Archon WH36 Canister light

Hi,

I saw a Archon WH36 canister light on Alibaba, im wondering how much they sell these. Im sure the price is way overprice, but still. It could be a easy way out, for some that don't want to DIY.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/611093057/30W_CREE_XM_L_U2_LED.html

Ever herd of it ?

Thx

They may not be too expensive as they are the typical Chinese copy cat light.

Have these appeared at any retail site yet (or any other canister light BTW)?

The ratings are fiction.

30W for 210 min is 105 Watt-Hours. A 26650 is about 15 W-H, and there are three, for a total of 45 W-H. So either the LEDs are driven only to 40% of the claimed 30W, or you'll get more like 90 min than 210.

You've got to wonder where else the truth is stretched thin...

but still, this could be a great light 1.5 hours is plenty of time underwater (i personaly only have a 80cf cylinder)
Not to say that im not lighting my lamp all the time on High.

I received a e-mail from them:
Hi ,
Thank you very much for your inquiry. I really appreciate your interest in our canister diving flashlight Model DH30
In fact, DH30 flashlight it a brand new addition to our line, as a result, in view of our high responsibility and quality guarantee, this product's related information will be double checked before actual shipment for several days. Now the unit price(EXW) is as follows for your reference. We'll quote you the latest price (including shipping costs) as soon as possible after these related data completely re-checked. Thanks for your full understanding and consideration in advance.

Unit price (EXW) Canadian $ 190.50/pc (with battery and charger), this price doesn't contain shipping fees.

We supply items for customers with high quality and competitive prices, and should be grateful for your trial order. Any comments please, thank you.
Looking forward to your early reply.

We love you long time... You need to buy one and let us know what it's like...

350xfire said:

We love you long time... You need to buy one and let us know what it's like...

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Haha, i don't feel like beta testing, i will wait to see if we heard more of it in near future.
I was close of pulling the thriger on the TR DF 003, and im so glad i didn't people only report problem with it.
So i learn to make a good research before paying
Plus im already building my own.

82mm diameter head... Hmmm...yeah.....pass

Codiak said:

82mm diameter head... Hmmm...yeah.....pass

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(image from archon site)

yeah, it does look kinda big.

Holy crap that's big!!! I'm still trying to figure out whether that's really a hand???? lol

saw this thread and googled Archon.....and they kinda' remind me of.........http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?311611-Triton-quot-Intruso-quot-Dive-light ?

That's funny cause that's exactly what I thought!!! BTW, those lights are being sold at DX, I think... They are about $30.

the goodman handle and canister might make $30 a good investment

On another board, I did call some one out on the similarities between Archon lights and Triton lights. They never replied:

Triton lights:


(photo from CPF)

Archon lights:


I wonder who they copied the DH30 from this time?

I noticed that this thread is a bit old, but some questions are still unanswered, so I will try to shred some light around "these" flashlights.
First of all, this flashlight seems to sell under different model names i.e. DH30, WH33, WH36 etc. (They have made design changes to the flashlight, but it seems to be sold under the same model names regardless of the changes made).
I purchased 2 units through Alibaba, It took approx. 2 weeks for the units to arrive.
Service and handling was very professional (and the price was superb) J!

For each flashlight I ordered, I received:

• Two spare O-rings, to seal the canister
• Nice metal box to carry charger, batteries, and flashlight
• The flashlights (with cord and canister, all mounted together)
• A brief manual

