Armytek China?

letschat7

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I keep seeing these claims in regards to Armytek:

'They refused to use Chinese components from the national market, such as low-quality analogs of well-known brands.

They made a strategically correct decision to establish their factory in China in 2009.'

What happened to make them move production to China and how do you find an earlier model of their lights? Where were they originally produced at?
 
Their original predators were garbage, failed at 8 out of 10 rate. At first they claimed to be canadian company, yet their HQ address was a private house, then they "moved" to germany, while having factory in china all this time. they claimed to be official supplier for army and special forces, which was a complete lie. However lately their quality improved, and those who bought their lights are happy, and claim CS is great.
I personally do not have any of their lights, never did, i do not find them appealing, even if they are reliable, they do not seem to have any innovations, or uniqueness about them, no different than dozens of other brands.
 
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What happened? They were either lying from the start, or they realized they could get their lights made in China for less money, from an established factory; there. Likely one with experience in making lights, and quite frankly better than what was being made previously by the company. Basically same reason why many companies move their product manufacturing to China. To save money!
 
I tend to think they were making lights in china since the day 1, wirth predators it was not the quality issue, it was a design flaw, their drivers failed. but the lights were always decent quality otherwise. they corrected mistakes and now they are pretty solid lights, with, what it looks like a very good CS according to customers. they replace failed lights no questions asked, from what i hear
 
If they were honest from day 1, and did not pull that canadian, army supplier bs they would not turn away some customers. They are well known on fonarevka.ru, a very large flashlight forum in russia, their first marketing guy was very well known there as a scam artist, he even tried to steal candlepowerforum reputation, he created a russian candlepowerforum, without any permission from Greta. but it did not go that well. All that was a turn off, regardless of how good the lights are especially in oversaturated market
 
he even tried to steal candlepowerforum reputation, he created a russian candlepowerforum, without any permission from Greta.
If you are foolish enough to believe in intellectual property or copyright please understand the limitations and that not all countries have the same laws. I think the end user will find out which is the real one or provides the most value.

We knock off BLF but that doesn't matter so much. I try to use it very little and go to the real one and I don't care either way because it is a sound concept and it speaks enough that if someone is willing to imitate that it must be pretty good.
 
Thanks for the tip. I'm active in the Russian flashlight world but never hear of this till now.
That is kinda mutually exclusive things, Fonarevka.ru IS russian flashlight world, To me it is like saying i love to swim, but i've never been in a water.
But in any case, stop by, join, i've been a mod there for about 15 years. Same name , same avatar, I posted all my builds and projects there.
 
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Their original predators were garbage, failed at 8 out of 10 rate. At first they claimed to be canadian company, yet their HQ address was a private house, then they "moved" to germany, while having factory in china all this time. they claimed to be official supplier for army and special forces, which was a complete lie. However lately their quality improved, and those who bought their lights are happy, and claim CS is great.
I personally do not have any of their lights, never did, i do not find them appealing, even if they are reliable, they do not seem to have any innovations, or uniqueness about them, no different than dozens of other brands.
Everything you said is correct. I had one of those 8 predator pros. Total garbage. I can also attest that their "ten year hassle-free warranty" is anything but. They insist on photos and videos of the problem before you ship it to China and wait months for a replacement. They are a shady company and I will NEVER buy from Armytek again.
 
I don't know. Photos and videos might save you money. I was wanting to ship a Maratac back but with CS asking some questions and giving me advice I had my light working in less than half an hour and no shipping costs. Sometimes fixes are easy.
 
I don't know. Photos and videos might save you money. I was wanting to ship a Maratac back but with CS asking some questions and giving me advice I had my light working in less than half an hour and no shipping costs. Sometimes fixes are easy.
Yes, I have no problem following their instructions to diagnose a problem. But, that's not what this is really about. They are following the tried and true method of making it as difficult, expensive, and time-consuming as possible to avoid providing warranty service. Hoping you'll just give up. Their website is chock-full of Chinglish and doublespeak. They lied about supplying the Army and "special forces". They were deliberately deceiving people their lights were made in Canada, when in fact they are and have always been made in China. Not only that, but they knowingly shipped out defective lights. Now there's some clown representing from Germany, trying to imply they are made there. They're obviously not very proud of where they are actually made. Here are some bullet points copied and pasted directly from their website;

So what distinguishes us from other companies?

• Own factory.
• Designed especially for your needs.
• The team of scientists and engineers engaged in military and space industry.
• The best and tried-and-true components the USA and Japan.
• Particular attention to durability and technologies, not only to external design.

That was written by someone who either has English as a second language or is trying to be as deceiving as possible. Armytek offers nothing unique or special you can't find elsewhere.

IMHO, if something is broken due to a manufacturer's defect, I shouldn't have to pay an inflated shipping cost equal to half the cost of the item, and wait months in order to get warranty service.
 
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USA/JP components typically references the LED from Cree or Nichia.

