# Are there any Japanese flashlight manufacturers?



## strinq (Nov 28, 2009)

Suddenly thought of this...
They're a country that makes a whole lot of awesome stuff at awesome prices.


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## csadzuki (Nov 28, 2009)

Gentos

Hopefully others can add more.


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## headophile (Nov 29, 2009)

csadzuki said:


> Gentos
> 
> Hopefully others can add more.



sweet. do you own one?


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## csadzuki (Nov 29, 2009)

headophile said:


> sweet. do you own one?



I don't actually. I never felt tempted enough by the older models (SuperFire, SuperJupina, Sen, Stealth Pro, etc.) to buy one, and I haven't seen the newer models (T-REX, Patorio) yet in the shops (though I haven't been looking lately).

The T-REX series does look interesting. 
I hope a fellow CPFer from Japan can chime in and share his/her experiences. lovecpf


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## Search (Nov 29, 2009)

lol they make the "Head-Vader".


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## ANDREAS FERRARI (Nov 29, 2009)

I have to say that's a very interesting line of lights.

Strange that I have never heard or seen of them before?!?!?!?


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## roguesw (Nov 29, 2009)

I see this line of flashlights being sold at all the electronics store here, but I guess they dont export them outside of Japan ? Maybe that's why you dont see them?


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## sfca (Nov 29, 2009)

Can anyone find more info on the Gentos T-Rex 230 lumen model... translated?


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## monkeyboy (Nov 29, 2009)

There's Arcmania of course but he's a custom bulider/modder rather than a manufacturer. He makes some pretty high end stuff and seems to get hold of unheard of LED bins.


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## parnass (Nov 29, 2009)

The SJ-H3A looks like a River Rock light sold in the USA at Target.


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## csadzuki (Nov 30, 2009)

sfca said:


> Can anyone find more info on the Gentos T-Rex 230 lumen model... translated?



The original page says something like this:

Item no. TX-230LM
All operations can be done with a single switch!

Brightness: 230 lumen
Battery life:
- 5 hours of usable light (@100%)
- 50 hours of usable light (@10%)
- 8 hours of usable light (quick flash mode)
- 15 hours of usable light (SOS)
Light source: chip type white LED
Features: instant off switch/smooth dimmer control/quick flash/SOS/water resistant
Optical system: reflector type
Battery: CR123 lithium battery x 2 (included)
Body dimensions: approx. dia=32mm, length=128mm
Weight: approx. 118g
Accessories: neck strap, original pouch, batteries
JAN code: 4950654 028485

:wave:


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## jirik_cz (Nov 30, 2009)

csadzuki said:


> Gentos
> 
> Hopefully others can add more.



Don't know if all of them. But most of them are definitely not made in Japan. They are from big OEM manufacturers in China.


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## BIGLOU (Dec 1, 2009)

parnass said:


> The SJ-H3A looks like a River Rock light sold in the USA at Target.


 
Thats what I was thinking so does the SENN SG-300 it runs on 2XAA and has an aspherical lens and throws out like a square beam that you can adjust from spot to flood. The single cell looks good and looks like its a CR123 with those lumens.


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## radu1976 (Dec 1, 2009)

I also remember I have seen a SANYO 2xCR123 xenon flashlight when I have been to Romania , 4-5 years ago. About 30$ but I am not sure if it was made in Japan, could be China ...


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## DuncanHynes (Dec 1, 2009)

I used yahoo translator here, and 6500 yen converts to $75 at today's rate. Note they say Li-Ions can't be used at the bottom of the page. Looks like a hardy device though. As for where it's actually made...

T-Rex 500LM is a 3 'C' cell Cree MC-E that costs $138 before taxes/shipping. I was curious because it had 'Eneloop' on the picture, thought it was AA


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## Byydo (Dec 11, 2009)

I've been living in Japan for around 7 years now, and basically the domestic flashlight market is a joke. The lights from the domestic manufacturers such as National (Panasonic) and Toshiba are about 5 years behind the curve. The CREE LEDs have just started showing up as of around last year.

