Just bought a Dorcy Metal Gear.

And I'll be taking it back today. I thought it looked pretty cool, but of course there was no way to try it out unless I took it home. I has a nice beam pattern for a led, but the color is very much a pukey green that it is virtually useless. Throw is not at the top of the game either. I liked the idea of it using standard batteries for a long time emergency kit light, but everywhere else it falls way short.

Anyone else experience this with these lights?

Sorry to hear you got a bum one. Most folks here have had pretty good luck with the Metal Gear. Mine has a nice almost yellowish tint and reasonable throw (a little better than my Arc LSL). I wish it was a bit smaller and used an even number of batteries. Overall, I'm fairly pleased, considering the price and performance. It's become my "by the back door" utility light. You might consider trading it for another before giving up on the Metal Gear.

Geoff

Had a similar experience with a Metal Gear and took it back to Wal-Mart.

Go to your local Sam's Club and buy a 2 pack of the "Element" flashlights. They also use 3aaa batteries in a carrier like the Metal Gear, but put out a nice bright white spot with plenty of spill. For $27 (for the 2 pack), it's a bargain!

BlackDecker said:

Had a similar experience with a Metal Gear and took it back to Wal-Mart.

Go to your local Sam's Club and buy a 2 pack of the "Element" flashlights. They also use 3aaa batteries in a carrier like the Metal Gear, but put out a nice bright white spot with plenty of spill. For $27 (for the 2 pack), it's a bargain!

Click to expand...

I second that. The Element is fantastic. Buy the 2 pack and give one away for the holidays!

I was pleased with mine, but I got a very bright and white Luxeon. The main warning that I would give to people regarding this light is to check that the Luxeon is centered before buying it. When I bought mine (last August), a lot of the Metal Gear lights on the rack had very off-center Luxeons. I don't know if it's still that way now.

Buy another one. Even a $270 Surefire U2 can come with a puke green luxeon LED. Luxeon lottery is an unfortunate reality. I personally have bought 3 Dorcy Metal Gear's and they were all different in brightness and tint.

I would return it for another one.

I have bought 5 of these and came up with a couple of pukey greenish ones QX1H, RXIJ,
A yellowish one RV1H, a purplish one RYAJ, a very bright, slight bluish one RYOH, and a perfect white one RWOJ.
Just buy a couple and take the worst one back.

Yeah, I think I've had five of them... at least four. Two of them I was not happy with, but I bought them for modding so I didn't really care. Three of them I would have been happy with.

I say, buy two, give one to someone that will use it and keep the better one for yourself.

Other than one of the very first two I bought, I've been consistantly happy with the Elements from Sam's Club. Four of them have been outstanding and three have been very decent out of the 8 I've had. Matter of fact, four of them were so good, I'm using two of the stars out of them for a higher end mod I'm doing that requires three LEDs.

I bought one and took it back the same day. Too blue for me. If i knew how to open it I would've told you the bin code.

The luxeon was off-center, and just didn't do it for me. Still like my Dorcy 1w more than the metal gear.