Flashlight Fiesta Special - Mr Aphoristic Investigates
Fake LED LENSER Flashlights!
It was inevitable that one day I might stumble across a few not-so-genuine torches. Especially with the amount that I have been buying lately. Stands to reason, law of averages etc..
So when I discovered that one of my newly acquired LED LENSER Torches was hooky I made it my mission to get to the bottom of this Confounded cheek!
I felt it was time to root out the truth (and the ebay weasle who sold them) and get my money back! lol
Now it's not the first time I have had a copy or clone, a prime example is the Sipik SK-68. A blatant Ultrafire mini Cree rip-off. But it's not such a big deal as it's a better quality torch than the Ultrafire and Sipik don't hide the fact that they ripped it off.
If the copy is better than the original and it only cost a quid then that's better value for money. So far I have gone on to reorder another 6 SK-68's - they are fantastic!
However, when you get a shady counterfeiter who produces a copy that's absolutely shite, and charges you too much for this piece of shite then that's just not on!. Bare faced cheek!
Introducing the rather superb LED LENSER P7.2 .
A high end professional torch designed by experts in Germany. Fantastic quality, fantastic customer service, fantastic 5 year Warranty
Introducing the rather shite KOWLOON P7.2 amateur edition.
A shabby fake chunk of shite which is fraught with issues and performs worse than a cheap £2 China special. No 5 year warranty, No chance of reselling it to anyone. Worthless!
Genuine V Fake
As counterfeiting becomes more and more sophisticated it is becoming increasingly difficult to spot the bad ones. It cost company's millions every year not to mention the cost to the poor person who bought it. Haha With this P7.2 these con artists could have gotten away with it.....I say could...
I guess it was pretty easy to rumble this fake from day one.
Having already researched fakes before hand I could sniff out the bull shit within a few minutes of seeing it.
I won't lie, I was a little annoyed naturally, but I also had to laugh at this absolutely amateurish contrivance!
Buying Guide - What To Look Out For:
This is in no way a complete list of pointers. On the contrary, these guys are getting better all the time and hiding their mistakes so it likely more things may get added over time.
These are the basic to things to keep an eye out for....
• Packaging.
Check the gift box (presuming you get that type and not the blister pack) the outside looks authentic and good quality but check the information sticker just inside the lid.
Does it look like a photocopy? Has it been cut down to fit the box? Is some of the feature information on the right hand side been duplicated?
Other than these things, the box is actually very close to the original.
• Modes.
The LED LENSER P7.2 has three brightness modes as standard.
These are 1) High, 2) Low, 3) Boost
Mine only had high and low modes, no boost.
•Tail Cap Clicky
Check the alignment of the red logo on the black rubber clicky button. Mine was slightly off center.
Check the functionality of the torch. During testing mine would sometimes fail to switch modes or even switch on.
Remove the clicker and check the quality.
•Serial Number
A problem with the serial number could easily go unnoticed
Check the Font style of the wording.
Led Lenser use a font that has more squarer numbers and letters. 5 and S in this case are in comparison more rounded in appearance. not that obvious at first.
Check some genuine P7.2 photos off the internet and make your own distinctions.
Check the roundness of the letter S and number 5
Check the alignment of the upper and lower text
In the picture below we have the dodgy P7.2 and the smaller P3. The last digital of the serial number should line up directly underneath the last letter/number of the model number. Look at the two torches again.
Notice the slight difference in font too.
•Check with your local Authorised Distributor
The wonderful thing about LED LENSER is that they keep an record of every single torch they make . This is printed on the side and should check out with the master list.
As a final check and for total piece of mind it is possible to ask your local led lenser Distributor to cross-check the serial number with the main production list. They seem more than happy to help and will even suggest reputable sellers who guarantee the authenticity.
Of course, they confirmed that the P7 was indeed fake.
I contacted: support@ledco.co.uk
•Lens / Reflector
There are two obvious gaffes in this amateur metalwork project.
1) The LENSER logo which runs around the raised LED platform is made from paper and peeled off. Highly crap indeed. This is not authentic!
2) The warning that is printed on the top part of the LED housing should read "Don't touch the LED" - not "DONT TOUCH THELED" which is clearly a foolish error. Even a 5 year old would know to put a space between words! Amateurs
It doesn't end there, the "patent pending" wording is not quite right either.
Must try harder lads!
•Price
And here is the biggest give away.
Although led lenser is a premium brand, seller don't generally get much of a mark up when they flog these. The profit margin is not that substantial so seeing a top led lenser on ebay for less than £30 is most likely a knock-off. Especially if these auction lots are not one-off private sales. Those lots that seem to reappear again every few hours are perhaps the ones to be wary of. Take a deep breath and think before hitting the bid/buy button.
Often buyers can be duped into thinking the seller is in the UK when really they are based in China.
My P7.2 was actually sold by a seller in China but shipped to me by an affiliate warehouse in England. He's buying them from fake city central and holding them here for quick delivery purposes purhaps?
Advice from LED LENSER UK suggests never buying cheap from eBay.
Surfing for sound bargains is always a risky business. It's very easy to let your guard down and get a kick in the head.
In my case this story has an OK kind of ending. The seller agrees to a refund. No requirement to return the item. At the moment he doesn't think he has been reported to ebay and is all friendly yet knowing he has been rumbled (and probably not for the first time)
Will ebay be closing his store haha....I bloody hope so for everyone's sake.
Yes, definitely buy a LED LENSER torch, they are simply brilliant.
Be on your guard and don't accept cheap imitations!
