# DX just sent me a flashlight that doesn't even exist



## Dougzilla (Feb 19, 2010)

I don't know whats wrong with those people at DX. I wait over 3 weeks for this thing to showup, and its odd....

I ordered an Ultrafire A40, but the one i got says A30 on it, but it looks nothing like the A30, it looks almost exactly like the A40, just a little different.....

At first glance, it looks like the one i ordered
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.23652
but the emitter in mine is tiny compared to the one in that picture. Also the tail clicky is flush on mine so it tailstands, unlike the one in the picture.

I think they built me one out of different parts.

It's definitely not 220 lumens either. its about the same brightness as my 3w task force luxeon, when i shoot them both at the wall side by side. 120 lumens im guessing..?

Man i give up....i guess its time to shell out 70-100 bucks for a real flashlight :shakehead


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## carrot (Feb 19, 2010)

The biggest advantage to buying from real dealers instead of drop ship discount warehouses like DX is that real dealers will do their best to make you happy. After your first purchase with a real dealer (4sevens, Going Gear, Lighthound, Battery Junction, OpticsHQ, etc) you'll never look back...


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## brted (Feb 19, 2010)

carrot said:


> The biggest advantage to buying from real dealers instead of drop ship discount warehouses like DX is that real dealers will do their best to make you happy. After your first purchase with a real dealer (4sevens, Going Gear, Lighthound, Battery Junction, OpticsHQ, etc) you'll never look back...



Or ever have money.


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## socom1970 (Feb 19, 2010)

+1 on what Carrot said. 

I have stopped buying from DX/KD for some time. 

Lots of excellent places listed on CPF to buy good stuff.


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## BigBluefish (Feb 19, 2010)

When I first joined CPF a couple of years back, a few early purchases were from DX. I got lucky. I ordered a few Romisens, and a stainless Ultrafire C3. Aside from the 3 week wait, I got what I ordered, they all worked, and today, they still work. 

Everyone who dealth them, however, was not as satisfied. There were quite a few threads, as I recall, about the two big discount dealers, DX & KD. The collective wisdom seemed to be essentially, you will probably get what you pay for, eventually. And then, it may, or may not live up to your expectations. And if it didn't, well, you were pretty much hosed.

Carrot is right about the 'real' dealers. They are definitely the way to go. I bought a light from one of the dealers he mentioned, and I had a genuine problem with it. Well, that dealer bent over backwords to make me happy about a $20 sale. I thought that was very fair of them. And I'm still doing business with them today.


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## smfranke (Feb 19, 2010)

I haven't bought a lot from DX, but a year ago I had a minor problem, notified them of it, and they refunded the entire price and let me keep the light. I tried contacting them to get them to take some of the money back but no response. 

I still need to spend more there just to get us back to even. 

Doug, I would contact them if I was you...


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## Yucca Patrol (Feb 19, 2010)

Truer words cannot be said, Carrot. . . .however I still order from DX but mainly because it is very amusing to spend a few bucks and have it show up at some unforeseen and unpredictable time in the future as a pleasant little surprise when that brown envelope arrives from a far away land. 

But it is of course, nothing but flashaholic junk food and shouldn't be considered a balanced diet.


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## richardcpf (Feb 19, 2010)

I have bought lots of flashlights from DX and there are only 3 that are actually worth the money:

Ultrafire C3 SS Q5 5mode $15 version (very well built and low price)
Romisen G2 (great for mods)
Skyray aka Seraph copycat XPG R5 flashlight (super bright, efficient)

The rest are generally crap


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## carrot (Feb 19, 2010)

Yucca Patrol said:


> Truer words cannot be said, Carrot. . . .however I still order from DX but mainly because it is very amusing to spend a few bucks and have it show up at some unforeseen and unpredictable time in the future as a pleasant little surprise when that brown envelope arrives from a far away land.
> 
> But it is of course, nothing but flashaholic junk food and shouldn't be considered a balanced diet.


Ok, I agree, I still want a couple dozen piggy lights to give to friends...


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## sabre7 (Feb 19, 2010)

I have always had excellent results when requesting a refund from DX. Rather than posting a rant about your purchase in a borderline bash thread against DX, your efforts might be better directed at contacting their customer service dept. for a refund first. 

The Cheers & Jeers section is the best place to post comments about feeling ripped off after you bought cheap junk.


