Originally posted by witsend:
Saw this on e-bay 4 LED's, 3-AA, metal looks like a good buy for $16. Anyone know what I missed? Seems too good to be true.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">STAY AWAY, the "LED Club" is no club I want to join anytime soon!!
I just got one of these (marked $9), and it's dimmer than many single LEDs, even though it sucks down 200mA. I metered it with my Meterman and got 13cd out of it. The four white LED beam has an icy cool color with none of the usual blue splotches in it, but it's very dim; possibly the dimmest multi-LED light I've encountered to date.
The flashlight body is all metal, and there's a small hole in the tailcap. It comes with a dainty little lanyard that can be attached to the hole using a frail looking clasp. The lanyard is short, but it can be stretched around the whole flashlight if you want to hang it on a pipe or washline or something. The black finish appears to be painted on, but may be baked enamel or something as it seems a bit more durable than the paint I've seen on some flashlights.
The flashlight is turned on and off by twisting the head. There are three parallel grooves encircling, but you need transverse or up-and-down grooving in order to have any kind of useful texture, so it feels as smooth as a baby's butt and it can easily slip out of your hands. If your hands are covered in transmission fluid, motor oil, or fish guts; this flashlight might be hard to turn on and off.
Here are the package details as printed, and
my version of them:
4 High-Intensity Bright LED Bulbs
4 Low-Intensity Dim LED Bulbs
LED Bulb is waterproof, shockproof, low drain, and cool-burning.
LED Bulb is water resistant, shock resistant, overdriven, and hot-burning.
Each LED produces a phosphor light as bright as a full-sized flashlight.
Each LED produces a phosphor light dimmer than an Infinity.
Batteries last up to 10 times as long as a regular flashlight.
Batteries will probably poop out long before you think they should.
The package also recommends Lithium AA cells, and it says alkalines can also be used; but discourages the use of standard batteries. The flashlight comes with standard batteries ("Pairdee" super heavy duty zinc carbon). A club that can't even follow its own rules.
The phrase "Official L.E.D. Club High-Intensity Light" is emblazoned in big lettering along the whole left edge; however, nothing can be farther from the truth. True, it is a flashlight, and it does use LEDs. But that's the only thing you can count on. If I were president of The Official L.E.D. Club, I'd be
ashamed to have this flashlight as my premier offering.
