And yet another newbie flasher...

Hi guys,

Posting from Malaysia, pretty much a newbie in the flashlight world, although my "first" flashlight collection is pretty much a 3D Cell & a AA Maglite, which i used extensively for my line of work.

Just found this very helpful forum and am about to purchase several more flashlights ( albeit in stages though). I did the whole search thing but nothing I wanted came out, so maybe you can help me out a bit.

My shopping list ( in order of priority):

Inova T2
Lumaray FL6
Surefire L1
Surefire C2

I found 2 online stores which offers a good price for the Inova T2. Id like to know how reliable are they in the sea of thousands of online stores...

http://store.botachtactical.com
http://www.defensedevices.com/

any comments on these two online stores?

Appreciate the comments and looking fwd to more discussions with you guys here.

Regards,
Fake

If the search feature worked as it should, you would see many bad experiences folks have had with botach. Just one bad account after another...I will let some of the victims elaborate, if they choose to...

Don't know anything about the other store...sorry...

Welcome to CPF!

JM-99

hi there =)

nice to see another from this part of the world with the same addiction.

My advice is to go to the dealers corner and look at GreenLED's "CPF Specials" sticky thread. You'll find some good deals there, and most of the dealers on that list are all reliable and trustworthy sources.

I'm not too sure about the inova T2 (but i remember one of those listed in that thread stocks them). Lumaray, well you can buy directly from Lumaray =) but you can get the surefires from OpticsHQ. they give great prices, good service & communication, and most importantly, they'are a wonderful bunch to deal with. I believe my SF U2 just came and i'll be picking it up from the poslaju office soon.

welcome again & cheers =)

Hey there Jumpmaster

apparently i typed in the wrong keywords and after doing right, voila! Looks like ill be staying away from Botach for now. Thanks for the heads up.

Somy,

Nice to see another Malaysian! Having fun with your U2 yet? BTW, how did you manage to work out the taxes and duties??? Im ordering mine online but shipping it to my colleague in the US ( we'll be meeting up soon ). Yeah, im looking at OpticsHQ, with the "extra" discount, its too good of a price to NOT buy a SF!


cheers

i believe that Malaysia has no duties/taxes on all electronic goods, including flashlights, though don't quote me on that. i picked it up out of my read of the urban myth weekly subscription.

but what i have done thus far is ship good to my house. if you ship them to a office location you can be 90% certain that you'll be slapped with duties. ship it to your house, as in a personal purchase. i've never asked for anything more than sometimes delcaring it as a gift. prices are always displayed or declared accordingly and i've had no problems, cept that one time i got a US$130 pair of shoes shipped to my office, and got charged US$66 additional duties on it . needless to say, those are the most fricken expensive shoo's i've ever bought.

[customs & exise department]

yeah..talk abt being slapped with duties! ive had my fair share of headaches...

anyway, apparently, buying an FL6 via Paypal and shipping it to another address outside your home country does not work.:mecry:

I guess I have to wait for 1 other guy who is interested in getting the Fl6 so we can save shipping cost ( free shipping on international orders for 3 pieces, already have one person interested..)

BTW, i just purchased an SF C-2 with a FMC37 cover yesterday via OpticsHQ. You're right! they were extremely helpful with my questions about my purchase.

Welcome to the CPF! Well! seems we local M'sian are not so lonely nomore. Regarding the taxes, all flashlites do incur a tax of 15% + 5% so be careful. Does not matter where its posted to, office or house makes no diff. SMS me at 012 515 0021 for some good news from the local front.

my name is fake said:

Inova T2
Lumaray FL6
Surefire L1
Surefire C2

Click to expand...

I'm sure you have specific reasons for each light, but I'd recommend getting a lesser number of higher end lights.

E.g, instead of the T2, FL6 and L1, get an HDS EDC U60 or U85, or a Surefire U2. The HDS and U2 are about the same price as the sum of those three lights, and they'll mostly do the same job (and then some).

The C2 is a tactical incandescent, so maybe you'd need that regardless of the other choice.

