Opinions needed on "reliable" budget lighting!

[Murph88]

paypal and aliexpress both have buyer protection. you either get what you ordered or your money back. i have ordered 10 lights off aliexpress so far. all have arrived as pictured and all were working and leak free when arrived. 2 of the oldest have started to corrode a bit since i wasn't as diligent about the greasing early on. like fmerkel posted, you need to replace the orings and grease everything really well to prevent corrosion on these cheap lights. the output isn't as high as claimed, but you can make a reasonable estimate based on the emitters used. and you can get better output with resistor mods as generally the drivers / emitters still have amperage headroom if you want.

i wouldn't bother getting the 4x xp-g solarstorm/evolva d02 video light anymore. i have 2 from a few years ago and back then it was ok for the money, but the output isn't really enough except for night diving. the newer 15 xml or 6 xhp emitter video lights on aliexpress have much better output and don't cost that much more. i have about 40 dives so far on mine down to 120 ft. the output is comparable to a bigblue 4200 maybe a smidge higher. the color temp isn't great though (sola is visibly warmer) and they do have a bit of a hotspot.

Thanks for your input! Knowing that paypal is an ebay company, I know for a fact they can't be trusted to do a thing besides maybe email someone. Been there done that. I've read reviews on aliexpress and would trust their "protection" even less than paypal, especially considering the US is no longer allowing China to walk all over us.

Your information on specific things to avoid and to look for is extremely helpful! I'd like to know about resistor mods as well as how to know which drivers/emitters have the ability to easily produce stronger output for their normal lifespan. Can you give a reference as to where I might read/study these things?

Thanks

 

[runsongas]

up to you, but i haven't had an issue the 5 or 6 times i have had to use either. i haven't had an issue with needing to file a dispute so far for lights at least off aliexpress.

budgetlightforum has a lot more info about resistor mods and emitters/drivers.

 

[fmerkel]

up to you, but i haven't had an issue the 5 or 6 times i have had to use either. i haven't had an issue with needing to file a dispute so far for lights at least off aliexpress.

budgetlightforum has a lot more info about resistor mods and emitters/drivers.

I suspect if he's asking at this level he's not likely to want to get a project light and do a mod on it. Most dive lights are harder to mod, and the BLF group in general are not well versed about real dive lights.

Re-China; You pretty much have to give them PP or a credit card. Maybe you could use a temp card? Never tried it. Which do you consider more 'exposed'? Now days it seems like it's all a crap shoot, INCLUDING the big main banks.
If you don't want to play in that field then you are out of the uber cheap game. Some of the lights can be purchased for a bit more via Amazon, but they are via 3rd party sales and come from the same China source. You just have Amazon as an intermediary.

 

[Barmaglot]

You should consider yourself VERY lucky! According to the reviews I've read, it is a total crapshoot except that at craps, at least you can win! With these businesses, the best you can do is receive what you paid for... NOT worth the risk to me.

Aliexpress is about as popular around here as Amazon is in the US (we don't get free deliveries from Amazon the way you guys do, but delivery from China is either free or very cheap) - everyone I know has ordered lots of stuff from there, and I don't recall hearing about a single outright scam. I mean, sure, with bottom-of-the-barrel cheap stuff you get what you pay for - but that's hardly a scam.

I use my regular credit card to buy from them, no issues in the past six years.

 

[Darnold9999]

Did buy an Archon light - worked for 1 dive. Archon did send me replacement parts which did not fix the problem. Ultimately did figure out that the construction of the body prevented a proper ground and they replaced it. Works now but would not buy another poor quality control. I use it as a spare light not as a video light. Lights up the reef, but don’t trust it at all.

 

[JohnnyC]

I've got 2 Archon's on a tray for a GoPro rig. They work fine. Obviously they are subject to the same QC problems inherent with Chinese budget-manufactured products.