The Gentos lights are rebranded Chinese lights, made by the same OEMs as Nuwai and others. I do own a few of them, and the build quality isn't particularly great when compared to Fenix etc.

The only really interesting light I've seen lately is one of the "GENTOS ULTRAFIRE" lights that has 7 LEDs in the head and is quoted at 500 lumens. Of course, it runs off of 7 "D" batteries and costs around $240 US. About the same size and shape as a WWII Panzerfaust, but probably a lot heavier if you use NIMH D cells (which apparently you can't get here domestically in capacities over 5000mAh or so)

Among people who use high-powered flashlights, Fenix and Surefire lights are the standard, with military reenactors/airsofters leaning towards Surefire. 

Gradually we are seeing better lights in the electronics stores, but they don't compete in terms of power or price/performance, and most of the desirable ones are imports anyway.

EDIT: Correction - after looking at the link above, I believe it's one of the Megafire 1000 lumen models I was thinking of - gigantic monster of a light compared to my TK-40. 6 D cells...
The direct rechargeable one looks kind of interesting:
http://www.saint-gentleman.co.jp/list/?id=3_58&pid=203
I might consider carrying one of these if I ever got a job as a professional monkey hunter. I could smear myself with bananas and then use this more-than-4-pound monstrosity as a cudgel during the subsequent monkey wave attack.


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## divine (Dec 11, 2009)

I'm pretty sure MJP is in Japan, I don't know if I'd call him a "manufacturer", though.

Pro-light is an excellent dealer in Japan, again not a manufacturer.


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## strinq (Dec 11, 2009)

Really hope an enterprising Japanese would start a flashlight company and blow us all away with their product...


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## divine (Dec 11, 2009)

He already has and already is, you just don't know it. Only, not on such a large scale as a full blown manufacturer.

ARC Mania


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## the_guy_with_no_name (Jan 2, 2010)

Hi folks,

I've had the Gentos SG-309, aka SENN for a few months.

Its a cool little light.
Definitely no complaints for the price.
The variable beam focus and small size is what makes it so usable. Single mode and decent runtime, its close to idiot proof.

There's another maker called ELPA. They have a small, single CR123 6P light that looks like a good host for some custom drop-ins 

tgwnn


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## RGB_LED (Jan 2, 2010)

strinq said:


> Really hope an enterprising Japanese would start a flashlight company and blow us all away with their product...


+1.


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## Hamaremon (Jul 12, 2011)

I just found this thread and thought I'd add my two cents.

I've been living in Japan for over 13 years now. I only became seriously interested in high-quality lights about a year ago, and have since purchased more lights than I would ever dare admit to my wife

I too assumed that in a country like Japan where all the electronic gadgets have leading edge technology there would surely be a plethora of quality light makers. However, I have to support what Byydo and others have said, that the present local flashlight market is a joke. 

Most of the flashlights available in retail stores here are cheapie incandescent 2D cell lights, and these are what people here generally use in emergency situations. There was actually a countrywide shortage of D size batteries due to the recent earthquake disaster--everyone was buying them up and sending them to friends and relatives in Northeastern Japan, and you literally couldn't find these batteries anywhere. There was still plenty of AA, AAA, and CR123s available, however...

Even at electronics stores, LED light offerings are usually limited to Maglights, and those by Gentos and ELPA, and D cell lights are by far the most prominent. For whatever reason, there simply isn't as much widespread interest in flashlights, especially those over the $50 mark.

I believe that the market is slowly growing thanks to the efforts of dealers like Pro-light Japan(PLJ), which offers quality lights from makers around the world. Collectors are able to purchase McGizmos, Surefires, 4 sevens and what-not, and this company also supplied high-quality rechargeable lights from makers like Wolf-eyes to many earthquake disaster victims. 

So I think between the potential shortage of D-cells and increased awareness for disaster preparedness, more of these high-quality lights will catch on, and personally I hope that one or more Japanese makers will transfer their high-quality craftsmanship to light building, because I'm sure the demand is there.

Here's hoping!


