Xtar & Nitecore the same company?

[Robert B]

Always had my suspicions about Xtar and Nitecore being the same company because their websites look fairly similar with the black and yellow color schemes, and they have similar product lines.

I ordered another Nitecore D2, and inside the factory packaging along with the charger, the power cable, and a car charger cable, was a plastic 18650 Xtar battery box.

If they are not the same company, this certainly proves they have a close working relationship at the very least.

 

[Jon@LiionWholesale]

They are most certainly not the same company. There are massive numbers of counterfeit nitecores out there though, do you have the anti-counterfeit code on these? Have you checked it?

 

[cascadian]

They are most certainly not the same company. There are massive numbers of counterfeit nitecores out there though, do you have the anti-counterfeit code on these? Have you checked it?

I am under the impression that there is also a relationship between the two. Not because of colors on the website or packaging but due to the manufacturer Sysmax. I know for a fact that Sysmax makes the Nitecore chargers but if nothing else I believe they also make the Xtar XP4. I received an unopened case of these chargers that had a Sysmax sticker on it even though they were ordered through Xtardirect.

 

[Robert B]

Yes, this Nitecore D2 is legit. Bought and stocked from Amazon. There is most certainly a relationship of some sort though. Might be something like a holding/import company that has interest in both, and or as @cascadian implies, made by the same manufacturer.

 

[Jon@LiionWholesale]

Yes, this Nitecore D2 is legit. Bought and stocked from Amazon. There is most certainly a relationship of some sort though. Might be something like a holding company that has interest in both.

View attachment 23767

Interesting. I'll ask my nitecore rep and see what he says.

 

[Robert B]

Interesting. I'll ask my nitecore rep and see what he says.

Not that it really matters. Both are nice chargers. Nitecore seems to have a much larger selection of cree led based flashlights though.

 

[battery bro]

Go with Xtar, they are generally better quality (hence your batteries will last longer).

 

[misterJ]

Funny when I got my xtar vc4, i was comparing them to nitecore.

 

[Tom950]

Perhaps you bought an open box return and someone slipped in a xtar battery box?

 

[Robert B]

Perhaps you bought an open box return and someone slipped in a xtar battery box?

Haha, I wish that were the case and they had slipped me two xtar battery boxes. Really nice batt boxes for sure. But no, factory taped and sealed.

I think @cascadian is most likely correct. Manufactured by the same manufacturing company Sysmax. I don't think there is any magic to this. Chinese companies horse trade products with each other all the time. I'd like to find out who manufactures the Nitecore TM16 flashlight so I could buy it for less than $199.99... lol

 

[Jon@LiionWholesale]

Well I emailed my rep at Nitecore this question and he didn't reply, so probably that means yes there's some kind of connection between the companies, hah.

 

[Jon@LiionWholesale]

Now Nitecore replied. He was emphatic that XTAR and Nitecore are completely different companies and competitors and there's no connection.

Maybe they get their battery trays made by the same packaging company, hah.

 

[outwest]

I've got an XTAR VP4 and didn't get a battery box with mine. I feel ripped off *laf*

 

[cascadian]

Now Nitecore replied. He was emphatic that XTAR and Nitecore are completely different companies and competitors and there's no connection.

Maybe they get their battery trays made by the same packaging company, hah.

I wouldn't be to sure about that. Nitecore is probably the last company to be believe. If you didn't know... the Intellicharger was developed by a company called Jetbeam. They went to Sysmax to have it produced and signed a contract granting Sysmax distribution, marketing, and manufacturing exclusive rights. Sysmax immediately started selling it under the Nitecore brand also, in violation of the contract. When Jetbeam terminated the contract based on the violation Sysmax never stopped. Every Nitecore i2 or i4 produced after August of 2012 should be considered an illegal clone. To this day Sysmax still illegally manufactures Jetbeam products and claims to own the company, which they never did. If you are shopping for an authentic Jetbeam charger it will be called an I4 pro, or I2 pro, the clones from Sysmax don't say pro on the device or packaging. I wouldn't trust Nitecore or Sysmax to provide accurate information on this subject. They are far from reputable.

