Anyone know how to spot a fake Led Lenser?

[Roddersz]

Just wondering if anyone has any insite on this one.

I have a LedLenser MT7 that I bought through an authorised seller which is brilliant in all respects apart from the battery life (Didn't read in the specs that it is 11 hours compared to the 60+ of the P7) Anyway just on a whim I though what the hell and bought a P7 off fleabay for $26 from an Aussie seller (took a punt that an Aussie seller MIGHT be less likely to be fake) I figured it was probably likely to be fake, but for $26 even if it was close who cares. The thing arrived the other day and I have to say if it is a fake it is a GOOD fake, the ONLY things I can find that might indicate a fake is that there is solder around the spring terminals for the batteries and at a certain focus the beam goes square like the led chip - both of which I have found online MIGHT indicate a fake. Otherwise all the things I thought might be dodgy are fine, the optics are clean, the O rings are all tight and greased, the button is tight, the focus mechanism is smooth etc.  I am told that the Authorised sellers have a list of ways to spot the fakes, not so sure of this as having Googled heaps I have found it hard to find any definitive ways of telling - other than sending Zen Imports the serial number.

Any feedback welcomed!

Cheers
Rod

[gonfishen]

If you paid $26 its a fake, i can only liken it to people who buy a $8,000 Rolex for $100 and then wonder if it is a fake or not because it is so well made, it is only when they hold the real thing and the fake at the same time that they realize the fake is rubbish and will not last as long as the real deal, having said that remember the old adage you only get what you pay for.

[BigJules]

But if you're happy, and it works well, and you only paid $26, who cares if it's genuine or not.

[Roddersz]

Don't get me wrong, I am under no illusions that in all likelihood it IS a knock off, and I made the purchase knowing full well it probably was, it was as much an experiment as to how good the fakes were as much as anything. It is just now that I have it and have compared it up against the MT7 I am just really curious to know one way or the other. As gonfishen says I was expecting to look at it, hold it up against the genuine one and go with some degree of certainty it WAS fake, but I can't, and even though it is probably only a 1% chance of being genuine my somewhat rampant sense of curiosity is killing me!

Cheers
Rod

[jwb]

No ;(
I bought one online, then a mate bought one online from a different seller.
Only difference I came accross so far is the on/off
Button is smooth on mine, his has the ripple finish.
Don't know which is which!
Cheers

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

[Roddersz]

Only difference I came accross so far is the on/off
Button is smooth on mine, his has the ripple finish
Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

From what I have been reading, that difference is just between updated models and isn't necessarily an indicator either way.

Cheers
Rod

[Moto Mech]

I purchased three P7's off ebay last year, I guess there fakes as they were $39 each. They are fantastic torches anyway, people always comment on them. I had a salesman in the workshop who sells the genuine items and got him to cast his eye over it. He could not spot any differance them.
We also purchased a LED headlamp from the Mindle Market in Darwin, not branded Led Lenser but a direct copy. It like wise is a great torch but compared to my led Lenser headlamp, there are numerous small differances to be seen. So most of these P7 copies are pretty good copies or LED Lenser are ripping us off big time and covering their butts by labeling the cheap ones copies.

[D4D]

Email David @ www.zenimports.com.au they are the importer, he validated mine for me.

[Roddersz]

Emailed Zen late yesterday, had a response already today, serial number is genuine, BUT for a sale in Germany, have sending pics to help validate.

Doing more comparisons yesterday, I was a tad shocked to find on the bottom of the box of my MT7 bought from a local reputable chain for full(ish) RRP a small sticker I had not noticed before - MADE IN CHINA! have also asked for clarification on that one too now, will be p$#&*ed if that one comes back dodgy.

Cheers
Rod

[D4D]

Emailed Zen late yesterday, had a response already today, serial number is genuine, BUT for a sale in Germany.

Mine was the same, made for the UK market. Lots of grey importing going on.

[Roddersz]

Surprise Surprise - it's a fake, albeit a very good fake apparently that Led Lenser are trying to find the source of.

I was chatting to a reseller down here today, he was saying that a lot of companies don't tell people how to spot the fakes themselves because once the "faults" are common knowledge the counterfeiters just fix what is wrong. I am pretty sure with this one of mine though that the solder on the terminals is a pretty good indicator, most of the genuine (or at least I assume genuine) Led Lensers I have looked at have had the terminals connected directly to the board.

The MT7 is also confirmed as genuine - phew given the $$ spent.

