██ SCAM ██ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light ██ SCAM ██

[csshih]

eek! wow, this thread has gone much messier beyond the arc mania scandal...

[easilyled]

Well done proline, you probably have slightly more chance of getting your Ti SFs now.

[smack2000]

I think what's most important here is that the honest people who are currently waiting on product from Arc Mania get what they've paid for. I wish you all the best of luck, and hopefully this particular situation doesn't cause him to 'take the money and run' as his last effort to profit from CPF members.

MJ, I know you're reading this -- just do the right and honest thing from here on out and be honest and don't take anyone's money. You will at least be respected for that.

[Illum]

eek! wow, this thread has gone much messier beyond the arc mania scandal...

well, much attention was turned off the topic by the irritating misprints and the little moves here and there by tangent posts...
Donn_, care to open a new thread for that light of yours? its beautiful but it doesn't belong here

After reading Dat2Zip's post I was like but now some ten posts later do feel that we are some ways possessing a mobster mentality

The intention of leaving this open for victims to vent is noble in its own, but at this rate the ice is becoming dangerously thin
Arc Mania, if you have anything to say it please do so now...the Jury is tired and wants an arnold palmer

[donn_]

Donn_, care to open a new thread for that light of yours? its beautiful but it doesn't belong here

Quite a few of the posts on this thread don't belong here, according to the forum's rules. Mine was intended to lighten up the atmosphere a bit.

Now we see members conjecturing Mike will not deliver on his prepay threads. He's done some pretty dicey things recently, and has been late on most of his prepays, but I don't recall him ever failing to deliver.

[Radio]

"Revelations II" The Sequel

Nobody ever really knows the man behind the curtain, Great catch DM51

[Hammer Train]

Quite a few of the posts on this thread don't belong here, according to the forum's rules. Mine was intended to lighten up the atmosphere a bit.

Now we see members conjecturing Mike will not deliver on his prepay threads. He's done some pretty dicey things recently, and has been late on most of his prepays, but I don't recall him ever failing to deliver.

I know this thread will be a shock to many of us, including me as I have about $900 worth of his flashlights at the moment and I am seriously concerned. HOWEVER the rules seem to be being streched to in many of the posts in this thread IMO, I would love to post a message about how awful this situation is and what a ride we've all been taken for (etc) but I'll refrain as I am concerned for those who are in pre-pay (not me though just for clarity), and I think Mike still has the chance to put this right at least for those guys and then perhaps bow out with some dignity remaining
rather than in a cloud of stink and unfilfilled pre-paid orders! Donn is right when he questions if he has ever failed to actually deliver a version of the product once paid for...

[F250XLT]

As previously mentioned, let's not start speculating about his current pre-orders.....That is not what this thread is about, nor has that been a matter of question in the past.

[znomit]

Ignoring the drama...
Its an ugly light with a poor efficiency emitter and probably a dumb cycle-through-all modes UI too. And no beam shots. And its expensive. And construction quality is dubious. You're paying for the resellers name and the somewhat exotic emitter.

"The spec sheet say “only” 700 lumens minimum... ...So I check output, test the battery, and make sure that out of the box it is going to work. I have had to send some back but they just did not meet my standards."

At 400$ why would anyone buy this over the 90$ magicshine?

[smack2000]

Now we see members conjecturing Mike will not deliver on his prepay threads. He's done some pretty dicey things recently, and has been late on most of his prepays, but I don't recall him ever failing to deliver.

I have no opinion on what he has delivered in the past as I've never done business with him and I'm certainly not surprised that he has always come through (or all of this action would have taken place long ago).

My conjecture is based on the fact that he is essentially being chased out of CPF as we speak, receiving an unprecedented level of criticism, and I'm concerned that he may just decide to throw his middle finger in the air and disappear after being bashed this hard. For the sake of those with money involved, I hope he doesn't.

[Greta]

and wgat do you know about how much or not I know Greta?
That is is somewhat rich...

..

Well... for starters... I know for certain that you have no clue whatsoever what administrative discussions and actions have taken place... we'll stop right there, I think. It's enough.

[scout24]

Donn- If that does fit an 18650, and that was a WTS, Watcha runnin' in there for driver/ emitter? Very pretty camo... Got one plain? I personally have had no dealings with ArcMania, but this saddens me, not only from the standpoint that there may have been dishonesty afoot, but I hate seeing all of the bickering going on. As a group, we're better than this. On second thought, I'd actually prefer 17670's Donn. I've got more of them on hand at the moment. Let me know! Pineapple = Good...

[OscarTheDog]

OK...I gotta come clean...all my lights and parts are from Kmart, and I'm definitely not wearing my underwear

Dang when i met you i thought there was something odd about you. BIG Thanks To DM51

OTD

[Tractor man]

Blimey, this is better than an episode of enders

BTW, nice pineapple Donn

[Hammer Train]

As previously mentioned, let's not start speculating about his current pre-orders.....That is not what this thread is about, nor has that been a matter of question in the past.

