GORDON at Harbor Frt a Streamlight??

I just was going through the latest Harbor Freight sale catalog and they have a 3C battery, 3 LED, 6 LED and Xenon light for $12.99 It looks and sounds EXACTLY like the Streamlight Twin Task I keep under my sink for home emergencies............... Or working under the sink...........

Before I let a few friends know about it, is this an 'already' known fact that Gordon is OEM'ed by Streamlight, or did I stumble onto something???

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/127716

It has been mentioned before. My co-worker just ordered up a few and we can compare them to out Streamlights when they get in.

The Streamlight TT is OEM'ed from some China plant, so I wouldn't be terribly surprised if this came out of the same plant, or is a counterfeit, or are rejects (the Chinese call it "second quality") from the TTs. In any case if it is of interest to you I suppose it could be worth picking one up if you have one of their stores nearby. I bought one of the real Streamlight TT 3Cs when they first came out, and it is probably the first time that I wasted money on a Streamlight product. And these days, there are just better things to invest your money into, but if you like yours it might be worth trying one of these.

MikieHead said:

I just was going through the latest Harbor Freight sale catalog and they have a 3C battery, 3 LED, 6 LED and Xenon light for $12.99 It looks and sounds EXACTLY like the Streamlight Twin Task I keep under my sink for home emergencies............... Or working under the sink...........

Before I let a few friends know about it, is this an 'already' known fact that Gordon is OEM'ed by Streamlight, or did I stumble onto something???

Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies.......................

I agree it is not a great light (at $30), but at $10 or 13, it does get some of the Maglight carriers (like my neighbor walking their dogs) to convert!!!

The $ they save in batteries will pay for the light!!!

Don't do that to them, encourage then to keep the Mag's and they'll be forever grateful. $13 is less than 1/2 of $25. $25 will get them one of the new Mini Mag LEDs. They're light, they're bright, and more than adequate to walk the dog (as was their Mags.) Now they'll really save money on batteries (AA Kirkland batteries from Costco are not only good, but they're only 20¢ ea!). And using Costco again as an example, C size batteries cost the same a D sized batteries even though D's have over twice the capacity. Besides, it's irritating as hell to have to keep clicking that TT to get to the mode that you desire, and God help you if you click past it.

MikieHead said:

Thanks for the replies.......................

I agree it is not a great light (at $30), but at $10 or 13, it does get some of the Maglight carriers (like my neighbor walking their dogs) to convert!!!

The $ they save in batteries will pay for the light!!!

Click to expand...

Indeed. The new Mag and MiniMag LED models have actually been well-received by us nutcases (so far)! Regulated, nicely tinted, bright, long running 3W Luxeons with actual circuitry and heat management, all running on common alkies. I was afraid they'd screw it up and become even less popular around here, but they did well. :goodjob:

Brighteyez said:

Don't do that to them, encourage then to keep the Mag's and they'll be forever grateful. $13 is less than 1/2 of $25. $25 will get them one of the new Mini Mag LEDs. They're light, they're bright, and more than adequate to walk the dog (as was their Mags.) Now they'll really save money on batteries (AA Kirkland batteries from Costco are not only good, but they're only 20¢ ea!). And using Costco again as an example, C size batteries cost the same a D sized batteries even though D's have over twice the capacity. Besides, it's irritating as hell to have to keep clicking that TT to get to the mode that you desire, and God help you if you click past it.

Click to expand...

the TT has it's salient features that make it moderately more useful than a Mag-Led for some folks. The freaky long runtime, 100+ hours for the 3C make it perfect for use as a power outage or camp light. There is also something to be said for having multiple levels. I have come to depend on the usefulness of multiple output levels in my lights, but to each their own.

As I'm not a survivalist, TEOTWAWKI, or Chicken Little type, and not planning on some sort of political extremist/terrorist camp, I can't figure out why I would need 100 hours of dim light during a power outage or as a camp light. I figure in the worse case scenario, I might want to run a light for 12 hours or so (and that's only if someone is afraid of the dark,) otherwise, the sun comes up and I can either change or re-charge batteries . Besides, using a flashlight as ambient light is terribly inefficient. Something like the River Rock lantern, or even a Mini Mag in candle mode works much better.

I also have no use for multiple levels in an emergency light, it's fine for gadget freaks, but in an emergency, you need something that you can rely on, and there's something very simple about On/Off.

yekim said:

the TT has it's salient features that make it moderately more useful than a Mag-Led for some folks. The freaky long runtime, 100+ hours for the 3C make it perfect for use as a power outage or camp light. There is also something to be said for having multiple levels. I have come to depend on the usefulness of multiple output levels in my lights, but to each their own.

Click to expand...

A large number of Streamlights lights are actually made in China. Some of them seem to be Nuwai rebrands. Wouldnt surprise me if the Gordon light came off the same assembly line.

Nuwai is located in Taiwan and is fabless (no manufacturing facilities.)

chevrofreak said:

A large number of Streamlights lights are actually made in China. Some of them seem to be Nuwai rebrands. Wouldnt surprise me if the Gordon light came off the same assembly line.

Click to expand...

To me, the cool part about super-long-runtime lights, like a host with the Nite-Ize PR LED, is that most people will only have to worry about changing the batteries when they're in danger of leaking from venerable old age. It's also nice not to have to worry about "wasting batteries." That's a far cry from high-powered lithium lights, where a few hours of light will require several battery changes (costly ones, too). Of course, those high-powered lithium lights are a lot brighter, so that's not such a good comparison, but it sort of works.

Long runtimes are convenient. You could give a little old grandmother a MagLED, Diamond, EverLED, Nite-Ize, SMJLED, or similar light, and she would never have to worry about opening up the light to switch the batteries.

Also, big runtime numbers are cool.

Here's my short review a couple of months back with some pics.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/113268&highlight=lightningbug

Brighteyez said:

Nuwai is located in Taiwan and is fabless (no manufacturing facilities.)

Click to expand...

China, Taiwan, not all that much difference anymore.

I think their respective governments would beg to differ.

You're right in that most of the Taiwanese companies, like companies all over the world are making use and abundance of cheap labor in China. I guess money is more important to the Taiwanese than their political differences.

Also, my point wasn't so much that they're in Taiwan, but the fact that Nuwai isn't actually a manufacturer, they just buy the assembled products with their branding on them or just packaged in their own packaging, and then they sell them.

chevrofreak said:

China, Taiwan, not all that much difference anymore.

Click to expand...

My co-workers 2 lights came in today from Harbor freight and well, they are very similar, the reflector is not as pretty as the Streamlight, but the light is brighter and the beam much tighter and round. It is a little more blue in the tint ,but only slightly, but that could also be because of it being brighter.

Anyhow, for the $15 or so each after shipping, they are a heckuva deal.

As far as being exactly the same, there are slight differences, a little change in shape, rougher knurling, etc, just small differences but enough that I could not be 100% certain they are made by the same manufacturer, but I am reasonably sure they are.