how i spent my afternoon in columbus, ohio.

please move if this is in the wrong area.

i sent an email to the closest flashlight company i could find, dorcy international in columbus, ohio asking if they had factory tours. i had mark craddock, their it director reply and set up a quick tour after letting me know that this was just a packageing plant and offices. he said their manufacturing was done overseas, but we were still welcome stop in. we talked in his office for a while showing a wide variety of lights(he said they have over 200). mark answered any questions we had(if you have any questions or problems i would email him, he was very easy to get along with).

i really only seen flashlights in stores on shelves before. it was a different experience seeing boxes/crates of flashlights, likes those kid's play areas you could almost swim in them (sorry, getting carried away there). it was interesting seeing all they go through putting the packages together before you get them.

it was a great time. i bought variety of lights from kids camping lights, a 160 lumen lantern(it's really bright), i got some of their pr based leds units to try, an assortment of their 40, 80, 160 lumen led lights to try and give for presents. besides the ones i got, threw in some for me to see how i liked them and if i had any comments to please let him know(good or not so good).

i'm going to try to check out other companies in driving range for tours and see if they let you stop by. i had a very enjoyable day(thank's again mark).

if you have any places to suggest please let's hear of them.

yak-28

Flashlight tours are fun. When i was in SoCal i toured Pelican Lights, they are VERY friendly people. Got to tour the whole plant. It was a great experience, and they gave my mom and I free 2xAAA lights.

Thanks for your report of touring the Dorcy facility. I've passed by their facility before (I live about 20 miles away), but since I knew it was just a distribution center I didn't think they'd offer tours or anything. Now I know better. Might be worth stopping in sometime.

I wonder if Streamlight allows any tours? They are headquartered in Eastern PA and I get out in that area occasionally.

Nice to hear they offer tours, wouldn't mind going myself.Dorcy makes a few good inexpensive lights that enjoy some popularity here and I really like their LED Lux-I replacement module.The module will run on a single AAA battery,most others require two batteries or more.They have a good site with a coupon deal if you fill out a survey.Currently there is also free shipping on LED products.

http://www.dorcydirect.com/

they are working on show room now. if you are close, i would just stop in. mark was very friendly. he was saying after the finish the show room he would like to invite cpf'ers by. they are also getting a lumen measureing sphere, he thought we might like check out.

the streamlight plant in pa. sounds like it should be next on the list.

Never thought about taking a flashlight factory tour before and Surefire & Pelican is local to me. Great idea! I'll have to check into this.

Only tours I've taken were the Jelly Belly factory in Northern Cal and the Coors brewery in Golden, CO.

:twothumbs to the Coors tour!

Very interesting indeed. I go to Columbus about every other week. Will enquire about the Dorcy distribution center tour. Thanks for the info.

I'll have to check out Pelican, as I'm into their cases too...I wish Surefire gave tours, but I think it's been covered elsewhere that they don't. Probably the fact that they're a government contractor.

sims2k said:

Very interesting indeed. I go to Columbus about every other week. Will enquire about the Dorcy distribution center tour. Thanks for the info.

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IIRC the Dorcy facility is on the south side of Columbus, right next to the Rickenbacker Airport.

Wow, I also never thought of a flashlight factory tour. I've got to do one. Thanks for sharing this.

i didn't know the area(or columbus for that matter), but google put us there with no problem at all. leaving at rush hour wasn't my shining moment. i'm going to have to do some talking to strech a "one tank trip" into the pelican plant(i never said i was good at math and the "boss" will tell you or directions).

A factory tour sounds like fun. If anyone else is in the Columbus area, don't miss touring the Anheuser-Busch plant. It's north of town at 71 and the bypass, you can't miss it. The tasting lounge at the end of the tour serves up free Bud and Michelob product produced at that plant. There's also a gift shop with everything you could ever imagine "Budweiser" printed on.

I live 2 hours north of there, not far from the Cleveland area. Just about everyday, I pass within a few blocks of www.fox-intl.com (the brick and mortar store). They are a supplier of police, fire, and rescue equipment. They have an extensive inventory of Pelican and Streamlight products including lamps, parts, accessories. This place has cost me a few bucks!

I'm also about 25 minutes from the www.brightguy.com warehouse. I've never gone there because I'm very concerned about what I'd end up spending. I've actually ordered from him mailorder to resist the "in person" temptation.

I want to tour Surefire!!!!! :twothumbs

If anyone's near South San Francisco, PentagonLight's factory is there. I believe they give factory tours, but I'm not sure.

Now I'm tempted to ask!