If you can't afford an HDS or U2 and want a nice compact LED light, I'd suggest the Fenix L1P. Flashlightreviews.com will soon be reviewing it and you can then compare the tested output numbers and run time to the T2.

Kevin,

The number's growing! that's good....nice to meet you. will SMS you soon.

Joema,

appreciate the input. but too late! .
Both the C-2 and FL6 has been ordered. The Fl6 will be shipped to my friend's address in Houston as well as the C-2 ( managed to get around paypal restrictions).

Anyway, i think for not, the C-2 and the FL6 will be my only "high end" flashlights. Will look into your suggestions. Thanks again.

You might've bought the C2 & FL6, both of which are relatively bigger lights. but the remaining are sort of in the small/pocketable category... well the L1 more than the T2.

instead of getting those two, Joema's suggestion of looking at a higher-end light that can do what both of those do and more might make sense. if you are able to make the stretch, a HDS 60 might be the way to go. Also the JIL Intelli isn't half bad either and is very small. then there are also the other custom lights... =)

@Kevin
urgh. i supose i've been lucky thus far. hope that doesn't run out as i still have a few lights coming in the near future *knock on wood*

Somy


You're spoiling me and my already dry wallet!:laughing:

Im no familair with the HDS..ill look it up...thanks...

Welcome to CPF.

I've had 2 orders placed with DefenseDevices.com. Both were handled smoothly.

They seem to have about the lowest Inova prices on the net. They're also a good dealer of the excellent Fox O.C. spray... if you're into non-lethal weapons as part of your own "force continuum" (never-be-a-victim) self-defense plan. It's the best O.C. "tear gas" made, and their website is fairly educational for the un-initiated.


That Inova T2 is a nice, rugged light. Great 4 1/2 to 5 hr. runtime, so it makes a fine all-purpose emergency or back-up light. Like many mid-power LED's, it just lacks the output to cut through ambient light/shadows from streetlights, etc.

Somy Nex, I am honored for the referral, thank you I am glad you have found it useful.

My_name_is_fake (love your name, BTW ), welcome to CPF! I believe it's also on the dealer's forum where ksbman has a thread offering his international forwarding services (no extra charge, IIRC). You contact him to arrange things; but basically you have your stuff mailed to him and he'll forward them to you.

The loooong (and apparently standing jeers) towards Botach is the reason they're not listed on the "specials" thread. Just to be fair, I've also heard of people who've never had a problem with them; apparently you must call them first to confirm inventory. Not sure that's convenient/worth the risk given your location.

GreenLed,

Thanks.

Well, you are correct abt the inconvienece ( given my location) if something goes wrong with "less than reputable" online dealers.

But anyway, tru your very helpful specials link, found OpticsHQ and purchased my first SF!

welcome, my_name_is_fake...:wave: Hang on to your wallet or bank negara is gonig to wonder what are you doing sending so much money to the US

Wonder if we got enough flashlights/lumens to have a light fight over the causeway with our singaporean neighbors.. :laughing::laughing::laughing: :buddies:

greenLED said:

Somy Nex, I am honored for the referral, thank you I am glad you have found it useful.

Click to expand...

GreenLED, credit where it's due, that thread is very useful & i've already recommended it to a few people :naughty:

two thumbs up! :goodjob: :goodjob:

With regard to the mention of Botach in this thread I did some further reading on them.

Here is a site that reviews online merchants: ResellerRatings.com (Link to Botach's review)

And here is the Better Business Bureau report: BBB.org (BBB's opinion of Botach)

Nothing surprising but I thought I would pass along those links. They are good resources to check up on a company.

flashgreenie said:

welcome, my_name_is_fake...:wave: Hang on to your wallet or bank negara is gonig to wonder what are you doing sending so much money to the US

Wonder if we got enough flashlights/lumens to have a light fight over the causeway with our singaporean neighbors.. :laughing::laughing::laughing: :buddies:

Click to expand...

flashgreenie...haha..well..i dont think Bank Negara will "kacau" a small fish like me...:laughing:

btw, you;re malaysian too?