What Happened to Zebralight R&D?

[alpg88]

You aren't going to see the difference on a white wall.

The big difference other than tint between the Samsung and the 219A and 519A (their R9080 variant) is the R9 value, which is your vibrant reds. That R9 is the difference between certain things, like us humans, look more life like. If you have ever used a light to examine skin, eyes, throat, etc., that R9 makes a world of difference. Outside it makes a difference if you find yourself making sure you don't step in dog crap or searching for animals (cats often in my case) hiding in bushes, under trees, etc. I'd imagine it would make snakes easier to spot, but I don't have first hand experience with that.

Well, i'm sure that is how it looks on paper, but since our eye's lens yellows over time, it has greater effect on how we see colors. Also as it turns out many people have color deficiency, they are not color blind, but some may not see red shades as good, other green, or blue. many don't even know it, until they take Ishihara test, that is how i found out i'm red deficient, for over 40 years i had no idea.
Now about examine human, or not human body, i do none of that, however, pretty much 80% of dentists i went to in last 10 years, use led lights, are they high cri? probably new ones are, but not those from 10 years ago, My vet, that i go for decades used crappy multi led headlamp to examine and operate, until i saw that "horror" and bought him a ZL 600 nw. He was more impressed with how small , light it is and how easy it is to disinfect it, but crappy light did not stop him from being correct about diagnosis, 95% of the time, he is not that good to diagnose neurological issues, but wound, infections, or anything he can see, he never made a mistake, same about surgeries, he operated on all my pest, fixing them, removing tumors, tooth extractions... SO based on that i believe, we, the flashlight community grossly over rate cri. I mean when we compare crappy blue 70cri light, vs hi cri, then absolutely, but when we compare high cri leds of different manufacturers, we are splitting hair imo.

 

[Mr. LED]

What I have learned is that while being incorporated in Texas, it's not an American owned company. It's actually a privately held, foreign company. The owner George Yao, is from China. He founded the company in 2006. The CFO is Ling Yao, and I presume George and Ling are spouses. Supposedly the Texas brick & mortar location is manned by just 3 people. I don't know if the Yaos live in the USA or China.

What's really curious is that while manufacturing initially started in the USA, it moved to China, but then moved back again to the USA sometime about 6~10 years later. And now, Zebralight is shipping only to the USA. Very odd for a Chinese owned company to do this. What I surmise is going on, is that most of the essential parts are made in China, but then shipped to the USA for final assembly. So, it's "Made in USA," but from China sourced parts. Nothing wrong with that, just aiming for clarity.

George was not only added as ceo, but also added as an "agent." Then two months later he's removed, then added back again just one month later, only to be removed again about 7 months later. Same for Ling, always at the same time. I wonder if this was done for a potential acquisition or merger? Or for tax purposes?

Zebralight was never an American company, it was founded and owned by a Chinese. Also, they are made in china, the factory is there. They are NOT assembled in USA, as you mentioned. I used to travel a lot to china and I got a contact in the factory, I used to buy directly from them while in china. They even made me some custom lights.

The reason they don't ship worldwide after the pandemic is because of logistics, Chinese mail got expensive and is not shipping to all countries, too many problems with delays, it's cheaper not to sell than to deal with complaints, delays and customers not receiving orders. They prefer to work with distributors, NKON in Europe, for example. They just ship big batches to USA and it's then shipped from Texas to customers.

Probably the reason for this changes in CEO is because of taxes.

One of the problems Zebralight being low profile, is people love to speculate and create rumors on the forums.

 

[defloyd77]

Well, i'm sure that is how it looks on paper, but since our eye's lens yellows over time, it has greater effect on how we see colors. Also as it turns out many people have color deficiency, they are not color blind, but some may not see red shades as good, other green, or blue. many don't even know it, until they take Ishihara test, that is how i found out i'm red deficient, for over 40 years i had no idea.
Now about examine human, or not human body, i do none of that, however, pretty much 80% of dentists i went to in last 10 years, use led lights, are they high cri? probably new ones are, but not those from 10 years ago, My vet, that i go for decades used crappy multi led headlamp to examine and operate, until i saw that "horror" and bought him a ZL 600 nw. He was more impressed with how small , light it is and how easy it is to disinfect it, but crappy light did not stop him from being correct about diagnosis, 95% of the time, he is not that good to diagnose neurological issues, but wound, infections, or anything he can see, he never made a mistake, same about surgeries, he operated on all my pest, fixing them, removing tumors, tooth extractions... SO based on that i believe, we, the flashlight community grossly over rate cri. I mean when we compare crappy blue 70cri light, vs hi cri, then absolutely, but when we compare high cri leds of different manufacturers, we are splitting hair imo.

