**PowerTac lights: Is this brand owned by Thrunite? They look the same..

I just received an email from batteryjunction about a new brand of lights they are carrying, called PowerTac, and I went and looked at them, and it reminded me of another recent thread here where another brand has produced a light that looks almost identical to the Thrunite TN-31, but only about half the price, but now this PowerTac company has an 1150 lumen light that nonetheless looks like the TN31, and there's other PowerTac lights that look almost identical to other lights already in production.

http://www.batteryjunction.com/powertac-thunderbolt.html

That light^ looks very similar to the Thrunite TN31, and is 1150L. Its $259, which is more than the TN31 price of $219.


http://www.batteryjunction.com/powertac-x3000.html

That light^ looks almost identical to the Thrunite TN30! But its $279, so at least its not cheaper than the TN30, so I dont feel ripped off for buying the TN30, which has an MSRP of $239...

Some of their other lights look similar to other Thrunite lights, and they also have a light that comes in a plastic case like the Olight Warrior, and its called the Warrior too....

http://www.batteryjunction.com/powertac-warrior-weapon-pkg.html

That certainly looks like a TN31 with a few.minor changes. It is a strange price point, as the TN31 is cheaper. I bought mine for $185 shipped to the UK. The specs and look would suggest that it is made by the same factory.

I can't see this being a good seller with such stiff competition in the 3x18650 XM-L thrower market.

Powertac (Jian Li) is similar to 4Sevens (David Chow), Shinningbeam (Bryan Chen), Eagletac (Dan L.), Zebralight (Ling Yao, Georg Yao), Prometheus Lights (Jason Hui) a US-based company with Chinese-descendant head. If a US-company licenses a design, manufactures in China, imports the produce to the States and tries to build up a brand name ("US-based"), pay their US-staff and starts the distribution from there, then the price has to be higher than China-based ThruNite who has their own online store ThruNite-storeDOTcom or something.

Nothing wrong with that.

Typically US-based companies like Prometheus, Eagletac and 4Sevens concede 10yrs to lifetime FREE warranty ---Zebralight is an exception with 12 months of warranty lol, and i dont care a bit for Shinningbeam brand--- and Powertac warranty isnt any different:

No hassle lifetime warranty from a US-based company. That alone is worth the markup.

the owner of Powertac used to run olightusa not sure if he still does but he started PowertacI have a couple of their lights the t1c and the gladiator and they are built really well so dont be afraid of them if you want to try one out

Bwolcott said:

the owner of Powertac used to run olightusa not sure if he still does but he started Powertac

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+ 1

Jian Li (he calls his own company "TacBeam Inc" lol) still owns the olightusaDOTcom domain

shelm said:

Powertac (Jian Li) is similar to 4Sevens (David Chow), Shinningbeam (Bryan Chen), Eagletac (Dan L.), Zebralight (Ling Yao, Georg Yao), Prometheus Lights (Jason Hui) a US-based company with Chinese-descendant head. If a US-company licenses a design, manufactures in China, imports the produce to the States and tries to build up a brand name ("US-based"), pay their US-staff and starts the distribution from there, then the price has to be higher than China-based ThruNite who has their own online store ThruNite-storeDOTcom or something.

Nothing wrong with that.

Typically US-based companies like Prometheus, Eagletac and 4Sevens concede 10yrs to lifetime FREE warranty ---Zebralight is an exception with 12 months of warranty lol, and i dont care a bit for Shinningbeam brand--- and Powertac warranty isnt any different:

No hassle lifetime warranty from a US-based company. That alone is worth the markup.

Click to expand...

So, Eagletac, FourSevens and Zebralight are all US based, but made in China? I knew ET and ZL were, but I thought that the Prometheus lights were 100% made in USA, hence their $225-$325 price for an aluminum light. Well, if ZL, 4-7's, and ET are US based but based in USA like Prometheus, then how are they able to sell their lights at the same price as do the 100% China based companies? The better question is if ET, ZL and 4-7's are able to sell their lights for the same price as China based companies, then why does a company like Prometheus sell theirs for 1.7X to 3 times more? Granted the 2 higher end Alpha series lights are supposedly at least partially built by the owner, whereas the lower end Alpha series are contracted out... That probably explains that.

But here's another way of looking at it. As I mentioned in the OP, just in the past week or 2, I read another thread about another company selling a Thrunite TN-31 copy, which is probably made by the same company but has slightly different checkering, however its priced at nearly half what the Tn-31 costs, so what that tells me is that these companies COULD sell these lights MUCH cheaper and still make a decent profit, in other words maybe these major brands like Thrunite, ET, ZL, Jetbeam, Feniz, etc., are actually jacking their prices way up above what they could be selling them for. Which begs another question then, if they are jacking their prices up to $100 or so for an 18650 lights that they could sell for $60, then are companies like Prometheus jacking their prices up way, way more than than what is justifiable?