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## Illum (Feb 19, 2010)

carrot said:


> The biggest advantage to buying from real dealers instead of drop ship discount warehouses like DX is that real dealers will do their best to make you happy. After your first purchase with a real dealer (4sevens, Going Gear, Lighthound, Battery Junction, OpticsHQ, etc) you'll never look back...



The biggest advantage about buying from people like carrot is the assurance that the light is fully operational and that, should it break it would have already broke before you have it in your hands, not to mention that lights some in a pre-broke in state so you will never have to cringe about getting that first ding in the anodizing.

Excellent shipping and terrific seller standing by the way, after my first purchase I stopped buying from real dealers altogether

My wallet is still fat...filled with Money order receipts:nana:


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## csshih (Feb 20, 2010)

Yucca Patrol said:


> But [DX] is of course, nothing but flashaholic junk food and shouldn't be considered a balanced diet.



BRILLIANT! :laughing:


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## Woods Walker (Feb 20, 2010)

These DX flashlight threads pop up every now and then. Guessing that is why I buy from respected dealers here on CPF.


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## Benson (Feb 20, 2010)

carrot said:


> The biggest advantage to buying from real dealers instead of drop ship discount warehouses like DX is that real dealers will do their best to make you happy. After your first purchase with a real dealer (4sevens, Going Gear, Lighthound, Battery Junction, OpticsHQ, etc) you'll never look back...


I've purchased from 4sevens, Lighthound, and Battery Junction. I will, in all probability, purchase from them again. Yet I oddly have two (largish) open orders with DX right now. (Blasted Chinese New Year!) 

While DX may not "do their best to make me happy", saving money and having a wide selection (yes, even a wide selection of cheaply-made junk) also makes me happy. It's business, not a marriage, so I see no reason not to shop both sorts of places. "Get both" and all that.


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## mfm (Feb 20, 2010)

Dougzilla said:


> It's definitely not 220 lumens either. its about the same brightness as my 3w task force luxeon, when i shoot them both at the wall side by side. 120 lumens im guessing..?


If you belived the the DX specs to be OTF lumens then thats on you... They change the models slightly, live with it. If it doesn't work as the A40 was supposed to, you can file a wrong item received ticked.

If you use RCR123's then it should be as bright as most other Q5 Li-Ion lights.


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## tundraotto (Feb 20, 2010)

mfm said:


> If you belived the the DX specs to be OTF lumens then thats on you... They change the models slightly, live with it. If it doesn't work as the A40 was supposed to, you can file a wrong item received ticked.
> 
> If you use RCR123's then it should be as bright as most other Q5 Li-Ion lights.


 
I cant believe they would not be honest about their "lumens'....shame...


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## Dougzilla (Feb 20, 2010)

Thanks for the feedback to my post.....i appreciate it, as i am pretty mad.

Also, Im not bashing anyone. im on DISABILITY income and shelling out a fortune for a flashlight is going to hurt my tiny wallet. I just wanted what the hell i ordered. Ordering something and knowing it will be cheap is one thing, but having them build something incorrectly just to fill the order is something different. Thats like buying a corvette and having them sneak a delivery van engine into it to trick me.

This thing is a nice little flashlight though, but its not at all as bright as i needed. I'm keeping it, as it'll make a nice little EDC light, to replace my coast tactorch. But i need one for around my property thats BRIGHT and has a belt clip.

If i had more income (which im working on..) id probably buy from the good dealers here all the time. I'm going to look over ya'lls inventory and see if i can find one that meets my needs....because i still need that super bright flashlight i never got.

And to Yucca Patrol, thanks for making me laugh with the junkfood thing :twothumbs


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## Elliot (Feb 20, 2010)

I buy from DX all the time:

Rule number 1: Don't talk about DX.
Rule number 2: Don't talk about DX.
Rule number 3: Don't buy anything over $15.:devil:


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## mfm (Feb 20, 2010)

Dougzilla said:


> This thing is a nice little flashlight though, but its not at all as bright as i needed. :twothumbs


Do you use it with primary CR123A or rechargable RCR123?


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## vali (Feb 20, 2010)

I think places like DX have a function... they expose high-powered led flashlights to the average user. When those lights start to fail they will search for something similar, but better built and then is where they start to buy from "reputed" dealers...

Nothing wrong with buying from DX. I started there too but, unlike most people who wanted the "brightest", I did my homework to find those more reliable. I am very satisfied with what I got: Romisens RC-N3, RC-I3, RC-G2, Saik RC-A3, Akoray K-102 and the programmable K-106. The only one that was pure junk was the Tank TK-702.

