NDI serial number??

[LiteTheWay]

We have had quite a bit of discussion here about the NDI so I thought why not add to it?

There has also been much discussion in particular of the supposedly US vs Asian models and TAD's claim of a superior US version. So I thought maybe the serial numbers could tell us something at least until Babydoc and others post reviews on any US-purchased vs Asian (HK)-purchased differences. If ALL Asian-purchased NDI's have a different type of serial number from ALL US-purchased NDI's then MAYBE there is something in the story although not necessarily about quality.

To get the ball rolling, my NDI from HK Equipment is serial number:

ZNCDIBHK 00081

 

[BigD64]

I can't seem to find any serial number on my NDI.

 

[LiteTheWay]

Sorry, not on the NDI itself - on the plastic credit-card sized card that comes with it in the box.

 

[Ninjaz7]

I take it yours came from Tad?Excellent thought:thumbsup:.

 

[ykb]

ZNCDIBHK 00040
Bought from a HK eBay seller
The output is good, that's about it.

 

[BabyDoc]

Serial number aside, we know at least one difference for sure with the lights TAD GEAR is shipping. The imprinting on the lights is slightly misaligned. This indicates at least they have a different production run from the others being shipped out from dealers in Hong Kong. Some poeple are reporting square threads on those from TAD GEAR. I don't know if they were just joking or whether these ARE the improved threads. My light is supposed to be delivered on Tuesday from TAD. I will report any differences I can find. Hopefully they will be for the better, although I could hardly be happier with the one I already received from HKequipment.

 

[Kilovolt]

Just for the reference this is the s/n of my NDI purchased from Nitecore within the $50 initial group: ZNDIA1209 00111

 

[Medic_how]

bought mine from photon gears
#zncdibca 00012

 

[monanza]

New TADGear batch (delivered 4/28/08): ZNCDIBUS 00727

This post shows a photograph of the NDI square threads. Hopefully others will get their new NDI's and confirm.

 

[LiteTheWay]

New TADGear batch (delivered 4/28/08): 00727

But its the letters BEFORE the numbers that might be revealing, ie., does it say US somewhere?

Are these 'sguare' threads supposed to be better?

 

[monanza]

I meant to fix that! Post edited with the full serial #. Yes it does say US!

The square threads feel smoother/more firm when screwing the bezel on and off. I don't worry as much about stripping the threads by misaligning the bezel and pipe.

 

[BabyDoc]

I can't appreciate "square" threads from the picture. What I can appreciate is the threads appear further apart than on my HK equipment version. How this will effect the movement of the head, can anybody hazard a guess? I can't.

 

[liquidsix]

The letters before the numbers are revealing. I'd guess that everyone who did the group buy has a serial number of ZNDIA1209 #####, and everyone who bought afterwards has some region specific serial of ZCNDIB[Country or Region code here] #####. So every serial from TAD gear probably starts out as ZCNDIBUS. I bet every serial from Photon Gears is ZCNDIBCA (for canada), and anyone who buys from the Hong kong dealer off of Ebay will get ZCNDIBHK (for Hong Kong).

I bet the 'B' beside the country/region code indicates that it's either from the 2nd batch or its the 2nd version (with no 'Strong Light' and a blue circuit board instead of the green one the original had).

Mine's from the original group buy, I bought it at $60. My Serial is ZNDIA1209 00325

 

[Drywolf]

ZNCDIBHK 00003

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]hkequipment ordered (ebay) - 03/09[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]shipped - 03/17[/FONT]

 

[DrunkenDonut]

My dad's NDI, purchased from Photon Gears in late March indeed has the Canadian code "ZNCDIBCA" and in this case with number 00007.

The picture in Monanza's link looks interesting. The threads on the head portion are definitely courser. It might be deeper cut too, but that may be somewhat of an illusion. Kind of hard to tell. In contrast, my NDI has similar (if not identical, apart from plated vs anodized) threads for both the head and tail sections. Out of the box, the head was "rough" and squeaky due to no lube but not gritty. Threads weren't really dirty aside from a little black that comes off on the wipe. After a little lube it was silky smooth, no need to fuss with extra cleaning or re-lubing. I dealt with my "tight o-ring after lube" problem by changing o-rings and using Nyogel 760G.

Just to be thorough, the NiteCore branding is ever so slightly crooked, but is well centered vertically. It's slight enough that I didn't notice until now (well, when I read about it in another thread). The "Defender Infinity" side is level. The - and + signs are aligned, and have no strange offsets. I would prefer that everything was perfect but even knowing about it now, it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

 

[Cheapskate]

The letters before the numbers are revealing. I'd guess that everyone who did the group buy has a serial number of ZNDIA1209 #####, and everyone who bought afterwards has some region specific serial of ZCNDIB[Country or Region code here] #####. So every serial from TAD gear probably starts out as ZCNDIBUS. I bet every serial from Photon Gears is ZCNDIBCA (for canada), and anyone who buys from the Hong kong dealer off of Ebay will get ZCNDIBHK (for Hong Kong).

I bet the 'B' beside the country/region code indicates that it's either from the 2nd batch or its the 2nd version (with no 'Strong Light' and a blue circuit board instead of the green one the original had).

Mine's from the original group buy, I bought it at $60. My Serial is ZNDIA1209 00325

I think you are correct. The letters before the actual serial number are a country designation. I bought mine from a dealer in France and the letters are FR - no surprise there.

 

[lnh]

My NDI came today from TAD with the serial number starting with: ZNCDIBUS. Initial observation is that it's a nice light. The new jet-1 MK IBS low may be a little lower than the NDI.

Just curious about one behavior of the NDI. If the light is turned on in the max brightness position (tightened) after it's previous been on user defined (loosened postion) and set low, you initally get about 1 second at low brightness before it goes bright. Is that normal?

 

[e2x2e]

ZNCDIBUS 00657

From Tadgear.

"Square" threads on one end(for the head). The LED has phosphor all around(i.e. not the new "silver" ones).

It was a little quirky at first...I lubed it and it seems to be working fine. It's much smaller than I was expecting.

 

[monanza]

Oh yeah! I had forgotten about that. I also get the one second low before high the first time after tightening. Don't know if it is normal though. The reverse is not true; i.e. if I turn off the light and loosen the bezel then turn it on, it comes on low right away.

If I turn on the light then loosen the bezel, I get the 1 second delay before it switches to low. Similarly, if I tighten the bezel I get the delay before it goes to high.

My NDI came today from TAD with the serial number starting with: ZNCDIBUS. Initial observation is that it's a nice light. The new jet-1 MK IBS low may be a little lower than the NDI.

Just curious about one behavior of the NDI. If the light is turned on in the max brightness position (tightened) after it's previous been on user defined (loosened postion) and set low, you initally get about 1 second at low brightness before it goes bright. Is that normal?

 

[e2x2e]

Oh yeah! I had forgotten about that. I also get the one second low before high the first time after tightening. Don't know if it is normal though. The reverse is not true; i.e. if I turn off the light and loosen the bezel then turn it on, it comes on low right away.

If I turn on the light then loosen the bezel, I get the 1 second delay before it switches to low. Similarly, if I tighten the bezel I get the delay before it goes to high.

My NDI does that delay too But only sometimes :shrug:

If I turn it off then go to low, no delay, if I'm on low turn off and go to high I get a delay. If I switch with the light on, I get a delay both ways.