Smith & Wesson 4D Xenon flashlight???

[frym]

Looks more or less like a Maglight. Black aluminum, 4 D cells which load at the rear, xenon bulb, with spare bulb under the smooth type reflector, covered click switch. Focusable. On clearance at Academy for 14.88. I got one but have yet to load it with batteries. Anyone here have any experience with it?

[frym]

I took this flashlight back and returned it. While is was OK, it did not have the build quality of a Mag. You could hear the batteries rattle inside of it, it did not focus as well or as smoothly as a Mag. While the top does unscrew, the lens/reflector does not unscrew. Decent incan. flashlight but not more than that. A Mag. is a good deal better.

[Trashman]

I'm pretty sure S&W just slaps their name on whatever flashlights they can get from China cheaply. The lights are ok, but not really of the quality that most of us want. Have I been misinformed, or did S&W once stand for high quality manufacturing? I know when I saw the lights, and the knifes, I was like, "whoa, Smith and Wesson!"; sadly, upon further examination of these items, I was more like, "aw man". Actually, I'm not really a knife guy, so the knives still look pretty good to me, but I tend to wonder when I see S&W knives go on sale at Big 5 for $20 or less. Usually, the S&W knives that are "supposed to be" $59.99 go on sale for $19.99, or $14.99, and the "regularly" $39.99 knives go on sale for $9.99. Some even sell for $6. Can a $6 or $10 dollar knife really live up to the S&W name? Hmmm....I still wonder. I guess money is the name of the game, and if that's how they're going to get the most in the long run, then I guess they're doing the right thing. I'm sure a lot us, however, would be quite disappointed if Surefire came out with a few knives of "their own", only to give us 2 dollar knives that have China stamped on the blade.

I think I should edit and rework this post a bit, but my brain is failing and I've got a lot of posts to get to, so this is it.....

[InfidelCastro]

You can't beat a U.S.A. Maglite or Surefire for that matter. They still have the quality that the Chinese lights just never will.

[Trashman]

Gotta give some credit to Nuwai, though! They are definitely quality lights.

[InfidelCastro]

Gotta give some credit to Nuwai, though! They are definitely quality lights.

I have some River Rocks (same thing). The quality of the 2AAA that everyone raves about it not very good. The quality of the 2AA and 2C is fairly decent, though not quite Maglite quality.

[Trashman]

InfidelCastro, are you saying that Rock River lights are made by Nuwai?

[AJ_Dual]

Smith and Wesson has been on a marketing kick selling lots of non-firearm stuff lately. I don't know if it started witht he previous British holding company owners, or if it's the new "Saf T Lock" owners who saved the company from doom.

S&W has three high-quality product lines:

Firearms (
Handcuffs and some associated police items.
Bycicles and bycicle parts (geared twoard the police market)

Everything else, knives, flashlights etc. seems to be of an "adequate" commercial/retail quality, and is really just re-branded stuff from bulk suppliers who get the contract. Not bad, but not great either.

What I'd like to see some are some premium flashlight offerings made by the firearm division! Either in conjunction with thier pistols, or as a stand-alone offering. They'd be built like tanks, and have tolerances like a Swiss watch. If they can design and develop the new X-frame super revolvers that can contain the firing of the .500 magnum, an insanely tough flashlight body with some innovative features shouldn't be too hard. No?

BTW my most recent Surefire catalog DOES have Surefire knives in it! (Although the one I like with the secondary seatbelt cutter isn't on the website?) I think that the pricing structure is "If you have to ask...."

http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/.../317/sesent/00

[InfidelCastro]

InfidelCastro, are you saying that Rock River lights are made by Nuwai?

Yep.

They appear to be.

[Trashman]

At that price, I'm going to asume that the Surefire name will be upheld with the quality of those knifes. They appear to be very well made, and I'm sure they are. Three cheers for Surefire!


For anyone interested, I just saw an S&W knife at Big Lots for $7.99!

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I have one of their 3Ds as I have a penchant for doing 4C in 3Ds. With 4C it's seriously whiter and brighter than a (whoops! Just went and checked the garage and I got rid of whatever the other light was).

Whoops again! It's not all that white and bright, but has a halogen lamp. Gonna play with it a bit now....

OK. It's not so hot after all. Even a M*g Whitestar Krypton bulb and 4 Alk C's with 1.57 each unloaded ain't all that bright. It has a shallow reflector which I presume is most of what's wrong.

OK. It is the reflector that is most of it. It won't focus real tight, and is so full of icky in the spot, that I have major diffusing stuff on the lense! It goes at the next garage sale!

OH! Wait! NOW I see!!!! I checked amps and was in the 59X range with even fresh alks. It's up to 89x with 4AA 2500mAh NimH!!! MUCH better!

Still not as good as a M*g setup the same way, but not so bad afterall!

[Trashman]

That's good. Sometimes it's good to have a not-so-bad light, because then you're not afraid to use them in any situation, and you can use them a little more comfortably and not feel uneasy about rough use.

[frym]

I agree S&W is just rebranding a lot of stuff lately. Am not sure but they seem to have a higher end flashlight series called the Galaxy. As mentioned before their knives are still decent quality and great prices, but of course better can be had. I have a few and for the money they can't be beat, assuming you get them at some of these rock bottom prices. Besides the excellent guns they make, S&W also puts their name on some very good binoculars, or at least they used to.

I also agree with a privous post about this flashlight that the reflector/focusing mechanism is not well designed. Poor range of focus, lack of control.

Sure, some of the US stuff tends to be better quality, but the Chinese sure are catching up VERY fast. We need to be VERY mindfull of that.