I tried ordering a flashlight from gearbest and one from aliexpress and they will be my last orders. The one from gearbest actually showed up pretty close to when it was supposed to but my two real complaints are that it took about 10 days for any tracking at all to appear and by that time it was already in the US, then it got to a wearhouse I think in KY or someplace like that and then sat there for 6 days before it shipped, I’m not much for waiting when there is no excuse for it.
The light from aliexpress was supposedly shipped 17 days ago and so for no tracking at all so I have no idea where it is, not something I’m willing do deal with to save a couple of bucks.
Lastly both of these lights are convoys and I’ve decided I’m just not and never will be a convoy fan, the lights are ok, but not in the class of a Fenix or Nitecore or any other light I own and I hate the Convoy UI.
Sorry to hear you are not happy.
However: when ordering from Asian companies (from Asia) it is kind of a given that shipping times are at best a “recommendation”. Most of the orders will actually show up in less than 3-4 weeks, but the odd order could be delayed. This happens with the best sellers. I have ordered quite a few items from Asia via various portals and every single item got to my place.
Was tracking working on all of my orders? No, of course not. But every product eventually worked as described.
If I had ordered the light locally from ebay or a specialized web shop in my home country, shipping/handling/VAT alone would’ve cost more than most products I purchase from Asia.
Re: Convoy:
Yes, I also believe that Nitecore has better quality. But these brands/lights also come with a significantly higher price point compared to Convoy (Convoy can be had as low as 6-9 $US on sale/with points/coupon).
Which is why I order and forget about it. And it will show up in my mailbox as a surprise lol.
So far I ordered 3 things (Flashlight, charger and battery), I ordered them on different days, but in terms of the speed showing up to my house, flashlight took the longest (almost 3 weeks) Charger took about the same and probably a few days less. Battery showed up the quickest like 10 days.
its hardly their fault to blame for slow shipping, blaim the postal guys that handle the millions packages from china, i myself sometimes wait 1 month and longer and the tracking number doesnt seem to update, but aslong as u get your stuff i dont see the problem really? the standard shipping from china is slow yes but usually u get your stuff in the end. Standard tracking usually either works or not, but even if it does most stuff is arrived long then…
Buying stuff from china u have to be patient, or buy a shipping that is a bit faster if u want stuff faster.
At the end of the day a consumer life is about a need and your appetite for risk. We need products to either ease our lives or achieve a certain goal/function.
- If you want service, warranty or quick delivery then you should order it locally at the given price (+VAT, shipping, retail markup, other costs).
If you don’t need the product immediately and are able to live with the result that, in rare cases, it gets lost in the mail: order it overseas at a very, very good price.
Regardless of where you shop: the likelihood that this consumer product was engineered and manufactured in Asia is almost always 99%. (with the exception of specific goods/industries that do it locally or are in some way protected by unions/laws or where it doesn’t make any sense. If you want to shop locally to support your own market the product should ideally also be manufactured at home).
New UI is available, 12 mode groups, standard on some convoys, and can be requested on others.
I have one on the way (C8 silver) for $16.99 and am looking forward to trying it out.
You’re missing out on a great budget light flphotog. Convoys are great quality and value light imo.
Might try MTN electronics for shipping to FL in a few days. Richard carries Convoy and many other flashaholic items. Yes, they are a few dollars more then his Asia located counterparts, but not having to deal with the slow boat from China makes it well worth it to many of us…
I just put in another order with MTN last night after seeing the new D4 in matte green and cyan were finally in stock. Actually got the last matte green d4 219 90cri. :sunglasses:
As long as I was there, ordered a lot of other stuff also. Got a tracking number within hours. Should be here by Fri/Sat…
We here in the USA, are very lucky to have MTN, Richard is a quality seller. IIRR, he tests all things before shipping. After many orders with MTN I can say not 1 item has ever been defective or problematic yet. All items are meticulously packaged and cataloged. Tracking is updated as it should be. As long as Richard is here, I’ll never order from another Asian oversea company. I’ll let Richard deal with them for me, for a few extra dollar$, no problem.
So you want your 0$ shipping to be super priority and delivered to you by a asian virgin on a motorbike or what?
I usually don’t track any of my orders - so the surprise is even bigger when the package arrives.
I also don’t always have in mind what I ordered - but to be honest, I don’t think about that.
If I need something quick or just don’t want to wait to long (Smartphone, Tablet), I pay a bit extra and get it faster with proper tracking.
But I don’t think it’s fair to mourn about the long delivery of a 12$ or so Item around the globe with no extra shipping charges.
To the UI: If you bought from Simon directly, you might have the new UI where you have a ton of modes available.
If your light blinks after a couple of seconds in low mode, you have the old driver (that Gerabest light will have that one)
And you paid $50 for the priority DHL shipping? If not, then you really cannot complain. That is what you get for free or nearly free shipping - there is very little tracking along the way.
When goods arrive in the US, they will sit at US Customs warehouse until they are inspected and released. Do you really think someone is going to process them quickly when you paid them nothing to do it?
For someone who is used to getting their stuff via Amazon Prime 2-day shipping, ordering things from China may just not be acceptable. In this case, there are many US online vendors that you can buy lights from, but you’ll pay more.
LOL! So you paid for Hyundai and are complaining that it doesn’t look and feel like Mercedes? Wow.
As for the UI, I find the new biscotti UI that Simon uses very good and it gives you lots of options. Did you order your Convoys with this UI? The UI is kind of known before you place an order. So you could have determined before you placed an order whether that’s going to be something that you would like or not. It’s not like Convoy is selling you a cat in a bag.
I know you’re just ranting, but a lot of it is just unreasonable, IMO.
You’re new to this international ordering business, aren’t you? :person_facepalming:
I’ll say this for shipping: there’s quick, good, and fast. Pick two and only two. Them’s the breaks of buying it budget; if anything, it’ll teach you to be very patient. I know it taught me; I went from fretting over the tracking app every day to lazily checking it every week or so because the notification system doesn’t work.
I’m just gonna say that blaming a manufacturer for something that it has absolutely no control or influence over is, to put simply, not very smart. Especially a great brand like Convoy, which you’ll miss out on BIG TIME if you insist on having a hissy fit. And finally, for the record, I think Convoy with the alternate Biscotti firmware (if not Bistro or guppy or whatever else is kindly offered out there by our fellow enthusiasts), surpasses any Fenix, Nitecore and Thrunite that I’ve ever owned. The sturdiness just can’t be compared, and neither can the versatility of 12 programmable mode groups with at least one combination that’ll make any user look twice.
With most of, well, anything coming from CN to the US, you can usually get free shipping. Try it the other way around.
I wanted a few of those 2000K “candlelight” LEDs, and neither Mouser nor DigiKey had any, so I tried the UK version of RS-Online. Yah, right. 20bux (16-17£) just to ship 10-15bux worth of LEDs.
Order from FT, and you get free tracked shipping if you spend over 15bux or so, delivery in a 2-3wks usually. From GB, free untracked shipping else spend some bux for tracked, more for insurance, some (maybe lots) more for “priority”, etc.
So… you can have “priority” shipping and get tracking numbers and get your goodies faster… if you’re willing to pay for it.
Lol, rumour has it that the virgin is in fact a 37 year old who lives on ramen and spends all of his waking hours watching anime when not making deliveries :confounded:
Same here! And I always order so much random stuff that I have no idea what is going to be in the random package with chinese on it.
I have only bought Convoy hosts so far and put in my own driver and leds, but I’m really liking the quality of the host compared to the usual cheap lights I bought from Amazon. I don’t really know what more a better flashlight can have for my use.
