eBay Off-Brand Flashlights

I searched to see whats available on eBay the other day, and saw some intriguing offers, specially very high output lights. Have any of you purchased these, thoughts?

Some of them are...







This one is a bit hard to believe for $4.95





Now I know all of you could use a 500,000 Lumen headlamp... Hat not needed in winter! The price tells you its high quality!

Your post above has been provisionally approved, but a thread of this type runs the significant likelihood of being used to shill and spam eBay listings and the like.

If you can discuss these without direct links, we'll let it run for now ....

Please replace your links with the "brand name" and model name(s) instead.

Thanks.

china lumens, if youre lucky, the 50 000 lumen zoom light is a 300-400 lumen light. A single led in the t6 bin will not come close to 50 000 lumen. I guess its a old xm-l t6 led. And the old xm-l t6 was around 600-700 in really well build light with good drivers and massive cooling. In a cheap china light, maby 300-400, but prob less. Same with the 500 000 lumen headlamp. I see the batteries are 5000 mAh. 5000 mAh 18650 batteries don't exist. Well china sellers claim thay exist, but if you test them, they are prob some old rewrapped 2000mAh with a 5000mAh sticker on them. A real 50 000 lumen light will heat up so fast that that tiny zoom light would have melted in your hand. And a real 500 000 lumen headlamp would have put your forehead on fire in less than a minute.

I've often wondered if there is some (inverse) correlation between the amount of exaggeration and the underlying item quality (such as it may be)

In other words, for advertised specifications that are a little bit "optimistic" ... say 20% or 30% beyond reality ... might the item itself be reasonably functionally adequate (albeit not premium quality) ?

While for those products listing utterly implausible specs ... like perhaps 3x to 10x(++) what is possible according to our current understanding of physics ... is the item more likely to be utter junk ?

archimedes said:

Your post above has been provisionally approved, but a thread of this type runs the significant likelihood of being used to shill and spam eBay listings and the like.

If you can discuss these without direct links, we'll let it run for now ....

Please replace your links with the "brand name" and model name(s) instead.

Thanks.

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They are not my listings, or anyone I know, but I see your point. I just wanted to show that there's some ridiculously high lumen lights for hard to believe prices.

None of them have specific brand names which is why I used the term 'off-brand'. Would screen shots be okay?

archimedes said:

While for those products listing utterly implausible specs ... like perhaps 3x to 10x(++) what is possible according to our current understanding of physics ... is the item more likely to be utter junk ?

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Absolutely! I found these listings to be more for entertainment purpose... but one never knows, maybe they are real. :shrug:

CompanyMan said:

None of them have specific brand names which is why I used the term 'off-brand'. Would screen shots be okay?

Click to expand...

I guess simply using the item "titles" would work (see edited quote of OP below) but re-hosted photos (*not* hotlinked) should be ok instead, if you prefer.

CompanyMan said:

I searched to see whats available on eBay the other day, and saw some intriguing offers, specially very high output lights. Have any of you purchased these, thoughts?

Some of them are...

"50000Lumens-Genuine-G700-LED-Tactical-Flashlight-Military-Grade-Torch-Light-Set"

"HD2010-Cree-XHP70-2-LED-3500-Lumens-Search-Flashlight-Support-2X-26650-or-18650"

"Tactical-15000LM-T6-Power-LED-Zoomable-Flashlight-18650-Charger-USA"

This one is a bit hard to believe for $4.95

"100000Lumens-Small-Tactical-Rechargeable-T6-LED-Flashlight-Torch-Battery-Charger"

"200000-Lumens-Zoomable-XHP70-LED-USB-Rechargeable-18650-Flashlight-Super-Bright"

And lastly... a 500,000 Lumen Headlamp

"500000Lumen-Garberiel-11x-T6-LED-Headlamp-USB-Rechargeable-18650-Headlight-Torch"

Click to expand...

One issue with cheap chinese lights is you can get clone emitters (not crees, etc). These emitters work fine for the most part but aren't quite as efficient as better crees and often the driver circuits underperform too. I have a dozen Ebay cheap chinese lights and for what I paid for them I have very few complaints one of which is the "next mode" memory problem in that when you have a light that is Low-Medium-High-Flash-SOS if you turn the light off in high mode and turn it back on a minute later is goes to flashing mode not High where is was nor back to Low either. There is a fix for it but it requires taking the light apart.
If you are willing to risk money you can find decent lights for the price but if you are looking for performance it isn't going to happen for dirt cheap. Personally I wouldn't count on a cheap ebay light doing more than a few hundred lumens in output as typically the drivers are cheap and don't have the heavy duty components needed for massive output. My cheap lights don't do more about 300 lumens on high.

