros and cons of the light being reviewed.

32

I’d say if you find something contrary to the review - like the NMM - or the like.
Additional features, different QC, or finish.
That should go in the thread of the review.

If you have a full type review, I’d say put a link to it in the OP review thread and start a new one.

I’ve had Amazon reviews never make it with little explanation as to why. Even very positive ones.
But also I’ve had one star reviews go through just fine.
Like a light that claims 1000Lm but measures 300. Or claims a “5000mAh” 18650 but only test to 1900mAh.
And sometimes my review gets refuted by another reviewer who gives no detail as to why. Only that the light is super bright and the battery is wonderful. And then claims I must be a shill for another maker…
And lets not even bring up the mixing of reviews for different products…

All the Best,
Jeff

33

I just used this quotation in another thread related to reviews, and am pasting it here. It is one of my favorite quotations about information gathering. It’s from the book “Cryptonomicon” by Neal Stephenson, in a part where the main character (Randy) is trying to learn something about scuba diving so he can dive after a sunken treasure:

This is the kind of thing I want in flashlight reviews as well.

34

I think the nightstand test is one of the most important.
If the light fails there, what good is it for most use?
The portable suns that run off 8 cells need not apply here.
The same with EDC lights. If it’s not easily pocket-able I’m not going to EDC it.

Same with knives. A “camp” knife needs to spend time in the kitchen to test it’s usefulness.
I mean, how often is a review hinged on how well a knife batons a hunk of wood.
I’m not sure I ever did that, and I used to camp a lot.
But I sure had to cut stuff to eat.

All the Best,
Jeff

35

And that’s why I love Anduril! We are free to set a thermal limit and push the little aluminium tubes as far as we could poster. In a quite easy fashion. We have the ability to test the torches at the same equal grounds. If we try a torch with a locked down and proprietary UI, that would mean that we would percieve it on the manufacturers terms, and if the sample is bad, the review should also be bad. Make s tuff more tricky, is it the light itself or is the software just badly calibrated for this specific light? With Anduril, that’s never an issue.

36

Well… There’s a lot that can be said here. I do a lot of reviews over at 1Lumen.com (but not that sketchy 2Candela site!).

First off, most of my reviews are fairly positive. Probably the biggest driver behind that is that sometimes I’m offered a light for review and I say “no” because I know it’s not something I might like. If I look at preliminary info and see that it’s craptastic I just say that I’m not going to review it. No way, no how. And that’s probably why you don’t see anything less than 3 stars from me. I just say “no” to some of those that I know aren’t worth my time (several hours per light).

The second reason that reviews are generally positive is that sometimes I don’t judge a light based upon my preferences, but rather against what a light proposes to be. For instance, I’m not your target market for most Nitecore lights. In general they’re cool white and tactical focused. Does that make them bad? Nope. So sometimes I try and judge a light according to how it fits in with it’s segment.

No matter how you slice it though, I think these reviews are helpful because you get to see independent runtime graphs, photos, side-by-sides, and beamshots against known lights. Sure, there’s only so many ways I can describe a box or the sheen of the anodizing. But the independent factual information stands on it’s own for you to make your own judgements.

37

Don’t get me wrong, I visit 1lumen almost everyday. It’s more about the discrepancy. If I read one of the reviews and build the opinion that this specific light shouldn’t have more than 2 stars, and it gets 4, it will make me suspicious. And vice versa for that matter. I think, what i need from 1lumen, which I see as some kind of authority in this space, a consequent judging scheme. Having some rules as to give one star, two etc.
Those 1000 0000 000 billion plus lumen flashlights at Amazon for 9 usd, I get that those torches would get 0 stars. You review “real flashlights” and with that I expect some base criteria. If a flashlight does not provide claimed lumen on all settings, or claimed max, then, there should be a withdrawal of two stars directly. Is the UI quirky? Like many Convoys? Off with a star etc.

If the star system got objectively presented, I would buy into it more i guess. But don’t get me wrong, still love the thorough reviews and base a whole lot of buys on your total text mass. I just have a hard time to believe the amount of stars given, when having read all of the text and graphs sometimes. It may even make it look more biased than it has to, just because of it. I rather buy an honest semi bright light, than a 7 second turbo light which spends the rest of its runtime on low.

38

Subscribed, to learn!

And to say something from my experience.

- I get free lights for review, some more, some less expensive.

- I am not worthy of some, which are great flashlights, but I get them and review them (written, video, whatever).

- I don’t assess them in scales, I’m not good at it.

- I point out the positive aspects and what I would change on them.

- Depending on the manufacturer/contact person, I pass them my “assessment” even before posting the reviews, or after they are posted.

- I emphasize the + and the - aspects and express to them my preferences and also what I think the “community” would appreciate.

