What light brands will you not buy and why?

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

So, which brands have burned you or for some reason you just won’t buy again?

For me, getting a lemon is a hard pill to swallow. Being lied to about performance is another reason to put a brand on the ‘ban’ list.

Brands I won’t buy again:

1. Zebralight. Paid $60 for a H51 which was a total POS. Maybe I got a lemon but it was my first, last and only ZL.

2. Terralux, bought a Lightstar 80. Supposed to have 80 lumens, they lied.

3. Surefire, used to buy them before I found budget and 18650. Not bad just way overpriced.

2

There aren't really any I wouldn't buy, but there are plenty I prefer not to buy. E.g. Uranusfire.

3

COAST/LED LENSER. They’re probably ‘alright to pretty good’ lights and great for the average guy but most of their otherwise-appealing lights lack regulation (looking at you, HP550). At their price points that is unacceptable to me. Even Mag has jumped on the regulated bandwagon save for their 1 and 2AAA models

4

Yezl: Had bad experiences with them and have found them to produce cheap junk (that is the impression I get now and I refuse to pay them my business.

Jetbeam: Owned a couple and can’t stand the switches they use. Just a cheap flimsy feel. (Owned a BA20 and an RRT-21 that is brand new and I am selling…great light, but just like a solid switch feel instead)

5

N-Light - I paid around $38 all said and done (I got $10 back for QC issues) for my ST50 and it’s nothing but an underpowered glitchy (Poor UI, low PWM driver, unreliable switching, under-driven) poorly assembled light. I’m going to have to buy a new centering disk, driver and switch eventually since all the parts in it are slowly failing and look as if they were thrown together without any regard for quality or tolerance. Chipped switch board, mashed centering ring, poor soldering, some slight thread issues, etc. It’ll be my host for either a XPG-2 Neutral or a XML2 when I feel like redoing it.

There are probably some off brands too but If they don’t look like they are acceptable then I just don’t get them. ThruNight is also somewhat dubious in my eyes as well, their QC seems like it’s been steadily dipping and the last batch of Ti’s that I got had some rough threads and switching issues (Had to mess w/the contacts a bit). Not so sure I’d feel great spending more money if that’s the kind of QC that I’d be getting.

6

Thrunite - 4 out of 5 Ti’s had inexcusable problems.

7

Maglite, too little, too late. They weren’t interested in flashlights, so I lost interest in them many years ago.

8

Also Crelant… sorry, you could have the best lights in the world, but your flashlight names suck more than a hard vacuum.

9

"Chinese", LOL

So far, solarforce has been the only one I felt was a well made and more or less, durable light.

10

Well, I’m not quite in the ban mode yet, but ZL is a reluctant purchase for me. I actually think the product itself is great, but the company policies - not supporting their own products with lousy warranty and customer service, and its bait and switch specs - just rub me the wrong way.

I’ve actually have had more quality control issues with other brands, but for some reason, that doesn’t bother me as much. I guess I find QC issues to be isolated instances, while B/S specs effectively make every light defective.

Sadly, the quality US lights like SF and HDS are also off my radar for their neglect of the AA/14500 market. I really like the ability of being able share batteries with my other portable electronic devices - it makes for a deep, deep back-up bench.

11

Had a four sevens I returned because of horrible tint so that turned me off of them.
My sunwayman is a nice light but I do not like the feel of the tail switch and the way it operates

At least it was not due to malfunctioning.

12

Is ZL really that bad? I’m looking to buy a SC52 but now I don’t know…

13

My SC52 is great: perfect anodizing, good beam quality, great UI, 14500 support, lock out tailcap, easily accessible but hidden strobe. Over all a great light.

14

Wow …. if I hear you all, I would have no brand to buy.

I do not want to buy more LED LENSER (boring and expensive), nor any + + + + + fire (my f20 one puafff, my c3 puafff, my G10 puafff puaffff, please QC).

15

I forgot about Maglite. That company is so far off my radar I almost could forget they existed. If it weren’t for the healthy modding community, I don’t think I would see them much.

They still sell C and D cell lights! I haven’t bought a C or D cell battery in 15 years.

16

Three out of three of my Ti’s didn’t work right without the aid of pliars and bending. The threads are crap too, but, for $10 each I guess I can’t really whine about it. All together I have six Thrunite, three Ti’s, a T10, a T20 and a Neutron 1C.

They are good lights for what I paid, Ti=$10, T10+Ti=$20, T20+Ti=$20, Neutron 1C=$29 on auction on eBay, but they are highly overpriced for what they are at regular retail.

17

I can!

18

I love my SC600 and I have an SC52 on order.

19

I’m your saver, send all your shitty Crelants, Thrunites, Zebras, etc. to me and free yourself of all these bad lights, stop whining, let me make your life better. (I’ll even pay you for shipping)
:bigsmile:

20

I was wondering how long it would take for the vultures to arrive.