Somewhat funny story from when I was in the hospital at the beginning of the year, about a young nurse's aide who was probably recently started the job.

All of the sudden I was woken up by an "OH MY GOD!" A bit out of it and confused as heck, all I could say was"what the....?" which led to a loud shriek from the aide, followed by "F***, I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!!!"

I was confused even more. "Sorry, I just came by to check on you, to make sure you weren't having any sort of reaction. Let me take a quick look." She checks my face, arms and legs. "Okay, everything looks fine, but you look ghostly pale."

"What's this on my face?" I asked. "I don't see anything." She replied. I'm starting to see what's going on and I handed her my Wurkkos WK01 on medium. "Oh wow, wow, oh s*** that's a big hive! Wow, that's so weird, you don't look so ghostly now."

I was too tired to go in full flashlight geek mode, so the young lady didn't walk away with an education on CRI.

 

[xevious]

Zebralight was never an American company, it was founded and owned by a Chinese. Also, they are made in china, the factory is there. They are NOT assembled in USA, as you mentioned. I used to travel a lot to china and I got a contact in the factory, I used to buy directly from them while in china. They even made me some custom lights.

The reason they don't ship worldwide after the pandemic is because of logistics, Chinese mail got expensive and is not shipping to all countries, too many problems with delays, it's cheaper not to sell than to deal with complaints, delays and customers not receiving orders. They prefer to work with distributors, NKON in Europe, for example. They just ship big batches to USA and it's then shipped from Texas to customers.

Probably the reason for this changes in CEO is because of taxes.

One of the problems Zebralight being low profile, is people love to speculate and create rumors on the forums.

So essentially, it sounds to me like you're implying that the Yao's are practicing a deception. By having a physical company location in the USA, they're claiming they're a US based company while in actuality all production and assembly of their lights is in China? I guess by being a private company it's not hard to pull this off, where the Irving TX location is simply a warehouse and distribution center for USA customers. Does NKON receive shipments directly from China?
It would be helpful if you qualified "I used to travel a lot to China." What years did you physically visit the Zebralight company location in China?

 

[Mr. LED]

Yes, the lights are made and assembled in china. Check your Zebralight box, it says MADE IN CHINA. Zebralight NEVER said their lights are made in USA, the website used to say something like "American owned and operated", I don't recall correctly, next to a USA flag. And currently this info is not on the website anymore. The only way it could be American owned, is if Mr. Yao has American citizenship (which I don't know), but as far as I know, he is Chinese.

Yes, NKON and everyone else receives shipments from China. Only American customers receive from USA, because they're shipped from china and redistributed from the Texas office. Before this "we sell to USA customers only" policy, if you ordered on Zebralight website, and did not live in USA, they shipped from China. And still today, if you need to send a light back for warranty, and you're outside USA, the customer service will give you a Chinese address to ship the light back to the factory for repair, and they'll ship it back to you repaired, from china.

I used to travel to china 12 times a year, between 2017 and 2020, I stopped because of the pandemic.

I'm not here to bash Zebralight, I'm just presenting facts. Due to the fact that Zebralight has no marketing, no info about anything, does not participate in forums, the website sucks, it's very obscure and low profile, so most people don't know what really happens. I still love all my 40 something zebras and will continue to do so.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Years ago, Zebralight had a presence on candlepowerforums.

Seems like we read that ZL was using American aluminum for a short time(?)

We learned that Gorilla glass was used for ZL lenses. It is made in
USA but now in other countries as well.

Wondering where the high quality ZL switches are made?

 

[Mr. LED]

Years ago, Zebralight had a presence on candlepowerforums.