Aside from flashlights its great to find some things that are almost unobtainium in "normal" retail stores, like some kind of cables, adapters or especific computer cards (and if you find them, they are the same cheap-dead thing, but much, much more expensive).


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## LEDninja (Feb 20, 2010)

The 220 lumen comes from Cree specs for 1A.
With 3.0V CR123A the boost circuit can output 350 mA giving ~110 lumens.
With 3.6V RCR123A the boost circuit is bypassed and the LED is direct driven at 1A so you get 220 lumens if nothing burns out 1st.

Cree seems to be cutting back on production of the XR-E (in the picture), replacing it with the cheaper smaller case XP-E. The LED die is the same for both. A lot of flashlight manufacturers are making the switch. For example the latest Nitecore EZAAs are listed as having XP-E R2. Instead of 'XR-E Q5 WC' or 'XP-E Q5 WC' Ultrafire is now just saying 'Q5 WC' allowing them to use either XR-E or XP-E (whichever is cheaper).

I once ordered a single mode Ultrafire C3 from DX. I got a 5 mode.


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## Radiophile (Feb 21, 2010)

I ordered an AkOray AAA flashlight from DX last September and they sent me an Ultrafire A10B by mistake. It had two sku stickers on it, and I guess they saw the wrong one and threw it in my envelope. No problem here, I like it, and its about the same price, so I figure no harm no foul.

I've ordered at least 4 times from DX in the last couple of years, and this was the first mistake, and not a big deal to me. Everything I ordered from them worked when it got here, and still does. I like having the option of buying inexpensive flashlights from a place like DX because I'm a cheap *******.


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## andyw513 (Feb 21, 2010)

Lol, I got several orders with DX, nothing expensive, and definitely not combination orders (I hate having to wait for each item to come in stock before the whole order is shipped). I guess it is just "junk food", but they're fun to mod and great to have a light just for banging around and throwing around without worrying about destroying or chipping something expensive.


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## joe1512 (Feb 22, 2010)

I think it is possible to get reasonably priced lights from dealers.

For my first real light, I went with a XTAR Outrider, which uses 1 or 2 18650s.
I ordered the christmas set from goinggear for 94 bucks, minus 10 percent discount, and that nets me the Polestar 700 lumen 6xAA and the itp A3 keychain light.

This covers a big worklight and a tiny keychain light. Ive seen other lights that look quite solid without having to go to DX.

Nobody says you HAVE to pay hundreds of dollars for lights, but you may not want to spin the wheel and potentially buy crap either.


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## Surnia (Feb 22, 2010)

Initially I liked the idea of multiple shipments... not so much anymore. my christmas shopping done in november still isn't completed, as they messed up on the order and I still have 3 lights that are finally being shipped. Granted the TK-566-5 and the "People's Cree" are actually quite decent, I'll be making sure to order things as a one shot deal from now on... 

Sorry to hear about your odd light, but I do have to admit that they are quite reasonable sometimes (they did respond to my missing lights on a sunday, HK time), albeit a little hard to contact for missing SKU. 


I do have to say that A40 looks to be using the akoray body with a different head... that might be why they mix and matched your unit.


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## ctcfirearms (Feb 22, 2010)

Yucca Patrol said:


> Truer words cannot be said, Carrot. . . .however I still order from DX but mainly because it is very amusing to spend a few bucks and have it show up at some unforeseen and unpredictable time in the future as a pleasant little surprise when that brown envelope arrives from a far away land.
> 
> But it is of course, nothing but flashaholic junk food and shouldn't be considered a balanced diet.



+1 :twothumbs: Very well said!


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## Import_guy (Feb 22, 2010)

American prices :thumbsdow Foreign prices:twothumbs American shipping = not free Foreign shipping = free I know exactly what I'm choosing *[remainder deleted - DM51]*


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## Dead_Nuts (Feb 22, 2010)

I did the Hong Kong thing when I first got here and it was fine for about three orders. Then I had the customer service hell that so many of us have experienced. I don't need to go into detail, we've all heard some variation.

That was all the schooling I needed. 

If you've had great results, I'm happy for you. But I know I had enough warning before my crash, but ignored it. I had no one to blame but myself.

You pay your money and you take your chances.


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## mknewman (Feb 22, 2010)

I've bought lots of small stuff from DX and KD and not had much of a problem, but one order from KD came in short and after some email back and forth they did send me the missing one, and another order was supposed to come with a battery but did not. Quality is ok, not great. Prices are good. Shipping is free. Not much bad to say in retrospect.

