[Review] sunwayman are back, but are they back with a bang or a whimper? P1000 review

[Review] sunwayman are back, but are they back with a bang or a whimper? P1000 review

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Didn’t watch the entire video, but is it known what LED is inside? Since I don’t see it mentioned anywhere, I guess it’s some cheap noname one?

Does it have glue on the threads?

It doesn’t seem to be a bad light, but also nothing special, quite underwhelming for the price. At Sofirn I get more for the same price.
I get that a super simple UI has it’s advantages, but I don’t see paying extra to get less UI.

The old Sunwayman was collectable. I dont think this will be the same.

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I like the slide-switch on the new Sunwayman, but the rest of the light seems nothing out of the ordinary.

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I’m curious whether the sliding switch is a survivor, still having nightmares about cheap 2D lights going empty in a kitchen drawer.
On the other hand: my 2011 Sunwayman D40A still functions like fresh out of the box.
It was the first Sunwayman with an XL-M T6 emitter and 600 blazing lumens!

Most modern lights with sliding switches use a magnet in the switch with a Hall sensor in the driver. Sunwayman has experience with this setup since that is how their magnetic ring lights worked.

This is different from the sliding switches on those old vintage 2D lights. Those just had a metal tab that was pressed into contact by the sliding switch pushing it down into position.

In theory, modern magnetic sliding switches should be much more reliable, and waterproof.

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Bring back the V11R. I would buy another couple - still the most versatile light I can remember.

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Are they trained actors ? Little Hooligans

A little off topic, but are you a fan of Call of Duty Zombies? I noticed the Round start song on your intro. lol

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I loved the original zombies on World at War, it got a bit too complicated to play after that. Just like COD games that csmd after they want you to run around too much and not snipe/camp.

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I am a big fan of COD zombies, played a lot from World at War all the way to Black Ops 4, but recently I stopped playing as I didn’t like the new mechanics. Nice to know someone who also likes flashlights and COD zombies!

Strange that a pocket clip wouldn’t be included in the box. It seems like the body tube can accommodate one, and throwing one into the box isn’t particularly pricey.

Long-time lurker, first post in a while. I just saw that Sunwayman are officially back in the flashlight business after years of being effectively gone, and I’ve got… complicated feelings.

I used to like the idea of their lights, especially the magnetic control ring (MCR) models. In practice, though, that magnet ring turned out to be a major weak point for me. On one of my lights, the ring itself eventually failed completely. Before that, I already had driver issues so bad that Sunwayman ended up sending me two different drivers before one actually worked properly. By the time the magnet ring gave up, Sunwayman had basically vanished—no real service, no support, nothing.

So seeing them “back” definitely raises some questions:

  • Are they using the same old driver designs, or have they actually re-engineered things?
  • What’s the plan for warranty and service this time around? Their past “limited lifetime” wording sounded good on paper, but in reality a lot of people (myself included) got ignored once the company went quiet.
  • Are the new MCR lights still relying on those glued-in magnets and position sensors that were such a common failure point?

I’m genuinely curious if anyone here has already picked up one of the new Sunwayman models (like the P1000 that’s being talked about) and can speak to:

  • Driver stability and output consistency
  • Build quality of the control ring / switch area
  • Actual experience with their current customer service / warranty process

If they’ve truly fixed the reliability and support issues, I’d be happy to give them another chance. But if it’s just the same old design with a new logo splash, I think a lot of us are going to stay very cautious.

Would love to hear real-world impressions from anyone who’s already diving back in.

I’ll give some quick impressions once mine arrives, but unfortunately, they won’t be shipping until after the holidays, so it might be a couple weeks. They only have the P1000 listed at the moment, but it’d be nice to see them bring back some of the classic designs with upgraded internals. There were really only three major players doing rotaries back then.

  1. HDS - Prohibitively expensive for most people, myself included, and I didn’t need anything that durable
  2. Jetbeam - The major competitor, with its RRT Raptor line
  3. Sunwayman - The V-series with its MCR was unique and fun

We’ll see if they’re able to make a comeback. I still occasionally check Illumn to see if they release some NOS lights.

Now waiting for the V13R :smiley:

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