SF123A Battery on Kaidomain?

Is this the real deal?

http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=8386

SF as in spiderfire or some such. Notice that they did not take photos of the SUREFIRE part of the label. Real deal? Probably not. Unless Surefire contracted out their cells to china. Its not a great deal anyway so I'd stay away.

Suppose to be the SureFire logo in between "SF123A 3 Volt" and "Lithium Battery". I don't see it. The logo of the dustbin with the X across it is also missing.

Look closely. The SureFire logo has been painted over with the matching red-orange color of the wrapper. However, the artist missed one piece of text indicating SureFire. Click on the larger image so that you get the full size photos. Select the right-most (3rd) photo, with two cells angled top left to lower right and the bottom of the cells showing. Look at the right-hand cell. You can make out the text "IRE.COM" in white next to the negative "-" symbol (also in white).

Good catch Justin.

Pathetic on KD's part. And people wonder why so many refuse to deal with KD. Here's another example.

I have ordered some. The Pictures look like photoshop ^^.
The question is, counterfeit or greymarket?

First time I've seen a knock-off priced higher than the real thing.

(Yes, I know KD's shipping is free, and Surefire doesn't sell cells in pairs. The base price just made me chuckle.)

gswitter said:

and Surefire doesn't sell cells in pairs.

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They sell them in pairs and 6-packs here.

Not even a good price :shakehead Batteryjunction has the real SF at 12 for $21 or 2 for $3.60 - of course there's shipping but with 12 it would probably work out cheaper. And I think batteryjunction has a 5% off this month for CPF. I'm sure there are other places too so why would anyone buy these from KD if you are in the U.S. ?

A cheap chinese cell being passed off as a surefire cell and then being sold at an inflated price hoping to cash in on the "SF" look... this tickles me the wrong way in a big way.

Have used 2 sets of them by now and they seem fine. Didn' make a runtime test though.

Black Rose said:

Pathetic on KD's part. And people wonder why so many refuse to deal with KD. Here's another example.

Click to expand...

mdocod said:

A cheap chinese cell being passed off as a surefire cell and then being sold at an inflated price hoping to cash in on the "SF" look... this tickles me the wrong way in a big way.

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+1 and +1.:thumbsdow

Very obvious knock-offs. The USA made ones also have a green shrink wrap under the red that is visible on the negative end.

Black Rose said:

Good catch Justin.

Pathetic on KD's part. And people wonder why so many refuse to deal with KD. Here's another example.

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Indeed, another good reason to avoid them if you can.

Now I can see why Surefire includes a warning sheet about counterfeit batteries in their lights. We here know better but I'm not so sure about the general public. For sure Surefire can do something about this 9they seem to have the resources to do so)

Black Rose said:

Pathetic on KD's part. And people wonder why so many refuse to deal with KD. Here's another example.

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I frequently wonder why companies that do things like this are not censored and condemned in a vocal and public way by the community here.

Intellectual property theft, like this battery, or copying a flashlight design should be strongly discouraged - it hurts GOOD companies that make original designs and do actually R&D which is bad for the hobby.

I guess price wins out over principle for a lot of folks...that's a shame.

MattK said:

I frequently wonder why companies that do things like this are not censored and condemned in a vocal and public way by the community here.

Intellectual property theft, like this battery, or copying a flashlight design should be strongly discouraged - it hurts GOOD companies that make original designs and do actually R&D which is bad for the hobby.

I guess price wins out over principle for a lot of folks...that's a shame.

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You are of course quite right that this discourages investment and innovation.

The Chinese are known to completely ignore copyright and intellectual property laws and nothing can be done about it. The Chinese authorities want the economy to expand, and clearly see no harm to themselves in this behaviour. See here for an example:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1018&message=14472214

It's easy to blame, 'the Chinese,' but those who choose to buy these products, whether it's these fake batteries or a stolen flashlight design vote with their dollars and euro's and encourage this behavior every time they make a purchase.

I'm suggesting that the CPF community should not be party to it. That CPF should, as a group, say, 'no, we will not do business with those who knowingly and wantonly violate IP laws.'

Discussion is veering into "Marketplace" territory.

Response removed.