Custom flashlight market?

When I first started out on here pretty much all I knew was maglites and then Surefires. I know Novatac has ties to the military but, my question is other than us here on CPF who knows about the custom light builders? Like the McGizmos and the Muyshondts and the Henrys Ra lights etc.? Is there a market outside of forums for these lights? I wouldnt think that unless joe blow just happened to come accross this site or one of there websites that any average american would be buying these. Correct me if im wrong but I think making lights is atleast Henrys and Enriques full job. Or is it just a very time consuming hobby? Just a question that has been floating around in my head lately.:thinking:

There are other forums, but none as large as CPF afaik. There are a couple non English forums too. But still the market for the works of art that come from such places is relatively small.

I've wondered this too. Are CPF and its denizens the large source of support for the more boutique creators?

I know there are alot of us, I just wouldnt think enough to keep all these custom builders afloat.

camaro09 said:

I know there are alot of us, I just wouldnt think enough to keep all these custom builders afloat.

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Are any of these guys doing it full time though? If someone has a full time job, but then spends 2 - 6 hours every evening having fun with custom building and makes a few bucks for their time and effort then they may be very happy with their level of sales.

Who else is buying then?

I also wondered about Fenix.... government/police doesn't buy from them, they have other sources/brands.
You can also buy Fenix from DX/KD. But most of the buyers will probably buy cheaper stuff, as Fenix is clearly a premium brand at those sites

So... only target group for fenix I can think of are CPF users. Who else spends more than 20$ on a flashlight?

Fenix is sold in numerous online flashlight shops, outdoor equipment stores and hunter equipment stores, even in Germany.

I think there is a big difference between Fenix and our custom makers. Fenix seems to be aiming big and worldwide whereas our custom builders do niche markets like CPF.

bk

balou said:

Who else spends more than 20$ on a flashlight?

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Exactly!

When Fenix is considered a premium brand at some places and much more expensive than say...a maglite, imagine springing the idea of a $500, titanium custom on the unsuspecting rest of the world. I get that reaction every time someone at work asks how much my light cost. They look at you like you're from Mars. My answer is no. I don't think there is a market for these outside of the fairly large group of enthusiasts and collectors. It's not like the HDTV or MP3 market where everyone is looking for the trickest thing. Imagine the advertising dollars alone that Surefire has spent to bring it's mass produced lights to the price point that they're at now.

I live in Singapore and the flashlight scene here is depressing to say the least. There are about 35 of us flashaholics here (at last count in another sub forum) and i missed the last get together.

I'm beginning to see more LED lights being used here, primarily among anglers, club staff but usually the tinier keychain lights, couple of Fenixes etc (some of it due to my recommendations, hehe) and i have given out easily 100 fauxtons from DX to friends, bartenders, waiters etc who have found it incredibly useful but ask them to spend USD$15 for a Fenix E01?? Heck no, they'd rather use huge a** 4xAA cheapo incans which a DX fauxton easily outshines.

They saw my Lummi Raw NS and were duly impressed but when i told them it cost SGD$130.00 including shipping they handed it back with the 'you must be crazy to spend that much on a flashlight' look.

But i'm used to it, at least i have 34 like minded others here in singapore. I'm saving for custom light too, just havent decided which one, the lunasol, the sundrop, the La Petite Killer, spy, damn these choices, getting them all would probably get me divorced (even though added together, they probably cost less than 2 of my wife's handbags)

It's been a real pleasure finding CPF and i'd just like to say that this is one of the greatest forums around, the admins and moderators are fair and even handed and monitor this site vigilantly, there is hardly any (if at all) flaming going on and all the members are near universally helpful and i'd like to take this opportunity to just thank everyone here for being such great people.

Cheers!

KiwiMark said:

Are any of these guys doing it full time though?

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I'm doing it full-time and have one full-time employee. Of course I'm not making anything yet but hopefully that will come with time.

Ya Saabluster, this is exactly the kind of thing I was curious about. I thought there was builders that were fulltime. Do you have a market outside of forums like these? Best of luck in your buisness.:twothumbs

camaro09 said:

Ya Saabluster, this is exactly the kind of thing I was curious about. I thought there was builders that were fulltime. Do you have a market outside of forums like these? Best of luck in your buisness.:twothumbs

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No I do not have a market outside of CPF. Yet. It is in the plans though. This market sure isn't helping things.

IIRC, Elektrolumens was one of the first CPF members who started out modding flashlights, then quit his job and started his own flashlight company. It's been several years now. He would probably be a good one to comment on this topic, but I don't know if he frequents this forum much anymore (besides his space in the CPF Marketplace).

I say :thumbsup: to any of you that pursue this craft. The knife market is pretty saturated but speaking for myself, it is a nice outlet that brings satisfaction to have others buy your work. Just art in a different form.

RA40 said:

it is a nice outlet that brings satisfaction to have others buy your work. Just art in a different form.

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I couldn't agree more.:thumbsup: