Brightstar 24W HID

[lighting1288]

Brighter and whiter for what?? Burn time should be more important.

They are all HID, and both light are very bright! that is what counts!

The AE PL24 is brighter & whiter than a havis-shields 35w HID spotlight with a MUCH larger reflector: http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/show...6&postcount=90

[scaredofthedark]

Brighter and whiter for what?? Burn time should be more important.

They are all HID, and both light are very bright! that is what counts!

give it up....
people know what they want. brightness, and color is more important to them than a few minutes of runtime.
people know your is inferior in area of performance that other people are looking for. so quit trying to promote it, obviously it's not going very well. why do you care so much what other people think of your light? if you're happy with it then fine. other people don't like that light for their own reasons, quit trying to convince them. not like you have anything to gain from it....or do you?

[mdocod]

not like you have anything to gain from it....or do you?

[hotbeam]

Was there ever a GB on the AE Light 24W?

[john2551]

Was there ever a GB on the AE Light 24W?

No, there was never a GB.

[Xzn]

Brighter and whiter for what?? Burn time should be more important.

They are all HID, and both light are very bright! that is what counts!

Kevinccho, you fail at trying to convince us based on pseudo evidence and a flawed marketting pitch. Will an admin ban him already?

[woodrow]

Why do some people feel the need to trash someones new light? If I just bought a corvette and someone who just joined the group just bought a new mustang, I would say congratulations, let the person be excited about how fast it is, and how well it handles, and keep my mouth shut.

Lightning 1288, I am glad you enjoy your brightstar. It sounds like a great light and it is one of the brightest lights made. It smokes my light cannon hid, and you paid less money...Great buy! And I still love my light cannon.

I have a gerber lx3 and a inova t4...the t4 is a way better light than the gerber in a number of ways...and I hate it, and never use it. I would not slam someone else for buying one though...expecially if he or she is new to the forum.

I would not buy a aepowerlight 24w myself...it seems so little more for a x990...which if I read the review right, the powerlight 24 dosen't compare to it.
But to every one out there who has one...Your lucky, you have one heck of a light, and one of the best ever made...congrats.

[woodrow]

Sorry to post right after I posted, but I just read all 3 pages of john2551 and others ripping lightning 1288 apart. Maybe he is a plant from brightstar. Or maybe he like me, looked at the forum for a while and decided to join.

Bought a light that he thought would be considered cool and a wise investment and tried to join and be part of a group of people who like flashlights...oh yeah...those were the cool people in my high school...and got slammed right off the bat.

Had I read such stupid posts like this, I would not have wasted my time...how many of those singing the praises of the aepowerlight actually have one...and even less I would venture have seen both...except on a moniter...

As for bogus claims by manufactures....which ones don't lie...I do not think there is one...maybe surefire...but I do not think that the l4 is as bright as the sl,t3...but I do not have the $20,000 test equipment to be sure...And either do any of you.

So to conclude...all light manufactures lie about runtime, lumens ect- or at least 98%. that is why this forum is so great. It would be nice to hear reviews and opinions with out the cocky my brand rocks yours sucks attitude. Or have the host come up with a flashprickaholic label so the rest of us new members and possible future members can just disregard you from the very begining.

[cmacclel]

Woodrow......................Why don't you RE-READ all the posts and check all the links provided and if you come up with the same conclusion then RE-READ it again...... then if you still come up with the same conclusion then PM me and I will explain it all to you.


Mac

[woodrow]

cmacclel,

Thanks for your reply, I see your point. My main concern was based mainly on the first several posts and replies..The first post to me read basicly..."I just got a new light for a good deal and I like it.." followed by.."yeah but it is not as good as the ae powerlight...

lightning 1288 does kind of sound like a sales pitch for brightstar...But how many people here sound like sales reps for Surefire, Fenix, AE ect. We all rightfully push the brands we like...and kind of want everyone to agree with us that our judgement is correct and valid.

