Anyone think all chinese light look the same?

Ive owned a L1D AND A mk2x and after browsing few more offerings such as rexlight liteflux lumapower ive come down to conclusion that all the lights have much or less same funcions and modes besides whars d point of having them all.

I just don't get the hype behind it, lets see you own a L1D then waiting for a rexlight, lightflux, lumapower M3 and many others, they all use a CREE emiter and about the same output. Ok L1D don't have OP reflector but the others do have them. Own one and thats it.

They all looked cranked out from the same factory, same tube diameter with just different finish.

Besides neither of the companies have a decent warranty program. Some have free labor but you still pay for parts so that is no warranty to me. Some others you'll have to ship it around the globe. Making a Potential $80 MK2x into a $100 flashlight not counting the time and effort into it.

$50 for a chinese light is not cheap when considering you can get $1 LED lights all over downtown Los Angeles its almost surefire range (G2 is only $30)... Even $70 for a P1D CE or $80 MK2x is already into surefire's land.

I just see no more point in investing more into Import lights cuz i'm pretty much seen it all from the first fenix to today's latest rexlight.

Fair point - JETBeam, Fenix, Ultrafire, Liteflux, Huntlight etc...not much to tell them apart really.


CFU

That's almost politically incorrect and amusing at the same time. I can't decide which.

greenstuffs said:

Ive owned a L1D AND A mk2x and after browsing few more offerings such as rexlight liteflux lumapower ive come down to conclusion that all the lights have much or less same funcions and modes besides whars d point of having them all

Click to expand...

Let me shorten your post to make it more accurate:

greenstuffs said:

all...lights have much or less same funcions and modes besides whars d point of having them all

Click to expand...

What are you looking for? Tailfins?

Minjin said:

Let me shorten your post to make it more accurate:



What are you looking for? Tailfins?

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Hey how about a antiroll bezel
How about a light with 2 modes high and low
No reverse clickie
No more overengineered lights
No more searching through 20 modes to get the desired output.
Decent knurling
How about a good clip on the AA form factor there seems no manufacturer implemented it so far
And lots of things
All we get for our $50 is a tube with 1 LED and reflector on one end and a tailcap switch on another.

Research and development cost money, highly skilled labor and good know-how. Why going through all that when you can just produce a knock-off for cheap, without fearing the anti-piracy and intellectual property laws?

Dude, Anyone ever tell you you're a bit of a buzz kill?

I don't think all Chinese/Korean lights have the same build quality, however.

greenstuffs said:

Hey how about a antiroll bezel
How about a light with 2 modes high and low
No reverse clickie
No more overengineered lights
No more searching through 20 modes to get the desired output.
Decent knurling
How about a good clip on the AA form factor there seems no manufacturer implemented it so far
And lots of things
All we get for our $50 is a tube with 1 LED and reflector on one end and a tailcap switch on another.

Click to expand...

Add a true Type-III HA mil spec coating to that list.

Greetings!

Minjin said:

What are you looking for? Tailfins?

Click to expand...

Hell yeah!!! I want the '57 Chevy of flashlights!

Best wishes,
Bawko

There is a flood of copy cat clones that happen to be made in China, yeah, and taken together, gotta admit they are similar. Same emitters, basic same output, same dubious reliability, yada yada yada... probably are from the same factory... of course, everyone who owns one will fight tooth and nail to say you're wrong greenstuffs. You gotta learn to chuckle and shake your head and not provoke the masses. No good ever comes of it...

Re: Anyone think all AA lights look the same?

As someone who just started searching for a 1AA light for my wife, I can say that I am frustrated too. It seems like you have a choice either 1) a single output level with an older emitter or 2) a modern emitter with way too many bells and whistles. Whatever happened to a simple two or three stage light? Why doesn't anyone make something simple? More functions doesn't always make it more useful. Sorry for the rant. It just bugs me that I can't find what I want. It has nothing to do with where they are designed and made, it is just a frustrating current market trend.

John

Everyone knows that they are not from the same factory but come from the same city. China has a tradition that each city specializes in a certain product.
:nana:

Cydonia said:

There is a flood of copy cat clones that happen to be made in China, yeah, and taken together, gotta admit they are similar. Same emitters, basic same output, same dubious reliability, yada yada yada... probably are from the same factory... of course, everyone who owns one will fight tooth and nail to say you're wrong greenstuffs. You gotta learn to chuckle and shake your head and not provoke the masses. No good ever comes of it...