Looking and comparing the shipped (2) flashlights with the product pictures from Alibaba, I noticed that the shipped flashlight where different in their design.
The front plate (lens) of the flashlight housing was mounted with 4 screws, not 6 as shown on the picture. The 6 screw setup (as shown on some Alibaba pictures), will certainly seal in a better way (to avoid leakage/flooding into the flashlight housing).
In addition, the cable connection towards the housing and canister, are not always made in metal as shown on the Alibaba pictures (certainly not on the units I got). However, they look sturdy and well made even without the metal version.
As long as the flashlight operates to specification, the differences are not equal to any issues!
I had planned some dives to test the flashlights thoroughly.
Here are my test results and conclusions:
===============================================================
Flashlight 1
First dive was planned for 40min with a max depth of 28m.
Everything turned out great, and my dive buddy was impressed by the light.
"So far so good", they even started talking about ordering more units (through me) J
Second dive was planned for 40min, with a max depth of 35m.
First half of dive passed by with no issues, at 35m depth, 20 min into the dive, the flashlight suddenly "blacked out". My initial thought was that the batteries were drained.
Arriving at surface I headed back home.
I recharged batteries at home, while testing the operation with a new set of charged batteries.
It seemed to operate ok, so my conclusion was that I needed an extra setup of batteries for 2 dives in a day. Couple of days later I took the flashlight out for a new test.
Now everything went bad L

Prior entering water, I tested the flashlight and it seemed ok.
2min into the first dive (at approx. 5m) the flashlight "blacked out" again!
Returning to surface and boat for inspection, I first noticed that the canister was flooded.
Drying the batteries and testing flashlight, it went on, but suddenly changed mode??
My "expertise" tells me that the electronics inside the flashlight housing had been flooded.
So I inspected the housing and…. Yes, water was inside the unit on the wrong side of the green illuminating O-ring!
Back home I disassembled the complete unit and noticed week torque on all mounting screws, and significantly lack of silicone grease. In addition 2 of the used batteries were not working anymore.
Flushing unit with sweet water, drying, lubricating with silicone grease, and mounting everything together, it now seems to work as intended. However, not yet tested in the ocean!
===============================================================
Flashlight 2
Being a little curious if the issues with flashlight 1 were a fluke accident at the manufacturing, I started to inspect flashlight 2 closer (I don't want to take it out diving just to have it flooded at the first dive).
I noticed the same issue with poorly attached silicone grease at manufacturing, so I decided to take the flashlight a part, and redo the same procedure as I did on the first flashlight.
Now this was a lucky strike!
When I opened the backside of the flashlight housing, I first discovered that one of the four screws assembled at the back of the flashlight unit, was slightly damaged (causing issues to have it removed).
In addition one of three O-rings in the flashlight main unit was damaged!
The damaged O-ring was clearly caused during assembly at the manufacturing, due to poorly usage of silicone grease.

So now I had a brand new flashlight that I needed to disassemble, lubricate with silicone grease, and change of an O-ring prior its first usage!
Main issue at this moment was the damaged O-ring (since it wasn't provided as spare. only the ones used in the canister were provided).
==============================================================
On the positive side:
I have to give good credit for the good service during purchase and for sturdy well-made units.
The issue seems to be the assembly part of the manufacturing process.
Working with manufacturing myself (not within the diving industry), I have a good insight regarding importance of the complete manufacturing process.
The issues have not been solved yet, but I still believe that these lights will operate well after some "minor" adjustments (reassembly made by me). Future dives will tell!
==============================================================

They tend to sell for about USD 250-300 on Chinese Taobao which is the local Amazon/Ebay.
I think it has been established that Archon built most of their, if not their whole, line on designs they stole from Triton.
Triton was a Spanish startup company made up by guys who had earlier designed some well-received Spanish lights but who had now decided to have their new line of lights manufactured in China (They were all open about that and had even named one of their lights Dragon something in Chinese). But supposedly Triton's designs where just plain stolen by the manufacturer who put his own name on them soon after Triton received their first prototypes...
The story goes that Triton tried to fight this, but what do you do when you are in Spain and the allegded perp is on the other side of the planet doing what he does best. Triton gave up and Archon seems to be selling a lot of lights. At least in China, which is big enough of a market to not have to care about what people elsewhere think.

This, and reverse engineering/cloning, is not at all an uncommon story here in China unfortunately.

Disclaimer, I actually live in China and... I actually bought one of the Archon lights. A single XML one. At the time, I did not know of the sad Triton story but when I months later found out, I felt shitty. To the point, where I still feel bad about using the light today because I can really imagine how effed up it must have been for the Triton guys...

BTW, quality wise the light came with a scratch on the sealing surface of the inside of the cap (no floods freediving it to 15 meters though), a misaligned LED and damaged o-ring under the PC front glass. And the lanyard of course is a joke.