The owner, rep - whoever of brightstar might be a jerk...I was not here for that, but like I said...how many manufactures don't cook the books as to their product's stats. My inova t4 is nowhere near 100 lumens. The pelican 3watt led does not have 4 hours (decent) runtime. That is not why I like or dislike those lights. From reading forums like this, and quickbeam's I know that the brighter a light is...the shorter runtime ect.

I would most likely buy a brightstar over the ae24watt...even though I know the ae is brighter....I like more compact in length lights...The AE is not "superior in every way." just brighter...durability ect...are have not been proven either way...both are too new. I have looked very closely to the 14watt ae though.

We all have our favorite lights....and not always because they are the very brightest, longest running ect. My problem is when people who do not even own the lights they are pushing, feel the need to slam another light..they have also never seen or own... I have a friend who just bought a dorcy 1watt and is very proud of it. There are waaay better lights out there. But do I need to rain on his parade?

[cmacclel]

This has nothing to do with the OWNER of brightstar. He has zero involement in this. The beef here is with Kevin he owner of HidExtra who sells the brighstar.

The AeLight PL24 and Brighstar are indentical in length and size maybe you missed that?? The only difference is internal

HidExtra aka Kevin bashed AeLight and other reputable vendors on this board and thats why he was Banned.

Also did you see the 24watt shootout??? The "CLEAR" winner was the AeLight by a huge margin.


Mac

[woodrow]

Again, my only problem is slamming someone elses light after they have allready bought one. If someone is writting to get advice as to which light to buy..by all means I think you should post the superlights links ect. I just have a problem with telling a new member that he made a stupid buying decision. I do not have a 24watt powerlight or a brightstar so I am not an expert on either...Do you? does John2551 have a 24watt or just a 14watt-which sounds like a great light...but how does the brightstar compare to it for the money...I have read a couple of posts with problems with it...and surefire lights and pelican's and fenix ect. No piece of electronics is perfect.

Again, I believe that AE most likely makes awesome lights...but I do not own one so I am not a expert...I also do not know that brightstar sucks...It seemed at least 75% as bright as the powerlight-which also got smoked by some bigger more expensive lights.

Again...my problem is having non experts slam other products to people who allready spent their hard earned money on something else.

[cmacclel]

Again, my only problem is slamming someone elses light after they have allready bought one. If someone is writting to get advice as to which light to buy..by all means I think you should post the superlights links ect. I just have a problem with telling a new member that he made a stupid buying decision. I do not have a 24watt powerlight or a brightstar so I am not an expert on either...Do you? does John2551 have a 24watt or just a 14watt-which sounds like a great light...but how does the brightstar compare to it for the money...I have read a couple of posts with problems with it...and surefire lights and pelican's and fenix ect. No piece of electronics is perfect.

Again, I believe that AE most likely makes awesome lights...but I do not own one so I am not a expert...I also do not know that brightstar sucks...It seemed at least 75% as bright as the powerlight-which also got smoked by some bigger more expensive lights.






Again...my problem is having non experts slam other products to people who allready spent their hard earned money on something else.

Woodrow WE ALL agree with you 100% on the bashing a NEW MEMBER.

Remember where 99% sure this NEW MEMBER is AN OLD MEMBER who was BANNED for unethical business practice and was the originator/owner of HidExtra. Got it?


Mac

[woodrow]

Thanks, sorry I went off so much. that was my only point....It did not reallyhave anything to do with brightstar or ae or any other brand. I enjoy the forum and happy to have finally joined. You have all been great.

[electromage]

Woodrow WE ALL agree with you 100% on the bashing a NEW MEMBER.

Remember where 99% sure this NEW MEMBER is AN OLD MEMBER who was BANNED for unethical business practice and was the originator/owner of HidExtra. Got it?


Mac

OK, this is getting rediculous. I don't post much, but I've read this forum for a long time. I was here when Kevin was being rude, I read it all back then. You all have valid points. Why are people being so rude? There's no proof that "lighting1288" is 100% in fact Kevin from hidxtra.com. If he's not, then "john2551", "cmacclel" are being especially rude. I'm not necessarily siding with either lighting1288 or Kevin, just pointing out that if they're not the same person, you're being very rude to lighting1288.

