Putting Custom Flashlight Makers on a Tier List
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 มิ.ย. 2020
- In this video, I rank a good number of the custom flashlight makers on a scale from D to S. If you'd also like to see my full, comprehensive flashlight ranking list please visit my site @
www.precogvision.com
In retrospect, I think I was pretty harsh on some of these brands/makers. Unfortunately, when you rank things, there has to be rational between divides. And as a reviewer, I have a tendency to focus on the negatives more so than the positives which translated poorly in my delivery about some of these brands/makers. It also doesn't help that I have a bad habit of just spitting out what I think - aka I have no filter - so just to be clear, it's nothing personal. In the future, I'll also try and highlight the upsides more.
Hopefully, I haven't rubbed anybody the wrong way because to reiterate, it's not personal. I'm sure you'll notice that I say "in my opinion" quite a few times. So I can't stress enough that that's exactly what this list is: An opinion. You don't have to agree with it, but please respect it and I'll respect yours. And if you're happy with what you have, definitely don't let me detract from it!
Picture credits:
@zeroair (www.zeroair.org)
@Jon M/Liquid Retro
@azhu.photography (Andy Zhu)
@Mark Dickinson
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Please read: In retrospect, I think I was pretty harsh on some of these brands/makers. Unfortunately, when you rank things, there has to be rational between divides. And as a reviewer, I have a tendency to focus on the negatives more so than the positives which translated poorly in my delivery about some of these brands/makers. It also doesn't help that I have a bad habit of just spitting out what I think - aka I have no filter - so just to be clear, it's nothing personal. In the future, I'll also try and highlight the upsides more.
Hopefully, I haven't rubbed anybody the wrong way because to reiterate, it's not personal. I'm sure you'll notice that I say "in my opinion" quite a few times. So I can't stress enough that that's exactly what this list is: An opinion. You don't have to agree with it, but please respect it and I'll respect yours. And if you're happy with what you have, definitely don't let me detract from it!
I know I also missed a few makers some might have wanted to see on here. Anyways, feel free to share where you'd have ranked some of these brands - I'm definitely interested to know!
Make a tier for production/mainstream brands based on what you think of them
Very surprised to run into this after 3 years out. Kudos for having the balls to come up with this list. Enjoyed the video and agreed and disagreed but really no one is going to align perfectly with you... It was still entertaining for me.
I got into flashlights about a year ago and have re-watched this video several times as I have progressed through the hobby. Each time it makes more sense. Hope you will make an update.
Excellent and informative. Please consider doing a video ranking mainstream brands. Thanks in advance.
Very informative. I have two OR Boss lights and what really sold me on them was the responsiveness when asking about a light that I was interested in on a forum. CS is everything to me and when you spend hundreds on anything, I think all would agree.
very informative and awesome honest video, love it
pls make a video regarding lumintop lm10 customization and tips for beginner guides for flashlight builds particullarly the lm10 or fw3a
Several that I didn't see (or missed) Focus works, Brat Guy Industries, Dawson Machine / Mitch Lum, Mr Tube, LM Toolworks (A+), Lumen Essential, Artech, Metal Creations,
Yeah, I missed a lot for sure haha. I got Dawnson/Mitch’s Laulima tho! I agree with Leo being at A. Functionally nothing impressive, but his etchings and work are top notch plus he’s got something in the works with Photon Phreaks.
@@Precogvision Yes I'll be getting a copper Tala. He has a finished light for me with an engraved copper body and brass bezel with see thru trits and UV secondaries - been waiting three months for international shipping to open up. I also have a couple of copper lights from obscure obscure up and coming Makers from Vietnam.
I would rank Mcgizmo higher as I have had several of his lights and still daily carry my Haiku. I owned a Spy007 but sold it after a short time. The UI was great and it was beautiful but what many don't realize is that it is not listed as waterproof!!!!
Very interesting list. I have noticed with a few of the makers that besides their body designs there is very little difference between them. Crazy with the amount of money they command without any real progressive tech. Makes my OR Boss seem like a bargain.
cUsToM flashlights seem like a scam because of how many off the shelf parts they use. Like, big whoop, you made a cool looking shell but the product itself is inferior in every single other aspect to a light that costs 1/10th. Just because it was made by one guy in his garage doesn’t mean it is “better” than the mainstream alternative produced by a mega corporation.
It's amazing how long you have to wait for some of these "special" flashlights. Totally turns me away I simply won't bother.
And to some, that’s part of the appeal
@@Jimmy-id5pq Those people are financial cucks and EDC hype beasts. Nerds lusting after cUsToM gear are the same type of people that spend hundreds of dollars over MSRP for Payless-tier Nikes with a special color scheme. Their joy is in going “nanner nanner, I have it and you don’t!”
💯SOLID CONTENT! This was very useful! Thank you!
