Cheap Chinese Flashlights

[NH Shooter]

Worth a watch.

[jnc36rcpd]

Makes me glad I've got a Surefire on my belt, a Streamlight on my shoulder, and a Powertac in my gym bag.

[Leroy Suggs]

All Malkoff all the time for me.

[BillSWPA]

If I recall correctly from reading Candlepowerforums years ago, the ANSI spec allows a certain outfit to be stated for a certain runtime as long as at the end of that runtime the light is producing 10% of that output. Of course, if we are buying a 500 lm flashlight, that is not because 50 lm will meet our needs. The standard actually works against a properly regulated light with a flat output curve, and in favor of direct drive lights.

It would be much more useful for manufacturers to provide actual output and runtime curves for their lights.

I carried one particular brand of Chinese lights for a few years, until two different lights from that company had serious parasitic drain issues with their electronic switches, and another light was never able to work for me properly despite being replaced multiple times by the retail vendor under warranty.

For the past few years, I have been carrying Malkoff bodyguard lights. I have a V1, V2, and one of NHShooter’s V2 legos, and can highly recommend any of the above with confidence.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NH Shooter]

While there are some decent Chinese selections (if you know what to look for), I've come to the conclusion that nearly all cater to those who know nothing about flashlights. Those shown in the video are the epitome of it.

While the likes of Surefire, Modlite, Malkoff, etc. design their products around direct voice-of-customer from top-tier users (LE, military), Chinese designers seem to come up with goofy features based on anything but top-tier users and then test them in the American consumer market. The Big Box/Amazon crowd suck this crap up thinking it's actually better.

[sparkyv]

I like Streamlight, but the chinese-made Olight is very, very good, too. I EDCd an Olight for over a year with no issues.

[4RNR]

I avoid all Chinese products unless absolutely impossible.

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

[msstate56]

I’ve got several Lumens Factory E series heads that have held up very well. Mostly on carbines. They are from Hong Kong, so not China 😁

[NH Shooter]

I’ve got several Lumens Factory E series heads that have held up very well. Mostly on carbines. They are from Hong Kong, so not China 😁

Mark from Lumens Factory caters to Lego-building flashlight nerds like myself. I use a LF body and tailcap for my BG v.2 18350 and E2HT 18350 builds.

No gimmicky crap, just quality parts that are very suitable for building a top-tier light.

[WobblyPossum]

I’ve been EDCing a Klarus XT2C for probably close to 8 years now. It’s pretty solid for a Chinese flashlight. I don’t know how many times I’ve dropped these things on concrete or asphalt with no I’ll effects but some scuffing. I like the feature set a lot. I’m actually on my second because the rubber covering the main button on my first one tore after about four years. When I reached out to the company to get a quote on a replacement tailcap, the price after shipping was a third of what a new light would cost so I just bought a new one. That one has been going strong for the last four years or so.