Monster Flashlight (Brand)

Status
Not open for further replies.

uh60james

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 4, 2011
Messages
11
Just wondering if anyone owns one of these? The brand is called Monster Flashlight and I have been on the ledge about picking one up, just cant find any information about them.

I attempted to post this last night but for some reason it never showed up on the forum, perhaps because I posted a link. No linky today, a google search should reveal them though.
 

robostudent5000

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 15, 2011
Messages
877
avoid. they just look like Ultrafire lights with the prices jacked up. if you look around, you can get the "real" Ultrafires for half the price.
 

richpalm

Banned
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Messages
965
Location
Central Pa.
Manafont.com - in China but they're really good-always get my stuff within 10 days-2 weeks. Lots of lights there.
 

blue4good

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 19, 2011
Messages
2
5Q5-1200-5 Monster Flashlight
Disclaimer – I'm a new to this forum and do not claim to be an expert. I saw that you asked about this light and I recently bought one. These are my thoughts on the product.

First Impression
Out of the box, the light appears well-machined and has an attractive coating. You definitely feel it in your hand as it weighs more than 12 ounces. There was NO sales receipt in the plain brown box without markings.

This is NOT a tactical light (as claimed)
The absence of friction checkering, combined with the smooth finish makes it difficult to hang onto. Additionally, with the heft over 12 ounces and length just under a foot long, this light would certainly throw the balance off on a firearm. Another drawback to the tactical application is the absence of a lanyard hole. An optional sleeve with shoulder strap is offered for portability but has no benefits to support tactical use. Another disadvantage preventing the tactical employment of this light is the order of the switch modes. Five in all, the order of the five modes goes from strobe (used to disorient the enemy) to S.O.S. This is contrary to sound combat shooting. The next mode after strobe should be should lead into max lumens for brightness. Unless one is about to surrender, I see no benefit in confusing an adversary with the strobe and then hitting them with a signal for help!

The Good News
I love this baby as a work light. Rechargeable, 1200 lumens on high for a max 2 hours runtime, 4 hours on medium and 6 hours on low. The beam cuts very far into the darkness. The beam concentrates in the center for penetration and has a useable flood effect at the periphery. I know that there are flashlights with a higher lumen rating, but this is the brightest light that I have used in the flashlight category for the money. I can't imagine needing more lighting power for my purposes, which is remote lighting for my SUV during emergencies and recreation. A few nights ago I tested it in a farm field on a back country road (very dark). At about 150 yards, it wasn't even beginning to fade. For the purposes of this writing (a cursory review), let it suffice to say that you won't be unimpressed with the beam.

Annoyances
Everything is sold separately, including the batteries and there is NO triple charger available at the site. I had to purchase a double and a single for the three high voltage 18650 batteries (sold separately) that are needed. I also purchased the car charger accessory for convenience but will need to use the 110 outlet in the back of my vehicle for the third battery. Having to buy everything, including two chargers, ala carte makes this a $100+ investment. Couple that with the fact that this is for a new product I took a risk buying a unit. So far it seems that it was money well spent.

Sinopsis
My first impression of the light is that it is quite impressive with a few design flaws that can be overcome, unless you're looking for a true tactical light. If this is the case, consider another light. I fashioned a stacked 550 cord grip/lanyard loop that will keep me from dropping it on the pavement when at roadside and around camp. Simply stated - the beam is incredible. It seems as powerful as one of my headlights on high-beam! I'll eventually check that theory. The only thing I can imagine would be significantly brighter is a spotlight, which is another ball game. If you are in search of a relatively compact source of sustainable light for utilitarian applications, then the 5Q5-1200-5 Monster Flashlight may be the light.

Note
There are a number of other aspects to this light that are described on the website, available options, charger/battery quality, etc. Just google "Monster Flashlight" for the link. If you buy one, the promotional code MFWebLaunch5 should secure you a 5% discount. Also, I'm no expert so my comments are the opinion of a novice and not meant to be all inclusive of every aspect of the light. This review is meant to give the prospective buyer a general idea of the product. Others may differ greatly in opinion. I hope this was helpful. Thanks for the great website!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

kramer5150

Flashaholic
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Messages
6,328
Location
Palo Alto, CA
5Q5-1200-5 Monster Flashlight
Disclaimer – I'm a new to this forum and do not claim to be an expert. I saw that you asked about this light and I recently bought one. These are my thoughts on the product.

First Impression
Out of the box, the light appears well-machined and has an attractive coating. You definitely feel it in your hand as it weighs more than 12 ounces. There was NO sales receipt in the plain brown box without markings.

