Bad luck Cheap Ebay or China lights= is a win win for all..

[bigchelis]

After purchasing over 10 DX or Ebay cheap lights with Cree or P7 LED's none have worked for long or out of the box. I did however learn about lights. Having to figure out why a new light doesn't work in the past I would have sent it back or given up, but thanks to these lights I check for electrical contact and usually there is something to be done to get them going. Now when the board burns up or the LED itself is fried I still haven't got into those fixes, but I am working on it because my left over DX lights have suffered from these conditions. Win win situation; I learn more and the DX lights come back to life.

It is like my first car. If it didn't break down all time I wouldn't know nearly as much as I do now.

This is how I learned about flashlights which made me appreciate Surefire and Malkoff a lot more. In the past I would have said $$$, no way Jose, but now its more like thats it. WoW great deal..

Do any of you a have a similar fate??????

 

[kramer5150]

Yup... same here. DX out of the box=:green: But will a little DIY power=:twothumbs

 

[Sgt. LED]

The inspiration for my sig. Sure I have learned along the way and that is worth something!

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

I buy from eBay (mostly from reputable American vendors) and never had a problem at all. On the other hand, DX/Kai and most chinese discount stores are like a Russian Roulette: all goes well till you get the bullet.

 

[bigchelis]

I buy from eBay (mostly from reputable American vendors) and never had a problem at all. On the other hand, DX/Kai and most chinese discount stores are like a Russian Roulette: all goes well till you get the bullet.

I wish I shared youre success. Absolutely none of my DX or Ebay drop-ins have worked out of the box or for very long. I am happy things worked out this way because the knowledge I gained is priceless. Pretty soon I will be posting in the homemade sectionlovecpf

 

[ma_sha1]

Non of my Dx lights are broken,

But I haven't used them very long, most are used as host,
so leds etc were swaptted out.

 

[kramer5150]

... and heres what I have come to realize....

I can DIY mod anything and get it to perform very well for the $$$ invested... including cheap junk.

The only thing I absolutely can't touch are Genes modules, the optics and thermal design are impossible to DIY replicate. IMHO there's more to it than running the LED at 1400mah and reflecting light to create a hot spot. IMHO more current just generates more heat, and that in turn dims the LED and reduces reliability.

 

[Wiggle]

For people like me who break open even perfectly functioning lights, a little tweaking is not a big deal when the price is right.

 

[Black Rose]

... and heres what I have come to realize....

I can DIY mod anything and get it to perform very well for the $$$ invested... including cheap junk.

Were you ever able to resurrent that RC-C3?

 

[kramer5150]

Were you ever able to resurrent that RC-C3?

Nope... I thought I could mod the pill too accept a 17mm diameter DC-DC board that I had trimmed down to 16mm. No dice:mecry:. That was one of my fave lights for sure.

 

[Moddoo]

funny, my RC-C3 is my only chinese light that I have not modded.
It just works great stock.
well, ok, I did throw it on the lathe to soften the tail edge, but...

all others worked fine, then I fixed them.
half of them are in a pile of misc parts now.

I don't see many chinese lights in my future.