Meeting spec; not fading away -- rewarding light manufacturers

[hank]

OK, this was suggested in the Q8 thread (by me, initially)
SB will support a post in the left sidebar above the “poll” square to commend manufacturers that actually did meet spec, didn’t have quality fade — made the people who dealt with them happy.

You know who you are. Here’s a thread to collect the success stories.
Pointers to the responses in other threads would be a good way to collect the informationl.

[DavidEF]

Thanks for doing this hank. Let’s hope it’s a successful way to show real appreciation to the high quality manufacturers and motivate others to do better.

[keengeorge]

@DavidEF

Thanks for doing this hank. Let’s hope it’s a successful way to show real appreciation to the high quality manufacturers and motivate others to do better.

+1,000,000

[hank]

Please post something — links to your posts at BLF over the past if you did — about your interaction specifying the light you asked to be built, and how that process worked through.
This isn’t for a popular-light conversation, it’s meant for comments from those who’ve challenged Chinese builders to make a light to their specifications.
Which manufacturers took you seriously, did what you asked — post links to the places you’ve discussed working with them and how it went.
Please.

[The_Miller]

Hmm having problems with a brand as a whole. Would keep it at specific flashlights.
But it is cool nevertheless so here goes
Convoy (L6, S series, C8)
Thorfire (C8(s), S70(s))

Convoy, the forum is riddled with topics of Simon listening to us, and working with prominent BLFers (L6, clear C8/S2, tan S2, Biscotti)
Even if a Convoy light not bought at Simon has an issue, Simon will fix it.

Thorfire, well Q8 of course but also listening to bring the white translucent switch cover back on the S70, replacing faulty lights, adding a lower mode, waiting longer for stepdown and adjusting the brightness of the side switch led based on Tom and mine advice on the S70S.

[MascaratumB]

So far, my “not so good” experiences were solved:

Sofirn SP10 (bought at Sofirn store in AliExpress, solved by Sofirn store there and with the attention of Tracy (Sofirn) here )
Problem: Sofirn SF10 and SF12 review - #18 by khas
Solution: Sofirn SF10 and SF12 review - #29 by MascaratumB

Zanflare F1 (bought at Gearbest, solved by Gearbest member here at the forum)
Problem: Has anyone opened a Zanflare F1? [OPENED - Pictures]
Solution: Has anyone opened a Zanflare F1? [OPENED - Pictures] - #23 by MascaratumB (end of the post)

Faulty Biscotti driver from Convoy store at AliExpress (Bought in Convoy store, solved by Convoy store - Simon)
Problem: S2+ - #10 by MascaratumB
Solution: a new driver was sent to me in perfect conditions!!

[sb56637]

Thanks a lot Hank for the great idea!

[hank]

Thanks Miller and the others who have worked out group buy deals for specifically designed flashlights
— you know who you are, speak up because many people don’t know what kind of continued work it took to get it right.
How did that all happen? How did you pursue getting it done right, and where did you succeed?
And which flashlight makers have been paying attention to doing quality assurance and quality control over the longer term, to build your designs?

[hank]

Here’s a candidate to consider as experience accumulates
(I’m noting this as just one of many examples where BLF people have contributed to design/redesign of a flashlight — please note your own)

Convoy L6... XHP70 Beast!

Note: Updates will be listed at the bottom of this post. If you’ve been following the L2 thread you’ve probably heard me mention the L2’s upcoming big brother. There was so much feedback when the re-release of the Convoy L2 was announced that there was no way to accommodate all of our wishes in one design. The original intent was to take input from the BLF community for the next revision of the L2. After seeing how awesome the L2 design was, it was obvious that the L2 should not be replaced, …

where J-Dub74 wrote in December 2015:

The original intent was to take input from the BLF community for the next revision of the L2. After seeing how awesome the L2 design was, it was obvious that the L2 should not be replaced, but a new light developed based on the same basic design… thus the L6 concept was born.

We took the most common requests from BLF into consideration (there were a lot!) . I held off creating a thread for the L6 until most of the details were finalized but I think we are close enough now. I don’t have a confirmed production date yet but we are getting close. …

[The_Miller]

Yes unclear, this is for a hall of fame right?

Isn’t just good quality, honest advertising and decent after sales enough to make it to a hall of fame?

Oh BTW Maxtoch should also be named here, ask Robo about it

[hank]

This is for BLF members who came up with specifications for a flashlight, and got good results cooperating with a manufacturer.

Add: manufacturers who kept the quality up over time instead of having the quality slowly fading to worse as has happened in the past.
And, I hope, to attract those BLF members who did that chore successfully to brag on themselves and praise the people who did right by them.
And us, of course.
Add: MTBR members too, who’ve specified bike lights they wanted, if they had successes to praise.

> ask Robo about it
Ask Robo to post links to wherever that success was documented, or to write it up here, since you know what to ask for

I can’t go ’round to folks I don’t know saying “I hear you have a QA/QC story to tell, please come tell it”

[MascaratumB]

@hank

This is for BLF members who came up with specifications for a flashlight, and got good results cooperating with a manufacturer. […]

Hank, seeing this, I’m sorry for my previous answer above! My thoughts about the thread were more in the direction of what The Miller said: “good quality, honest advertising and decent after sales”!

To make the thread cleaner, and not to drive other members to do the same I did, if you want I can delete my previous post, no problem with that

[keengeorge]

@hank

This is for BLF members who came up with specifications for a flashlight, and got good results cooperating with a manufacturer.

Add: manufacturers who kept the quality up over time instead of having the quality slowly fading to worse as has happened in the past.
And, I hope, to attract those BLF members who did that chore successfully to brag on themselves and praise the people who did right by them.
And us, of course.
Add: MTBR members too, who’ve specified bike lights they wanted, if they had successes to praise.

> ask Robo about it
Ask Robo to post links to wherever that success was documented, or to write it up here, since you know what to ask for

I can’t go ‘round to folks I don’t know saying “I hear you have a QA/QC story to tell, please come tell it”

Yes, you certainly can ask them, and most will hopefully be pleased to share.

[hank]

Only the person making a post can delete it, MascaratumB. There’s a button on your screen next to the “Edit” button.
I’m not in charge here. You know, one percent inspiration, my work is done (grin). Those who contributed the 99 percent perspiration, here’s to you.

[hank]

another discussion of quality fading over time:

China Law Blog Archive

which points to this study of one industry: gold-plating brass jewelry:

Jewelry and Gold Plating Problems: The process, Issues & Their Causes

The post starts out asking “what is happening in this industry? Are they [the Chinese manufacturers] cheating the buyers, or are they simply careless?” It then gives the following three part explanation:

- Profit maximization with a “calculated risk” approach — what is sometimes referred to as “quality fade.”

- Reliance on so-called experience — not on facts and objective data.

• Buyers who don’t define their quality expectations clearly enough.

To which I say, yup.

The post then analyzes/explains each of these three things….
…
… What does it mean? Manufacturers, based on their experience, try to ship products that are as cheap to produce as possible, and yet are likely to be accepted by the buyer.

For example, if a buyer is asking for 1um gold plating, the jewels might only have a gold layer of 0.5um.

Is that cheating? Yes from Western standards. “Only if it is found and is obvious” is the Chinese response. The factory knows they can argue that the thickness of the plating is hard to control, and they can often get away with it.