So I LOVE LOVE my Armytek Predator Pro LE it is perhaps my favorite flashlight that I own. With that being said I recently ordered an Armytek Barracuda Pro LE based on my excellent experience with the Predator Pro LE. For $138 I have been very disappointed with this light (performance nothing else) and it has been less than 30 days. I am trying to return it to Armytek for a refund and I am having a heck of a hard time with them. It seems like the 30 day customer satisfaction guarantee that Armytek offers is nothing to more than a marketing ploy. Is this common with this company? I ask this because about a month and a half ago I had ordered a Doberman Pro LE and decided to upgrade to the Predator Pro LE before my order shipped out. They originally told me it would not cost me anything extra to upgrade from a Doberman Pro LE to a Predator Pro LE to only call me back a few minutes later to want to charge me an additional $9.49. From there I was going to cancel the entire order but they gave me some BS story that their system would not refund me my Paypal payment so I either pay the $9.49 difference or they would ship the Doberman Pro LE. That rubbed me the wrong way but I went along and upgraded to the Predator Pro LE for $9.49. I am still waiting for a response from them to return the Armytek Barracuda Pro LE. They wanted IN DETAIL why I wanted to return it so I answered them to only be waiting for another response.
Armytek Barracuda Disappointment and Return Hassle!
- Thread starter airgreek
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kj2
Flashaholic
Haven't dealt with AT directly, so I can't comment on that, but I do read this kinda problems often. It's a big reason why I only deal with dealers within my country.
By law I can send (any) internet purchases back, without having to tell why. I only have to pay the return shipping costs.
By law I can send (any) internet purchases back, without having to tell why. I only have to pay the return shipping costs.
All the reason I need to never buy anything from Armytek. I was looking at buying a few of their lights a little while back, but was put off by reports of spotty quality control and difficult customer service.
This story is the final straw. They will never see any of my money!
This story is the final straw. They will never see any of my money!
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CelticCross74
Flashlight Enthusiast
take it up with PayPal it is the only way anything be it positive or negative will get done. Also...when buying Armytek never buy from their site. I have 9 AT's that are awesome but I was sure to get them from a private online retailer just so I would not potentially end up in the situation you are in. Oh and sending it back to China will be left for you to pay for should they take it back.
That is what I did I opened up a Paypal case
dano
Flashlight Enthusiast
GB&G? Anyways, I had a Dobermann that has a weird random flash issue, so I emailed them, and they wanted all sorts of videos, and pictures of the light and the random flashing. I never followed thru; just too much hassle.
For me Armytek was one of the tempting brands that I'm interested in. Not after I read all those posts about their horrible warranty policy and QC. What kind of a sick joke is that, you need to upload a video to YouTube to prove that the light you bought from them is faulty?
CelticCross74
Flashlight Enthusiast
their business practices are shady as hell. Their website is also amateur. Note that AT does NOT ANSI rate their lights. You will not see a single ANSI chart for any of their lights. When I got my first Viking Pro the emitter was 2mm off center. It put out this weird half defined half smudged looking beam. At first I thought I had to take it up with AT. Man...talk about shady. I posted about it with pics in their section of the manufacturers forum here. Through email they instructed me that in order to exchange the light, I was not even going for a refund, that shipping costs back to some shady address in China was on my tab. What really put me off is they insisted that I have the package insured for only 15 dollars. Say what? I had just paid 110 for this thing and they expect me to only insure it for 15 bucks as well as pay for overseas shipping myself?
Then I came to my senses and remembered I got the light from a state side retailer so I took it up with them. I had a perfectly straight replacement in a week. I got 9 Armyteks over 4 months. Did lots of research of who to buy from and who not to buy from etc. AT will be putting XHP35 emitters in many of their lights starting in the fall. I am pretty content with the 9 properly functioning AT's I have now. I predict the first batch or three of their XHP35 lights will be rife with simple bad design problems so I dont see myself getting another AT for at least another year.
All that being said man, my 9 straight and properly working AT's are freaking amazing lights. Best anodization I have ever seen on any light. Best optics with the best glare coat in the industry. My prized AT is a new old stock V2.5 Predator Pro I got lucky enough to score not to long ago. It just sat in some stock room for I think 5 years. It is awesome. XPG2 at its finest. Flawless condition.
Then I came to my senses and remembered I got the light from a state side retailer so I took it up with them. I had a perfectly straight replacement in a week. I got 9 Armyteks over 4 months. Did lots of research of who to buy from and who not to buy from etc. AT will be putting XHP35 emitters in many of their lights starting in the fall. I am pretty content with the 9 properly functioning AT's I have now. I predict the first batch or three of their XHP35 lights will be rife with simple bad design problems so I dont see myself getting another AT for at least another year.
All that being said man, my 9 straight and properly working AT's are freaking amazing lights. Best anodization I have ever seen on any light. Best optics with the best glare coat in the industry. My prized AT is a new old stock V2.5 Predator Pro I got lucky enough to score not to long ago. It just sat in some stock room for I think 5 years. It is awesome. XPG2 at its finest. Flawless condition.
vadimax
Flashlight Enthusiast
Lumintop TD16 outperforms Armytek tactical lights 
Hi, would be interested to know what is actually the issue with the performance of your Barracuda Pro V2 XPL-Hi. I've also got the same light ( my only AT ). I had an issue with a scratched and greasy inside of the lense. As CelticCross74 had advised me, clean the lense. It removed the grease, but obviously not the scratching. Looking past that, the light itself is a killer thrower. The 970M throw, like most all throwers, ANSI or not, should be taken with a grain of salt ( ie not too serious ). Even ANSI/FL1 distance is measured to just 1/4 of one lux, and at the distances we are talking, I know i'd have trouble seeing anything at all. Most people tend to roughly halve the advertised distances for a real world output. I cant comment on AT direct service, as I haven't bought direct.
