First off, credit to Chuckhov for suggesting that I ask this question as a separate thread.
It started as a discussion of this ~$60 light: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RCATDJA/?tag=cpf0b6-20 (Solaray Pro ZX-1)
Which is remarkably similar to these:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E8UNBQI/?tag=cpf0b6-20 (Ecogear FX TK-120)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SGGFPZA/?tag=cpf0b6-20 (Taklite TL-Apollo)
Instinctively, I knew I wouldn't like these lights, despite the fact that they aren't cheap (especially by most people's standards). But they're rated VERY highly on Amazon. And yet the beam profile picture included in one of those product pages is exactly why I would not like the light.
Of course, they all list extravagant lumens ratings. I'm constantly having to defend to buddies at work why I pay so much for my Surefires, Fenix lights, etc., when they're explaining how they got their 40,000 lumen light for only $35 (bet this is a common struggle for many here .
But it got me thinking about a larger a larger question: what do you guys consider to be the main features that make a quality light a quality light, and therefore worth the big $$$. I feel like Fenix, SF, and many others are intrinsically better - but then I wonder to what extent I've drank the Kool-Aid, and to what extend people get similar performance out of cheap (or not cheap) Chinese lights and I'm just a snob
So - what makes quality to you, what separates some brands from the others and makes them worth the price, and where have you found that quality?
It started as a discussion of this ~$60 light: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RCATDJA/?tag=cpf0b6-20 (Solaray Pro ZX-1)
Which is remarkably similar to these:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E8UNBQI/?tag=cpf0b6-20 (Ecogear FX TK-120)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SGGFPZA/?tag=cpf0b6-20 (Taklite TL-Apollo)
Instinctively, I knew I wouldn't like these lights, despite the fact that they aren't cheap (especially by most people's standards). But they're rated VERY highly on Amazon. And yet the beam profile picture included in one of those product pages is exactly why I would not like the light.
Of course, they all list extravagant lumens ratings. I'm constantly having to defend to buddies at work why I pay so much for my Surefires, Fenix lights, etc., when they're explaining how they got their 40,000 lumen light for only $35 (bet this is a common struggle for many here .
But it got me thinking about a larger a larger question: what do you guys consider to be the main features that make a quality light a quality light, and therefore worth the big $$$. I feel like Fenix, SF, and many others are intrinsically better - but then I wonder to what extent I've drank the Kool-Aid, and to what extend people get similar performance out of cheap (or not cheap) Chinese lights and I'm just a snob
So - what makes quality to you, what separates some brands from the others and makes them worth the price, and where have you found that quality?