Conflicting reports about Ultrafire Quality and DX

I have been reading posts that are conflicting about the Ultrafire line of LED lights. I am getting ready to purchase the Ultrafire WF-1300L flashlight from Deal Extreme and I have been hearing horror stories about lights from DX arriving DOA which is making me wander if I should buy it. Are these stories about certain models or all Ultrafire lights in general?

I have heard people having to basically rebuild their lights to make them work. I have been reading other reviews ranting and raving about how good these lights are. But I have heard other rumors that Ultrafire lights are built cheaply and by several different manufacturers and the quality is different from each one. I cannot figure out who to believe.

I do not know much about ultrafire as I own an Eagletac T10LC2 and the Olight M30, but based on the pictures I have seen, the WF1300 looks like a good solid light. Not cheaply made. Or am I just wishful thinking because I really want this beast. Some of the reviews I have seen about other Ultrafires make me wander. I do not want to shell out the money for this light if I am going to put in the batteries with great anticipation of being blinded and nothing happens. As a general concensus, is DX bad about sending damaged lights? I would like to believe that there are 10 happy customers for every negative post I have read.

If this is a repeat subject, I appologize. I saw other threads about DX and shipping, but this thread is more specific to the Ultrafire line so I hope our kind moderators will not lock it up.

As always, any guidance is appreciated. Thanks.
Dan

Just remember you're buying a lower end light. SOme are great, but any brand has occassional dead lights. DX is slow, but you won't get cheated. Returns are just a bigger pain than a USA dealer. I've bought plenty from DX and Kai. GO for it!

You're probably going to get the same conflicting answers in this thread. The truth is, everyone's experience is different. Buying from places like DX is like playing the lotto, or buying a used car online -- sight unseen.

Personally, I've bought about 30 lights from DX, ranging from $0.40 to $50. I've received one DOA (well, it worked for about 5 minutes before the driver fried itself), one flickering light that needed some filing and thread-cleaning, and one light who's switch packed up after a few minutes (It was a P60 host with a higher-current dropin than it came with, to be fair). They all fell towards the cheaper end of the spectrum, however. Every other light performed as-advertised, and as-expected.

I don't have any experience with the WF-1300L, but I would hope that a light that expensive would be built a little more carefully than your average $10 throwaway.

Just my $0.02. I hope this post wasn't inappropriate.

Someone mentioned buying an Ultrafire model from DX that Ultrafire don't even make, so I'm not sure if they're even genuine Ultrafire. Other than that, they're very cheap and that's reflected in the quality and quality control. The conflicting opinions you've found are probably all accurate, due to inconsistant QC.

Having said that, I've bought a few flashlights from them and have an Ultrafire C3 on it's way. Just don't count on it working out the box without having to fiddle with it a bit. The ones I've bought there are for fun, around the house, the kids, lending out etc. I'd always pay more for the better brands if I want to be able to rely on them.

*Edit* I just realised which model you're referring to. That one isn't exactly cheap and from the photos I've seen looks like it may be a cut above the others. Still, I wouldn't personally be confident buying such an expensive light from there.

Ah, deja vu all over again....

I wandered in here in early '08, and this question was floating around then, too.

I've bought four or five lights from DX, none from KD. I think if you stick with Romisen lights, and maybe some Ultrafires that aren't too fancy/expensive you'll be OK. These are lower priced lights, and although "you get what you pay for" I've had good luck with my Romisens and 1 Ultrafire Stainless C3. These were all $10-$20 lights.

If you are going to be forking over more money for a light, $30, $40, $50 or more, then I think I'd buy elsewhere than DX. Which I think someone else pointed out.

I'd check out bessiebenny's budget lights thread. I think if he's rated a DX light as pretty good, then theres a good chance that if you get one of the same, it will be ... pretty good. I view DX as a good source of some functional, decently made inexpensive lights. But you have to be pretty picky to get those, out of all the DX offerings.

As another poster pointed out DX's delivery is slow, but you do eventually get what you ordered.

Zatoichi said:

Someone mentioned buying an Ultrafire model from DX that Ultrafire don't even make, so I'm not sure if they're even genuine Ultrafire. Other than that, they're very cheap and that's reflected in the quality and quality control. The conflicting opinions you've found are probably all accurate, due to inconsistant QC.

Click to expand...

there isn't a set manufacturer for ultrafire lights, and there is no such thing as a "genuine ultrafire".. many manufacturers go under this name, hence the extremely high variance in quality.

just because you get 1 good flashlight from ultrafire, doesn't mean you'll get a good one the next time.

This thread is far too broad in scope, and is not going to add a great deal to the sum of CPF knowledge. If allowed to continue, it would be a cross-mix of posts from those who have had good experiences with Ultrafire/DX and others who have had bad ones. They would probably just cancel each other out, and being a very small sample of the total, no definite conclusion would be possible one way or the other.

This forum is not appropriate for generalised shopping experiences of this type. The thread is closed.