Disappointed by Brick & Mortar LED flashlight selection

With the exception to the Rayovac Cree XR-E based flashlight sold in a few stores, I'm very disappointed that many flashlights sold in stores still use old technology. With several manufacturers of efficient LEDs, I'm surprised the manufacturers have not adopted it. I can imagine when Joe six-pack buys one and shows his friend how bright it is, his friend will buy one and so on.


Manufacturers Get on the ball!

I wish Fenix was in retail stores. It would get the other mfg's moving.

It's a strange thing for sure. We all know the lights sell, and sell well, so why not more of a variety in stores?

Most people I know would not spend more than $10 or $15 on a flashlight. I think the majority of people are the same. Most just don't use them enough to want to spend money on the latest technology when they have been getting by for years on cheaper incans. Look at the Mag LED's. They did not seem to sell to well when they first came to retail stores up here in Canada because $35 to the average person is not reasonable. I have talked to a few people looking at flashlights and offered my advice and they always say that they do not use the light enough to warrant spending the extra money even factoring saving money on batteries/bulbs etc. It would probably take regular prolonged blacouts to convince them of the value of a good flashlight. Oh well, as long as we are not in the dark about it.

The stores I visit are just now arriving at a tipping point. Most are in the process of dumping their incan flashlights and starting to stock new LED flashlights instead.

A couple of the stores around here keep the more expensive flashlights in a glass case in a totally seperate area from the regular flashlight aisle. So most people, unless they ask or stumble upon the glass case, probably don't even know the store carries those lights. The odd part is, they will have a $100 Streamlight in the normal aisle, but put a cheaper Surefire in the glass case. Which doesn't make much sense, because most thieves go off of product cost, not product name.

STuff in Walmart is just absolute cr@p. Nothing worth looking it, don't waste your time

home depot, target, lowes are the same thing.

Funny how i always seem to gravitate to the Flashlight Section of stores . . . .


And, not surprisingly, it's always loaded with 99.9% crapola.:candle:



And i always hafta' ask myself:


"Self, gee . . . . what did you EXPECT to find here ?"


(but of course, i never answer. Rhetorical question, after all) :wave:



Let's face it, fellas. We just aren't the "average consumer".



Still, dare to dream ! :devil:


_

I think brick and mortar stores need a person with sample lights just like they have food samples. Don't give the lights away for free, but rather allow people to use the lights in a dark area. That WILL sell lights. My local Bass Pro Shops had a few lights on display with batteries that customers could play with. It certainly helped me make my decision. But they only had about 10% of their lights available for trial. And it was bright in the store. If they had ALL of their lights available for testing in a dark room they would sell MANY more lights.

San Francisco Brick&Mortar storefront:

TAD GEAR, INC.
660 22ND STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107

http://www.tadgear.com/store.htm

Surefire, Fenix, NovaTac, Arc, Jetbeam, more...

Nice people. :twothumbs

Depends on which Brick & Mortar stores are in your area. Manhattan has 5 places I can think of off the top of my head that sell Surefires.

Good news if you live around Ottawa, Canada. The local Le Baron store is by far the best. Okay, so no ARC or Fenix but Inova, Streamlight, Browning and more. And yes, you can try most of them. I also found they had friendly and knowledgeable staff in the light section. Check them out!!

NA8 said:

San Francisco Brick&Mortar storefront:

TAD GEAR, INC.
660 22ND STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107

Click to expand...

That place rocks too hard to be true. Higher end gun and knife stores will have decent selections of flashlights. For those in Southern/Central California, Nordic Knives in Solvang and Plaza Cutlerly in Costa Mesa both have excellent SureFire selections.

In the Pittsburgh area, I know Braverman's carries Surefires, but it's kind of in the ghetto.