Best source for cheap photon style keychain lights?

[cmeisenzahl]

I'm looking to get my grandparents a couple of these things for the keychains. They have poor eyesight and fumbling for key holes at night and menus in dark restaurants gets to be a problem for them.

They really don't need the latest and greatest thing. What is the best source for these things cheap?

Thanks very much in advance,

Christopher

 

[Illuminated]

Christopher,

I was perfectly happy with my holiday purchase directly from www.photonlight.com. They arrived fairly quickly just before Christmas.

I wanted to buy a handful for stocking stuffers for the guys in my family. They offered free shipping and a 10% discount on 10 or more, so that worked out to be $8.95 each for the Photon-I's. I don' know if this was the best price I could have gotton, but I'm very pleased. My only problem is that I didn't buy enough of them for the gals as well (stupid me...).

Everyone who got one (or saw one first-hand) went absolutely nuts over them. I previously bought myself the Princeton Tec version, and I'd have to say that the Photon-I is definitely brighter and whiter, and I think it's made better. I wish I had one myself!

Good Luck! - John

 

[UnknownVT]

(1) use Froogle.com to search for the price on almost anything.

http://froogle.google.com/

(2) the lowest price I've come across on Photon lights is at BotachTactical - $9.50 for the Photon 2 and $13 for the Photon 3 - but their shipping charges seem v. high.

http://botachtactical.com/photmic.html

The Photon 2 seems like a better choice for their simplicity - the Photon 3 is sophisticated - but may be unnecessarily complex in usage.

(3) of similar quality an alternative is the Inova Micro-Light - these have NSN #s - and are normally lower priced

- $7 @ Botach
http://botachtactical.com/emenmic.html

also $5.39 @ theNerds.net - however their shipping charges are OUTrageous
http://www.thenerds.net/productpage.asp?c=74&pn=LML2005&sd=&d=&m=EMISSIVE+ENERGY+CORP%2E

(4) Also worth considering is the Super Deal on LED pocketlights at County Comm of 20 lights for $20 - seems like a very good deal - and we've had some good reports on these:

http://www.countycomm.com/light10.htm

(maybe someone on cpf may want to split an order with you)

For the intended usage White is probably the best general purpose color, since that's the most natural, and won't cause any color rendition difficulties.

 

[logicnerd411]

Originally posted by UnknownVT:
(4) Also worth considering is the Super Deal on LED pocketlights at County Comm of 20 lights for $20 - seems like a very good deal - and we've had some good reports on these:

http://www.countycomm.com/light10.htm
.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Tthese sound like a great deal!A good place for genuine Photons are Vicomptel. Http://www.vicomptel.com/ This place is REALLY cheap and I've ordered from them many times!

 

[InTheDark]

I just recieved about 20 of the photon knock-off's from someone who just got back from china. These are probably the best imitations I've seens so far, when I compared it side by side with the original, I could not tell the difference between the two. Not like some of the other cheap one's I've seen. I think these might be made from the same manufacturer, and the best part is, they were only $.65 each. I also ordered a muli-color one that uses one of those RGB flashling LED's, those were only 1.30

 

[Bikecop]

Chris,

If you only need 2 lights, one of the easiest solutions is to go to your local Wal Mart and get 2 energizer LED keychain lights, at $4.85 each. they are plenty bright, and you won't have to hassle with shipping charges, etc.

 

[kimgkimg]

Just bought a bunch of these for $2.49/ea from a guy on eBay. Free shipping if you buy 6+.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2902534002

This auction is closed, but I see him posting all the time.

 

[TOB9595]

Christopher I'm sure you've kept in mind the actuation of the light for the G's. Some of the photon lights can be tricky to operate with squeezing for a period of time or switching on the small switch. Pelican L1 (~$13) push switch or Arc aaa (~$20) rotate switch are also neat lights.
Just a thought.

 

[cmeisenzahl]

Thanks very much for all the advice guys!
Christopher

 

[UnknownVT]

Originally posted by InTheDark:
I just recieved about 20 of the photon knock-off's from someone who just got back from china. These are probably the best imitations I've seens so far, when I compared it side by side with the original, I could not tell the difference between the two. Not like some of the other cheap one's I've seen. I think these might be made from the same manufacturer, and the best part is, they were only $.65 each. I also ordered a muli-color one that uses one of those RGB flashling LED's, those were only 1.30

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">.

Are these available to the general public?

Is the knock-off Photon type Mk. 1, 2 or 3?

Thanks

 

[Bmccue1964]

I just purchased a cheap "Photon Style" white-ish LED light from Wal-Mart for $4.97. It has two way switch (on and flash). It comes with two CR2516? batteries installed. Light output is almost as good as my infinity white.

Also comes with a belt clip holder if you don't like the keycahin setup.

 

[Roy]

Look here! They have "Silver Bullets" for $2.00!

http://www.extremeglow.com/batterypowered.htm

 

[InTheDark]

Oh yeah, they were the type II photons with the constant-on switch. I think they're available to the general public, at least to the public in China, at a swap meet or something. These are better than the cheap knock offs I've seen around here.