Greetings from the Southern tip of Africa

Lothar · 2018-11-13T12:43:34.000Z

Luxjunkie:

Flitsmal:

Welcome South African dude,

Hopefully you have much luck with shipping arrival times and customs, and converting those rands into dollars…. :person_facepalming:

I don’t mind the waiting as much. It’s the packages going missing and never arriving when using the postal services. 55 day advertised delivery time, at 60 days they tell you sorry they can help you because you waited too long to complain.

And courier services costing twice the amount of the products being bought. Add to that staying on a farm where they refuse to deliver.

At least we have an abundance of cheap out dated stock to play with locally, some things the other guys wish were still on the market over seas. Maybe in a couple of years we will be getting the old stock from today to keep us busy. Can’t wait for those xpl hi emitters to start showing up.

Btw if you need help sourcing something something locally let me know, I’ve done my fair share searching for suppliers.

Welcome fellow South African
Yes, the postage struggle is real here at the southern point of Africa.
I’m in for group buys through Aramex Global Shopper perhaps and distributing locally with TheCourierGuy
Cheers

KevinZA1988 · 2018-11-13T12:44:45.000Z

I’m in for that as well…

MonkeyLight · 2018-11-13T12:46:52.000Z

KevinZA1988:

I installed this to my BLF Q8:

led4power

And WOW…. Simply transforms the light. Not that it was bad at all to start with.

Thanks for the link Kevin , that is quite warm for my palate reference , but I won’t mind to have a 4500- 5000k 80-90CRI in the new S2R ii

KevinZA1988 · 2018-11-13T13:02:46.000Z

Yeah I might buy a second S2R Baton just to mod it…

Oh, and you will love the warm tint Luxeon V’s once you see it pumping from the Q8. It goes milky white at higher levels. Absolutely beautiful in the bush.

Luxjunkie · 2018-11-13T13:56:31.000Z

Kevin that looks like a killer mod to an already great light.

Lother I just had a look at the aramex global shopper and that looks like a great option.

I’m glad to see that there is a definite interest for a group buy.

I’ll start a separate thread to find out how many of us there are and what everyone is interested in getting so we can figure out the best way to go about things for everyone’s benefit.

But first let me speak to one of the moderators to make sure we do everything according to rules.

Luxjunkie · 2018-11-13T14:07:26.000Z

MonkeyLight:

Luxjunkie:

We do have a very nice selection of the big brands here.

Maybe one day soon we will have a locally manufactured big brand as well. We definitely have the local expertise to put something awesome on the market if Megaray is anything to go by.

Seeing that there are a couple of us flashlight enthusiasts here on the forum, I think we should organise a group buy at some point. It would drastically cut down on courier cost.

That way we can also get a chance to procure some of these awesome “budget” ligts we hear so much about on the forum without paying premium prices or risk never seeing it due to using the postal service.

The expertise and innovation of Megaray are in a league of it’s own , one would never know …………that makes everything even more exciting

Good suggestion with the group buy , I already sign up for a few FW3A’s, which will be my first from BLF

I just get hold of a Sofirn Q8 (not BLF version) locally on Friday , still great value for money

Good to know that there are goodies available here from Sofirn, I saw them on BOB a while ago but just assumed that they were dropshipped from China.

Hope you enjoy the new toy.

MonkeyLight · 2018-11-13T14:18:23.000Z

Luxjunkie:

Good to know that there are goodies available here from Sofirn, I saw them on BOB a while ago but just assumed that they were dropshipped from China.

Mark from TorchGuy.Com | Brightest Rechargeable LED Flashlights Best Prices Fastest Delivery in SA stock some Sofirn products

KevinZA1988 · 2018-11-13T14:25:43.000Z

Thank you Luxjunkie! Great to see we have our own little local community. I hope we can work something out with group buys.

Umpi2000 · 2018-11-13T14:50:53.000Z

Keep me posted for any group buys, GB used to use aramex and My stuff came in quick. I see they use Bufffalo now.

KevinZA1988 · 2018-11-13T14:53:48.000Z

GB as in Gearbest? My phone was bought on Gearbest and Aramex took 14 days to deliver to my doorstep. I know BG (Banggood) uses Buffalo now and they offer a really fast and affordable service.

Luxjunkie · 2018-11-13T15:01:08.000Z

MonkeyLight:

Luxjunkie:

Good to know that there are goodies available here from Sofirn, I saw them on BOB a while ago but just assumed that they were dropshipped from China.

Mark from TorchGuy.Com | Brightest Rechargeable LED Flashlights Best Prices Fastest Delivery in SA stock some Sofirn products

Thanx for the link. Very impressed with his website. I can see he is very passionate about what he does. Will definitely support his business.

Umpi2000 · 2018-11-13T15:16:07.000Z

KevinZA1988:

GB as in Gearbest? My phone was bought on Gearbest and Aramex took 14 days to deliver to my doorstep. I know BG (Banggood) uses Buffalo now and they offer a really fast and affordable service.

Yup Gearbest :nerd_face:

Luxjunkie · 2018-11-13T15:23:53.000Z

I have sent a message to the admin to get permission for organising the group buy.

I’ll start a separate thread do discuss this further once we get the go ahead.

MonkeyLight · 2018-11-14T05:54:23.000Z

Luxjunkie:

MonkeyLight:

Luxjunkie:

Good to know that there are goodies available here from Sofirn, I saw them on BOB a while ago but just assumed that they were dropshipped from China.

