Eveready versus Bright Star

[ericjohn]

I have an Eveready 1259 and 1359. I also have a Bright Star 2217 and 2224.

After not even a year my Bright Star 2224 needs an occasional shake to turn on. My 2217 is slightly better, but is dimmer even with new batteries and bulb.

On the other hand; my Eveready/Energizers come on without any problem. Now granted my Evereadys are much newer, but I had a 1259 from years ago that always fired up. I found it at Goodwill and it was probably used in the oil field. It was positively from the 1990's (92-95?). I gave it away for some dumb reason.

Since, then I bought another 1259 new one last summer. My 1359 came in yesterday. The switch on the Eveready is strong and robust. Has yet to fail me. It has been like that on all the Eveready/Energizers I owned, except for one (IN251 2 D Industrial.)

The switch on the Bright Star is a bit more sophisticated, but much less reliable. The only Bright Star that has preformed without fail, is my 2217. I have had it for almost 2 years. I have had 2 2618s (very horrible compared to their 1618 predecessor.) They just basically fell apart after a few weeks of use as a cheap EDC (this was back in the fall of 2010 and I was broke.) I wouldn't advise buying ANY Bright Star 21xx or 26xx flashlights. Their switch system is a piece of garbage. I really hate to bash flashlights, especially American-Made flashlights. The Bright Star 16xx flashlights (from the 1940's to the 1970s?) were awesome and there are many still in operation. They were like plastic Kel Lites. What gets me is, the 16xx had a similar switch mechanism to their modern day 26xx and 21xx, yet the latter doesn't last but a few weeks. Why did Bright Star drop so much in quality?

Eveready/Energizer still makes good lights for the consumer and light tradesman markets. The Contractor/Industrial lights are good as are the safety 1x59 models. The newer Value Lites ~200x were no where near good as the Value Lites of 198x and 199x. The Utility Lantern of the 1990s is different on the inside from the Utility Lantern of now (200x and 201x.) The former used wires to connect to the spring terminals, while the latter had a reflector mounted to the reflector. LED versions of those two are assembled here but the LED circuitry is probably chinese made. I am ashamed to say that the chinese made Energizers are very good. I have bought the incandescent Disney Princess light for my niece, and damn it was powerful. It rivalled my incandescent Mini Maglite. That was in Christmas of 2007. I think it's the very good bulbs combined with the included high energy density batteries. My wife gave me an Energizer 2 AA Value LED and it is awesome. I have other Energizer/Evereadys. They are the perfect budget lights.

Bright Star never marketed to consumers, maybe they should have. I never tried any of their LED lights and I don't plan to anytime soon. If there was any Bright Star flashlight I would want it would be a Responer Right Angle Yellow alkaline version (#500305.) I don't think I can afford one in the near future, nor can I find one for a fair (realistic) price.

The Eveready/Energizer lights have also kept up with time and came out with the Miliatry Hard Case Tactical and Civilian Night Strike. I cannot find any of those for a fair price neither.

All in all; Energizer/Eveready needs to bring jobs back here and Bright Star REALLY needs to clean up their act.

 

[TEEJ]

Companies facing loss of market share can either improve the product to sell to an upmarket niche, or, degrade the product to hit price points competitive with lower market niches.

Too many American companies chose to degrade the products.

Companies facing loss of market share can either up their marketing/advertising efforts to try to regain market share with customer awareness, or, try to cut costs by shaving or dropping marketing efforts.

Too many American companies went for smaller marketing endeavors to save money short term, while surrendering their demographic base to the competition.


Essentially, if you make the product more affordable, but no one KNOWS, you have a crappy product no one buys.

If you make the product less affordable, but better...and people at least KNOW its better...they MIGHT buy the better product. If they know its cheaper, they MIGHT buy the cheaper product....and so forth.


A lot of the dilemma here is that by the time they start thinking about what to do, now that sales have tanked for a while, and there's no money for product improvements, raises OR advertising, etc...they tend to simply swap in cheaper parts, and hang on.

That can be the death spiral...and a cash transfusion is needed to cure it. Selling off the few VALUABLE assets is typically how THAT is done, that, and/or closing the losers.

