highorder
Member
I found one of these at the gunshow last week. Has anyone seen these yet? I searched the web and found no reviews, or even mention. Strange. There is a company called Laser Defense selling similar clones like this one, but it doesn't use the Streamlight key system.
I was impressed with it's quality, as clones go. It appeared to be a very close copy of the Streamlight, but the vendor couldn't or wouldn't comment as to it's origin. I bought one for $90, and it comes with a box, flip open cap, and not much else. The vendor gave me 10 123a batteries, which was enough to convince me to at least buy one for the sake of writing this review. I suspect the vendor is making a killing on these as some web browsing shows FOB mainland China pricing in the $18-$28 range.
The emitter appears to be a Cree XR-E die of some sort, (Q5?) and it's tint is on the cool side. The reflector is smooth, providing a very tight spot with some artifacts. By comparison, the Streamlight reflector is lightly orange-peeled, smoothing out the spot somewhat. The Streamlight emitter is very small, and I've been out of the LED game for too long to positively ID the manufacturer.
ABOVE: Genuine TLR-1s on the left, clone on the right.
BELOW: clone on the left, TLR-1s on the right.
(sorry for the confusion!)
The battery door is the biggest difference between the two. Streamlight has a cam system that ensures tight closure. The clone has a simpler closure that is not as secure. Inside the battery compartment, the clone has cheap blade contacts, as opposed to Streamlights coil spring contacts. Note the genuine Streamlight has longer activation paddles.
The method of strobe activation is different as well. The TLR-1s uses the "quick tap then hold" for strobe. The clone alternates between constant and strobe with each activation, unless you wait 4-5 seconds between activations. If you do this, it will revert to constant, no matter which mode you were using last. Follow?
The TLR-1s method is much preferred because I find that I use the light for "quick looks" so I am using short bursts every few seconds... doing this with the clone would dump you into strobe mode unpredictably.
Clone on the left, TLR-1s on the right.
The fit and finish is better on the Streamlight, but not appreciably so. I haven't mounted the clone, so it's NIB if anyone wants it... otherwise it will probably go into the tradebait pile.
Comments and questions welcome. I'll shoot more pics if you guys want.
Thanks!
I was impressed with it's quality, as clones go. It appeared to be a very close copy of the Streamlight, but the vendor couldn't or wouldn't comment as to it's origin. I bought one for $90, and it comes with a box, flip open cap, and not much else. The vendor gave me 10 123a batteries, which was enough to convince me to at least buy one for the sake of writing this review. I suspect the vendor is making a killing on these as some web browsing shows FOB mainland China pricing in the $18-$28 range.
The emitter appears to be a Cree XR-E die of some sort, (Q5?) and it's tint is on the cool side. The reflector is smooth, providing a very tight spot with some artifacts. By comparison, the Streamlight reflector is lightly orange-peeled, smoothing out the spot somewhat. The Streamlight emitter is very small, and I've been out of the LED game for too long to positively ID the manufacturer.
ABOVE: Genuine TLR-1s on the left, clone on the right.
BELOW: clone on the left, TLR-1s on the right.
(sorry for the confusion!)
The battery door is the biggest difference between the two. Streamlight has a cam system that ensures tight closure. The clone has a simpler closure that is not as secure. Inside the battery compartment, the clone has cheap blade contacts, as opposed to Streamlights coil spring contacts. Note the genuine Streamlight has longer activation paddles.
The method of strobe activation is different as well. The TLR-1s uses the "quick tap then hold" for strobe. The clone alternates between constant and strobe with each activation, unless you wait 4-5 seconds between activations. If you do this, it will revert to constant, no matter which mode you were using last. Follow?
The TLR-1s method is much preferred because I find that I use the light for "quick looks" so I am using short bursts every few seconds... doing this with the clone would dump you into strobe mode unpredictably.
Clone on the left, TLR-1s on the right.
The fit and finish is better on the Streamlight, but not appreciably so. I haven't mounted the clone, so it's NIB if anyone wants it... otherwise it will probably go into the tradebait pile.
Comments and questions welcome. I'll shoot more pics if you guys want.
Thanks!