Ebay Chinese Torches

[johnnytheboy]

Gone are the days when maglite rulled the roost, I have heard allot of folks going on about the new high power torches from ebay, via china.

Has anyone had any sucess with these, a decent one that can be recomended, there seem to be allot under the tenner mark that look pretty good and claim oustanding light output! but I would like a recomendation first if possible!!

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Deal extreme would be my port of call. They have a massive selection and there are lots of reviews. Ive had loads from there. They always arrive and ive never paid vat no matter what the order size. Pay careful attention to battery size. the super high lumen torches tend to run on 18650 and CR123 batteries so you might have to buy more than just the torch. They allow you to shop by battery size too though so thats handy. Plenty of good and bright AA & AAA units available. Lumens are always overstated but even a bog standard AA torch will pawn a maglite these days. I have a 501b as my main bright user buy im about to take delivery of some goodies from lummi.co.uk not cheap but quality uk maker of compact lights

www.dx.com

edit: i got this last week and its stunning. not had chance to do a review yet though

http://dx.com/p/trustfire-z1-cree-x...-memory-led-flashlight-1-cr123a-1-16340-39671

 

[Chiseller]

Can't recommend a particular one (note my best english) but sum o lads av bin usin some split link leds on ther push irons since last winter. Sum fierce lumens an stayin power from a sixty brick rechargeable leet

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[aris]

I've got a bunch of lights from dx - they are great - and bright. I would recommend getting 18650 batteries and a charger.

 

[cbr6fs]

Mixed results to be honest.
Some have been ok, others have been terrible bordering on dangerous.

As most of these Chinese torches are copies i've found that a lot depends on which generation copy you get.
If the torch you buy is copied straight off the original then it tends to be ok, if you get a version that's then copied from the copy then the quality drops dramatically.
Once you get to copies of copies of copies then it starts getting ridiculous.

I do buy Chinese stuff and some of it is as good if not better than the western versions, indeed the vast vast majority of mass produced torches are made in China.
But in my experiences with Chinese torches, i'd sooner buy the original, straight from source.
That way your rewarding their innovation and design and you have a decent level of customer service and support.


It really depends on what you want the light for though, if your going to rely on it say out hiking or camping at night i'd say it's worth investing a bit more in something that has better quality control.

If it's just a torch for the odd use then, why not try one and see how you go.


One last thing i'll say for now.
It's not all about the lumens or light output, the tint of the light will make a dramatic difference in how you view things at night.
Most of the cheap Chinese torches i've tried had a very distinct green tint to the light, which is not really what you want, to the point where most half decent torch manufacturers won't touch LED's with a green tint with a barge pole.

You also need to consider the type of light output.
I have a torch that's around 700 lumens that puts a distinct light spot on the mountain 800 meters from my house, another 2400 lumens torch of mine struggles to get half that distance.

If you want a thin narrow beam then you want to look for lights with "throw".
For lights that put a wallof light directly in front of you, you want a lights that "floods"

A torch with a deep reflector will generally throw more than a torch with a shallow reflector, so it really depends on what you want from the torch.



Cheers
Mark

 

[rik_uk3]

Depends on what you want I suppose. A cree from Tesco/Ebay/Dealextreme will be just fine for general use. Push the button and they work.

I've linked these little gizmo's a load of times but at 30p each delivered they are superb. Push button to use, has a little on/off switch, clip to all sorts of kit, hook then on your keys, zip pulls etc and they last a loooooong time, silly money, very practicle
http://dx.com/p/black-flashlight-keychain-22000mcd-10-pack-1253
Go buy a couple of packs and try them. When I was using my Hex 3 I'd hang one up and light the tent easily all weekend off one hung off the pole.

 

[cbr6fs]

Depends on what you want I suppose. A cree from Tesco/Ebay/Dealextreme will be just fine for general use. Push the button and they work.

I've linked these little gizmo's a load of times but at 30p each delivered they are superb. Push button to use, has a little on/off switch, clip to all sorts of kit, hook then on your keys, zip pulls etc and they last a loooooong time, silly money, very practicle
http://dx.com/p/black-flashlight-keychain-22000mcd-10-pack-1253
Go buy a couple of packs and try them. When I was using my Hex 3 I'd hang one up and light the tent easily all weekend off one hung off the pole.

I agree.
It also depends on your experience, expectations and what you need to do.

As an example several mates had been happily working away with the their maglites thinking they were the best torch money can buy.
When i showed them my Zebralight SC600, you could have caught Apache helicopters their mouths, they were open that wide.

The vast majority are now using SC600's
They saw the difference a decent torch with a decent beam pattern and tint makes and there was no going back after that.

No doubt you can hike at night with a maglite, i've done it, i've also hiked at night with no torch.
But i do like having a torch that has a whump of power sitting there in reverse in case it's needed, and when you know you have that wall of light there available when needed i do find i tend to use it a fair bit.
Be it scouting out which way paths go, dazzling the wildlife or just being to walk confidently over really really rough ground because you can now see the ankle snapping holes.


It's the same quality wise as well.
Once you've used a half decent torch, the cheap copies tend to feel like they're made of tin foil after that.

It's not as though a half decent torch is mentally expensive either.
Fenix do some great VFM torches.