Seems like we read that ZL was using American aluminum for a short time(?)

We learned that Gorilla glass was used for ZL lenses. It is made in
USA but now in other countries as well.

Wondering where the high quality ZL switches are made?

About aluminum, info directly from Zebralight:

"The source of materials contributes most to the finished color. Alcoa rods tend to have an olive/gold color. Kaiser rods tend to have a dark gray finish. ZL switched to Kaiser rods several years ago. The Kaiser rods are from the Kalamazoo MI factory. ZL uses (whatever finished color) US made rods as long as they are not way too expensive in China."

Maybe Chinese switches? Taiwan? Most components are made in Asia anyway.

 

[gurdygurds]

The lights are super duper nifty. Lots of super duper nifty stuff is made in China, or Japan, or Germany, or the USA, or wherever. The lights cost 70-100 whatever dollars. And they're super duper nifty. I spent $25 on fast food a few days ago for my daughter and a friend. Fast food isn't super duper nifty. We're not solving a mystery here folks. Cool lights….made in China. Light breaks….looks like it's sent to China. Light fixed…gets sent back to you from China.

 

[defloyd77]

The lights are super duper nifty. Lots of super duper nifty stuff is made in China, or Japan, or Germany, or the USA, or wherever. The lights cost 70-100 whatever dollars. And they're super duper nifty. I spent $25 on fast food a few days ago for my daughter and a friend. Fast food isn't super duper nifty. We're not solving a mystery here folks. Cool lights….made in China. Light breaks….looks like it's sent to China. Light fixed…gets sent back to you from China.

Somebody obviously didn't get a Happy Meal.

 

[this_is_nascar]

One of the problems Zebralight being low profile, is people love to speculate and create rumors on the forums.

Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[AstroTurf]

Somebody obviously didn't get a Happy Meal.

oh, i, disagree...

25 bucks is everybit of a couple of happy meals in my ao.

LOLz

 

[alpg88]

LOL, sure you got meals for $25, no one doubts that, but did it bring you happiness?

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Do 7 Happy Meals = 1 Zebralight?
(Not a happy thought)

 

[alpg88]

That is an excellent question. HAppy meals aint that great, imo, now if we are talking about 7 Texas double whoppers supersized meals, then it is a totally different story

 

[holygeez03]

ZL's offerings on their web site seem to be getting thinner and thinner... Either they are exhausting inventory to launch new product lines, or I have some fears.

Or maybe it is just continued material shortages? If it were a shortage issue, I would expect things to be "out of stock" and not pulled from the lineup.

 

[this_is_nascar]

Don't sweat what you can't change. Get your ZLs while they're available and use them.

Whatever happens, happens.

 

[hugodrax]

We just discovered this brand of light and purchased one to evaluate and it goes above and beyond what I expected. being able to program the light (they get tested/programmed before issuing) is great, the superlow moonbeam mode is just what was needed for the task at hand. They are programmed for the requirements at hand.

Mysterious company, who designed these lights? Surefire has nothing that meets these specific needs. Zebralight needs to get a CAGE code.

 

[wjv]

I was just on their website looking for a new light. Problem is, many of their "specs" for their lights don't list lumens, or don't list runtimes. Makes me hesitant to drop $100 when they can't even provide the specs for their lights. Sad to see.

 

[OkestEngineer]

We just discovered this brand of light and purchased one to evaluate and it goes above and beyond what I expected. being able to program the light (they get tested/programmed before issuing) is great, the superlow moonbeam mode is just what was needed for the task at hand. They are programmed for the requirements at hand.

Mysterious company, who designed these lights? Surefire has nothing that meets these specific needs. Zebralight needs to get a CAGE code.

That's awesome to hear. If you don't mind, what task do you need it for?

 

[OkestEngineer]

ZL's offerings on their web site seem to be getting thinner and thinner... Either they are exhausting inventory to launch new product lines, or I have some fears.

Or maybe it is just continued material shortages? If it were a shortage issue, I would expect things to be "out of stock" and not pulled from the lineup.

If you read through the various ZL threads, you will find this is the cycle they do. They are mysterious...