A tiny bit of poetic justice is that I now see Archon being copied/cloned/reverse engineered by an even cheaper local brand. Maybe one of Archon's staffers sold the drawings on. That happens as well.
(As a side note, just today, I got an email at 10 at night from a sales guy at some new carbon fiber trader. I have never talked to him before and asked where he had gotten my info from. His initial email had said "from the internet". After some struggling he finally admitted "A friend of his" gave it to him "for money". Thing is, a year or so ago I talked to two carbon fiber manufactures here in China and one of them must have sold their client list onto this dude... )

So, whether one fundamentally wants to support a business like Archon that is worth some consideration as well.

Cheaper than Archon? That must stink before you open the box!

Having read the story before being in the market, and wanting to support innovators and quality manufacturers, I have avoided and would never buy an Archon or other light that looks like a knock-off of a Triton, Barbolight, or other quality light. Also, I understand that a cheap light needs to be torn down and rebuilt before getting wet, while one from a quality maker can be used out of the box. It's a sad commentary about the state of business these days, but it's a reality we have to deal with.

DIWdiver said:

Cheaper than Archon? That must stink before you open the box!

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Yup, I am thinking it does and do not intend on even testing it...

DIWdiver said:

Having read the story before being in the market, and wanting to support innovators and quality manufacturers, I have avoided and would never buy an Archon or other light that looks like a knock-off of a Triton, Barbolight, or other quality light.

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I agree. Had I known the story beforehand I would have stayed away for sure.
Thinking more of it, I am afraid all these clone lights out there are seen by newcomers as the real price point as they have no idea how much R&D went into this in the first place and as such, they may never really appreciate the better lights.
Also, besides stealing designs, bulk production and cheaper labour, one way for Chinese companies to make money is to substitute pretty much every material for a worse grade than originally intended.
This happens for "proper" companies as well whose suppliers may all of sudden start making parts for them in worse materials. All high end companies in China therefore spent a lot of resources on continuously doing quality control. Every batch of pretty much every thing has to be checked. If you slip, the risk is your supplier will take you for a spin.

funkydealer said:

On the positive side:
I have to give good credit for the good service during purchase and for sturdy well-made units.

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Messed up screw thread, screws not tight, damaged o-ring, two dead batteries, poor lubrication, neither light would have survived a single day of diving, and you call this "well-made"?

funkydealer said:

The issue seems to be the assembly part of the manufacturing process.

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So, this might be a very cheap/affordable light, but at USD +250 wouldn't you expect a pressure test...?
Again, having been on a handful or more of factory visits in China what is clear is that often times people don't have much of an idea about what they are manufacturing. I would never blame the assembly line. By far the vast majority of factory workers in China are just honest, hard working people working as much as the owners and labour laws allow so that they can better the lives of their families. Simple as that. They are as fast and/or attentive as the management wants them to be.
If the managers had actually cared enough to explain to the workers that sealing is paramount to a dive light, chances are they would understand. Had they pressure tested a few and fried them in front of the assembly line staffers, even better.
Had the owner given bonuses to the workers whose lights don't fail QC instead of honoring the workers who make the most lights, then we would be talking near-ideal.
My guess is, instead he wants them to spend as little time as possible assembling the lights and have absolutely all of them pass what seems to be non-existant QC.

Again, the design that you seem to want to pursuade yourself to really like is not only badly put together - it is also 100% stolen. Not even cloned. Plain stolen. And then of course dummed down and made with much cheaper parts and materials and no attention to detail by businessmen who don't care at all if you flood it on your first dive.
You said, they offered good service? Aren't you talking about pre-sales emails? Most sales staff knows how to come across as offering good service.
Did you ask for new o-rings, new batts? Did they worry whether you fried your PCB as well and offer to replace the lights or parts?
That would be service and not sales talk.

As you are in manufacturing yourself, I would hope you would consider acknowledging that someone else's work and money was put into this design until it was stolen and as such try not to pursuade your dive buddies or others of the great virtues of this light.