A brand/model thats trash?

Anyone here had a flashlight that they were totally disgusted with? I mean either a company, or model of light, or anything that you are repulsed when you hear about it? Whats your worst experiences with purchasing led flashlights?

gee, ya' mean . . . .

Flashlights which didn't meet our expectations ?


There's a very popular and interesting thread by that name. Might wanna' check it out.

True, but thats more of a "i wish it had a forward clicky instead" kind of thing, im mostly interested in something that makes you sick that they even dare sell this item (what ever it is) something so bad it general, or the company generally has zero support for anything. Really im looking for harsh adverse reactions to certain lights. I want to see whats at the bottom of the food chain.

streamlight tl-3 led, horrid output and... bottom line, i hated it.

techwg said:

True, but thats more of a "i wish it had a forward clicky instead" kind of thing, im mostly interested in something that makes you sick .

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Lolz !

I bought one of those $10 DX "Elly" lights with a Cree and it sucks. It flickers like crazy and is totally unreliable. The threads are also garbage and it came all scratched up. It's bright, but I can't stand using something so poorly made.

Snow said:

I bought one of those $10 DX "Elly" lights with a Cree and it sucks. It flickers like crazy and is totally unreliable. The threads are also garbage and it came all scratched up. It's bright, but I can't stand using something so poorly made.

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This is the worst light I have ever bought, but I got mine at Kaidomain. I didn't even bother with returning it and just threw it away. Terrible.

An MXDL off eBay - worst quality I've seen in an LED light. Garbage all the way around although I believe that brand has upgraded a tiny bit in machining quality - still won't touch anything by them. Other brand and this one is still confusing for me as they seem to have a lot of followers - that is Inova. Target garbage IMO - nothing about them impresses me and the only one I bought is in pieces as I decided it was the biggest waste of money I had spent so I tore it apart to try making it into something useful. But it was hopeless. I tried some of their supposedly 'hot' new models when the wife drug me into Target a few days ago. I almost had to laugh out loud at the pitiful beams and low levels of light coming out of them. I guess if you look at them as a Kubaton with a bonus of some light then they are impressive.

i was really disappointed with the Black & Decker snakelight. (2-C cells)

Expected something by Black & Decker to be heavy-duty, reliable, and durable. First-rate.

Goodness, they even advertised it on Television !


Totally un-impressed. Ended up giving it to my parents.

That Cree 1AA from UnethicalExtreme (aka DX). The reflector is made of metal and it was machined such that the bezel stops on the LED where the rim of reflector's bottom shorted out the LED.

Some of those cheap lights found on ebay, green tint and they fall apart an hour after you open the package

I think what you / we have to remember is most of the time you 'get what you pay for'.

A $10 Cree light from somewhere like DX has a $5-7 emitter alone and probably free shipping - so realistically it's not leaving much over for it to be made particularly well!

As a rule, I stay away from the really cheap stuff, so I haven't seen the really sloppy stuff out there.

I'll follow matrixshaman on his dislike of Inova. I don't really get the following for them either. A bar of aluminum that happens to hold an emmiter and battery. I'll admit that I haven't played with every model they make, but I have seen quite a few and never saw one with a beam I liked. I did actually buy one once. Hated the beam so much I stuck it on a lathe and turned it to fit the cover of an old night light. It's now a safe candle for emergencies and lives its life in the junk drawer.

Oh, years ago I also bought one of the Inova keychain lights for my wife. She wanted a photon like on my keychain, the Inova was cheaper. A week later I threw the keys to her in a hotel hallway. Maybe 15 feet. She caught the keys and the battery cover and battery went *ping*. It wouldn't stay on after that. Had to suck it up and pay more for the Photon after all. On the bright side, I really liked the keeper they used on it, I've got it on my keychain with the photon and car remote. Can take the light off very quickly and hold it in my lips while I'm doing something that requires both hands.

eternalight!

even goes on sometimes just when I moved my hand over the button (not touching it).

The 2AA Mag-LED. It's bright, but it stopped working after 2 weeks. The contacts and switch had failed somehow, and have heard the same thing happening to many other 2aa Mag Led's. I think it's because of the way it's constructed, how you can't get the little LED module out. What, does Mag think that they have some kind of revolutionary circuit in there??? Also, the fact that they changed the length of the treads for the tailcap so you can't use the aftermarket clickies is really stupid. the new Mags 2aa sucks, I was highly disappointed.

Jetbeam!

The C-LE's were (are) unbelievable cr-p! There is a large percentage of these that went out with thread problems and other quality issues that should never have gotten out of the factory if they had any QC to speak of. Should you have gotten one of the bad ones, there was no one to return the product to, because no one would respond to emails. What a fiasco, and I will never buy another Jetbeam product again.

A while ago i purchased a bank of "custom made lights, for a customer" it said on ebay... Custom lights, only they had slight melt marks on the body. I thought wow great i will take em ! Well... its like the guy took a 5mm standard led and put it in a huge bulky body, and the light it gave off was pittyful....

Also i was very disapointed with the performance and light output of my Inova X5... My gerber infinity (1xaa) is as good as this 2 cr123 5 led light. Very poor.. i showed my new X5 to my parents, and i was trying to convince myself and them that this is a really good light that cost me the earth and my right arm to get it, and it can be thrown in the ocean and driven over and it will still work. But to be honest , the runtime makes me sick and the light inspires me to drop my bowles all over the floor. not because its so good, but because i wasted all that money on it at the time about £50.

I gave the X5 to my mum, and those customs to my dad.

Everything I bought from FifthUnit, now DX I beleive, was total and complete junk! Never again.

BigusLightus said:

Everything I bought from FifthUnit, now DX I beleive, was total and complete junk! Never again.

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DX seems to be hit and miss.

Nite-Ize three LED drop in for the Mini Mag. Just poorly built.