I recommend choosing lights with a brand name, then researching other places than Ebay for that light to find reviews on it online in a search engine so you can see what others say about it.

Lynx_Arc said:

.... if you are looking for performance it isn't going to happen for dirt cheap....

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So, let me get this right, what you are saying is that a "100,000 lumen flashlight, plus battery, plus charger" for four bucks and change, shipped ... might not be a quality product ?

Of course you can't trust these, they're just for fun. I look at eBay for prices, if I see one of my older lights for sale at a decent price, I sometimes put one of mine up. I have a massive collection that does need some thinning. A 500,000 lumen light is LOL all the way. There was one I saw last week that was 10,000,000 Lumen for $100.

archimedes said:

So, let me get this right, what you are saying is that a "100,000 lumen flashlight, plus battery, plus charger" for four bucks and change, shipped ... might not be a quality product ?

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Whuh? Say it aint so.....

Seems legit got to remember they may not have much overhead😂😂😂😂

I'm a new guy to the forum. I appreciate all the R & D that forum members have given for the benefit of others. Much thanks for allowing me to join.

Yeah, some have decent specs like XPH50.2 and XPH70.2 LED's but list no other components, so its hard to tell what you get. There's someone from Ontario CA selling many dirt cheap models using Cree LED's, and when I say cheap, like under $10. Doesn't seem possible even with a generic flashlight housing. They are cheap enough to buy and test though.

The one guy selling 15,000 and 30,000 Lumen XPH50.2 and XPH70.2 has several for sale. He's from China. He claims his XPH70.2 (single LED) can do 2000 meters. That's quite a statement. He has some listings allowing offers and others not... if anyone is interested.

Rule of thumb: just don't trust those listings. See one, ignore one. Just laugh at it. Then leave.
These listings are nuisances with the sole purpose of luring the non-flashaholic generalists into getting one, only to risk breaking it within a few days (or a few months, if you're lucky) or so.

As for output numbers, all of them are exaggerated. Most likely these vendors simply list the LED's gross output per the specs sheet, that's all.

And let me reiterate: portable flashlgihts are NOT for fun. They're for usage. Useful and dependable illumination when you need it. Lights that won't overheat and burst in your hand... something like that.

archimedes said:

So, let me get this right, what you are saying is that a "100,000 lumen flashlight, plus battery, plus charger" for four bucks and change, shipped ... might not be a quality product ?

Click to expand...

well..... it could give you a fraction of a second of that output but perhaps at the cost of a few fingers

CompanyMan said:

Yeah, some have decent specs like XPH50.2 and XPH70.2 LED's but list no other components, so its hard to tell what you get. There's someone from Ontario CA selling many dirt cheap models using Cree LED's, and when I say cheap, like under $10. Doesn't seem possible even with a generic flashlight housing. They are cheap enough to buy and test though.

The one guy selling 15,000 and 30,000 Lumen XPH50.2 and XPH70.2 has several for sale. He's from China. He claims his XPH70.2 (single LED) can do 2000 meters. That's quite a statement. He has some listings allowing offers and others not... if anyone is interested.

Click to expand...

You aren't going to find much with a real Cree emitter in it for under $10 unless it is on clearance or has an ancient Cree in it.
One problem with the Ebay (mostly Chinese) cheap LED lights is even if they had actual Crees in them the drivers would still be unable to power them at high output levels the Crees can easily handle but the levels are generally usable for many tasks. I have several cheap lights I got from Ebay and like them for the price I paid they are useful if you have a limited budget and need a few extra lights around but I recommend those needing a hard working and performing light to invest in a known brand line with high quality emitters and well designed circuitry instead... leaving the cheap lights for utilitarian use. I have several 1AA and 18650 lights and even a 1AAA COB LED keychain light but like all my old shower head 5mm Lights and 3AAA luxeon lights when I get a quality light they all end up gathering dust.

I would like to add a little commentary to this post that nobody has touched on yet. When you are buying these cheap eBay lights you may as well send the batteries to a recycler as many of them are not safe.

Exactly Lynx...the price tells the full story. They list Cree emitters to lure people who don't know any better, but know to buy Cree. I doubt any of those lights actually have the latest and greatest emitters.

If someone who doesn't know flashlights sees one of mine, I am always asked questions like "how could such a small flashlight have such amazing light" and these are 200-600 lumen lights. Most people shop lumens and think they need more then they do. That's how Chinese eBay listings lure the average Joe. People also ask "How much" and always say "to expensive". It's hard to advise people to buy one quality light from a known brand. When I started buying Surefire's in 1997, people thought I was crazy. Even guys that require high quality light for their jobs. If your not a gear guy or flashlight collector, quality lights don't appeal to you.