A Lot of Brands Out there

[wuyeah]

I was checking on a discount site and there are a lot of brands that I don't hear them around here a lot but do offer great deal price, such as:

Ultrafire
Tank007
Romisen
Aurora
YEZL
Wolf-eye
UniqueFire
Palight
TrustFire
SterOps

Which companies here are producing quality lights and what are NO, NO, Never go to after? I am more familiar names like Fenix, Surefire, Sunwayman, JetBeam....etc. but they do come higher in price. I just know usually names that contain "fire" that are not surefire usually doesn't give me a good impression but I might quick to judge before using their lights.

 

[BBL]

"UniqueFire" really? Those names are hillarious

About your question, i wondered the same. There might be some promising newcomers out there, but it is hard to tell which are good.

 

[wuyeah]

"UniqueFire" really? Those names are hillarious

About your question, i wondered the same. There might be some promising newcomers out there, but it is hard to tell which are good.

REALLY! and if you find it hard to believe, I just checked it. UniqueFire offer a personal single mode handheld light M2 claim to 900 Lumens for $17.69

 

[TyJo]

I haven't bought any light from those manufacturers and I highly doubt I will in the future.

 

[Vesper]

Not sure of the others, but Romisen lights are actually very good for the price. There might be some others in that list that are actually worth purchasing too. Somewhere there is a budget LED thread (or there used to be) that reviews such lights.

 

[TyJo]

Somewhere there is a budget LED thread (or there used to be) that reviews such lights.

Forgot to mention that. Here is the budget light sub-forum.

 

[skyfire]

dont forget about FandyFire...

wolf's eye you dont hear much about anymore... ive never handled one, but their lights seem good.

you might find info on the rest of those brands on the budget forum.

 

[robostudent5000]

most of those brands aren't that bad. you just have to be careful that you get authentic versions of those brands. the real one's can be surprisingly hard to find. there are a lot of absolute crap fake versions of those brands floating around out there. for example, Romisen and most Ultrafire lights are actually very well made. most people seem to have had very good experiences with them when they got them from reputable dealers. but a really big chunk of what you find out there are fake Romisens and fake Ultrafires and they can suck. you just have to be careful to buy the real ones.

 

[leon2245]

I've always been under the impression that Fire Inc. is a great company who stands behind ALL their products: UniqueFires, UltraFires, SuperFires, SureFires. CertainFires, TrustFires, TrueFires, NewFires. <Jessie Jackson>IrrefutableFires, IndisputableFires. IncontrovertibleFires & UnequivocalFires.</Jessie Jacskon> They should all be top-notch products& fully protected by Fire's no-hassle lifetime guarantee.

:shrug:

 

[uknewbie]

I think Wolf Eyes are somewhat out of place on that list of cheapo light makers.

They do some pretty good, and expensive, stuff.

 

[derfyled]

The list should also include SPIDERFIRE and GODFIRE...

 

[mmace1]

Romisen is a kinda-sorta "king" of the enthusiast-"budget"-light sector. At least a Duke. No lower than a Viscount. Anyway, they're well respected. In the last comphrennsive 2xAA roundup (that I know of) on CPF - all major high-end brands were included, plus one "budget" - a Romisen. One I happen to own and have taken night swimming in Dubai & the Philippines of all places! Very well made light.

Ultrafire is a favorite for Frankenstein creation of custom-lights. E.g. - use an ultrafire body mated to a head from a custom-ish dealer.

Wolf-eye...I've never heard mentioned as a "budget" light, I've always known them as a standard "CPF"-lefel light.

Aurora has one popular "budget CPF" Model.

The others...I can't say I have any idea.

 

[trooplewis]

I own 5 or 6 Ultrafires, 4 Trustfires, 2 Uniquefires, a Romisen, a Palight, and 2 Yezls.
On one of the Trustfires (F15) I had to re-solder the pill to the driver, but that is the only issue I have had with any of those lights. They are Cheap Chinese lights, sometimes they are waterproof, sometimes they are not, but at the $15-25 price range they are a great bargain and put our huge amounts of light, depending on the emitter of course.