Jeff Hanko is as well regarded as he is because literally no one in the industry can machine metal like him. It's not just hype.
Ok but now your getting into the realm of collectors pieces/jewelry strictly for the thrill of collectiong and admiring, rather than tools. The fact that many of these super high end customs lights with absolutely zero innovative contributions (and more often than not components "borrowed" from other makers usually just mediocre fet drivers etc) even emit light, is almost a "bonus" feature for many lights so it seems. I like to think of those hanko and sinner lights as kinda like the deloreans of flashlights. They look hella cool and slick and sleek but little do you know that aside from its neato outer shell machined from exotic metals (stainless steel in the case of delorean) its really just "another car" actually if anything was a mutt of a car infringing on all sorts of pattens and copyrights from other gm cars. Really its like he designed the car then thought oh shit! It IS a car huh? I better put some mechanical components inside! Same with flashlights, its really just a mediocre at absolute best flashlight made with OTHER PEOPLES WORK e.g. drivers, switches, reflectors, led etc. Usually made years before most custom makers even started making hosts in the first place. So it all comes down to what you mean by "Industry" do you mean the flashlight industry?? If so hanko torches fall somewjere below thrunite and fenix well below even zebralight. Now if by industry you mean the metallurgy/machine&fab shop industry, or even collectors of fine art industry, then sure i guess Hanko takes the cake...
I like the reaver citadel's material options. Timascus, crystallized titanium demascus..
The Citadel is my one and done grail! 😮😢😂
Why don’t you include Noctigon Emisar?
Jesse at Reaver arms is such a solid dude, and the design on his Citadel is the best looking light to me. S tier.
great video , thanks for sharing your opinions. i was a bit surprised but in a good way. i am after a flashlight $500 max . it needs to have a low lumen or moonlight mode. and momentary which i consider important. i wanted to buy a mechforce mechtorch but lowest setting is 20 lumens , far too bright . hope you can advise me in your opinion , kind regards ian uk.
SUREFIRE
you get what you pay for
Olight or Fenix or Thrunite or almost any other flashlight from a _real_ brand under $100. Don’t fall for these charlatans spellings $500+ lights with mediocre performance and off the shelf parts.
personally laulima is my favorite, id but them over cwf, i think output matters and prometheus is SEVERELY underpowered
What brand is the last brand you named?
Yes I have no idea what he said either.
Coolfall was the last name he mentioned. Historical wise I really like McGizmo, just the history man! My friends in the late 1990's made fun of me when I mentioned custom flashlights and CPF. Lol, back in the day Surefire used to be supreme and no one knew about Olight. How times have changed! :) Best bang for your buck that feels custom, get a Hank light.
I’m surprised after hearing about how you felt some were nothing special or boring that you’d put okluma and Frelix up over Hanko. The okluma is a dialed down and plain Hanko without the absurd build quality and finish that Hanko does. Just unscrewing the head on a Trident and that feeling of snot on glass smoothness indicates the quality workmanship in his lights that almost nobody else has achieved. There were a few to easily disagree with, but Hanko so low stuck out the worst to me.
How could you put someone on B Tier who you said "Botches every other flashlight he makes" 😂😂
Nice video, valid reasons for the way you ranked all these. Well done!
Nice review, man!
D&C tier, “nothing special” “overpriced.” Proceeds to put Okluma in tier A 😂
Thanks man. That really helped me out.
You were pretty harsh on most of the makers here. Laulima, Hanko, McGizmo are way cooler than HDS. A lot of it has to do with nostalgia or how accessible a maker is for the little things. I don't actually like the idea that I need to talk to ONE guy to fix my stuff. HDS stuff is all proprietary, which sounds cool on paper, and his service was always fantastic, even better than when it was RA, but I like being able to just buy and replace stuff on my own. This stuff doesn't break and when it does, it's 100% going to be one of the consumeable off the shelf items like a switch. Jason at Prometheus might not have invented custom flashlights but he sorta made them much much more accessible through the popularity contest that is Kickstarter. He also has his own design aesthetic and he's definitely the most detail oriented/obsessed person of the guys I've met.
Barrel isn't bad. I mean for them to be on the bottom the product has to actually suck. You're getting what you pay for, the fit and finish is what $500 should be. Okluma is the one thats overrated for me. The light isn't like that aesthetic for me. Availability is actually a huge criteria for me, and anything that hard to get regardless of how much money you have is just annoying. You can buy a Laulima/JC/Oveready right now if you wanted to.
Barrel/HDS/Veleno (dude making that stuff is HARD)/Okluma/Malkoff B rank
Prometheus(the Delta just plain rocks dude)/Hanko/Fellhoelter/JC/LMC A rank
Oveready(the MOFF and the P60 hosts back in the day were state of the art)SPY/McGizmo S rank
at the price I don't care about modes or what driver it has really. I find anything more than 3 modes annoying and I just want pocket bling. The Haiku is still the best looking design although JC is really holding his own out there.