This is NOT a tactical light (as claimed)
The absence of friction checkering, combined with the smooth finish makes it difficult to hang onto. Additionally, with the heft over 12 ounces and length just under a foot long, this light would certainly throw the balance off on a firearm. Another drawback to the tactical application is the absence of a lanyard hole. An optional sleeve with shoulder strap is offered for portability but has no benefits to support tactical use. Another disadvantage preventing the tactical employment of this light is the order of the switch modes. Five in all, the order of the five modes goes from strobe (used to disorient the enemy) to S.O.S. This is contrary to sound combat shooting. The next mode after strobe should be should lead into max lumens for brightness. Unless one is about to surrender, I see no benefit in confusing an adversary with the strobe and then hitting them with a signal for help!

The Good News
I love this baby as a work light. Rechargeable, 1200 lumens on high for a max 2 hours runtime, 4 hours on medium and 6 hours on low. The beam cuts very far into the darkness. The beam concentrates in the center for penetration and has a useable flood effect at the periphery. I know that there are flashlights with a higher lumen rating, but this is the brightest light that I have used in the flashlight category for the money. I can't imagine needing more lighting power for my purposes, which is remote lighting for my SUV during emergencies and recreation. A few nights ago I tested it in a farm field on a back country road (very dark). At about 150 yards, it wasn't even beginning to fade. For the purposes of this writing (a cursory review), let it suffice to say that you won't be unimpressed with the beam.

Annoyances
Everything is sold separately, including the batteries and there is NO triple charger available at the site. I had to purchase a double and a single for the three high voltage 18650 batteries (sold separately) that are needed. I also purchased the car charger accessory for convenience but will need to use the 110 outlet in the back of my vehicle for the third battery. Having to buy everything, including two chargers, ala carte makes this a $100+ investment. Couple that with the fact that this is for a new product I took a risk buying a unit. So far it seems that it was money well spent.

Sinopsis
My first impression of the light is that it is quite impressive with a few design flaws that can be overcome, unless you're looking for a true tactical light. If this is the case, consider another light. I fashioned a stacked 550 cord grip/lanyard loop that will keep me from dropping it on the pavement when at roadside and around camp. Simply stated - the beam is incredible. It seems as powerful as one of my headlights on high-beam! I'll eventually check that theory. The only thing I can imagine would be significantly brighter is a spotlight, which is another ball game. If you are in search of a relatively compact source of sustainable light for utilitarian applications, then the 5Q5-1200-5 Monster Flashlight may be the light.

Note
There are a number of other aspects to this light that are described on the website, available options, charger/battery quality, etc. Just google "Monster Flashlight" for the link. If you buy one, the promotional code MFWebLaunch5 should secure you a 5% discount. Also, I'm no expert so my comments are the opinion of a novice and not meant to be all inclusive of every aspect of the light. This review is meant to give the prospective buyer a general idea of the product. Others may differ greatly in opinion. I hope this was helpful. Thanks for the great website!


Didn't you already post this in another thread, that now appears to be deleted?
You dont need to keep re-posting the same thing verbatim... gets annoying after a while.
 
Last edited:

blue4good

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 19, 2011
Messages
2
Didn't you already post this in another thread, that now appears to be deleted?
You dont need to keep re-posting the same thing verbatim... gets annoying after a while.

Yeah there was some kind of glitch on my part or maybe an edit by a moderator. Per the guidelines for use I waited a while and then re-posted here where it belongs and it stuck. It is listed as my 1st post. You being the professional forum member, I'm surprised you missed that. I'm sure you won't find this, my 2nd official post, anyplace else on this site, hopefully making this an annoyance free post for you.
Thanks for the warm welcome.

Sincere thanks to the moderator, if involved, as my original post did in fact belong here.
 

AO JAR

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 15, 2011
Messages
39
When I was first looking for a flashlight, I came across monsterflashlight.com and seriously thought about getting one. Soon afterwards I came across this awesome forum!! And notice nobody was talking about them. I figured if all these great people with all there knowledge and experience were not mentioning this company, they can't be all that good.

lovecpf
 

MonsterFlashlight.com

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 6, 2011
Messages
1
avoid. they just look like Ultrafire lights with the prices jacked up. if you look around, you can get the "real" Ultrafires for half the price.

