Poll - Chinese Made Flashlights: Best Overall Quality

Which Chinese Manufacturer do you consider to have the best overall quality - fit/finish, reliability, durability, etc.

This is like cars: classic Sunwayman are sexies than latest models

I won't vote since I'm not familair with many of these, but I'd be surprised if Fenix wasn't #1 or 2 in the poll here.

markr6 said:

I won't vote since I'm not familair with many of these, but I'd be surprised if Fenix wasn't #1 or 2 in the poll here.

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Oh... I'm sure they will end up being #1 - for 2 reasons:

(a) They really are great quality lights
(b) They are the only light many beginning flashaholics are familiar with, other than the usual maglight/coast/hardware store brands.

I don't own any - Fenix has something against low-output modes, which makes me have something against Fenix.

Amelia said:

I don't own any - Fenix has something against low-output modes, which makes me have something against Fenix.

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That, plus having to cycle thru 5 modes, and no neutral white (on most) completely kills it for me. But the 3 I have seem bulletproof. And regarding price, it seems like more lights should have this kind of quality. It's not like they're crazy expensive.

Armytek is my vote...so far they have been flawless, and seem to be built to a significantly higher standard, with ratings to match. (Water resistance and impact.) Fully potted electronics help a lot. In my experience, Fenix is no comparison...would be just average, while Armytek is several steps up.

Sunwayman has been the most unreliable, in my limited experience. Have received a total of five lights...two of them had major driver problems (making them unusable) within thirty minutes of first use. Too bad, because the machining actually seems to be quite good. Smooth threads, high quality anodizing, etc. But I'd take a little roughness or cosmetic defects over major functional issues any day.

Couldn't really say about EVERY manufacturer but I've had problems here and there with some lights from each of the manufacturers listed above, at least, of those that I have owned. Suffice to say that I favor lights that are simple single-switch designs and do not own any QTC or magnetic ring lights.

One manufacturer consistently makes excellently designed stuff, but I feel like their assembly guys can be asleep on the job: I had to dismantle and flip the lens on one, because it was installed backwards (it mattered here!), and often I have to retighten retaining rings for switches.

Another manufacturer, I lost a screw and had to ask for a new one to Loctite back in. I ended up Loctiting all 8 of the screws on this light, because I was afraid I'd lose more. Trouble-free since then.

I have had a few lights from various manufacturers start flickering or completely stop working - unsure of causes but none were excessively abused from my perspective. Even weirder when some work again long after I've shelved them.

I find it really hard to recommend one as heads and shoulders over the other, as the one manufacturer listed whose lights I do own and also have never failed in any way, I only have a single sample of.

I have never outright physically broken a light. All of the ones I've owned have been sufficiently physically built.

Even the top dogs of US manufactured lights have given me issues here and there during my long history with flashlights: Surefire, HDS, Peak, Arc, GloToob, Photon, Maglite.

Of course, I have owned lights from most of these manufacturers that were also 100% perfect and trouble-free.

Guess what I mean to say is, nobody's perfect!

Despite voting for Fenix, I have the least numbers of Fenix around due to their lack of low outputs. Olight is my 2nd best.

I voted for Fenix because their flashlights are what I own the most

I'll vote for Zebralight as best all around Chinese light. As for hosts, I have been impressed with Convoy lately. Very easy to mod.

I have to go with Fenix. Have multiple Chinese manufactured flashlights, and IMO Fenix is on top of all. Olight is very close behind Fenix. Just wish they put some more modes, on couple of their lights.

Voted. EagleTac. They are all pretty decent in their own rights. However, to me, it is a close tie between Sunwayman and EagleTac. I just love both of their Titanium offerings. I just like the UI of the D25C, the size, the punch, and the quality of the ones I have is excellent. But....Sunwayman does a good job too.

Str8stroke said:

Voted. EagleTac. They are all pretty decent in their own rights. However, to me, it is a close tie between Sunwayman and EagleTac. I just love both of their Titanium offerings. I just like the UI of the D25C, the size, the punch, and the quality of the ones I have is excellent. But....Sunwayman does a good job too.

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I also had a hard time choosing between EagleTac and Sunwayman - they both make great lights! Finally gave the vote to Sunwayman, because of their square threading and perfect anodizing.

i am also torn between EagleTac and Sunwayman. I gave the nod to SWM for innovation and the great ui on the V10R.

Amelia said:

Which Chinese Manufacturer do you consider to have the best overall quality - fit/finish, reliability, durability, etc.

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Afraid I don't really understand the question, what do you mean by "made"? As I'm not sure all of the lights are 100% made anywhere. Not too mention design and final QC play a huge role in the final product.

And as it stands, I should think are almost no lights at all that don't have some part of them made in China. In which case it then opens the question to any make of flashlight.

Chicken Drumstick said:

Afraid I don't really understand the question, what do you mean by "made"? As I'm not sure all of the lights are 100% made anywhere. Not too mention design and final QC play a huge role in the final product.