 

[ericjohn]

Bright Star's 22xx and 21xx, Eveready's 1x59 and Pelican's SabreLite and MityLite are pretty popular in this area. There is lots of oilfeild/natural gas production, chemical plants, and sugar production/storage here. There are a quite a few warehouses that sell these lights.

Bright Star was never really aimed at the consumer market. They have always, as far as I know, been targeted to the industrial sector. Therefore, I would imagine that their products should be able to stand up to much more rugged conditions. They USED TO make flashlights for that market. The 2618 is pitiful for any kind of flashlight market, industrial or consumer. The 575 is also junk. I am never buying either of those again. I would like to get the Alkaline version of the Right Angle Responder someday.

Eveready has been marketed to all users: Consumer, Industrial and Tactical. I don't know if they still make their incandescent Industiral/Contractor models, if not there are probably millions of them in surplus worldwide. These "old" Industrial models were almost always American made. They have new Industrial LED flashlights which are UNFORTUNATELY chinese made. Those lights look pretty good, but would you trust a chinese made product in a hazardous location? Think back to the situation with chinese dry wall.

I am not even to go there with Pelican. Their bulbs are hard to find and these bulbs break too easily. There are other complaints about these lights but I don't feel like going into detail right now.

@ TEEJ That does make sense. This seems like it has been going on for a while. I wish there wouldn't be so much greed in the higher ups and that they would care more about their workers (create jobs) and make better products (generate more income.)


Back in the good old 90's there were much more quality flashlights being made (even though they were no where near as bright as the ones of today.) Consumer and Industrial were almost interchangeable (Garrity Tuff Lite (foreign but not chinese) were widely used around here. Energizer and Rayovac Industrials were widely available at consumer stores. Maglite was a great luxury. Sure Fire was un heard of. Bright Star was better and had a wider selection.) I had no internet back then and was unaware of those high end flashlights. I miss those days (better attitudes, better economy, more quality products that are still in use today and better world to grow up in.) My wife agrees with me totally.

 

[sgiterman]

I must differ with you on this. Bright Star has marketed to the consumer market since they first opened shop in 1909. I have about 20 or so different models from that time through the 50's; not the most imaginative of lights, but consumer models nonetheless, and very well built. This included fiber tube and nickel plated brass, as well as painted brass tubes, and an innovative ring hanger located on the body of the switch, instead of the endcap.

As for problems with switches, contacts and such, all old flashlights are subject to those troubles. Primarily caused by leaking batteries, problems can also arise due to natural oxidation of the contact surfaces. A quick fix is Deoxit5, a true "miracle" cleaner.

Here is a link to the mfr. though it is available through other internet sources as well. Use this particularly on switches that can be pulled apart for cleaning. I have successfully repaired otherwise unworkable flashlights on many occassions with a spray or two...

http://store.caig.com/s.nl/it.A/id.1602/.f?sc=2&category=188

 

[ericjohn]

I must differ with you on this. Bright Star has marketed to the consumer market since they first opened shop in 1909. I have about 20 or so different models from that time through the 50's; not the most imaginative of lights, but consumer models nonetheless, and very well built. This included fiber tube and nickel plated brass, as well as painted brass tubes, and an innovative ring hanger located on the body of the switch, instead of the endcap.

As for problems with switches, contacts and such, all old flashlights are subject to those troubles. Primarily caused by leaking batteries, problems can also arise due to natural oxidation of the contact surfaces. A quick fix is Deoxit5, a true "miracle" cleaner.

Here is a link to the mfr. though it is available through other internet sources as well. Use this particularly on switches that can be pulled apart for cleaning. I have successfully repaired otherwise unworkable flashlights on many occassions with a spray or two...

http://store.caig.com/s.nl/it.A/id.1602/.f?sc=2&category=188

The only Bright Star flashlights I can really gripe about are the 2618 and 2117. Their switch is NOT affected by corrosion, but just being flimsy. There was a similar switch on their previous 1618, but was built much better. Those flashlights have been around for 70+ years and have preformed wonderfully. The modern 2618 is poorly built and that is why I have said Bright Star needs to clean up its act. Another poorly built model they had was the 575. The 22xx models are built like tanks and their LED counterparts are WONDERFUL. These were not available when I started this thread. Bright Star has made many other wonderful lights over the years, there's no doubting there. Hope I have clarified things.