Photo of Barracuda beam.
The electricity pole is 100 Meters, and the trees overhanging the road from both sides forming a canopy, are at 250 Meters. The red reflector that can just be seen, is at 900 Meters.
Photo of Barracuda beam.The electricity pole is 100 Meters, and the trees overhanging the road from both sides forming a canopy, are at 250 Meters. The red reflector that can just be seen, is at 900 Meters.
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CelticCross74
Flashlight Enthusiast
wow harro that is a hell of a beam! Yes the LuminTop TD16 looks very nice indeed. A properly functioning AT HI to me is still the better light. Better anodizing, better optics, IP68 rated, able to take 4 cell types etc. All that being said I am sure the TD16 is a good bit cheaper than the expensive AT's.
OP what exactly is the issue with your Barracuda? Remember there are 2 current versions of the Barracuda one has a XP-L HD emitter the more expensive one has an XP-L HI emitter which throws a lot farther. Not even sure why they offer the HD version as all the competition is putting HI emitters in their lights.
OP what exactly is the issue with your Barracuda? Remember there are 2 current versions of the Barracuda one has a XP-L HD emitter the more expensive one has an XP-L HI emitter which throws a lot farther. Not even sure why they offer the HD version as all the competition is putting HI emitters in their lights.
I got the HI version. The light itself is working properly but for me personally I expected a heck of a lot more more performance for $130. It is less than 30 days that I have owned this light and with their 30 day satisfaction guarantee there should be no issue of me returning this light. If this light was $90-$100 I would say it's worth it. There should be ZERO issue with me returning this light. ANY reputable business would be hassle free.
HorizontalHunter
Enlightened
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- Nov 22, 2015
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That's why they want all of that stuff. They are hoping that the customer will just go away.
Bob
vadimax
Flashlight Enthusiast
I understand that would be not the best argument, but Armytek Predator Pro is $76.50 and Lumintop TD16 XPL HI is $99.98. If that price difference presents quality, I don't know. I've got only TD16 which is excellent
My Armytek light experience is currently 50/50. Both ordered through reputable sellers lucky. The newest one is still working fine. It's a pretty awesome light if you get one that's free from defects. I love their anodized feel. Even with no knurling, it's so comfy and grippy to me.
But after the first one with defects, I really learned to take Armytek's specs with a grain of salt. Their lumens vs runtimes always seemed too optimistic to me (but reasonable once I estimate the OTF lumens).
But after the first one with defects, I really learned to take Armytek's specs with a grain of salt. Their lumens vs runtimes always seemed too optimistic to me (but reasonable once I estimate the OTF lumens).
Swedpat
Flashlight Enthusiast
A properly working Armytek is just great. But Armytek has a serious problem with quality control. I got a Predator which over discharge protection shut off the light already after a minute of fully charged 18650.
I was asked a few questions and recommended to assure that the threads were properly greased and so on.
If they were not it had been caused by that Armytek missed to do it...
I sent it away to China. After some month I received another sample. This seemed to work properly but had an extremely uncentered LED which caused a horrible beam profile. I contacted them again and sent it back and the other time I received a proper model. But I was without a Predator for at least two months and it cost me two return shippings.
I understand that the more advanced electronics the higher risk for problems.
An extremely uncentered LED just should be discovered in the quality control, however. It was very easy to see with the eyes, apart from that they should turn on the light before sending it further and notice it at that moment.
I was asked a few questions and recommended to assure that the threads were properly greased and so on.
If they were not it had been caused by that Armytek missed to do it...
I sent it away to China. After some month I received another sample. This seemed to work properly but had an extremely uncentered LED which caused a horrible beam profile. I contacted them again and sent it back and the other time I received a proper model. But I was without a Predator for at least two months and it cost me two return shippings.
I understand that the more advanced electronics the higher risk for problems.
An extremely uncentered LED just should be discovered in the quality control, however. It was very easy to see with the eyes, apart from that they should turn on the light before sending it further and notice it at that moment.
So I opened up a Paypal case on 7/8/16. A week went by and I received a called asking me what was wrong with the light. I once again told them I was not happy with the performance. They them told me they would get back to me via email. Two days later I received another phone call asking me why I asked for a partial refund and/or a full refund. I told them the partial refund amount was what I thought was fair for the flashlight's performance compared to my other lights that cost MUCH less and perform just as good or better. The guy got immediately aggravated. He asked me if I was willing to ship it back to China as my cost. I told him NO I will ship it back to Canada where it came from. He then played stupid as pretended as if he did not know that it came from Canada. He told me he would get back to me. I received an email this morning 7/19/16 asking me to close my Paypal dispute and to ship it back to Canada, and they would ship me another one. I told them that if I ship it back I wanted a FULL REFUND not another light and to have all future correspondence done through Paypal since I no longer trusted the company. They are trying to avoid communicating with me through Paypal at all costs and that is shady to me. My experience with this company has been AWEFUL. I have NEVER had such hassle. I am guessing they are financially struggling to be acting like this towards a RETURNING customer!
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