Click to expand...

While it is true that a LOT of the these lights are very similar, there is a big difference overall:

- lumapower m3 has the funky battery tube/contact structure and is tuned for the same output on 1.5v and 3.0 v.
- Fenix has the normal and turbo modes with reverse clicky.
- Rexlight has the memory feature.
- Jetbeam has the crazy UI and the twisty C-LE.
- Liteflux is coming out with a 2 mode Cree for people who like to keep it simple. (They also have the crazy LF2 for those who don't).

So yeah, they do all look very similar, but the functionality can be quite different.

However, I'm like most people here, I am enjoying the lights but don't need one of each type ( just want them!).

I prefer lights that are more unique looking, eg HDS 85, Surefire U2, INOVA, Photon Microlights. It sets me apart from the Chinese clones.

Take a look from a perspective that is not from the flashaholic. In my experienc most retail cusotmers and users don't care much about features, size maybe but for each size and price range catagory the prime concern expressed to me is "how bright is it?" I have run accross some Chinese lights in the 2x CR123 class that just pummel others in brightness to include the big name brand that commands almost religious customer loyalty. So for a person not interested in the gadget appeal, the brightest is the choice and all the better if it is not as expensive. I have one particular Chinese product in mind, it uses a K2 or K2 clone, it has a cree sister made by the same company in the same housing and this K2 tops it and other Chinese brands of K@ variants, tops the overdriven LuxIII in the Golston variations too. The only way to know is to get reliable witness accounts of side by side test. This light I speak of sells well and although it is supplied with a two level switch, most folks request that be changed to simple on/off!

Folks in public safety that are not gadget orientated seems to buy with preferences stacked like this after determining their price limit:
Brightness
burn time
portability
durability

I would say I was like this three years ago, but this Forum and post like yours, greestuffs, has turned me into someone that appreciates the opperational differences. So my light collection keeps growing of stuff that to most looks and acts the same, but wait, how could they not notice or appreciate this... or...not obvious? huh?...

My Ultrafire C2 looks different (sl tl-3 sized bezel) than my D-mini or Huntlight. My huntlight has Surefire quality HA-III anodizing and has 5 levels plus strobe. Not to mention a pocket clip. My D-mini looks like nothing else I have. The Fenix lights look different to me than any I have.

The Sf C2 and M2 look closer to me.

Just my opinion.

I have been carrying a Litelux LF1 since last summer, everyday. I have two of them and they are exceptionally well built and finished. The quality cannot be compared to Ultrafire or even Fenix/Jetbeam, my Litefluxes are on a level by themselves. I have had Fenix, Ultrafire and Jetbeam in AA form, all of them have been given away as gifts or will live out their days in the attic/car/etc.
Liteflux LF1: Momentary forward clickie, easy to mod (have put SSC P4 in them), turbo head kit with diffuser available, mechanical low by twisting the tailcap, coated lens, nice alu. reflectors, takes 14500 LiIon. I have dropped it several times into rough concrete from ~2 meters with hardly a scratch on it, so the HA III anodizing is very tough. I'll be using these for decades.
Sure they are all similar in form, hard to make AA lights square or elliptical I'd say, but there are huge differences in quality, finish and reliability. I don't own any European or US made flashlights so I really can't comment on quality from such manufacturers. I can only say that the LF1 is the best I have seen so far.
Stefan

If you don't see a difference, then for you there is no difference and no reason to pay for a difference. It's only human nature that others can and do see - and are willing to pay for - differences unimportant to you. Some will downgrade a light for pinpoint flaws in the anodizing which doesn't affect function, or coated vs non-coated lights (which doesn't affect total light output, just dispersion of photons out of the mainbeam to the sidespil), or a few percentage points of conversion efficiency only detectable by instrumented run time graphs. Others only see "big lights" vs. "little lights" and "Oh - it's an LED?" - and expect to pay $2 for a light.

It's what makes markets and the world in general so much fun...

First of all, you must consider that not everybody lives in the States. In some countries is almost impossible to find quality flashlights in stores.

In Spain, a standard incandescent 2D MagLite may cost more than 40 euros (about 50 USD) (sample link) and is still considered for most dealers the best available flashlight.

For many of us, spending 50 USD in a high quality chinese flashlight is the only option to get a decent light at a reasonable price.