• You must be a Supporting Member to participate in the Candle Power Forums Marketplace.

    You can become a Supporting Member.

Sold/Expired ██ SCAM ██ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light ██ SCAM ██

Status
Not open for further replies.

smokelaw1

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 23, 2006
Messages
1,282
Location
Switzerland
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

Look on the bright side, at least it wasn't a prepay :)

If this whole thing wasn't so heartbreaking, that would be really funny. As someone who has been part of some of ArcMania (long thought COMPLETELY worth it...) prepays, that strikes a chord.

What gets me is the seeming disconnect between the person who puts together those perfectionist hobbyist works of art liket he SF-III and IV, and the (alleged) scammer we are discssing here.

I am trying very, very hard to keep my mind open for the man who has built such great lights, and has, in the past, always come through for me. That iss getting harder to do.
 

saltytri

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 20, 2008
Messages
531
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

From my particular perspective, this was an unusually cynical and egregious piece of work because of the target group. The reason I got into lights and ended up at CPF was that I do some endurance cycling, which means sometimes riding all night. Good lights count for a lot in this activity but most cyclists aren't light geeks so they can be prey for marketing pitches that don't always meet the hype. A cyclist looking for a good lighting solution without the niche knowledge that flashaholics have might well have been sucked in by this bad deal and, sadly, it looks as if that was the goal.
 

easilyled

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 25, 2004
Messages
7,252
Location
Middlesex, UK
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

... What gets me is the seeming disconnect between the person who puts together those perfectionist hobbyist works of art liket he SF-III and IV, and the (alleged) scammer we are discssing here...

Although the Superflashlight design is certainly a very attractive one, it is very heavily influenced/based on TNC's original "Hyperlux" design.

Not that there's anything wrong in that, but I think that TNC deserves at least as much, if not more, of the credit for the Superflashlight design.
 

TranquillityBase

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
3,741
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

Sure makes one wonder what the margin on the X6 six die Ostar light was... :thinking:
 

tino_ale

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 20, 2005
Messages
1,646
Location
Paris, France
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

Actually it makes one wonder about ALL the previous offers (and there have been quite a few in the past)
 

TranquillityBase

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
3,741
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

Actually it makes one wonder about ALL the previous offers (and there have been quite a few in the past)

I wouldn't include any of the TnC/MJ offerings in that blanket statement...just the NON CUSTOM subcontractor stuff MJ has offered.
 

KuKu427

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
452
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

Came across a friendly contractor in Taiwan who claimed could do assembly work and machine parts so that all I need to do is concentrate on selling the item
Hold on... Taiwan? Name of alleged contractor please???
 

griff

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
Messages
1,917
Location
Kansas
Re: 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED!

I really hope this is not what it looks like.

ARC Mania had really great products in the past and it shouldn't end like this.

But if in fact he tried to sell mass production lights at a premium, than something must have gone terribly wrong or he just got greedy.

+1
the fall from grace can hurt when you hit the bottom. Do like the hi profile people...........own it, tell us the whole truth and then start to heal.
Everybody get a second and sometimes a third chance:oops:
 

jirik_cz

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
1,605
Location
europe
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

That first link is interesting. I particularly like the line in the order info:

Amazing how far 120pcs Ostar LEDs will go, these days...

Don't want to defend anyone, but I wouldn't trust information from Alibaba so much :D
 

Greta

Flashaholic
Joined
Apr 8, 2002
Messages
15,999
Location
Arizona
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

I read through all of this and then did the proper thing... took some time to calm down before posting... thinking that I would get over the need to post at all. Didn't work. Soooooo...

There is a GREAT urge in me to say to all of you that sent me abusive and indignant emails and PM's in the past regarding my "unfair treatment" of ARC Mania... WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY NOW?!?!? I banned MJ a few months back and literally got raked across the coals by some of you for what I did... not to mention some of the lovely stuff that MJ himself wrote to me in emails. So what did I do? I unbanned Mike. Well... WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY NOW?!?!? HUH?!?!?

Yeah... I'm just a tad bit pissed! And if it weren't for the fact that there are many of you who are involved in other threads and other transactions with Mike, his sorry *** would be permanently banned now. I'll give you all a chance to try to finish up your dealings with him. Good luck with that, btw... :ironic:
 

ma_sha1

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 10, 2009
Messages
3,042
Location
CT, USA
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

It's amazing how long it takes to build a good reputation online, years of efforts, one transaction at a time & how fast it could fall over night.

When the reputation goes, so will be the re-sale value of past lights,
almost like the stock market crash, I have some of those that I was too late to get out, still holding them pennies a share...

However, stock market will always recover, it's hard to predict if this
will ever recover. This is the biggest unfortunate CPF event I've seen since
I joined the forum, enough drama to get a reality TV show.
 

QtrHorse

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 2, 2008
Messages
1,159
Location
Texas
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

I have seen that X6 Cannon on Alibaba but did not want to trash the FS thread and I could not find it when I looked for it again.

Good catch DM51. We as a community have to keep everyone honest.
 

Joseph Milton

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 7, 2008
Messages
468
Location
Illinois
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

We have got to let MJ respond to this. I love his lights, the high quality of his builds, and his extremely anal nature in most everything he does with the lights he sells here. Let's give him a chance everyone:D.

Joseph
 

TranquillityBase

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
3,741
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

We have got to let MJ respond to this. I love his lights, the high quality of his builds, and his extremely anal nature in most everything he does with the lights he sells here. Let's give him a chance everyone:D.

Joseph
He already did :)
 

JonN06

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 3, 2007
Messages
111
Location
Tulsa, OK
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

The is kind of depressing. When I see someone that's been fairly active over such a long period of time on the forums it gives them a sense of trust. I see these people as people that I can get knowledgeable information from, and/or trust to be honest in their sales to other cpf members. :(

I'm really glad dm51 caught this so quickly. It lets me know that you guys are looking out for us from stuff like this. Thanks for being vigilant and looking out for us.
 

Josey

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 5, 2004
Messages
1,015
Location
NW Rainforest
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

Over the years, this kind of thing has happened to a number of respected builders. I don't know if it's human nature or just the pressure of competition from industrial mass-market forces.

It is too bad.

I do appreciate it when the mods -- or fellow members -- have our six.
 

easilyled

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 25, 2004
Messages
7,252
Location
Middlesex, UK
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

We have got to let MJ respond to this. I love his lights, the high quality of his builds, and his extremely anal nature in most everything he does with the lights he sells here. Let's give him a chance everyone:D.

Joseph

A chance to explain this as well, you mean?

I have seen that X6 Cannon on Alibaba but did not want to trash the FS thread and I could not find it when I looked for it again.

Good catch DM51. We as a community have to keep everyone honest.
 

Illum

Flashaholic
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
Messages
13,053
Location
Central Florida, USA
Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

hmm...I do recall JB10245's post in AM's earlier thread, he was the first whistleblower but it was DM51 who could have done anything about it;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top