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## geckoblink (Jul 12, 2011)

Hamaremon said:


> Most of the flashlights available in retail stores here are cheapie incandescent 2D cell lights, and these are what people here generally use in emergency situations. There was actually a countrywide shortage of D size batteries due to the recent earthquake disaster--everyone was buying them up and sending them to friends and relatives in Northeastern Japan, and you literally couldn't find these batteries anywhere. There was still plenty of AA, AAA, and CR123s available, however...


Huh. That's really interesting.

*Makes note to bring D-cells on flights.*


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## rpgboy00 (Jul 13, 2011)

Taken from the Japanese Wiki article on "Flashlights" (translated by me)

Prominent Manufacturers:

Panasonic： BF Series, etc.
Saint Gentlemen, Co. LTD： GENTOS, Super Fire series, etc.
Cateye, Co. LTD： CATEYE Series
RAYS VISION: Z, L, M, P, X Series, etc.
CROPS： ANTAREX Series, etc.
Asahi Electronics, Co. LTD： ELPA, Sharp Style, Lumict, Zext Series, etc.

On Amazon and Rakuten, it seems the popular ones are Gentos, Fenix, Led Lenser, Rays Vision, and Surefire. Not like I know much, but I've never heard of Rays Vision, and their prices are close to that of the Fenix lines. The majority of the Japanese reviews I've read revered Surefire as the top, with Rays Vision a close step down, especially when considering their cost-performance.


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## kaichu dento (Jul 13, 2011)

The only decent lights I've seen over there were at a little shop in Kobe, but I keep trying to inject a few quality lights from time to time by giving them to friends. So far I've left LF2XT's, Quark AA's, an Arc-AAA and a lot of L0D/LD01's.


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## carrot (Jul 13, 2011)

When I hiked Mt. Fuji just about everyone there had Gentos headlamps.

Did not notice any Petzl, Princeton Tec, Mammut there. I of course, wore my Saint and lit everyone else's way.

In and around various cities in Japan I pretty much only saw 2D plastic incans. Most of them were more clever in design than our 2D Rayovacs here but still they were pretty dull. One lit up when you pulled it out of the wall holster, which was neat. I did not see any Cree-based flashlights in Akihabara, which is where I looked hardest. I couldn't find any outdoorsmen stores which is where I figured I'd be able to find at least some cool lights.

For everything else that's from the future in Japan, flashlights seem to not be one of them, which is very strange considering the Japanese tend to be more preparedness-aware than those in the USA.


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## kaichu dento (Jul 14, 2011)

Forgot to mention that the shop I went to in Kobe had a pretty good variety of SureFire lights, but I have been constantly surprised at the complete lack of decent lights in not only Akihabara, Tokyu Hands and all the big electronics chains. I'll try again this year to see if I can find any change.


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## Hogokansatsukan (Jul 14, 2011)

kaichu dento said:


> The only decent lights I've seen over there were at a little shop in Kobe, but I keep trying to inject a few quality lights from time to time by giving them to friends. So far I've left LF2XT's, Quark AA's, an Arc-AAA and a lot of L0D/LD01's.


 
I'll bet that shop was Ikari and had lots of Surefire lights and Spyderco knives. As I recall, they had an anchor on their sign. Ahhhhh. Memories. That was my favorite shop. Tokyu Hands took a close second. There was a shop under the railroad tracks in Motomachi that I think was owned by the same person who owned Ikari as well that had better lights. It's been 10 years though since I've been there. I bought my first Surefire under the tracks in Motomachi. A 6P.


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## carrot (Jul 14, 2011)

I found tons of great knives... plenty of Spydercos... everywhere in Japan... especially around Kyoto and Tokyo. But no good flashlights! I was looking for a Gentos to bring home, just for fun.


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## Hamaremon (Jul 14, 2011)

Yeah, there really are some attractive knives here...too bad its not as easy to carry them around as it was back home:sigh:

But not to stray off topic...as to the original poster's question, yes, there are some Japanese flashlight manufacturers, but most of their offerings are mediocre at best, and not what you'd expect in a place with so many other cool toys.

