I have seen some lights on e-bay and assume they are chinese. They are called brightstar levin hid and are selling for about £130. They have a Li-ion battery and hid bulbs. I know lupine are the best but was wondering if anyone has used these. I am a little dubious about the quality of chinese workmanship to say the least!

Why dubious of Chinese workmanship?

There is a very high proportion of electronic goods produced in China and these days the quality of Chinese goods is usally on a par with (and sometimes far better than) anything produced in other parts of the world.

i have always been warned off buying anything from china/taiwan on ebay as it may be scam.

mind you, this could well be a massive generalisation!

i work in the bathroom industry and the chinese products tend to be a bit dodgy

Fair enough, I was just intrigued as to why the dubious conotation when mentioning Chinese manufacture. It's very often a case of 'Chinese QC was very poor during the days of the empire, so it's still bound to be' without any qualifying evidence to support it.

Don't forget that a huge number of bikes & components used by cycle manufacturers are mass produced in China & Taiwan and there are usually very few complaints about the quality these days.

Its because China's whole economy is based on manufacture, and its dubious because they will manufacture anything just by looking at a picture of it ...

they probably saw a picture of Lupines and decided to make there own. I dont think the quality control is not the best, but i dont think there is anything wrong with the manufacturing process per se, but a brought a LED light for cheaper than the postage, and when it arrived the handle bar bracket was one size and not adjustable (guess they didnt see that part of the picture where it is adjustable) so i cannot put it on my handlebars

Looks like I'm the first to speak with experience here rather than worrying because it's foreign (other than Pink). No worries on those lights - they are NOT at all dodgy in our experience - several of the lads I ride with are using them and are very happy.

About £150 gets you a 4.4ah battery and charger, a HID lamp with bar and helmet mount. Pretty good value though fairly basic and not as "polished" in finish as some others like L&M. Still very good lights all in all and Levin are one of the top dive light manufacturers so I don't think there's likely to be a quality issue.

Just don't ask me about Ebay though as I hate the idea of using it.................

Try these then
Talk to them first about declared value etc but they are good lamps.

Or look at battery Tech .com

Just got mine - ace

mental oriental

Can't comment on the quality but a recent purchase of an iPod Shuffle from a Chinese eBay seller delivered a very poor cheap imitation. I currently have a claim through Paypal and could honestly do without the hassle.

My advice is check the feedback, (which I did) satisfy yourself they are selling exactly what you want (which I did) and Ask the seller any questions that may be at all dubious in their eBay listing (which I didn't!).

Dave, did you buy them and are they any good? It seems the few that have experience of the lights are pleased with them, anyone know how these compare to the other much more expensive HID lights? I'm thinking of them to replace old & knackered Cateye halogen.

I haven't bought them but intend to do so soon. Will let you know if they are any good when i get them

I 'e got the levin, and don't rate them particularly highly.

I've no experience of other hid lights so don't know if other lights have the same problems.

These problems include:

1) the bulb is a push fit. - It fell out on my second run with the light, - this was being used on the road only, so not too many bumps.

2) the standard mounting bracket does not stay clamped in position - I made my own from a bit of steel.

3) The velcro straps for the battery were too long so I couldn't use them to fit it to the top tube of my bike.

4) When cold the light often has to be switched on and off 2-3 times before it will work.

5) The light occasionally cuts out in use.
3 times on my way home from work today (I didn't turn it on again after that.)

6) despite supposedly being waterproof I have had condenstion inside the lamp.

Quite good when it's working though.

Thanks, I'm convinced -I shall keep looking for alternatives

On the manufacturing thing, I'd say that Taiwanese stuff is far better made than Chinese, I'd have more reservations about buying sommat Chinese, although they still do a damn good job!

Has anyone used these?http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=1012
I am seriously thinking of buying these as they look quite good