I am the proprietor of MonsterFlashlight.com, and I do feel compelled to respond to this thread. While some of our earlier models when we got started in 2010 may have resembled Ultrafire flashlights on the outside, Monster Flashlight goes out of its way to provide something that nobody making or selling Ultrafires does -- QUALITY! If robostudent5000 had actually held a Monster Flashlight in his hand or had any first hand knowledge of our lights, his comment, which was based solely upon his assumptions based upon the exterior appearance of one of our products, might have been worthy of consideration. Instead, he chose to denigrate our company without ever having seen one of our products.

I will take this opportunity to introduce MonsterFlashlight.com to the CPF community. I am a volunteer EMT and a flashlight enthusiast, and a little over two years ago I began building and selling flashlights made by and for flashlight freaks such as myself. We have grown to about a dozen models ranging from a tiny 14500 powered R5 to our newest flagship model, the 3x XML-T6 powered PowerStar. We have continued to tweak our existing models and add to our model line as we take in the feedback we receive from our growing base of satisfied users. Our philosophy is to deliver the highest quality, highest performance and most value available on the market for each flashlight segment. To date we have been successful in replacing Surefire, Fenix, Streamlight and others that previously had been used exclusively by our law enforcement customers. Our best form of advertising has been word of mouth, and we often go from one sale to a particular police department to two dozen sales in the following weeks as word spreads of our products and our customer service and our customers show off their Monster to their co-workers.

I will not take up any more space on this thread trying to sell anyone on the quality and value of our products, but I would invite robostudent500 and any other members of CPF to actually buy one of our products to evaluate before they make a posting like the one above bashing a product he has never even tried. If any of our customers should find themselves reading this thread, please feel free to chime in.

If anyone has any questions for me, please feel free to use the "Contact Us" link on our web site, MonsterFlashlight.com. In the meantime, we will keep doing what we do and hope that others in this CPF community will give us a fair shake when writing reviews or recommendations. Thanks for reading this.
 

DM51

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
13,338
Location
Borg cube #51
Welcome to CPF, MonsterFlashlight.com :)

We'll allow your post here as a matter of fairness, as you were treated rather harshly in an earlier post, but please note that we do not usually permit Manufacturers or dealers to post plugs for their products.

Before you consider making further posts here, you should read the Advertising Policies and Procedures for CPF and CPFMP, and ensure you comply with these.
 

mvyrmnd

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
3,391
Location
Australia
MonsterFlashlight - You've done very well branding all of your gear - batteries, chargers, the lot - it looks very good. You will, however encounter some resistance like this as your lights do bear a striking resemblance to some 'cheap' flashlight brands out there.

A lot of the folks here are very technical, and love to know the details of things.

I, for one, would like to know the OEM source of your chargers and batteries. The safety of LiIon battery is a heavily discussed topic here on CPF, and there are certain manufacturers and OEM's we know we can trust, and others we know we should avoid.
 

Chidwack

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 14, 2011
Messages
233
I do have a Monster Flashlight. I bought it about 5 months ago when I was looking for an upgrade in performance to my Olight M20s. I came across the MonsterFlashlight brand and read what they had to say there. I emailed Monster Flashlight and asked quite a few questions before I bought my light. They always answered my email promptly and answered all my questions. I decided to give them a try. I bought a P7C-900. It is listed at 900 lumens. I was worried that the light would get hot on high mode if left on for very long. I was told that it had excellent heat sink and would be fine. In fact that is the case as the light stays fairly cool.
When I got the light, I was happy with the quality of the build. What I wasn't happy with was the fact that the light was barely brighter than my Olight M20s and didn't throw as well. It had more spill but there is no way this light has anywhere close to 900 lumens. So what did I do?
I emailed Monster Flashlights to ask them what was up with the poor performance of my light. That was the last I ever heard from them. They didn't answer my email. I just assumed that they had their sale and were moving on to the next sale.

I will admit that I have no way to measure the lumens of this light. The only thing I can do is compare it to other lights that I have. I have picked up quite a few lights since I bought this light and I am not as green around the edges as I was when I bought the Monster. I have a Shiningbeam Blaze to compare to the Monster P7C-900. The Blaze is listed at 720 lumens on high and 400 lumens on low where as the Monster is listed at 900 lumens on high. There is no comparison to the brightness of these lights. The Blaze blows the P7C-900 out of the water. On medium the Blaze at it's listed 400 lumens looks slightly brighter than the Monster. I just stepped outside just now to compare the two again so I wouldn't get it wrong. On high, the Monster doesn't have as much spill, brightness or throw as the Blaze does on the medium mode.
I'm not saying that the Monster is a bad flashlight. What I am saying is that my light isn't near as bright as advertised and not even close to other high output lights I own. Maybe I got a bad sample of the Monsterflashlight. I just assumed that when they didn't return my email, they just wanted to be through with me. I seldom use the Monster anymore. I placed it on my 22 rifle as a weapons light. It is bright enough for a 22 but not bright enough or throw far enough for my more powerful rifles.
 