At the end of the day I am not too disappointed, of course I would love to have lucked onto a genuine one on the cheap, but for $26 this thing is still pretty damn good, it will be fine for sticking beside the bed for blackouts etc. I am thinking though that in support of Led Lenser I will scrub their logo off and take the little sticker out of the lens.

Big kudos to David at Zen Imports too, he was super fast to respond and only to happy to provide the information, great customer service!

Cheers
Rod

[D4D]

Big kudos to David at Zen Imports too, he was super fast to respond and only to happy to provide the information, great customer service!

Yeah David is a great guy, I tried to get a group buy going but he wasn't able to as he is a disty not an end seller.

[Silvo]

What is the go with these LED Lensers? there are so many LED lights out there that will kill the LED Lenser for WAAAAAAY less money, what makes them so special?

[Roddersz]

What is the go with these LED Lensers? there are so many LED lights out there that will kill the LED Lenser for WAAAAAAY less money, what makes them so special?

I must admit, a couple of the Fenix models have recently grabbed my attention - mind you not a LOT cheaper than the Led Lenser. Of the pocket sized ones the Zebra Light SC600 has my attention at 750 lumens, and around the $100 mark is one I am keen to get my hands on to try.

Cheers
Rod

[Patr80l]

And Fenix is a 100% Chinese company (Not a US or Euro company that manufactures in China).
The main players seem to be Fenix, 4Sevens and Klarus.    Also in there are Jetbeam and LED Lenser.
I ended up buying a 4Sevens Quark 123² which was brighter and smaller than the others on my list.

[jeeps]

Shhhh! Don't tell everyone about the decent brands! Keep it to yourselves! Let them keep their lacking LED Lensers so the rest of us can enjoy pure lumen power!

Roddersz, I have the Zebralight SC600, my 3rd Zebralight and most powerful. My mate has one of the LED Lensers P7 model which is bigger than the SC600. We tried to compare them, well tried is the best description because the SC600 is on another whole level. When the P7 with fresh batteries is in either flood or "zoom" spot it can't get anywhere near the SC600. The SC600 just blows it away, but that's a massive understatement. 750 lumens is nice to have I pocket carry it for work everyday... it's tiny and 11 times more powerful than a 4D mag light! Simply awesome.

I also have a few Fenix lights, my fav is the TK41 which has MASSIVE throw. I've got Klarus, 4Sevens, Sunwayman... you name it I've got some awesome lights. I don't have any LED Lensers because I can't justify spending so much money when I can get a decent brand for the same or less money that does so much more plus is waterproof which LED Lensers are not.

My next light will be a Klarus XT20... and maybe a Klarus XT11 as well, the police are raving about them. Hmm... maybe a Nitecore Tiny Monster if I can afford it... too many lights not enough money...

The days of Chinese lights being poor quality are long gone. They now make some of the best lights available.

Cheers

[Silvo]

Sorry for the topic steal there.

I have a Felix headlight, bu I also have a small led light from china that claims to be 900lumens and is brighter than most LED Lensers. It also cost me only $54.

As jeeps said, too many lights out there

[Moto Mech]

Shhhh! Don't tell everyone about the decent brands! Keep it to yourselves! Let them keep their lacking LED Lensers so the rest of us can enjoy pure lumen power!

Roddersz, I have the Zebralight SC600, my 3rd Zebralight and most powerful. My mate has one of the LED Lensers P7 model which is bigger than the SC600. We tried to compare them, well tried is the best description because the SC600 is on another whole level. When the P7 with fresh batteries is in either flood or "zoom" spot it can't get anywhere near the SC600. The SC600 just blows it away, but that's a massive understatement. 750 lumens is nice to have I pocket carry it for work everyday... it's tiny and 11 times more powerful than a 4D mag light! Simply awesome.

I also have a few Fenix lights, my fav is the TK41 which has MASSIVE throw. I've got Klarus, 4Sevens, Sunwayman... you name it I've got some awesome lights. I don't have any LED Lensers because I can't justify spending so much money when I can get a decent brand for the same or less money that does so much more plus is waterproof which LED Lensers are not.

My next light will be a Klarus XT20... and maybe a Klarus XT11 as well, the police are raving about them. Hmm... maybe a Nitecore Tiny Monster if I can afford it... too many lights not enough money...

The days of Chinese lights being poor quality are long gone. They now make some of the best lights available.

Cheers

Cant see the point of comparing a P7 @ 200LM compared to your SC600 which is 750LM.