I think VinhNguyen probably made the entire P60 engine market what it was, what a great guy.
you're forgetting Mac's customs. I dont know if he died but that was probably THE guy.
You forgot malkoff devices!!!
I am a bit disappointed with this video but not for the actual rankings (even though I disagree with several of them, those come from your personal opinion as mentioned in the disclaimer).
What is disappointing is the lack of structure and rigor that you normally have in your other reviews.
Your logic to classify one brand in one specific tier does not seem to be consistent.
It would have been interesting to see how you value each category (value for money, customer service, flashlight design, technology, build quality,...), go through all categories for each brand and then rank them.
Liked the video anyway as it was interesting to watch.
Thanks for watching, and I agree that I was not consistent. This one was unscripted as will be the mainstream brand rankings. There’s a lot more factors at hand than when I rank individual flashlights (even then I sometimes struggle to be consistent), and I don’t have the time to analyze 30+ brands. I appreciate the support and honest thoughts!
Precogvision making a series on brand ranking focusing on a specific category in each video could be interesting. “Customer service” ranking would sure look very different than the “value for money” ranking...
Peak flashlights?
Uh...I haven't followed them in a long time, but I don't think they've ever done anything more notable than use QTC pills.
Love your videos brother! I have to disagree with Reylight > Barrel 🤔
The sad truth is many of these so called custom flashlight makers are really custom flashlight body artist only. The outdated technology in most of these flashlights have reduced these list to a titanium Art bending competition .
I don’t find it sad at all and will gladly pay. To me; the material is the appeal and not the light at all. My background is mostly nuclear engineering and other types of engineering that have focused heavily on machining and/or chemistry.
Today’s cUsToM lights would have been the craziest, creates lights in the world if they existed in the 1980s/90s but 30-40 years later they’re just meh as a functional piece of gear. People buy the cult of personality and magical fairy dust they sprinkle on their creations and not flashlights.
HDS is not what they used to be. Was a huge fan for awhile but after 4-5 of his lights that get you home died on me and the way that they have turned into a fashion statement and a piece of jewelry rather then a tough as nails light. I just can’t agree with there ranking.
Daniel Muscarella Interesting. I don’t like the special metal and limited emitter runs they’ve been doing because they feel like cash grabs, but I think their flashlights are very, very solid. So more than anything, I’m surprised to hear that FIVE of their flashlights have died on you. If I might ask how did some of them die specifically?
Precogvision two with switch failures the rest in the electronics. An as they are potted that means getting a new light.few months wait. The exact reasons they stopped working are unknown to me as the answer I got from them was “guess the elf got confused “ lol. Henry was much better off on his own.Yes they are tough lights but WAY to many bells and whistles to bet your life on.This of course is all my opinion. But you won’t find a used one for sale that’s not brand new. No one really uses them anymore. They have become shelf queens. And that’s a shame.
@@danielmuscarella8239 Interesting. I’ve been using two HDS lights for law enforcement work for a long time. One of them is about ten years old. Dropped a bunch, thrown around and not treated gently. Both still going strong.
My issue with them is that the rubber button cover punches through and or falls out and it’s impossible to replace on your own, or at least I couldn’t figure out how to do it without damaging the light.
I find the programming very confusing to set up as well. I admit I only have a handful of lights, so maybe it’s easy or obvious for some. After numerous times following the instructions to the letter and trying to program the light unsuccessfully, I gave up and just use the light with the preconfigured programming. That light was the reason my next light was a HDS rotary. No programming BS to mess with.
Edited for spelling
@Johnny Silverhand sounds like your are kept on a shelf. Had 2 u60 shit the bed parasitic drain. Would kill the battery in two days. A B42 that died and three of the newer models had to have new switches/bodies replaced.All taken care of but took two weeks 😂
@Johnny Silverhand lol you don’t know what them are?😂😂 ok enough said.
I’ve owned a good amount of these and would easily put Hanko at S tier. Other than that I agreed with much you had to say.
Hanko may not be pushing any boundaries with their technology but they don’t really have to. He’s known for building an extremely solid and well machined light that will not fail (never one issue with mine in the last 5 years). If you ever get the chance to handle one personally from the first time you pick up and unscrew the light you will feel the major difference.
How many of these so-called custom makers are pushing technology boundaries? Almost zero. This market is an expensive model kit assembled from off the shelf parts wrapped in a fancy metal exterior.
90% of your list are knockoff junk! #2 hardly custom! good try young man.
>Flashlights regularly go for more than they're intrinsically worth @07:00
That can be said about every single company on this list. All the internals are parts shelf parts. The only thing these cUsToM makers are innovating on is marketing and promotion