I wouldn't appreciate it if I spent that much on a light, then decided to share it with people who have a common interest, only for the FIRST response to be that it's not AS good as a similar light that costs a bit more. Forgive the long sentence. john2551, of course there's always going to be a better light out there...but what if he simply didn't want to spend that much on it? I just bought a "Costco HID" from harborfreight.com! Why don't you tell me i'm an idiot because it's bigger and heavier than a Maxabeam?

If I'm wrong about this particular incident, who cares, you should give people a chance to enjoy a light like that. I would be a bit defensive, especially since your only proof seems to be the beamshots that Kenshiro posted. Please don't take what I'm saying the wrong way, I think Kevin was very rude, and I'd definitely spend the extra $ for the PL-24, but maybe this guy didn't have the background I have.

Matt

[RoyJ]

Totally agree. Some of you guys are being pretty harsh on anyone who buys a light from a "unwanted manufacture".

Just imagine if a potential flashholic comes on here, excited on the whole flashlight topic, and say: "Hi guys, just bought myself a nice light - a Maglite!"

I'm sure half of you guys would rip his lungs apart before he's had a chance to breath.

[Death's Head]

That Brightstar is a good deal!

[NAW]

The thing about the BrightStar HID along with the AE 24W HID that I don't like is that they seem to be old technology. Now days we can get a Microfire K2000R or a Boxer 24W HID for a more or less of the same brightness. Runtime will be shorter but the lenght of my AE make me wish a new ballast/bulb will come out soon to compensate for the huge size of these lights.

[kingoftf]

@ woodrow:

Full agree with your comments.
If a member like lightning1288 is convinced with his flashlight and it is working well for his needs, why other members have to give such rude comments?
Everything else than the AE is bullshit.......
That´s the same behavior like kids playing in the sand box: My shovel is larger than yours.
Mercedes is better than GM
Porsche better than Audi........

If lightning likes his Flashlight everything is ok and no one has any argument to convince him like the Inquisation.

By the way, I ilke my Microfire HID and on one has to argue that I have to buy a Polarion because it is much better.........

[john2551]

Micheal,

You are a new CPF member. You were not here a few years ago when we had a problem with the "brightstar guy". He used several names here & on eBay (he got banned from ebay too several times & continued to use new ebay names but ran the same ad so we knew it was the same guy). There is nothing WRONG with the Brightstar! The problem we had was with this idiot who thought we were idiots but veteran CPF members saw right through his charade.

CAVEAT EMPTOR!

[cmacclel]

John to reply to this thread is useless. People only choose to read parts of it and then make uneducated reply's.

We have explained and tried to inform these new members about Kevin's business practices and apparently they missed these posts.

New MEMBERS a little advice.........read an entire thread before making assumptions.


Mac

[cchurchi]

Well, I remember this thread from awhile back. It helped me decide to buy the AE light over the Brightstar so I'm glad that the debate took place.

[kingoftf]

I´ve read the whole thread and the postings of Kevin as well (what else should I do here while working in the office )

The only thing I wanted to say is that I not like some arguments from other users to the decision of "lightning" to buy a Brightstar even from this dealer. If this dealer treated him well, everything is ok for him.

Nevertheless I would not buy from this store as well due to the behavior from Kevin.

[Lexus]

I bought a Brightstar from kevinccho BEFORE he started his bad behaviour. If I were NOW to choose between Brightstar and AE Powerlight, I might choose differently...

[The Voice of Reason]

Mercedes is better than GM

.........

What? Could this be true??

Next thing we know, someone will be saying that Rolex is better than Timex...

[02Scuba]

The Brightstar is a great light and I do not know who did the test between it and the AE 24 but I oown them both. If the AE is better it is margeneally so to the point it does not, in my opinion make a difference.

Old members telling youg memebers "you were'nt around when we didn't have flashlights. Gizmo had to buy rocks that the shop always had on back order and had to pund them them together to make sparks. That's how we made light back then. You young newbee's don't know nothing." I'm so so sick of hearing this trash from a bunch of has beens.

