Chinese lights

[jpbaily1]

Are they worth the investment, allbeit a nominal price?

 

[Norm]

Your question is far to open.

American made Pizzas are they tasty?

Norm

 

[TMedina]

Chinese lights are not inherently bad. But as Norm says, your question is pretty vague. What "Chinese lights" are you thinking of?

The lights I "invest in" are pretty slim and, as it happens, all American: Malkoff, Surefire, Elzetta. By "invest", I mean that I'm willing to spend $100+ per light because I absolutely trust them to work when I need them to.

That said, I also spend money on Fenix and other brands to fill specific roles - but never over $50; I haven't seen a light that I personally would be willing to trust or invest in beyond that arbitrary figure.

However, a lot of posters on CPF would disagree, and do so passionately.

 

[ragweed]

I think he means getting a hefty return on the lights down the road. The answer is NO.

 

[raptechnician]

I try to stay away from anything chinese made (lots of exceptions, clothes, shoes, electronics etc...) Some of the cheap $20 lights on ebay look half decent and are using decent emitters. I read a review on a $20 ultrafire light, and the guy had to keep reminding himself that this was a $20 and not $40 light.
4sevens in my opinion is one of the best light manufacturers out there. I believe all their lights are outsourced to China, aswell as their partner company Olight who is actually based out of China. The Chinese are very good at manufacturing everything, and can do it for the lowest cost always. David and 4sevens have really got me to look at Chinese manufacturers different. Quality lights at a good price. When I first heard how much Surefire was...I thought thats ridiculous. I cant afford anything by Surefire, but most of the 4sevens lights are in my budget.
Most of the people on here dont buy Chinese made I think...but Im suprised to always see how many people support 4sevens.

 

[Norm]

Most of the people on here dont buy Chinese made I think...but Im suprised to always see how many people support 4sevens.

This is posted in the Budget sub Forum, I suggest you check out other threads posted in the Budget sub forum, many CPF members buy and have lots of fun playing with budget lights.

Norm

 

[Eric242]

There´s nothng wrong with chinese made lights as long as you buy quality lights and not cheap crap. From "Made in china" you can get top notch quality (Arc´teryx for example now make most of their apparel in china and there is no difference in quality to their canadian made stufff) to the worst cancer causing childs toys. It all depends on what the manufacturer wants. There´s nothing wrong with buying jetbeam, 4sevens or sunwayman lights. Although these don´t fit the budget light factor I´m afraid.
Eric

 

[BenChiew]

Why are China made products cheaper than others? Volume with economies of scale? Lower labor cost? Maybe all the above.
But I think the biggest factor is cheating. Yes cheating. When they sell you an expected quality or specs for a lower price, you can say it is cheaper. Not when they tell you it is "A" but gives you "B". I am not saying all the manufacturers are but I would think many of them will cheat.

Milk issue. They clearly indicated what they sell but gives you a concoction of chemicals to make you think it is milk. What do you call that? I call that cheating.

Sure, in the last decade many brand and technology owners from the west is drawn by the cheap cost of manufacturing in China. And many have gone over there but to return with damaged reputation. With the exceptions of several super giants like Apple. I have seen many products made in the west with superior quality and reputation. They too sub contract their base line product to be made in China, a year or two later, they pull back with a dented reputation at best.

They are not the world manufacturer but the largest cheats. It is only cheap when you pay less for a similar quality item. Are you getting similar quality?

 

[BenChiew]

I live in Malaysia and did you know that the richer Mainland Chinese do not even trust their own products. These people come over here to buy local made food products and then bring it back to consume there.
Why? They know too well.
Have you heard of the fake eggs? Well, you name it, China can make them.

 

[thedoc007]

I take your point, Benchview, in fact I brought up some of the same issues myself. But again, you should not tar the entire population of China because of some bad actors. It is a form of racism to claim that the whole country is cheating...some are, and some aren't, like anywhere else. There have been plenty of bad actors in other countries as well. If you avoid all Chinese products as a matter of personal choice, I don't blame you, but China is perfectly capable of making high quality products that meet or exceed the specs. You are limiting your choices if you make a decision to boycott all products of a certain country. Again, the real trick is to know which companies are reliable, and which are out to make short term profits, and don't care about their reputation over the long run.

 

[BenChiew]

I am not trying to black list them based on a few bad hats. The only workable way to manufacture there is to setup your own and make sure you have your own people hawkeye the whole process. There are more horror stories if you choose the contract manufacturing method.

 

[thedoc007]

I agree completely with you there. I think contracting and sub-contracting is often a bad idea, regardless of where you are doing it. I want to know that if I buy from company x, that company is actually involved in making the product, not just handing off a spec sheet to company y, and hoping for the best. That lack of involvement and shirking of responsibility is a far bigger problem to me then where the item is manufactured.

 

[Norm]

thedoc007 Your post has been deleted, please save your political comments for the underground, stick to the topic at hand. - Norm

 

[thedoc007]

Um, I don't quite understand why, sorry if I broke any rules, but can you clarify Norm? I would PM you instead but I know some people don't like that. The topic was Chinese lights, so I'm not sure how you can claim my post was off topic. I discussed Chinese manufacturing, Chinese lights, and what lights people are buying. I was certainly not intending to make political comments, but to address the concerns expressed by others in this thread, as well as bring up some FACTUAL examples (not my opinion) that I felt were germane to this topic. Given the original post in this thread (my standard for relevance) I simply don't understand why you deleted my post. Would appreciate clarification, if I did break the forum rules, I'd like to know why, so I can avoid doing so in the future. Since I don't save my posts outside of CPF, I can't even look back to review it, and see what specifically is causing your objection. Feel free to PM.

 

[kaichu dento]

TheDoc, you're specifically supposed to PM mods and not jam up threads arguing with them.

Going back on-topic, I suspect the OP is either a troll looking to post an overly vague post which involved a minimal amount of effort just to see the fighting start, or innocently started a thread in the laziest manner possible.

I'd say the rest of the forum here already answers his query in spades, as it's apparent that regardless of any negativity showered on China in the threads, most all of us have many Chinese lights, and again, many of us use them every day.

For example, I have a Chinese light in one pocket, Hawaiian light in another and a Californian light on a neck lanyard.

Just looked at the OP's stats and he's only got 3 posts, 2 of them being new threads to which he doesn't even reply, not to mention completely ignoring Norm's request to go into more detail in the OP. Don't know what all that means, but this thread as it stands isn't even worth leaving open and I wish Norm would come back and close it.

 

[Norm]

I suspect the OP is either a troll looking to post an overly vague post which involved a minimal amount of effort just to see the fighting start, or innocently started a thread in the laziest manner possible. Don't know what all that means, but this thread as it stands isn't even worth leaving open and I wish Norm would come back and close it.

Done.

Norm