I am a newbie to the flashlights world. I have noticed that there are many fake or counterfeit products in the market. Even places like Amazon. Can anyone recommend a good place to buy authentic products.
Authentic as in antique??? Or as authentic as in not the clones?
I don't know about where to buy antique online. But origional lights, there are lots of tried and true dealers in the CPF Marketplace for the origional lights. FenixStore or Fenix outfitters for Fenix flashlights etc
goinggear is really good too
I am a newbie to the flashlights world. I have noticed that there are many fake or counterfeit products in the market. Even places like Amazon. Can anyone recommend a good place to buy authentic products.
Authentic?
Lets just say reputable,or enjoyed widely by a large group.
As above look at, GoinGear ,they only carry reputable brands.
Fenix lights are looked upon highly as are JetBeam,Sunwayman,Thrunite,FourSevens and they
have many more.
I'm going to go ahead and take the liberty of assuming that you perhaps misused the work "authentic". When you say authentic, I wonder if you mean "professional", "not crappy", flashlights. There are flashlights at home depot, ebay and your local hardware store that are barely worthy of the word flashlight. I suppose it depends on your definition of authentisity, but good quality flashlights are easy to find:
Some good brands are:
Surefire; not to be confused with anything else ending in ****fire. (eg, Uberfire, Megafire, Coolfire, Superfire are all knockoffs).
Fenix
Sunwayman
Zebralight
4Sevens (The Quark series; I love the word "Quark". Quark quark quark...)
Nitecore
Jetbeam
Eagletac
Any of these brands will serve you well. There are others, as you will see from scrolling down the forums.
There are many reputable dealers. Often the manufacturers will sell directly. There are outfitter stores like goinggear which have a good selection. I'm in Canada, so I really only know of the Canadian dealers. You should check out CPFmarketplace for more places to buy. They are a separate "sister" forum, exclusively dedicated to flashlight dealing.
What you want to avoid are the no-name brands that you see on ebay. If it has multiple LEDs or has no affiliated name, these are things you want to avoid. Ultimately, knockoff brands are not a problem unless you're buying out of the back of someones van. If you're really worried about it, order from the manufacturer directly.
My favorite so far: Illunation Gear, Tod has great prices and free shipping every time. Also a great little discount for CPF members! Runner up, Oveready.com out of Eugene OR! They have some nice stuff. Also had good experiences with Battery Junction. Good luck and do get too addicted or your wallet will hate you.
I'm also new to the whole flashlight scene but going gear seems like a good place to buy flashlights. I just ordered a klarus xt11, my first serious flashlight there. You can use their coupon code to get 10% off.