toysareforboys

Enlightened
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
249
Location
Whitby, Ontario, Canada
MonsterFlashlight - You've done very well branding all of your gear - batteries, chargers, the lot - it looks very good. You will, however encounter some resistance like this as your lights do bear a striking resemblance to some 'cheap' flashlight brands out there. I, for one, would like to know the OEM source of your chargers and batteries.
I agree, lots of branding. That's not to say that your products are identical to other products that look identical on the outside.

Your $10 ($27.99 shipped) charger:
monstercharger.png


Looks a lot like this $2.84 (shipped) charger:
cheapcharger.png


The monster flashlights "sticker" isn't centered or straight.

You're charging $4.99 (plus shipping) for a single TrustFire 14500 battery when they are commonly available for $3.56 per PAIR (including shipping).

-Jamie M.
 
Last edited:

oedius

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 1, 2012
Messages
3
I own two of their flashlights. The P7D-900-5, and T6-1000-4. The T6 just came out this week. I like them both very much but, the T6 is my favorite. I ordered it with the optional SMO refector and the beam is perfect for me. These flashlights are very solid and work great. The service I recieved was fast and professional. I had a few questions before and after my purchase and was always answered promptly by the owner of the company. I do plan on trying out another model very soon which is the R5-350-1C. It is a compact model that uses a single 14500 battery. It will also use a single AA.

I inspect rail cars and generate repair estimates on them for a private contract shop. I have been in this business for almost 30 years and have used a Maglite for most of those years. I finally decided to try LED flashlights as I have been amazed at how far the technology has come.

I really would like to see a thorough and objective review of Monster Flashlights here on this forum by one of the resident experts.

Steve
 

aimxplode

Enlightened
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
371
Location
California
I agree, lots of branding. That's not to say that your products are identical to other products that look identical on the outside.

Your $10 ($27.99 shipped) charger:
monstercharger.png


Looks a lot like this $2.84 (shipped) charger:
cheapcharger.png


The monster flashlights "sticker" isn't centered or straight.

You're charging $4.99 (plus shipping) for a single TrustFire 14500 battery when they are commonly available for $3.56 per PAIR (including shipping).

-Jamie M.

Very odd indeed. If MonsterLights is willing to stand by his products, I'd like to see a rebuttal to this.
 

my#1hobby

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 12, 2009
Messages
293
Location
California
They are indeed re-branded Chinese lights. I bought a few from MonsterFlashlight a while back and not only did the outside look the same, but the guts were identical to my ultrafires I got from DX. I just hate it when dealers/manufactures lie to your face. :thumbsdow
 

Bigmac_79

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 3, 2011
Messages
1,511
Location
Kansas
Ok, so yeah, some of this stuff looks suspicious. However, I think it would be wise for all of us to refrain from making judgements based on pictures. Thanks to those who have the lights and have recounted their experiences. Does anybody else own a Monster Flashlights product and care to comment on it?
 

CharmedQuark

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 29, 2012
Messages
1
Hi one and all, this is my 1st post. I found this site by chance, searching for led flash light info. I just want to add, that I have a Monster Flash Light, R5-320-1. I have had this flash light for almost 9 months. I use it every day and night. This is a great light to crawl around in my dark basement's crawl space. No matter how long I have the flash light on, it never gets hot! The weight feels fine, right size for my hand, plenty of light. I use this when I walk my dogs on our dark country roads, oncoming cars always see me and my dogs. I can not say how many times I have dropped this light, even kicked it by accident. I have read that a on/off switch will fail and a momentary switch is better. But this on/off switch has never failed. I can not say anything about it being water proof, other than when I am walking in the rain or snow, no problems found. I have had 2 different chinese made tactical lights that have not lasted more than 3 months. I use my light, but I do not go out of my way to abuse it. For the price, I can not find any other light that comes close. And they are "Made in the USA", what more can I ask for? I am no flash light expert, but this light does everything I want from it and I will buy another Monster Flash Light soon.
 

my#1hobby

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 12, 2009
Messages
293
Location
California
:welcome: CharmedQuark, Have a look around the forums first before you make another purchase. There are much better quality lights out there, and not to mention much BRIGHTER! Check out Fenix and Jetbeam products. They have everything from small powerful pocket rockets to large searchlights.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top