So this is what the general public buys...

There are blister pack 18650 of unknown capacity as well. What a price premium for being off the shelf...



The packaging is pretty though. Add in the costs of marketing and liability insurance and $100 later it's on the shelf for general consumption.



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This disgusts me.

Empire said:

This disgusts me.

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Maybe the quality is really good, I don't know... But being in a major chain on the shelf they likely have to make some concessions for other expenses.



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Ualnosaj said:

Maybe the quality is really good, I don't know... But being in a major chain on the shelf they likely have to make some concessions for other expenses.



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Doubt it is good quality

I first guessed Cabelas. I see it is Bass Pro. Probably their house brand and will be 50% off in a month or two because its too much money for the general public. The light will put out plenty of light and suffer from poor tint and PWM.
Just my guess.

Lou Minescence said:

I first guessed Cabelas. I see it is Bass Pro. Probably their house brand and will be 50% off in a month or two because its too much money for the general public. The light will put out plenty of light and suffer from poor tint and PWM.
Just my guess.

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I wish they would have Surefires
That is quality

Looks like that ExtremeBeam brand. If you want to protect the Pope, that's how much it costs.

talk about overpriced haha

It's on their website for $139.99 lol

Racer said:

Looks like that ExtremeBeam brand. If you want to protect the Pope, that's how much it costs.

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That's the first thing I thought too

By the way, it's not IPX-8... It's rain cloud resistant if you see the picture.



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oooha wow, it has dual power source technology ( buzzzzz words ) it can use rechargeable batteries as well as primary.
Awesome, (not so much)

Without knowing more about the light I can't comment. If they're selling something that will run on rechargeables, I'll assume they've done their due diligence in testing to ensure it doesn't blow up in some poor person's hand.

As for what the "general public" buys, I wouldn't get too snooty about the whole thing. No one is an expert in all fields (and flashlights are a very niche field). I could probably tell you what LED a light is rocking purely by the beamshot, but I absolutely could not tell you the difference between 2 differently priced oil filters hanging in the car repair section.

calipsoii said:

Without knowing more about the light I can't comment. If they're selling something that will run on rechargeables, I'll assume they've done their due diligence in testing to ensure it doesn't blow up in some poor person's hand.

As for what the "general public" buys, I wouldn't get too snooty about the whole thing. No one is an expert in all fields (and flashlights are a very niche field). I could probably tell you what LED a light is rocking purely by the beamshot, but I absolutely could not tell you the difference between 2 differently priced oil filters hanging in the car repair section.

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Testing for certain, since it is going to the "general public". I classified it as such and not "n00b" for the very reason of avoiding being snooty. This "general public" goes in all areas of life -- whether it's oil filters, knives or otherwise.

The issue I see here is that I'm buying a $170 flashlight that is resistant against rain clouds. A few pegs over is a Surefire E2D which I would just about bet is "better quality" for a few bucks cheaper. Sure, it's "200 lumens" but multi mode with TIR optics to start. Just as well folks will by $4 flashlights from Wallyworld and be happy, it's difficult to stomach someone dropping $170 on what MIGHT be an inferior product. Makes sense?

Caveat Emptor

I might make a sticker saying "Way overpriced, Do not buy" and stick it on there if I saw something like that. IMO, go on eBay (or DX) buy a few decent AA lights, and sell it at double the cost if you have to. It'll still be cheaper and probably have similar performance and build quality. The company will probably also sell more too since they will be cheaper.

(I hate when good people get ripped off)

Gunner12 said:

I might make a sticker saying "Way overpriced, Do not buy" and stick it on there if I saw something like that. IMO, go on eBay (or DX) buy a few decent AA lights, and sell it at double the cost if you have to. It'll still be cheaper and probably have similar performance and build quality. The company will probably also sell more too since they will be cheaper.

(I hate when good people get ripped off)

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Again keeping in mind that off the shelf means you have some liability protection so there's some degree of cost attached to that. Go try and sue DX if your UltraFire turned into a pipe bomb

At the end of the day, we're considered a niche market. People in this market is more knowledgeable in this area, so squeezing dollars out from us if more difficult so that's why they now need to target the one's who are less knowledgeable and/or prefer to be comfortable with themselves and simply get what's on the retail shelf. The price is clearly stated, its not dishonest business. To be frank, the general public don't give a damn whether the light has a XRE or XPG2 LED unless someone tries to upsell them and get them excited.

No qualm on the retailers either, they need to make money and shelf space IS money in their industry, so they have to recoup it somewhere. Business as usual.

berry580 said:

At the end of the day, we're considered a niche market. People in this market is more knowledgeable in this area, so squeezing dollars out from us if more difficult so that's why they now need to target the one's who are less knowledgeable and/or prefer to be comfortable with themselves and simply get what's on the retail shelf. The price is clearly stated, its not dishonest business. To be frank, the general public don't give a damn whether the light has a XRE or XPG2 LED unless someone tries to upsell them and get them excited.

No qualm on the retailers either, they need to make money and shelf space IS money in their industry, so they have to recoup it somewhere. Business as usual.

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No, nothing illegal or sketchy here. Again to underline the fact is that there is a Surefire just a few pegs away, a little cheaper but very likely spades better.

Think of it like this. On the shelf is Mobil1 engine oil. Beside it is NoName engine oil but it says PREMIUM on it and is priced a bit more than Mobil1. Unfortunately a lot of folks will see "PREMIUM" and choose that one. Only highlighting a sad thing, that's all.

Lou Minescence said:

I first guessed Cabelas. I see it is Bass Pro. Probably their house brand and will be 50% off in a month or two because its too much money for the general public. The light will put out plenty of light and suffer from poor tint and PWM.
Just my guess.

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You sure don't have to buy that light to suffer from poor tint! Just look at the stuff we're (or most of us anyways) buying! After which, spending more on the light, (as well as the loss of warranty) to mod the light (adding shipping to teh cost as well)! Just my Opinion!

Ualnosaj said:

No, nothing illegal or sketchy here. Again to underline the fact is that there is a Surefire just a few pegs away, a little cheaper but very likely spades better.

Think of it like this. On the shelf is Mobil1 engine oil. Beside it is NoName engine oil but it says PREMIUM on it and is priced a bit more than Mobil1. Unfortunately a lot of folks will see "PREMIUM" and choose that one. Only highlighting a sad thing, that's all.

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In this case, I can't comment whether the one sold is better than worse than Surefire because I haven't even touched it. However you need to understand Surefire, despite a good brand image in the flashlight community, I believe it does not fit the mainstream well. Mainly due to its exclusive use of CR123 of battery. So we're not really comparing apple to apple here. Imagine telling an average consumer "For the good flashlight (the one aobve sold at a premium), each battery is $2 and for the great one (Surefire), each battery is $10.", guess which one they're going to get?

I know you can get cheap CR123 batteries on ebay blah blah. But that is not yet the mainstream. Makes sense?

If you want to blame, then you can blame the consumers themselves for not doing to research and blame Surefire for not having a big enough customers base to hit the critical mass necessary for it be worthwhile for them to do marketing campaigns to educate the consumers of what's good and what's not.