This reminds me of Led Lenser back in the day or Suprabeam. They would sometimes be murky about where stuff was made.
 
USA/JP components typically references the LED from Cree or Nichia.

This reminds me of Led Lenser back in the day or Suprabeam. They would sometimes be murky about where stuff was made.
The best and tried-and-true components the USA and Japan. It's unclear if they're even claiming these components come from the USA/Japan. Are they saying the best and tried-and-true components FOR the USA and Japan, or FROM the USA and Japan? It's deceptive, misleading and shows what a fraudulent company they are.
 
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I heard early lights were bad with failures and poor customer service...


2022 bought the C1 Wizard Pro 18350 headlight. Been my go-to headlight around the house... 🛠️

IMG_6957.jpg



IMG_6954.jpg
 
I have owned near 20 Armyteks. I even had one of the older Predator Pro's that used the XPG2 LED. THAT beam out of THAT light was LED perfection the beam profile was very well done.

As for where is AT out of the answer is China. The parts for them are from all over the world. The current anodization they get is 2nd to none. Not even SF's "mil spec" anodization is as thick as AT's. Trying to find out where everything is coming from likely is not that difficult.

The reflectors are very well designed and made in China. Very well balanced beam profile. Real prescription grade optical glass for the lens then on that lens you want an anti-glare coating and AT has anti-glare coating that actually is tough and easy to clean. Not sure if this is China made or made somewhere else and just sold through China etc.
 
I have owned near 20 Armyteks. I even had one of the older Predator Pro's that used the XPG2 LED. THAT beam out of THAT light was LED perfection the beam profile was very well done.

As for where is AT out of the answer is China. The parts for them are from all over the world. The current anodization they get is 2nd to none. Not even SF's "mil spec" anodization is as thick as AT's. Trying to find out where everything is coming from likely is not that difficult.

The reflectors are very well designed and made in China. Very well balanced beam profile. Real prescription grade optical glass for the lens then on that lens you want an anti-glare coating and AT has anti-glare coating that actually is tough and easy to clean. Not sure if this is China made or made somewhere else and just sold through China etc.
Oh really? I'm curious what makes you the expert on these lights? Do you work for Armytek or one of their suppliers? What inside knowledge do you have of these flashlights? Have you independently tested the components? Are your AT's actually used or just shelf/closet queens?

Anodizing is a relatively simple and inexpensive process. AT uses a dull, matte finish that tends to hide defects easily. The thickness of the anodizing does not necessarily equate to better quality or wear resistance. It needs to be properly sealed, as well.

Glass lenses are cheap, easy to come by and btw, quite breakable. Hell, even Malkoff and Surefire are made with plastic lenses, as are 99.9% of what you call "real prescription grade optical glass lenses". And for good reason; When was the last time you saw a pair of eyeglasses made of actual glass? Obviously, you have not purchased glasses in the last 40 years. While anti-glare coatings MIGHT be useful on eyeglasses, please explain to me what advantage this has on a flashlight lens at all...I'll wait.

I can tell you I have personal experience with the Predator Pro and the result was a complete failure of the driver. This is from a light that had extremely light use, and was never dropped or abused in any way. And I'm far from an isolated case. Failure of the early Predators was far too common to attribute to isolated mfg. defects. They knowingly shipped defective lights with subpar components and tried to hide where they were made, i.e.,China.

The company has proven themselves to be deceitful, if not outright liars. Their website is full of Chinglish double speak that rivals any late night TV gadget ad. They supply no army, they are not rigorously tested in anything close to the most challenging environments, and their 10 year warranty is not worth the paper it's printed on. Armytek should be added to the numerous products on the dustbin of history. There are far too many good flashlights out there to be messing with this garbage.
 
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I have owned near 20 Armyteks. I even had one of the older Predator Pro's that used the XPG2 LED. THAT beam out of THAT light was LED perfection the beam profile was very well done.

I have that light as well, a good blend of output and throw with the XP G2 comparing well to more modern offerings 👍

 
I have 2 Dobermans, and 2 Wizard Pro headlamps all in warm flavors. Absolute bulletproof longevity, at least with my examples. I knew very well they were made in chinra but have outlasted many other fenix type brands at work and still are my favorite headlamp.
 
The company has proven themselves to be deceitful

Good choice of words.

Do you know the source of that last one?

You get 3 guesses, and take them alphabetically

;-)

In the above post of mine, I posed a final semi-rhetorical question at the end, honestly sort of hoping no one would actually answer it, even knowing that many likely knew. Whether they knew the source of that last image or not, I wanted to make people think about it, and look more closely at manufacturers' info these days, as it could be other companies as well; which was the point I was trying to make, albeit without naming names. They're out there.

Although you didn't answer the question, I'm going to present you with the honorary award for indirectly guessing the answer anyway, just because you understand the reality, and were willing to say it!:)

There are some things worse than poor design, engineering, manufacturing quality, and support. One of those is deceit. If I see that one, I don't even care about the first 4; they're 'dead to me'.
 

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