Travelling to Irvine, CA. Any light shop/dealer to suggest for visit?

ArmoredFiend

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
151
Location
Penang Island, Malaysia
Hi Guys,

I will be travelling to Irvine, CA soon.

Any light dealer i should visit and perhaps consider getting coz it's gonna be cheaper in US as compared to Asia?

Am from Malaysia though. So Fenix and the likes should be cheaper getting them here than in US.

Any light model/brand to recommend apart from SureFire?
 

bykfixer

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 9, 2015
Messages
20,347
Location
Dust in the Wind
Look up police supply stores and hunting supply stores in that area of CA. They would be where you'd find the more durable products you seek. Streamlights, Fenix, and that sort.

Enjoy your stay!
 

RobertM

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 24, 2007
Messages
1,482
Location
United States
If you end up north of Los Angeles at all, LA Police Gear in Valencia has a pretty cool "flashlight wall" where you can try and play with a bunch of flashlights.
 

Chinohills

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 18, 2012
Messages
3
Went by LAPG today and they have a smallish flashlight display (they've moved other things around, too). Not sure I'd make the trip all the way up there from Irvine unless interested in other "tactical" type things as well. I don't recall too many places having a lot of variety of flashlights, etc., in Southern California. Aside from Surefire (and not sure they have a competitive retail outlet, most manufacturers won't undercut their dealers) and Maglite, traditional and not very cutting edge, it seems, there aren't too many makers I'm aware of in the US for the typical consumer sorts of lights. Since most of the brands here are imports, I'm not sure there are a lot of bargains to be found in stores. Online might be worth exploring depending on how long you are here and if deliveries can be arranged for you. One thing to be aware of is California has a sales tax so if you buy from a source with a business presence in California, tax will be added. About 7-8% or a little more depending on local additional taxes. So if you order from Amazon, for example, or buy locally, there would be tax added. If you buy from out of California, like B&H Photo in New York for delivery to Ca., there would be no tax typically but then you deal with the possible problems of deliveries, charges and time delays, etc.

Many vendors are hesitant to deliver to other than a permanent address for a cardholder.
 

SoCalTiger

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Mar 7, 2017
Messages
111
Location
:)
Maglite HQ is in Ontario, CA. But, that is kind of far from Irvine and I also don't even know if it is worth a visit. I know they have a trade-in program there but not sure if they have a normal store that you can browse. Prices are probably MSRP anyway.
 

KuroNekko

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Messages
89
I know this is an old thread, but I live in Irvine, CA which is in Orange County. Fountain Valley is also in Orange County and is only about 15 mins from Irvine. Fountain Valley happens to be where Surefire is based. FV also seems to be an industrial/manufacturing hub of Orange County and has some interesting stores and shops. I have typically gone up there for Fry's Electronics.

On a related note regarding Surefire, I'm now seeing their products at REI. Is that a recent thing or a California thing? I just moved back to CA after 10 years on the East Coast in Maryland. I used to live very close to an REI in College Park, MD (it has since closed given the DC flagship store opening) and REIs in Maryland and DC used to carry Fenix and Nitecores as their high-end flashlights in a glass case. However, REI seems to have phased out Nitecore models that they used to sell both in-store and online and seems to have replaced them with Surefires. The REI in Tustin, CA I recently visited carried Surefires and Fenix models in a glass case and no Nitecores. I was wondering if this switch to Surefire from Nitecore was with all REIs recently or if Surefires have been offered for a while.
 
Top