Mark from TorchGuy.Com | Brightest Rechargeable LED Flashlights Best Prices Fastest Delivery in SA stock some Sofirn products

Thanx for the link. Very impressed with his website. I can see he is very passionate about what he does. Will definitely support his business.

Yes he is a true gentleman and gives excellent personal and backup service , bought many flashlight from him .
The same with Henri from Olight /TorchSA , maybe you do know but he brought in some Emisars and see he still have some left https://torchsa.com/36-other-flashlights , bought a couple from him , maybe he still have discount coupons on them , lately I see he have Manker as well

MonkeyLight · 2018-11-14T05:56:50.000Z

Luxjunkie:

I have sent a message to the admin to get permission for organising the group buy.

I’ll start a separate thread do discuss this further once we get the go ahead.

Excellent idea Luxjunkie , maybe we can get a list together with all members from Southern Tip of Africa .

Luxjunkie · 2018-11-18T09:55:33.000Z

Hi all

I have gotten the go ahead from admin to start the discussion on a group buy.

Here is the link to the thread for anyone interested.

Organising of South African Group buy BLF User Negotiated Deals

Hi to all my fellow South African flashaholics As many of you may have experienced when importing, postal services can be very slow and courier services very expensive, especially when you only want one or two items. Maybe you have avoided importing the light you so desperately want due to these reasons. This thread is to discuss and organise a group buy for all of us in the same situation. Firstly I would like to find out how many are interested in the idea. What everyone is interested in …

Tony_Cape · 2018-11-19T08:36:10.000Z

[quote=MonkeyLight]

[quote=Luxjunkie]

[quote=MonkeyLight]

Luxjunkie:

The same with Henri from Olight /TorchSA , maybe you do know but he brought in some Emisars and see he still have some left https://torchsa.com/36-other-flashlights , bought a couple from him , maybe he still have discount coupons on them , lately I see he have Manker as well

Is this Henri guy for real selling Emisar D4 for $100 plus each?I am not surprised he still has stock available.I had better just keep my opinion of him to myself.

Zulumoose · 2018-11-19T08:46:11.000Z

Is this Henri guy for real selling Emisar D4 for $100 plus each?

I think impatience and worry about international orders is a huge motivator. I am still waiting for my D4 to arrive, ordered 1 June, arrived in S.A. 12 June, over 2 months to clear customs and still sitting at SAPO JHB “incoming international”since 20 Aug.
It’s become so bad now I haven’t ordered anything for months.

Funner · 2018-11-19T11:25:22.000Z

Luxjunkie:

Thanx Active AI

Some nice lights you have there. I’ve been wanting some of the Sofirn lights for a while now.

I have been staying in rural areas for the past 5 years. Only the last couple of months with mains power. Before that it has been only solar power. At the previous 2 farms we had some security problems, the lights were used for either spotting or scarring off possible intruders.

The 35w HID came in very handy at the first farm as we had over 500m of open fields in all directions.

The second farm had dense bush all around quite close to our home so I wanted something with a wide beam to scan the area quickly. Hence building the 100w led light.

The 35 watt is powered by a 2200 mah 3 cell Lipo strapped on top of it. Giving me about 25 minutes of run time. I have a couple of 5200 mah packs that I use when I need longer run times but they make the light a little heavy.

The 55 watt started life as a 5 watt 6 volt hand-held. The charging circuit was fried when I got it so I just replaced the globe with one I had laying around. H3 socket I believe. It doesn’t yet have a dedicated battery as it is mostly only used as an extra toy. Throws quite well though with a very nice wide beam due to the horizontal filament.

The 100w runs off a 5200 mah 3 cell Lipo with a DC to DC step up board at 31 volts pulling about 2.5 amps if I remember correctly. Lights up quite a big area.

Where I stay now I am blessed with big open spaces with targets from 300m to a couple of Km away. So my next build will be a super thrower. No real purpose or need for it other than having fun. My goal is to light up a hill top 1.5km away.

I have ordered a host with a 100mm (4 inch) reflector with an old xml in it(probably only running at 1 amp like most of the cheap spots).
Depending on how much heat sinking I can fit in it will determine the emitter I put in. If very little space its going to be an old XRE at about 1.4 amp. If there is enough space its getting an XPG2 at 2.5 amp or as high as I can push it. Will be dedoming whatever I put in.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not the most skilled modder hence using the cheap stuff to build my experience on. Even my most powerful builds cost less than a small EDC light from the big manufacturers.

My knowledge on electronics are pretty limited and my soldering skills aren’t that great either, but so far I seem to be getting the job done and having fun while doing it.

I will hopefully soon be putting together something more interesting.

Are we talking about this being weapon mounted?

We have “Castle Law” where I live. “Intruders” then choose not to intrude.

I hope you are able to obtain the lights and other “tools” to keep safe.

Many of my lights are weapon mounted, for use of bear, coyote around the house.

Best of luck and stay safe, and keep us updated.

Luxjunkie · 2018-11-19T12:41:10.000Z

Not weapon mounted, though I could definitely see the use of a weapon mounted HID, not sure how the lamp would respond to recoil, but it would be cool.

Self defence laws pose their own unique challenges when it comes to pointing a weapon at an intruder.

I won’t go into detail about what is currently happening here on the farms as it does border on being political.

I moved away from the hot zone a couple of months ago.

Where we use to stay things weren’t so great, but with a lot of security measures in place including patrols, big dogs, big lights, cctv, drones, and generally just being very vigilant.

We did manage to ward off a few would be attackers and once criminals learn that you are not an easy target they tend to move on.