You might remember this thread. After several emails I sent them the L2P and got another one. It had a small nick on the tail cap and the parts yet DID NOT match but looked better.
Anyway, I ordered a L2M and received it today. And guess what, the middle part does NOT match the rest of the body! It is all black, but the middle part is way more glossy and the knurling is different. It looks like it is the new HAIII model but the mid is from the old L2M. I´m not exaggerating- I will take pics and show you what I got…
What´s wrong with Solarforce? I´m still new into flashlights but I always read SF makes top notch lights/hosts. But 2 order and 2 times bad luck (+ 1 replacement that wasn´t satisfyinng)?!
I´m tired of emailing them again, convincing them the parts do not match, wait for another aaaaand so on.
Is it bad luck or is Solarforce trying to fool me?
Sorry for whining, but I´m really p…. you know. I´ll post pics soon.
even their type III ano isn’t always matching. T4, L2P, A003 head, M3 head, they all are having slight variations in gloss. Now frankly, I don’t care much, as everything fits and works like it is supposed to, and even type III will get scuffed and scratched over time.
I think that is just the way the hosts are. They do different batches of ano, so they are not going to all come out the same. I have enough p60 hosts now where I just put the best matching parts together.
Took some photos. Unfortunately, they don´t show the mismatch as you could see it in real. I might take better photos once more if people here cannot see the difference clearly.
What do you think?
(well, I will definetly take more photos with a smoother lighting…)
i ordered a l2p host with extension for a 2x18650 set-up… the extension tube is completely different… it works, but makes the flashlight look like a crappy diy… not pretty…
hopefully SF will try to address this ‘issue’, or at least be forthcoming in their descriptions…
the aesthetics bring a negative to an otherwise great product…
Plus I am more of a design lover than a tech geek. That´s why I don´t have a SRK. But I love the L2 design. And I was so much looking forward to getting a flawless SF host.
I ordered a black one because I was afraid of color mismatch again… and what did I get… see above.
I can definitely see that the knurling is not the same. Two different parts either made on two different machines with two different knurling tools with the same size knurling profile giving slightly different results. Or the amount of inward knurl (distance) may have not been the same for each piece when machined. Could possible be that one knurling tool has seen enough usage that it needs to be replaced. Either way I do see what you mean.
That would irritate me no end, but Solarforce are within their rights to make such changes to their products. You could send them pictures explaining the differences. They may not have any matching parts left though.
I´ve emailed them, showed the pics and wanted to know what they think about it.
But, as a small conclusion: does SF suck or do I just have bad luck?
edit: thanks Chloe. Anyway, I think they should SAY that the lights have minor flaws or do not match perfectly or whatever. They can´t sell them without informing about the condition. Of course, you´d suggest the products to be absolutely new/perfect/matching.
edit 2: just to clarify this: I did NOT order spare parts, I ordered a complete L2M (one product).
I would contact them and maybe even send them the light back. There is a machining flaw. If left uncorrected there will be lots more the same way.
Just my two cents.
Darkzero at CPF does some of the finest knurling I have ever seen. You will have to be logged in at CPF to see the link.
That’s what quality knurling is suppose to look like. He is knurling Ti 6Al4V, considered to be one of the most difficult flashlight materials to machine next to stainless. I wouldn’t expect a production light to look like that but should be near flawless from a foot or so with the naked eye.
I did not realise you had ordered a complete L2M. In that case, if it were me, I would probably seek a full refund if they could not provide a light that had matching parts.