You might not be too worried about the pre-orders, but would you be if you were in for several $100's?! I'll leave it there but please have some consideration for those who are committed.

[donn_]

It's not for sale, scout24. I'm diligently building a collection of this camo pattern. The Pineapple Aleph 3 is number 6 in that collection.

The light engine, right now, is a direct drive SST-50.

[F250XLT]

You might not be too worried about the pre-orders, but would you be if you were in for several $100's?! I'll leave it there but please have some consideration for those who are committed.

You are missing my point completely I am not saying folks should not be worried, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here by speculating about the delivery of in production lights. I want nothing more, than for everyone here to be made whole in any pre-pay they are vested in.

[arewethereyetdad]

Since everyone seems to be here, I'll ask a question:

Does anyone know if there is enough metal in an aluminum PEU Pineapple to bore it out for an 18650?

Donn, I've got to say this post made me bust a gut.

But back OT, if it were me on the hot seat I'd sure as hell offer up a better explanation of my actions than what has been posted thus far. Mike, we're waiting.

[fyrstormer]

Nobody is permitting bashing..
The sticky is made so rhat other members will not miss these news of this latest scam..

Fine, so lock it. People can read it without commenting, and the comments haven't been useful for several pages now.

[donn_]

Donn, I've got to say this post made me bust a gut.

It worked! Got my answer toot-sweet! ( I know...my French stinks.)

[nakahoshi]

This is some crazy stuff, at least we have some people to stand up for everyone. Thanks Greta & DM51

[parnell]

WOW, WOW, AND WOW

This has been an interesting thread to say the least. People have made some good points, people have bashed each other, and I am sure feelings have been trodden on.

One thing I try to look for is facts. It has been stated that the product might be a legite light. That could be possible, except for me, the fact that the beam shots came from the other site. I put that fact pretty high on the list. I know some might argue that those were taken from the CPF salesthread, but that would have been challenging to do so, so quickly IMO.

My two cents.

[PoliceScannerMan]

I skimmed this thread....

Can someone in three sentences tell me whats going on?

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond]

Wow - 5 pages in less than a day! Even if this thread is left as a sticky I think it's time to CLOSE this thread for further comment.

Arc has already been completely martyred over this and his reputation is ruined.

I'm just glad I never pulled the trigger on any of his lights now that I see the truth, but the truth was already stated back on page 1 and it just doesn't seem appropriate that we now have CPF members bashing CPF members back and forth over inconsequential comments.

[IMSabbel]

This is really strange to gauge.
While ArcMania seemed to be quite a rip-off, he did not cheat anybody, nor was it a scam.

People got the lights, just like they were descriped, right? Or am i missing something?
(well, except that their lights arent as "special" as they thought...)

The overcharge would be just a stupid people tax. I mean, whole threads with lots of people spending $100s each without anybody ever trying to google around a bit? For first moment I saw the light in that screenshop in the link from page 1 it did not look at all like anything done outside a factory line, which would make the whole post seem unbelievable.

[Raoul_Duke]

I started to read through the whole lot, it was all quite interesting, and I laughed my ass off about the 18650 pineaple... couldn't read much more with a straight face.....I was going to answer but then saw it was all sorted....

Luckily for me I never liked the Arcmania products that were sold or the pricetag to go with any of it......

[Raoul_Duke]

I skimmed this thread....

Can someone in three sentences tell me whats going on?

I can tell you what I think in 3 letters

WTF

[JonN06]

I skimmed this thread....

Can someone in three sentences tell me whats going on?

Arcmania appears to be buying lights wholesale and telling people they are his custom lights that he designed and selling them at a very high premium. Something like $400 above retail or so.

Oh and it's possible that some of his previous lights may have been the same case.

[Greta]

This is really strange to gauge.
While ArcMania seemed to be quite a rip-off, he did not cheat anybody, nor was it a scam.

People got the lights, just like they were descriped, right? Or am i missing something?
(well, except that their lights arent as "special" as they thought...)

Truth in advertising? I'd say that's a scam. If I go to esty.com and buy a one of a kind, hand-made scarf (advertised as such) and pay $150 for it, I would not be real happy to go into Dillards and find the same exact scarf on the rack for $25... alongside at least a dozen other identical scarfs... for $25 each. Get the point?

Additionally, is it fair to all of the other dealers who actually follow the rules of the forums and pay their advertising fees and post at the MarketPlace where they belong? It seems that MJ has been getting a free pass for a couple of years now by getting just about exclusive dealer-advertising rights here at CPF simply by claiming that he has somehow "modified" a stock light and jacking up the price.

There have been accusations in the past that MJ has been falsly claiming to have "modified" lights and calling them "Special". It wasn't up to me to prove or disprove that, as I was told by many... And really... all DM51 did in this thread was post a link and ask a question. Everyone else put it all together... so really? You guys totally

[monkeyboy]

Where is this guy from anyway? I was under the impression that "land of the rising sun" was Japan and therefore his custom lights at least were made in Japan. Is this more BS?