As many people have pointed out, there are several specialty stores and online vendors in Japan that carry widely regarded, reputable flashlight brands from outside Japan, but they seem to have more appeal to foreign visitors and closet Japanese flashaholics than to the general public.

I think it's just a matter of raising awareness that other, cooler lights exist elsewhere, so I've been trying to convert several friends by showing them a few of my lights and giving gifts here and there.

Maybe someday Japan will pursue flashlight building with the same passion as they have for knives and blades.


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## wreckless1 (Jul 14, 2011)

Well the answer might be in the question what do japanese edc ? Also what do japanese think of being prepared by having a surplus of things .the thinking of japanese is certainly in the here and now rather than far sighted .Does the average japanese have tools.I would say generally No. i think the mentality is sufficiently different than almost the rest of the world .No market for flashlights unless it's almost a reactionary buy . Having excessive stuff isn't their game .


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## Ghostpilot (Jul 13, 2015)

Sorry for digging up this old thread like this.
But in fact it was among the top 5 results when I searched with google, so I guess it makes sense to add info on the topic in this thread.

I have family in Japan and thus visits the country from time to time. I was browsing the flashlight shelf in a store the other day and took notes about what flashlight manufacturers I found, to be able to look at their homepages and see their full product line. I didn't find much, but what I did find I didn't see any mention of in this thread, so I'll chip in and add two links.

Ohm Electric Inc. have a wide assortment of flashlights and camping lanterns. Most of them seems to be the kind of flashlight you would find in the electronics shelf in any supermarket though.

Yazawa Corporation also makes flashlights. Their products are very similar to Ohm electric's flashlights.

I haven't bought any light from either of them yet, so I can't give a review on quality or durability.


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## Ghostpilot (Jul 31, 2016)

Another year has passed and I'm back in Japan again, so I hope you can show understanding and patience with me as I once again dig up this old thread.
This time around I saw a slight change in the amount of flashlight models available at any given store with a decent sized electronics shelf/department. I can't say it IS so for sure, but I thought there were both more models available and furthermore also slightly more powerful ones. With more powerful I mean a step or two above the plastic LED flashlights I'm used to find here. Before you ask, no these aren't the flashlights you are looking for, move along... I mean, I'm sure you can cast some light in the darkness with any of them, so no shadow shall fall upon the companies that makes them, but those flashlights aren't even close in illumination power to the type of flashlights this whole community mostly is all about.

Some (but not all) of the makers whose flashlights I took a closer look at this time, has been mentioned in this thread before (the translated wiki article).

ELPA Inc. makes head lamps, camping lanterns, small (AA or AAA battery) utility lights and some generic bike lights. However, they also make a wide variety of products ranging from audio/video gear to disaster survival supplies. The most prominent flashlight from them I saw in the stores was the model DOP-EP207, a 3x AAA aluminium utility flashlight, 140lm 90lx (1m). Maybe not that impressive, but still a step up from the grey mass of Japanese flashlights.

TONE CO.,LTD is company that mainly makes powertools but has some models of flashlights too. I especially like their LED light/pickup tool crossover seen in their catalog. The flashlight from them I saw in the store was called LT06 as was a flashlight with a 16 LED led-bar on the side for diffuse ambient light.

Kashimura Inc. is one flashlight maker I've never heard of before. Their brightest model is called LL-5 and sports a cree LED in a rugged aluminium housing that apparently is waterproof according to IPX4 specification, that ouputs 400lm, point irradiation about 1.2m at 5m distance. (I used google translate to extract that bit of information. This is the first cree based flashlight I personally have seen in Japan.


