How far do you trust a knockoff?

http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/accessories/flashlights/element-sf-m300-mini-scout-light.html

These lights are frequently sold as ambiguously genuine on eBay for three digits. I disapprove of this, but not necessarily making clones. (The ethics of cloning has been addressed before in other threads, please don't threadjack this!)

The real question I have is how far you'd trust cloned gear like this.

Use nothing?
Use just the generic body tube with genuine head and tail?
Use a genuine switch and a generic bezel?
Use a generic switch and a genuine bezel?

I'm thinking that $40 for a lego-compatible body tube - ignoring the rest of the parts - is pretty good. I have a genuine Surefire tape-switch tailcap and a bezel in mind (TnC E2C, C bezel, Malkoff module; if I could swing for a VME head, I'd use that preferentially)

Anybody know if these are lego-compatible?
Anybody think this would be a good paintball weaponlight?

Don't trust them very much. Not very much at all. I'd rather have the genuine thing.

It looks similar, it may even have a similar TIR optic but keep in mind that it probably doesn't have the same threads. Not one of us here can guarantee compatibility unless we've actually bought one.

Solarforce is compatible with Surefire threads for the most part. Now the Ultrafire L2 is surely a knockoff of the Solarforce L2, even the name and you'd think they'd be compatible but nope, different threads.

You see a lot of the machinery in China and the rest of the world is metric, so it's easier to make metric sized threads which all of my dealextreme lights use. They may be different diameters but ALL of my DX lights have the same thread pitch. Romisen, Aurora, Trustfire, Ultrafire and Uniquefire, I can place all the flashlight threads next to each other and they all mesh.

So suffice to say no one can guarantee that that clone is an exact enough copy to lego with surefire parts. Your best bet is to get a Solarforce L2m, and if you must have tir optics you can get a Malkoff M60. Then you can easily get a tape switch, either Surefire or Solarforce since you know they fit. You'd end up with pretty much the same light, unless you want the look but that M300 doesn't have the correct tailcap to begin with.

$40 sounds like a lot to me especially since you're only going to use the body. $12.99 from lighthound for the L2m sounds much more reasonable and he's a dealer here with known good service. You've already got good accessories to lego this yourself with a real Surefire tape switch and bezel so all you'd need is a drop in. If you must have tir optics there's no better than a Malkoff M60.

Correction: I have an E-series tailcap (but no genuine tape switch yet) - my bad.

But let's go with the Solarforce route for now. I need:
Solarforce L2m body ($13, own one)
Solarforce LM-1 QD mount ($26)
Solarforce PTS3 switch ($15.50)

Unfortunately, for a one-cell direct drive light, I need to buy a 17670, since the L2m won't fit 18mm cells. Since I'm imagining a SSC P7 direct-drive, that means AW black label since there's no IMR 17670s from anybody on the market, at $11.

If I want to be able to use better batteries, I need to buy another L2m to get a more recent run. This puts me at $65 before shipping, and 18650s run a little more expensive, too - IMRs cost the same, but the newest AW black label cell is $19 a pop. Since direct-driving a P7 is somewhat abusive, it's good cells or nothing.

And it's a lot bigger and bulkier than a Scout type light, but this is pretty well offset by extended runtime, so let's just call this one even for now.

Sadly, this makes the cheap knockoff look like a pretty decent deal even without lego compatibility, as long as we're not using it for serious business.

Monocrom said:

Don't trust them very much. Not very much at all. I'd rather have the genuine thing.

Click to expand...

Me too, but I'm a broke college student. The genuine thing (used, ebay) is something like five months' gas, and I don't have anything near that level of mad money. New at MSRP, it's more like what I spend on gas for an entire year.

It depends what we're using it for....

That is quite an interesting clone, but a couple of things give it away to the discerning eye. The tape switch looks quite rough - I've never used a real SF tape switch but even the photos alone give it away. The optic looks like it has the center column of the NX05. The new generation SF optics don't have that.

But back to the point, what are we using it for. Paintball? Probably. At the most, what happens.... you get paintballed.

Mission critical work? No way.

I was thinking about a similar issue with knockoffs, my own mods and crafting, and original unmodified SFs, limited though they may be. I still keep a few unmodified SFs around for mission critical usage.

I've seen some entry level products with totally awful soldering. For example, some drop-ins I purchased recently are nice and bright and work as advertised so no complaints, but seeing how they are put together makes me put more faith in my own skills to build a light.

Never mind...replied before reading everything

I'm personally offended by this thread, there is nothing wrong with a nokoff, lol
..paintball at night, who does that, sounds kinda fun tho! ..and paintball can be very expensive, way more for gear, ammo, fees, etc, compared to cost for one torch

That site won't load at all anyway.

If I depend on the tool to keep me alive then I wouldn't trust it at all, but that fake scout light would most likely be used for airsoft.

There's also the issue of supporting such a company, and I wouldn't give them any of my money. Not only do you have the usual poor quality control, but quality with these items are usually even lower because there's no "brand name" to protect or maintain.

About as far as I could throw it. I'm pretty weak so that's not far at all.

Either way, in some applications, like your paintball game light needs, one doesn't need to trust the light. If it fails, oh bother. Not 'OH SHI---*kaboom*'.

The question remains, why buy a knockoff when you can buy a cheap Chinese light that actually tries to maintain a brand identity? Buying a cheap 4sevens, Olight or the cheaper Fenix models will probably get you a better light, and I can almost guarantee much better service, along with a big user community right here at CPF.

That's up to you of course.. I doubt many here would advocate buying a noname trademark violating light over one of the many quite well regarded less expensive Chinese light.

A cheap 4sevens, olight, or Fenix doesn't have a mount, and many have n>1 mode. Many are not 1" either, and certainly most lack any semblance of support for a pressure switch.

Also, I should point out that this is literally one tenth the price of a genuine unit.

I trust them for one thing. airsoft. maybe daily use. but not that far.

I have a clone L6 porcupine and it stand in as a pretty piece for my real one. other than that, i trust SF. not much else.

Chrontius said:

A cheap 4sevens, olight, or Fenix doesn't have a mount, and many have n>1 mode. Many are not 1" either, and certainly most lack any semblance of support for a pressure switch.

Also, I should point out that this is literally one tenth the price of a genuine unit.

Click to expand...

With likely one tenth the quality and reliability.

Went on the 4 Mile Hike in Yosemite last August and made our way back down at nightfall. Friend carried a small knockoff that I gave him a while ago and I had my SF E2DL. Suffice it to say his did a good job and gave us plenty of light to maneuver our way down, but my SF gave me a certain peace of mind that wouldn't come with the knockoff. I've since upgraded his light to a Nitecore EZ123.

Although not a knockoff, I recently decided to pass on getting the Lighthound CR123 light. A single-cell light with the Lighthound logo on it, I realized I had no clue which company made it for Lighthound.

Love the online shop itself. Excellent customer service. But if I need a very compact, CR123 light, with twist mechanism; I'll buy another 4Sevens Quark Mini.