You will find all kinds of information as well as reviews on many models of the lights you mentioned on Budget Light Forum.

4 Trustfires and the Fenix Tk41

Here is a Palight and 2 Ultrafires (on the left) and a SkyRay on the far right.

 

[BREAM]

There is also UranusFire. No- I am not joking.

 

[Lightdadark]

There is also UranusFire. No- I am not joking.

Bwahahahahaha!!!!

 

[Tuikku]

I have had maybe 10 of these cheapo brands.
First of them I bought "blindly" without reading forums at all. I´ve had a malfunction in one, also in one which I modded myself before it...

I might add, that I have had one LedLenser, which failed, 2 custom made flashlights from CPF and 1 / 2 has failed...

 

[^Gurthang]

The major drawback to most of the "budget" lights sold on DX, KD, and MF is inconsistancy. You may buy one model Funk-O-Fire and it arrives intact, w/ good threads, a good driver and tailcap. You order another an it arrives DOA. You return it for a replacement, which arrives w/ poor threads, a flakey switch and the driver dies after a week.

Another problem area is undocumented revisions. At one time there was a rather coveted Arkoray K106 {IIRC}, it had a good driver and emitter combo, was rugged and dependable. Within a few months members ordering the same model received lights w/ a lesser emitter and a flakey driver. It was several months later that the seller web site even mentioned it had made changes to the model.

I have a number of budget lights and I fully expect that I will have to make repairs/ mods/ tweaks to keep them running. I'm willing to take that risk for the amount of $$ invested.

 

[Mike_TX]

Much of the above is the usual holier-than-thou reaction you'll get on the "high-priced" forum. Many of those good folk have never even held an Ultrafire or Romisen, and can't speak with authority about them. They simply think in their arrogance that such low-cost lights can't be good. I have over a dozen Ultrafires, Romisens, KD's and even a couple with no names at all, and every one of them works beautifully. After all, they aren't rocket science.

Don't fear the budget lights.

.
.

 

[stangster]

Much of the above is the usual holier-than-thou reaction you'll get on the "high-priced" forum. Many of those good folk have never even held an Ultrafire or Romisen, and can't speak with authority about them. They simply think in their arrogance that such low-cost lights can't be good. I have over a dozen Ultrafires, Romisens, KD's and even a couple with no names at all, and every one of them works beautifully. After all, they aren't rocket science.

Don't fear the budget lights.

.
.

I agree. It's as if they come with diseases or something.

A few years ago, I didn't know what a "budget" light was. Up until then, I've had the "normal" brands that everyone on cpf had. Inova, SF, SL, Arc, PT, Pelican, etc. I took a break from the forums to put a hold on my spending habit. (You can't buy what you can't see!) When I came back a couple years later, there were already so many new lights with brighter LEDs that were so much cheaper than what I was used to. I had to email JS to ask him what was going on! He couldn't keep track of all the new lights either.

Well, since then I've come to realize that budget lights were just what I needed! I have a baby now so every dollar counts. So instead of pondering for weeks on end whether I can afford a $250 Fenix, Olight or SF...I am now pondering for weeks about a $25.00 flashlight. Sure the threads will need lube/cleaning. Sure, the finish will wear like a maglite or a black SF 6P. And sure the name doesn't sound as cool/familiar as what I'm used to. But my $15 UniqueFire G10 1-mode runs circles around my L4, T3, T4 or any other LED light I have so far. It feels good saving money especially on flashlights. It's bad enuf we're addicted. Does this make me any less of a flashaholic because I want to spend less?

Am I going to ever spend over $250 on a flashlight again? Sure I will if it can WOW me like the last $250 I got. But in all honesty, even if it did wow me, I would think about my boy and realize it's just a stupid light....get the $25 one and save the cash for him.

 

[Vesper]

But in all honesty, even if it did wow me, I would think about my boy and realize it's just a stupid light....get the $25 one and save the cash for him.

You're right. A new budget light is a good way to feed your light hunger and not break the bank. I tend to look forward to the new budget light when it's on the way as much as their higer priced brothers. Maybe it's the gamble of it all.