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## Sambob (Jul 31, 2016)

WOW..I'm stunned...I thought they were just keeping the good stuff for them selves like they do with a lot of their tech, to find out that their flashlight capability's are less than that of the flashlight aisle of a Wal-Mart Is truly depressing.
What are they thinking"NO..NO keep your fancy flashlight's we have candles..we'll be fine"


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## Ghostpilot (Aug 1, 2016)

Sambob said:


> What are they thinking"NO..NO keep your fancy flashlight's we have candles..we'll be fine"


When I once stayed at a very small cozy and rustic hotel, I was amazed that a hotel housed in a over hundred year old building wouldn't attract more guests. The price was unbeatable 3000 yen/night including breakfast. Then someone told me that Japanese in general don't like old houses if it isn't Kyoto castle. Perhaps it's the earthquake awareness thinking, or maybe something completely different that's behind it. However, cheaper mass produced houses are easier to repair or replace if broken. If one is lost there is many more like it to take its place. Perhaps it's the same with flashlights. Use a cheap one and if you loose it, get another cheap flashlight to replace it. And in case of an earthquake or another catastrophe you have the same type of flashlight as everyone else and don't need to get super special batteries. I'm guessing as you might have realized from the start. However, I don't think I have seen a single flashlight that uses other batteries than AA or AAA regardless of what light source or what size it is.


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## CelticCross74 (Aug 1, 2016)

I find this strange. Japan makes some of the best stuff in the world. I know lots of flashlight parts come from Japan. Zebralights have lots of Japanese parts and US made to boot. Maybe it is a cultural thing?


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## LarcKen (Aug 3, 2016)

I believe Gentos are the leading brand on their domestic market. And probably they just started to tap into international market, judging from this official video
 

And the fact that i can get their product with a good price here in Indonesia are maybe another sign of that.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?421387-Japanese-flashlight-anyone-GENTOS-EZ-031B


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## ZMZ67 (Aug 3, 2016)

Interesting subject, I think most of us would have assumed that Japan has a wide variety of current tech lights but apparently not. Interesting to see how this changes over the next few years. I can't say the U.S. market offers a lot of great lights at brick and mortar stores in general but there are some notable lights and certainly a wide variety. It has only been that way for a few years now though you still have to go to dedicated sporting goods stores for some of the prominent names like Streamlight,Surefire,Fenix etc. and most of what interests me is still mail order only.


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## ZMZ67 (Aug 6, 2016)

Going_Supernova said:


> Yeah, then the Chinese would copy (pirate) it and beat them on price.



I would guess that Japanese companies would manufacture lights in China anyway to keep costs low like other other companies,Zebralight,LED Lenser,4Sevens etc. if they intend to compete in international markets.Even mainstream american manufacturers like Streamlight and especially the battery giants(Energizer,Ray-o-vac and Duracell) all produce some or the majority of their lights in China.


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## Going_Supernova (Aug 6, 2016)

ZMZ67 said:


> I would guess that Japanese companies would manufacture lights in China anyway to keep costs low like other other companies,Zebralight,LED Lenser,4Sevens etc. if they intend to compete in international markets.Even mainstream american manufacturers like Streamlight and especially the battery giants(Energizer,Ray-o-vac and Duracell) all produce some or the majority of their lights in China.




True, true. Wazuuuuup?!


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## CelticCross74 (Aug 7, 2016)

man this thread is kind of depressing. Ive always wanted to go to Japan and marvel at their technology. I had assumed up until this thread they had amazing lights they just sold domestically.


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## parametrek (Aug 19, 2016)

Here is one: MatchBox Instruments. Unfortunately all of their lights are out of stock.


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## yoyoman (Aug 20, 2016)

There is so much light pollution in Tokyo and other cities that you don't really need flashlights.


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## Going_Supernova (Aug 20, 2016)

yoyoman said:


> There is so much light pollution in Tokyo and other cities that you don't really need flashlights.




...until the next earthquake/tsunami/Godzilla/Mothra takes down their power.


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## Chauncey Gardiner (Aug 22, 2016)

Going_Supernova said:


> ...until the next earthquake/tsunami/Godzilla/Mothra takes down their power.



  :laughing:  

~ C.G.


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## Going_Supernova (Aug 22, 2016)




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## Romanko (Aug 23, 2016)

http://www.tajimatool.co.jp/category/SENTALED/index.html
http://www.tajimatool.co.jp/category/PETALEDMULTI/index.html


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