[jeeps]

Cant see the point of comparing a P7 @ 200LM compared to your SC600 which is 750LM.

Because they are comparable in price and size. But ok, my smaller Zebralight SC51 does 200 lumens and it's 1xAA gets 384 hrs max runtime vs the P7's 130hrs max runtime on 4xAAA's.

I'm just saying that although LED Lenser's are very nice, they are behind the 8 ball in terms of runtimes, light output and waterproof ability. They're not even regulated.

Jeez i sound so anti-LED Lenser... they're not that bad

sorry for the thread hijack!

cheers

[Roddersz]

1xAA gets 384 hrs max runtime vs the P7's 130hrs max runtime on 4xAAA's.

Or 11 hours (think that it is more like 6 actually in my experience) if you have the MT7 which is the micro controlled P7. It was only $10 more than the P7 where I bought it so figured I might as well as it was touted as the "updated P7" didn't bother looking at the battery life, would have gone the P7 if I had known.

I dunno about anyone else, but I think the thing I like about the LedLensers compared with a few of these others is their focus system. While some of these others are smaller and brighter they don't seem to have focus systems which with some of them even though they are brighter in lumens, they don't have much throw with them. I watched a demo on youtube (dunno how accurate mind you) of the of the SC600 and it had run out of steam by 100 yards or so,  where as I KNOW my P7 can throw much further than that, I know I can get a  pretty decent flash off a reflector sign at around 300 yards.

As for cheap Chinese...a lot of the big name torches are made there. I actually have a couple of head torches that I picked up for $1 each (yes 1 whole dollar plus $2 each shipping) from China that claim to be 300 lumens, which probably isn't far off the mark. They are actually remarkably good considering they have NO reflector, the chip is just sitting in a square sided recess which seems to be a lump of aluminum (heat sink presumably) It has a crappy scratched plastic lens and when you focus for distance you get a perfect square beam. BUT it throws as far as the P7, the battery life is better than the MT7 and is perfect for stuff like cooking on the BBQ etc in the dark...only problem I have has is unimpressed other campers when I look up to talk to them. The other thing I have noticed with some of the super bright torches, when you turn them off it is REALLY dark!!

Cheers
Rod

[jeeps]

Or 11 hours (think that it is more like 6 actually in my experience) if you have the MT7 which is the micro controlled P7. It was only $10 more than the P7 where I bought it so figured I might as well as it was touted as the "updated P7" didn't bother looking at the battery life, would have gone the P7 if I had known.

I dunno about anyone else, but I think the thing I like about the LedLensers compared with a few of these others is their focus system. While some of these others are smaller and brighter they don't seem to have focus systems which with some of them even though they are brighter in lumens, they don't have much throw with them. I watched a demo on youtube (dunno how accurate mind you) of the of the SC600 and it had run out of steam by 100 yards or so,  where as I KNOW my P7 can throw much further than that, I know I can get a  pretty decent flash off a reflector sign at around 300 yards.

As for cheap Chinese...a lot of the big name torches are made there. I actually have a couple of head torches that I picked up for $1 each (yes 1 whole dollar plus $2 each shipping) from China that claim to be 300 lumens, which probably isn't far off the mark. They are actually remarkably good considering they have NO reflector, the chip is just sitting in a square sided recess which seems to be a lump of aluminum (heat sink presumably) It has a crappy scratched plastic lens and when you focus for distance you get a perfect square beam. BUT it throws as far as the P7, the battery life is better than the MT7 and is perfect for stuff like cooking on the BBQ etc in the dark...only problem I have has is unimpressed other campers when I look up to talk to them. The other thing I have noticed with some of the super bright torches, when you turn them off it is REALLY dark!!

Cheers
Rod

All good points!

cheers

[watto1974]

If anyone is interested www.yourhomedepot.com.au sell genuine led lenser torches cheap, verified as an authorised seller by zen imports. Cheers Tim

[Silvo]

If anyone is interested www.yourhomedepot.com.au sell genuine led lenser torches cheap, verified as an authorised seller by zen imports. Cheers Tim

um.. promoting your own website much ?!

[watto1974]

um.. promoting your own website much ?!

um... not actually affiliated just a happy customer who bought a couple of torches off them recently, just thought people would like to know of reputable dealers that wont charge an arm and a leg or sell them cheap rip offs......

[D4D]

Genuine P7 deal http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/smallfish_info.php?products_id=45716