Just asking, and if you consider those facts, it does seem to lead to that conclusion............Just saying....

Bwolcott said:

the owner of Powertac used to run olightusa not sure if he still does but he started PowertacI have a couple of their lights the t1c and the gladiator and they are built really well so dont be afraid of them if you want to try one out

Click to expand...

Well, apparently I do own a PowerTac light, but just didnt realize it! I own a Thrunite TN-30, and its apparently made in the same factory by the same people, with the same circuitry, and the same LED as found in PowerTac's version of the TN-30(the X3000), so apparently I do own a PowerTac light when you think about it, if its the same light!

HighlanderNorth said:

So, Eagletac, FourSevens and Zebralight are all US based, but made in China? I knew ET and ZL were, but I thought that the Prometheus lights were 100% made in USA, hence their $225-$325 price for an aluminum light.

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ET, Foursevens, Zebralight are made in China, yes. Shinningbeam too. Olight too. ITP too, etc. Nothing wrong with that. Prometheus is made in US-garage lol. Nothing wrong with that either.

It seems a mystery why brands/companies/labels jack up the prices, yes. Btw, some shops like FF, CNQG or IOS offer customized printing/labeling on their DIY hosts and unbranded flashlights, so anyone can go ahead and create his/her own flashlight brand like that and sell them in their own country under their brand name.

In fact i know at least 3 flashlight dealers (say LIGHTFUNCTIONdotCOM) who do exactly this: have a brand name listing on their website FENIZ, SUNAWAYMAN, LIGHTFUNCTION, KLARUS, XTAR, BALDER, and sell their own branded flashlights under their dealer's name lol.

Nothing wrong with that. i think it is funny. so many people want to make profit thru the flashlight business lol.

anyway, let's leave Jason Hui alone in his garage with the jacked up prices lol. This thread's topic is PowerTac. I think their prices are jacked up too .. and as an informed consumer i simply ignore their products and move on. Streamlight is US-based and Made-In-China too. The Rayovac Indestructible too. All made in China. Good stuff.

There's more than one model which is identical.

Racer said:

There's more than one model which is identical.

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there is lots of models identical

HighlanderNorth said:

So, Eagletac, FourSevens and Zebralight are all US based, but made in China? I knew ET and ZL were, but I thought that the Prometheus lights were 100% made in USA, hence their $225-$325 price for an aluminum light. Well, if ZL, 4-7's, and ET are US based but based in USA like Prometheus, then how are they able to sell their lights at the same price as do the 100% China based companies? The better question is if ET, ZL and 4-7's are able to sell their lights for the same price as China based companies, then why does a company like Prometheus sell theirs for 1.7X to 3 times more? Granted the 2 higher end Alpha series lights are supposedly at least partially built by the owner, whereas the lower end Alpha series are contracted out... That probably explains that.

But here's another way of looking at it. As I mentioned in the OP, just in the past week or 2, I read another thread about another company selling a Thrunite TN-31 copy, which is probably made by the same company but has slightly different checkering, however its priced at nearly half what the Tn-31 costs, so what that tells me is that these companies COULD sell these lights MUCH cheaper and still make a decent profit, in other words maybe these major brands like Thrunite, ET, ZL, Jetbeam, Feniz, etc., are actually jacking their prices way up above what they could be selling them for. Which begs another question then, if they are jacking their prices up to $100 or so for an 18650 lights that they could sell for $60, then are companies like Prometheus jacking their prices up way, way more than than what is justifiable?

Just asking, and if you consider those facts, it does seem to lead to that conclusion............Just saying....

Click to expand...

if you were talking about the k40 from sbflashlights that is half the price of the thrunite tn 31 its not a copy its similar but not a copy but the powertac models are exactly the same as the thrunite model

I have been saying for quite some time now, that many of these Chinese lights sold under brand names we know are also sold in other arenas with slight styling changes or UI changes, for about 1/10 the price of the ones we buy.
Some say it is worth it to have a US liaison for warranty work or whatever.
What these US liaison companies amount to is a marketing outlet and warehouse for the Chinese company. You can call them "US companies" if you want.

Closing this thread. One member is trolling here editorializing by making inferences about various flashlight companies that are inflammatory, and degrading. This thread will only become more negative.

Bill