DORCY METAL GEAR - what's the catch?

The Dorcy Metal Gear flashlight reviewed here:

http://flashlightreviews.com/reviews/dorcy_metalgear.htm

Sounds too good to be true.

I see it doesn't have any power regulation, so it dims gradually as batteries go flat. And there might be some QC issues with bulbs and reflectors not being perfectly centered.

But c'mon, only $19 for this light? What ELSE is wrong with it that I'm not catching on to?

yeah... pretty irrisistable when i came across it in an electronics store recently. If they make 3watters, i'll definately buy it! price is great

I have one and it has a tighter and whiter beam (more throw) then the original dorcy 3AAA. It also has the anti-roll body. It's a descent light. I use it around the house for odds and end allot since it uses aaa's.

If you don't mind it being larger than it could be, and that it has a reverse clickie, I can't think of a catch. Mine has a great tint and out-throws my old Arc LSL. Most folks here don't care much for 3 AAA lights (me, too), but I made an exception for this one. I've been running rechargeables. It's my back door, light up the yard light.

Geoff

You can also replace the battery pack with a Li-ion rechargable. The LED is also very easy to replace if you happen to have a better LED laying around.

LeDfLaShEr said:

You can also replace the battery pack with a Li-ion rechargable.

Click to expand...

A drop in, or would I have to machine the casing? IF a drop-in, what battery part # works?

The LED is also very easy to replace if you happen to have a better LED laying around.

Click to expand...

Is this something I'd likely want? I'm not so much looking for a cool chassis for modding - just the best under $20 out of the box package. Is there a good reason to swap out the LED in that case?

Thanks for the feedback!

I was showing mine to a flashlight dealer at the last gunshow I went to, and it had more throw and appeared brighter in general then the 3watters he had for sale. Even he was impressed with it.

Hrmm... I've owned a few of the Metal Gears... two were good right out of the box and actually one was outstanding! The other three I was not impressed with as the tint and brightness just were not good. As mentioned, it is quite a bit larger than it needs to be.

Assuming you get a good tint, the only real issue I have is the beam is quite ringy as with the Inova lights. The Sam's Club Element has a perfect beam and the reflector looks very similar but since Doug did the review of the Element and only got a 30 minute runtime (to 50% brightness) I can no longer recommend them even though the Element starts out twice as bright as the Metal Gear.

The star is easy to swap on both the Element and the Metal Gear but if you are happy with the tint, and you don't want to change it to a Lux III, there's no real reason to swap it. And on the LiON cell, someone, I think 3rd Shift, listed details on how to mod the black plastic 'resistor holder' to make it shorter and allow for an 18650 cell to be used but I also found that AW sells an 18490 LiON cell that should drop in the 3xAAA lights. It's rated at 1350 mAh, but that's at the higher voltage so I'm not sure if that would give longer runtime than 3 850 NiMH cells.

Overall, for under $20, the Metal Gear is a very decent choice. There's also the Dorcy Super 1W that runs on a 123 cell and there's the Dorcy 3D Super 1W that runs on 3 D cells and gives almost a day of runtime..

check out this link I started awhile back about some mods to one of these
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=102003

Does Dorcy have a website?

TKC said:

Does Dorcy have a website?

Click to expand...

http://www.dorcy.com

Aren't you glad you asked?

Okay, I bought one at WalMart today. Definitely worth $19, but not as awesome as I expected.

Just a wee bit disappointed about the beam spread -- much wider than I would have liked. A little narrower beam would greatly increase the throw. Since I sometimes use my old 2AA MiniMag on tight focus as a signal light, this would be a good thing.

Oh, and one funny thing I noticed on the warranty, as stated on the package:

...If product is defective, please return to Dorcy for repair or replacement. Dorcy reserves the right to substitute product of equal or lesser value if returned product is not available.

Click to expand...

Product of equal or LESSER value? I hope I never have to take advantage of that warranty! Gotta be a mis-translation.

Yeah, well, a Lux I driven on 3xAAA cells with a resistor and a relatively small reflector is only going to throw so well... And honestly, I think it does a pretty decent job in the throw department. Personally, I'd rather have a wider hotspot or a brighter spillbeam so that just shows you can't please all the people all the time.

Also, some come with R-bins and some come with Q-bins. A good R-bin is pretty impressive and some of the Q-bins aren't too shabby. One of the most recent ones I got was very disappointing. If I was buying it for use (rather than to use as a mod host) I would have been quite displeased.

I also popped a TY0K (or maybe it was a TYAK) Lux III in the Metal Gear and bypassed the resistor and it was quite impressive... very nearly as bright as a Inova T3 but with a smoother 'ring section'. My point is, I think the light itself is capable of very respectable throw, but between a potentially sub par Lux I and the resistor, it may not live up to it's potential.

The switch on the Metal Gear is fairly poor.

lee_rimar said:

http://www.dorcy.com

Aren't you glad you asked?

Click to expand...

thats probably the most unprofessional website ive seen from a well established company

Apologies for the pathetic website. We have a new run ready to go which should be up by the end of the month with some new cool products.

pr5owner said:

thats probably the most unprofessional website ive seen from a well established company

Click to expand...

At least it loads quickly, without any annoying Flash animation or music. It is simple to follow and the photos are clear.

AlCanada1 said:

... We have...

Click to expand...

Hi, AlCanada1. From the first person plural quote above, I guess you work for Dorcy. Good to know a contact here.

What's your take on the apparently uneven quality of these lights (some users have several and report considerable variety) and the funny replacement policy described in the warranty statement?

lee_rimar said:

...Sounds too good to be true...I see it doesn't have any power regulation...But c'mon, only $19 for this light? What ELSE is wrong with it that I'm not catching on to?

Click to expand...

I had a Metal Gear; it's a good light for the money, but IMO it's out classed by the Fenix L1, Dorcy Super 1W, and Streamlight Propoly Lux 4AA. I also don't like the 3x AAA lights using a battery carrier.

If you'ver never used a Fenix, the Metal Gear feels pretty good. But by comparison it's bigger and clunkier, and the sharp edges tend to scratch things.

The Metal Gear is a little cheaper than the above lights. However most of the time I think it's worth paying a little more for a Fenix L1, Dorcy Super 1W or Propoly Lux 4AA (which I've seen on sale for $23).

joema said:

...most of the time I think it's worth paying a little more for a Fenix L1, Dorcy Super 1W or Propoly Lux 4AA (which I've seen on sale for $23).

Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. FWIW, I was just looking for impressions of this sub-$20 light for now. But by coincidence, I had already planned to get a Streamlight Pro Polymer LUX 4AA as my next light.

Where did you find it for $23?