And as it stands, I should think are almost no lights at all that don't have some part of them made in China. In which case it then opens the question to any make of flashlight.

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If we're going to go down the road of pedantic semantics, I think we can all agree that something like a McGizmo Haiku, Surefire Kroma, and Malkoff MDC are not Chinese made lights... regardless of whatever switches, resistors, or reflectors used might originate in China. Chicken Drumstick is correct in a way, it is probably impossible to find a light that's 100% made in any given country, but a U.S. made light is still MADE (designed, assembled, tested, and shipped) in the U.S. - and a Chinese made light is likewise MADE (brought into existence) in China - even if the aluminum stock used to machine the body came from an Alcoa plant in Iceland.

I think all of us have enough knowlege about this world to know what a "Chinese Made" light is... despite all the layers of semantic nitpicking that can be brought into an unneeded discussion of the definition of that concept.

I'm truly not trying to be antagonistic or argumentative here... just trying to avoid a huge potential thread derail that really isn't necessary.

Amelia said:

If we're going to go down the road of pedantic semantics, I think we can all agree that something like a McGizmo Haiku, Surefire Kroma, and Malkoff MDC are not Chinese made lights... regardless of whatever switches, resistors, or reflectors used might originate in China. Chicken Drumstick is correct in a way, it is probably impossible to find a light that's 100% made in any given country, but a U.S. made light is still MADE (designed, assembled, tested, and shipped) in the U.S. - and a Chinese made light is likewise MADE (brought into existence) in China - even if the aluminum stock used to machine the body came from an Alcoa plant in Iceland.

I think all of us have enough knowlege about this world to know what a "Chinese Made" light is... despite all the layers of semantic nitpicking that can be brought into an unneeded discussion of the definition of that concept.

I'm truly not trying to be antagonistic or argumentative here... just trying to avoid a huge potential thread derail that really isn't necessary.

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Ahh that's where I was going but you said it better than I would have!

Amelia said:

If we're going to go down the road of pedantic semantics, I think we can all agree that something like a McGizmo Haiku, Surefire Kroma, and Malkoff MDC are not Chinese made lights... regardless of whatever switches, resistors, or reflectors used might originate in China. Chicken Drumstick is correct in a way, it is probably impossible to find a light that's 100% made in any given country, but a U.S. made light is still MADE (designed, assembled, tested, and shipped) in the U.S. - and a Chinese made light is likewise MADE (brought into existence) in China - even if the aluminum stock used to machine the body came from an Alcoa plant in Iceland.

I think all of us have enough knowlege about this world to know what a "Chinese Made" light is... despite all the layers of semantic nitpicking that can be brought into an unneeded discussion of the definition of that concept.

I'm truly not trying to be antagonistic or argumentative here... just trying to avoid a huge potential thread derail that really isn't necessary.

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Apologies, not trying to de-rail.

But I honestly don't know out of the companies you list, which ones are fully Chinese made. I know fourSevens and I think EagleTac are US based companies. Do they do any assembly in the USA or only in China? Or does this even matter? for instance, I often buy 'hosts' from Chinese vendors. Basically unassembled flashlights missing all the internals. I then source the electronics from other places, although the reality is, these are still Chinese, but the same sort of parts that you'd find in the "USA" made lights. I then assemble the lights myself in the UK to my own spec.

As I say, I'm not trying to be pedantic, I just don't know what really truly constitutes Chinese made. e.g. from the EagleTac website:

EagleTac said:

EAGTAC LLC is found in 2009, Washington, USA. We strive to offer our customers the finest, brightest, toughest, and most power efficient tactical flashlights ever made. We currently sell flashlights and accessories under brand EAGTAC and EagleTac worldwide.

It's our goal to deliver outstanding and high performance light instruments that you can rely on, even under extreme conditions.

We are also flashaholics that demand the best and the brightest. To meet your high expectations, all of our products are designed by our own engineers. To allow our products to be price competitive, we manufacture and assemble our flashlights in our own oversea factory.

We hope our products and services can surpass your expectations and meet your ultimate needs.

Dan L.
President of EAGTAC LLC
12/2011

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I'm not convinced that makes them Chinese made in the same vain as a JetBeam which is a very different kind of company. The EagleTac would be to me 'made & designed in the USA, final assembly in China/where ever'.


Or to put it another way. If you owned a BMW that was assembled in a factory in the USA (as many are). Do you own an American built car or a German one?

Chicken Drumstick said:

Or to put it another way. If you owned a BMW that was assembled in a factory in the USA (as many are). Do you own an American built car or a German one?

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If a flashlight was "assembled" somewhere, I wouldn't care where. But when you start talking anodizing, testing, cutting threads, etc., I start to think about quality a little more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_USA

When in doubt, educate yourself! The FTC already has guidelines for what "Made in USA" means, and "Assembled in USA", and what labels are necessary for imports from overseas.