- Not having some tools, or mastering some techniques and devices, makes my review lack some things (runtimes, temperature, CCT….).

- It doesn’t stop me from doing them, because some people don’t care if the light takes 60 seconds or 10 minutes to stepdown, or if it goes 60ºC.

- I realize that many aspects are subjective like tint, throw/flood, rechargeability or not, User Interface, accessories, other specifications, etc.

- Unless something is horribly wrong (machining defects, malfunction beyond repair), those preferences won’t make me rate it as “negative”.

- I treat bought lights and gifted lights the same way in terms of reviewing process (although with differences throughout the time).

- When possible, I try to disassemble the flashlights to show its entrails for potential mods.

- However, it is absurd and ridiculous to think/ask that free flashlighs should be disassembled just for being free. My home ain’t a junkyard…

- I like to review lights from companies that are less “valued”, known or not so mainstream.

- I respect the work that someone(s) put into the design and assembly of a flashlight, even if it is not a great work: it can improve.

- Disclosure: I want to keep reviewing free lights, and it won’t stop me for saying what I think, positives (for me) or what I would change.

- Disclosure: I want to keep reviewing bought lights, and it won’t stop me for saying what I think, positives (for me) or what I would change.

- Disclosure: I will keep reviewing bought & free lights, and it won’t stop me for saying what I think…

- I appreciate and value the positive and negative comments about my reviews, even if we do not agree about the focus (flashlights).

- I value the positive and negative comments about the flashlights, even if I may disagree on the opinions about them.

- I guess these comments should be addressed to the manufacturers/reps on BLF.

- Making reviews (taking photos, uploading, writing, filming, etc) takes a lot of time. Free lights are not so “free”, but…it’s part of the hobby.

- Oh, and:
a) just because “goldens the pill”, it doesn’t mean that the flashlight is bad;

b) just because someone doesn’t show all the things about the flashlight, it doesn’t mean that the review is not honest.

- Disclosure: I don’t do affiliate links for self profit, nor will do.

Taking examples about eventual negative eventual reviews, that I didn’t put on a “scale”:

- Amutorch AX1: good light, with several “ifs” for me, is great for my father, that doesn’t care about those “ifs”. My negs are irrelevant to him.

- RovyVon A8U: nice keychain light, horrible PWM on 3 of the 4 main levels. The issues were mentioned, make your choice. I still like it a lot.

- Trustfire MiniX: I would like that it didn’t have memory. Would I rate it as negative for that? No, I can live with it.

- OTR M3 Pro: quite high parasitic drain. Issue identified and manufacturer warned. I still like/use it, but use I physically lock it to avoid drain.

I’d say: reviewers can be asked about aspects of the flashlight that, sometimes, are not shown in the review and emerge with more use. Opinions may still be differ, but the final decision on buying/not buying is “yours” :+1:

And now I’ll shut myself and keep learning :student:

39

I’d like to piggyback on Gchart here. When I review a light, my modus operandi is to judge objectively and more importantly, within context. As was said, I’m not going to give something like a FWAA or FireFlies PL47G2 a 3 or 2 star review or dump on it because Turbo only lasts 5-6 seconds and even though it’s presented as a 2000+ Lumen light, for most of the time it’s only 200-300. It’s a multi-emitter, small host, with limited heatsinking and an FET driver. On direct drive, it heats up fast and steps down fast. I expect that going into it and it’s definitely not a ‘flaw’ but a consequence of the design. In the same way, I wouldn’t poorly rate the Nightwatch NI03 because it’s heavy, or the WT90 because it won’t fit in my pocket. I’m looking at things like: Is it reliable and turn on when I click the switch? Is the UI well-thought out and logical or a hot mess? Does the switch work fine? Is the quality good (fit, finish, etc.), is the tint acceptable, or blue/purple and ugly? Those are important to potential buyers and my reviews are weighted on those points more than any other. Also, you might not see 3-star reviews on there (except the Haikelite HK90) because the lights being reviewed are generally ‘not bad.’ However, if I were to review something like a Meote FM1 (the early releases), and it had lots of faults, like the poorly aligned optics, intermittent flicker, connection issues, or wonky pocket clip, I’d probably give it a 2 or 3 star review. Check out ZeroAir’s comprehensive review of it. Bottom line, no matter how objectively or within context a light is presented or reviewed, the potential buyer is going to make their own inferences on that light and may or may not buy it based on those. In the end, it’s okay to take reviews with a grain of salt, but keep in mind that we’re trying to present the light as fairly as possible.

40

I have pointed out that item at the time i was doing reviews, basically there is just an option to rate just 2 stars, since you won’t be rating below 3 stars. The written text, photo’s runtime etc. will give you a better indication as just reading the conclusion,
Personally I think that the rating score should allow a more dedicated system. E.g. every aspect with points, with a maximum of 100 points per light and an average score or so.