What percentage of lights you buy turn out to be defective?

LED Flashlights – General Info
21

As long as a “budget” light works as expected I call it good. So far, my lights have worked as expected. No damaged lights yet, but I always purchase from well known vendors. Just bought an unbranded HD2010 from TMart and it actually works OK out of the box, but I’m not picky. The only thing it needs IMO is some lube on the threads. Its a good light for $28 shipped, if it breaks, I’ll mod it… :8)

I don’t order all the time, only two lights this year and both came in working condition with no scratches from China. But, I haven’t tried any $8 lights or the really low cost ones yet.

22

i have never had a major defect so far. a couple needed a strip down, cleaning, lube and retighten to work reliably... but thats kind of common

23

0/16 “cheap” flashlights I bought have major defects, and all of them are “low” quality lights. Minor defects, probably 50% are missing an O-ring, have a scratch or two, black junk in the light on my C8s, and many dont have much lube. My Skyray Kung came with a loose driver hanging out, dings and paint flake off the switch, the worst quality of all I have right now…thats kind of major to me but it does work still, and technically no parts missing so by your rules its “minor”. Of course all of them produce less lumens than advertised, and in some cases that was a major disappointment due to the false advertising, but I’ve come to find that’s “normal” for Chinese stuff. :stuck_out_tongue: Almost all of them are used relatively regularly for months too, some are gifts and some of the small ones only get out once/week if that though. I think I’m remembering all of them…maybe I’m lucky?

1/1 expensive flashlights I bought (a while ago now, even forgot the brand) had major issues, couldnt recharge it after a bit, loose parts, I returned it.

Now, if we are going to count cheap headlamps, it gets ridiculous: I think 5/7 is my total now with major issues, I kept returning them until I got one that works well. So glad I used Amazon for them.

24

40% have/had minor defects, 0% major defects so far.

25

3 lights out of 10 had major issues. All the failed lights were 1xAAA. Two lights broke after several months of occasional usage. Both were fixed by a driver/led replacement. The 3rd one, CQG S1, had contact issue from the very begining. It is not disassemble-friedly, so I didn’t try to fix it. All my lights are in $15-$30 range, no super cheap ones.

edit: P.S. This thread made me count all my lights. I did not think I had bought so many.

26

I don’t quite understand this bashing of Chinese products, as the Chinese know very well how to manufacture items properly. I never had a problem with NiteCore (EZAA), SolarForce (T4, L2, L2P, L2r), 4Sevens (Quark X AA², QTA AA), Fenix (L2D, L1D), DQG (AA and AAA) or even UltraFire WF 504b. Even my SRK is working flawlessly.

Eventually, a P60 driver board was cracked after the torch had been dropped numerous times; but surely that was not the manufacturer’s fault.

@ sneym321: one can never have enough lights.

27

Only 1 with a major flaw ( defective switch ) . I don’t pay attention to the minor stuff.

28

i dont really pay attention to minor stuff

ive bought over 70 lights since march 2012

only 2 have had “major” issues (switch on both) which i have fixed

29

You might be surprised at how many products are made in China to very high QC standards. Also a lot of Japanese products are made in China too. So really it depends on how much money is being put into quality control.

30

Balderdash, Sweetheart.

The existence of this thread proves you’re off from the truth.

Heard of John Demmings? ISO9000? SixSigma?

I and others on this thread got real data (and we’re peed off because we lose money) and all you’ve got is feelings with no data. Start shipping me failure-less products and I’d be the first to back you up.

FYI, I ordered 50 720p and 50 640x480 dash cams to resale here from China, and I’ve got 6 complaints from my customers that the cigarette lighter plugs had missing parts, video screen misaligned. Your mfgr is not even half sigma, let alone 6 sigma.

31

Maybe about 1 in 10 for the budget stuff and 1 in 20 for the more expensive brands. More than acceptable to me, though it can be annoying when a company like Fasttech sits on an RMA request for a few days.

32

For me, it’s a very low percentage.

There was this $2 AA “police” torch I got from eBay, once; trying to cut corners and wanting something with LD20 aesthetics, I submitted myself to ordering it. The middle tube was the only bit worth keeping, as a 2xAA extension for the SK68.

Of the bunch of Tank007E09 I had just ordered, one has to be tightened unusually hard to get it to flicker (not to work, actually) - and so far, the communication with FastTech’s consumer service has been a breeze. Going to send it back later this week.

Then, there was this pretty AA anglehead with the magnet in the tailcap, which stopped working after being dropped only one time.

So, in conclusion, I am quite happy with a very low number of defective lights. On the other hand, dry threads and untightened switches do not count for me, as I dismantle everything I get, anyway, to clean, inspect and relube properly.

I’ve said it before, the Chinese are quite capable of high precision work and quality control - whenever they take these matters seriously. Western contractors just interested in quantity and the lowest price possible haven’t helped matters in the past decades.

When an item said “Made in China” in the 1970’s and 1980’s, one could have rest assured it would be as long lasting as it was cheap. Things have changed a lot; today, a product made in Shenzhen and sold from Hongkong doesn’t necessarily raise the yellow flag of caution anymore.

You remember the third “Back to the Future” film starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd?
Dr. Emmett Brown: “No wonder this circuit failed; it says ‘Made in Japan’.” - Marty McFly: “What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan!”

33

Yeah, we complain a lot about the little things, but of several people I know who bought cheap Chinese lights and myself, only my Skyray Kung was possibly a “major” defect. Even with the loose driver it still works though. The lies about lumen output don’t help either, but most people cant tell the difference.

I really think the batteries may be why they have a bad reputation: I have had nothing but bad experiences with all Ultrafire and no-name Chinese batteries I bought, except for Trustfire flame 26650s. All the Trustfire flames and lights run perfectly though…

34

Was this tone and language really called for? I mean, who goes around saying “balderdash”. :~

35

Dagnabit, this whippersnapper was twizzling his handlebar mustache while writing Balderdash in consternation, but, six of one, half a dozen of the other, I think he bought that Chinese lights are always low quality, lock, stock and barrel!