Oh, read the forum discussions on the item pages on those web sites, lots of good info there and most of it is in understandable inglesh.


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## robb01 (Feb 22, 2010)

I bought an ultrafire from them recently, wasn't pleased with the construction. The batteries are loose, and the light goes on/off


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## boomhauer (Feb 22, 2010)

Surprising that this conversation persists, since it should clearly be in the cp marketplace. 

But... there is always an element of risk when dealing with the hk budget dealers. However, I have found that, although they are often slow to react, I've always gotten a satisfactory resolution of a problem. Sticking with the better brands such as AKOray and Romisen reduce the chance of disappointment.


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## Surnia (Feb 22, 2010)

Don't forget Tank007, product quality is actually quite nice.


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## Turbo DV8 (Feb 24, 2010)

In December I ordered one of every one of their flashlight holsters. They shipped all but two, and sent only one of the two missing ones out later, saying that my order was then fulfilled. They said I had to prove to them with a photo that I did not receive the other holster. The way I see it, that would be kinda difficult to do. Luckily I still had the "missing items" ticket that DX themselves wrote the two missing item numbers on, so I sent a photo of that and they say that is sufficient.

It all comes out in the wash, though. There was the time I ordered some $3 light back in the day to mod with the first Cree LED star I purchased, and they sent me an $80 G-P R500 Scorpion instead.  To cut to the chase, I still have a first-gen Cree LED star sitting around here somewhere!


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## Blackbeard (Feb 27, 2010)

Turbo DV8 said:


> In December I ordered one of every one of their flashlight holsters. They shipped all but two, and sent only one of the two missing ones out later, saying that my order was then fulfilled. They said I had to prove to them with a photo that I did not receive the other holster. The way I see it, that would be kinda difficult to do. Luckily I still had the "missing items" ticket that DX themselves wrote the two missing item numbers on, so I sent a photo of that and they say that is sufficient.
> 
> It all comes out in the wash, though. There was the time I ordered some $3 light back in the day to mod with the first Cree LED star I purchased, and they sent me an $80 G-P R500 Scorpion instead.  To cut to the chase, I still have a first-gen Cree LED star sitting around here somewhere!


 
Shoulda sent them a photo of your empty hand 

I sent 2 of the crap Nkorays back 2 months ago. had no response until I followed up with an email last week. Now they want Pics of the post office receipts(used delivery confirmation thankfully), which I just sent. Now lets see how long I have to wait again. If their goal is to lose customers, than they are doing a spot-on job.


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## vali (Feb 27, 2010)

They probably have a lot of customers trying to fool them and are taking some sort of control. Its a shame that because of some unscrupulous people all of us will suffer this kind of setbacks.


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## Turbo DV8 (Feb 28, 2010)

vali said:


> They probably have a lot of customers trying to fool them and are taking some sort of control. Its a shame that because of some unscrupulous people all of us will suffer this kind of setbacks.


 
I think so. Three years or so ago, when they goofed they pretty much took your word for it and sent you another without proof or having to send anything back. It doesn't take a genius to figure how long that can go on and still stay in business when dealing with the descendants of outcasts from the Garden of Eden.


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## Blackbeard (Feb 28, 2010)

The point is I used delivery confirmation, so I know item got to them. Why do I have to send pics of my receipts after that? They know we have little recourse, so they do what they want as slow as they want.


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## Blackbeard (Mar 1, 2010)

Got an email saying they would send a replacement I sent 2 lights back, hopefully thats what I'll get, but I have my doubts, and =there was no mention of shipping reimbursement.

Theres also issues with the language barrier with DX, and it goes both ways. but I think I will only order 1 item at a time from now on.


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## fishx65 (Mar 3, 2010)

Just got a dead R2 module but Jenny at DX was pretty quick at getting a replacement module sent out. Shipping can be kinda slow but I've always received everything I've ordered. I don't expect top quality products at these prices but I've been very happy with all my orders.


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## DM51 (Mar 7, 2010)

This has veered away from the topic and turned into a general DX "bad shopping experience" thread. If allowed to continue, it would eventually become the longest complaint thread on CPF. 

There might arguably be some benefit to new members in leaving such a thread open, if it could be shown that they would read it before making their purchases and thus avoid DX; however, there has never been any indication that such cautions are heeded, so it's closed.


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