 

[Jon@LiionWholesale]

I wouldn't be to sure about that. Nitecore is probably the last company to be believe. If you didn't know... the Intellicharger was developed by a company called Jetbeam. They went to Sysmax to have it produced and signed a contract granting Sysmax distribution, marketing, and manufacturing exclusive rights. Sysmax immediately started selling it under the Nitecore brand also, in violation of the contract. When Jetbeam terminated the contract based on the violation Sysmax never stopped. Every Nitecore i2 or i4 produced after August of 2012 should be considered an illegal clone. To this day Sysmax still illegally manufactures Jetbeam products and claims to own the company, which they never did. If you are shopping for an authentic Jetbeam charger it will be called an I4 pro, or I2 pro, the clones from Sysmax don't say pro on the device or packaging. I wouldn't trust Nitecore or Sysmax to provide accurate information on this subject. They are far from reputable.

This is some interesting info....thanks for that

 

[Robert B]

I wouldn't be to sure about that. Nitecore is probably the last company to be believe. If you didn't know... the Intellicharger was developed by a company called Jetbeam. They went to Sysmax to have it produced and signed a contract granting Sysmax distribution, marketing, and manufacturing exclusive rights. Sysmax immediately started selling it under the Nitecore brand also, in violation of the contract. When Jetbeam terminated the contract based on the violation Sysmax never stopped. Every Nitecore i2 or i4 produced after August of 2012 should be considered an illegal clone. To this day Sysmax still illegally manufactures Jetbeam products and claims to own the company, which they never did. If you are shopping for an authentic Jetbeam charger it will be called an I4 pro, or I2 pro, the clones from Sysmax don't say pro on the device or packaging. I wouldn't trust Nitecore or Sysmax to provide accurate information on this subject. They are far from reputable.

I don't trust any of these Chinese companies. They constantly rip each other off and lie about it. I tried reading all about the nitecore/jetbeam/niteye/sysmax bs on the candlepower forums, and it made my head spin. Then there was Surefire from the US claiming Jetbeam ripped them off, yada yada..... The just I got was, that sysmax has given several companies bad names with their shenanigans.

 

[Jon@LiionWholesale]

The funny thing is now there are so many counterfeits and rip offs of nitecore...karma comes full circle.

Yeah my information is not meant to be taken as gospel, but at least if Nitecore is officially denying any connection it means it's likely there's no connection since I'm not sure why they'd lie about it.

Nitecore does have really good quality manufacturing and they make a really good low priced charger. When we got a few truckloads of fakes in our last shipment and figured it out in our incoming inspection it really made it clear just how good their manufacturing is on the circuit board level because you could tell right away looking at the solder joints. The counterfeiter used the same board and everything but the manufacturing was significantly worse - more typical Chinese cheap PCB construction as opposed to the Nitecores which really are quite good.

 

[cascadian]

Yeah my information is not meant to be taken as gospel, but at least if Nitecore is officially denying any connection it means it's likely there's no connection since I'm not sure why they'd lie about it.

The fact remains that Sysmax contols Nitecore to this day. You can verify that here:
http://charger.nitecore.com/contact-us
Sysmax has done quite well for themselves by lying, cheating and stealing at every opportunity.

When we got a few truckloads of fakes in our last shipment and figured it out in our incoming inspection it really made it clear just how good their manufacturing is on the circuit board level because you could tell right away looking at the solder joints. The counterfeiter used the same board and everything but the manufacturing was significantly worse - more typical Chinese cheap PCB construction as opposed to the Nitecores which really are quite good.

Just out of curiosity... You don't buy direct? I always assumed a wholesaler buying truckloads would be purchasing direct.

 

[Jon@LiionWholesale]

The fact remains that Sysmax contols Nitecore to this day. You can verify that here:
http://charger.nitecore.com/contact-us
Sysmax has done quite well for themselves by lying, cheating and stealing at every opportunity.

Just out of curiosity... You don't buy direct? I always assumed a wholesaler buying truckloads would be purchasing direct.

I know they are Sysmax, we're talking about whether they are affilated with XTAR. I honestly don't know anything about Sysmax beyond that they own the Nitecore brand and what you've said in this thread.

And yes we buy direct from Nitecore, but this particular time they were way behind on orders so it would have been a month before they could ship, and we were near out of stock, so I ordered from another Chinese distributor who had them in stock. Turns out that distributor was duped. These were really good fakes, there's no way you would have known if you didn't open them up and look at the PCBs, and even then they went so far as to brand the capacitors with Nitecore branding so if I hadn't had another genuine one to compare it to it would have seemed pretty legit.