Look around you Mr. Old member. The guys who are comming up with the new exciting cutting edge stuff are not the old farts like you. They are the newbees. That's the way it is, has been and always will be. So enjoy your momment in the sun and then get the hell out of the way because your holding things up jawing about the old days and a lot of us are getting sick of hearing about it.

[cmacclel]

The Brightstar is a great light and I do not know who did the test between it and the AE 24 but I oown them both. If the AE is better it is margeneally so to the point it does not, in my opinion make a difference.

Old members telling youg memebers "you were'nt around when we didn't have flashlights. Gizmo had to buy rocks that the shop always had on back order and had to pund them them together to make sparks. That's how we made light back then. You young newbee's don't know nothing." I'm so so sick of hearing this trash from a bunch of has beens.

Look around you Mr. Old member. The guys who are comming up with the new exciting cutting edge stuff are not the old farts like you. They are the newbees. That's the way it is, has been and always will be. So enjoy your momment in the sun and then get the hell out of the way because your holding things up jawing about the old days and a lot of us are getting sick of hearing about it.

02Scuba where you having a bad day yesterday? I can't see how your post relates to this thread at all.

It amazes me how people interpret things differently. I took the original post as an Ad for HIDExtra who was BANNED for unethical business practices. Someone's first post is on how he spent $250 on a flashlight is not the typical new members first post. In case you missed the first post read it again.

i just received my 24W HID Flashlight from www.hidxtra.com today. dame! nice lights!!!

I cant believe it is only $255.00 free shipping and free aluminum case.

I didnt believe it at the first, so I bought it just to see if it is true or its a mistake, and after 4 days, my lights arrived.

dunno how long this sale will last..... what a deal!!

Sounds like an add to me.

Mac

[KenAnderson]

I almost hate to say this on my first post, but I'm waiting for a 24W HID to come in the mail. I suppose it doesn't matter so much at this point what brand. I've never seen one up close before and only heard of HID less than a month ago. Don't yet know what I'll do with it, but I love the idea of owning a super bright flashlight.

Oh, discovered Fenix and Jetbeam around a month ago as well. All I can say is wow. I never knew lights were getting so powerful and so small. Kinda weird in a nice way...

[Burnt_Retinas]

Perhaps worth mentioning. I bought a Brightstar....

It's lamp was not focussed well at all. The lamp had off centre electrodes (poor lamp manufacture) but I don't know if a better quality lamp would have had it focussed better. I removed the potting compound and re-focussed it as best I could given the crooked electrodes. Now I could see what it was capable of and what Marc from AELight was talking about a looooong time ago about being disapointed with the feflector/lamp module.

Rather than persist with completing the BS mod by re-potting the lamp with high temp potting compound I bought an AE Light lamp module to see the difference. It was as close to perfectly centered as one could expect for a HID (have to rotate the flashlight for dead-centre super-bright hot spot from the arc itself). I was such a difference in throw and therefore overall illumination from the original OEM BS module I was wondering why I even bothered with the BS version of this light in the first place.

Perhaps Marc had the assemblies selected and tweaked for the extra $ or perhaps I got a dud BS module? Based on other reviews I'd suspect they have been selected and tweaked for quality and focus.

In hindsight, I'd recommend the AE Light. It costs more but wish I went that route. Glass filters and extra impact protection are also a bonus.

BS =

Chris

[Mike@PTS]

I almost hate to say this on my first post, but I'm waiting for a 24W HID to come in the mail. I suppose it doesn't matter so much at this point what brand. I've never seen one up close before and only heard of HID less than a month ago. Don't yet know what I'll do with it, but I love the idea of owning a super bright flashlight.

Oh, discovered Fenix and Jetbeam around a month ago as well. All I can say is wow. I never knew lights were getting so powerful and so small. Kinda weird in a nice way...

Hey Ken,
Welcome to CPF
I'm going to be at the Portland Gun and Knife show this weekend. If you want to check out some lights, I’ll have a bunch.
Wolf Eyes Boxers and a Crocodile,
AE PowerLights are on sale at so low a price I can’t advertise them.
All the Fenix Cree models including the P2D