Do you have any apprehensions when ordering a flashlight?

If you do, what's your's!


As for me, aside from doing as much research I can before hitting the order button. Here's what's on my mind when I place an order for a flashlight (listed more or less in order of importance).

1. Color or Tint of the light.

2. Beam's profile, ie throw/spill/hot spot (to be more specific, it's beam profile I'm trying to achieve in this light). This is an area that IMO, you can't judge till the light actually arrives and placed in service.

3. Size, and or how well it feels in the hand when it arrives.

4. UI (however, I'm learning what I'd like to stay away from as I'm gaining more knowledge).

5. CS from the company (this is till I establish a relationship with a particular company). This is both the online store, and manufacturer of the flashlight. However I've estabished a customer based relationship with an online store! As well as the folks at 4Sevens, after taking care of a problem I had with my G5 v2. I ordered an X10!

I will say I wish I had a store like Marshall's GoingGear.com close to me, y'all who have a store like this close to you are really lucky!


Lastly, I'd like to add that CPF has the best search function IMO of any of the forums I visit. But, sometime you gotta ask ... LOL

in no particular order....

1. quality is most important. i have exceptions for budget lights as well. but anything over $40, there are only a handfull of brands that i still consider buying. unless, somebody made my perfect light, in terms of what im looking for.
1. size, nothing bigger than a single 18650 light. ive tried bigger, and i prefer easier carry lights.
1. beam, a ringy beam is a dealbreaker for me. beam doesnt have to be perfect, but if it irritates me during use, then im not going to use it. i prefer floodier beams, and have dedicated throwers.
1. tint, i love warm tints. most lights dont have this option. so ill also look at, if its simply enough for me to swap the LED with my meager skills.
1. UI, i prefer it simple. and it must have a good low mode, thats decently power efficient.
1. long term investment. life-time warranty, and good service from the manufacturers are important. as well as parts availability.

ive had the oppurtunity to try out over 50 lights. there are still some very high end lights ive never got my hands on. but ive found out what i like, and what i look for.
and if i lived near goinggear. id probably need to take up another job or 2.

I do my research and order (mostly) from the Marketplace or known vendors. No apprehensions at all. If there is a problem either I can fix it or get RMA authorization and return for replacement. I did recently order from an unknown vendor (to me) and receive a package from Ohio marked in French "Package damaged." Nothing was inside. Never figured out what it was or who it was from.....

HotWire said:

I do my research and order (mostly) from the Marketplace or known vendors. No apprehensions at all. If there is a problem either I can fix it or get RMA authorization and return for replacement. I did recently order from an unknown vendor (to me) and receive a package from Ohio marked in French "Package damaged." Nothing was inside. Never figured out what it was or who it was from.....

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This is one of the reasons for my apprehension when ordering a flashlight (it cost me $15.44 or 17% of the cost of the light to make this return a few weeks ago), aother is the lost time.

However this return could've been avoided if there was a brick and mortar store where I could see, handle, and test the light prior to purchasing.

For example, one of cpf's members posted that he visited a manufacture, tested a flashlight he was interested in, but didn't buy it due to the emitter's green tint. After which he drove to a brick an mortar, tested a few lights which he didn't purchase because once again the green tint.


Btw, I may have had a premonition about this subject (or jinxed myself) because it happened again this morning.

My business partner dropped off my X10 this morning. In my excitement to use the light (I dropped in one of the three 26650's I ordered with the X10), as soon as I placed the light in it's holster I heard and felt two metals scraping against each other. This immediately took me back to Marshall's X10 video review regarding this problem which 4Sevens addressed by covering the back of the snap with material.

When I pulled the X10 out of it's holster, the rear of the snap chipped the bezel and the heat sink fins. The area of the snap looks like there was a material there, but it's not.

In addition to it's green tint, this purchase, well I'll just leave it at that! ...

When I first got into torches i was aprehensive about tint colour, I'd read loads of horror stories about purple and angry blue tints. So whilst I was waiting for my fenix ld20 I was terrified that it was going to be blue like the maglite it was to replace, turned out to be the most beautifull cool white, most flashaholics would probably call it blue but me being used to luxeons anything was an improvement. Maybe I'm just lucky but since then I've ordered several more lights and some bare LED's and had no funny tints, even my XML was white.

When I order LED's I'm aprehensive that they might be fakes, I try to order from reputable places but sometimes I buy from dealextreme to save money.

And finally I am aprehensive when I order drivers incase they have mode memory or don't produce the current stated in the description.

Most lights I can test at Going Gear, but even without that, I research everything to death before I order, and I only order from reputable vendors. No apprehension at all.

Tiggercat said:

Most lights I can test at Going Gear, but even without that, I research everything to death before I order, and I only order from reputable vendors. No apprehension at all.

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All I got to say is you're lucky (maybe I should ask you if you can order my lights for me? ... )! I read an watch video reviews till my eye's hurt, got a inside guy at the place I order my lights from and I still can't get it right!

Awh man, it's hard being Pops is all I'll say!

I do tons of research before buying a light, so I have no apprehensions about the light itself. The only two things that make me nervous (AFTER I ordered the light) are: how long will it take to get here? (this one is so bad that I often have dreams about receiving my lights) and when ordering from certain merchants from the US: will I have to pay duty fees or taxes this time?

Yes! It's usually about wondering how much money I will have left over for the next one.

Reliability! :thumbsup:
Because it would be financially unviable to send back.

After my typical over-research I'm usually not too surprised by a light. Tint can still be a problem, but I've been mostly lucky.

Geoff

My biggest apprehension about ordering a flashlight is that it's going to disappear in the mail.
Bill
( 7 weeks and counting...will my Ti CA-1AL ever arrive, or is some postal working amusing himself with it right now? )

I have apprehensions every time I order a flashlight. But then I just pretend it is my first one and I get over it.