Black Dorcy AAA at Walmart

I noticed at a couple of Wal*Marts in the SF Bay Area that they had the AAA Dorcy LED Flashlight in black. Not only is it black but it's the old reflector style and not the new crappy optical lens. Interestingly the package says "magnifying lens" and it's not! It looks like the black ones all have the old reflector. Just a heads up, since the old style is becoming more and more scarce. Maybe someone can post if in fact all the black Dorcy's are like this.

dehnehsu said:

I noticed at a couple of Wal*Marts in the SF Bay Area that they had the AAA Dorcy LED Flashlight in black. Not only is it black but it's the old reflector style and not the new crappy optical lens. Interestingly the package says "magnifying lens" and it's not! It looks like the black ones all have the old reflector. Just a heads up, since the old style is becoming more and more scarce. Maybe someone can post if in fact all the black Dorcy's are like this.

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I saw two Wal Mart stores here in Phoenix that had the black Dorcy 1AAA with a reflector. One store had 1, the other had 4. All of the other Dorcy 1AAA's they had were other colors (silver, red, blue, I think) and had the optic.

Is it hard to replace the LED in these?

The black body Dorcy seems to be the most popular.
I have seen a total of maybe five since Walmart started selling them.
I haven't seen one for more than a year.
It is easy to put a mjled or Nicha CS in them.
You need a wrench/pliers to twist off the head.
It is then a simple matter to remove and replace existing the led.
Only two solder joints to mess with.
The circuit board just slides in and out.

el_vato said:

Is it hard to replace the LED in these?

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For the older styled reflector version it is (EDIT) pretty easy.

The newer lensed versions (what I called gen3) it's a bit more work - since the metal contact plate is now also soldered on to the circuit board.

Please see the photos of the LED/circuits in this thread -

A Classic Revisited - Dorcy 1AAA

Great pictures - I forgot about this post.

Looks like a little finger burning involved in modding the "gen3" version. They still have the older gen 2 in my area. I just bought two more about a week ago. The fisheye lens on the new ones look goofy.

UnknownVT said:

For the older styled reflector version it is....

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I think you mean that for the older styled reflector version, it is EASIER to change the LED...

nerdgineer wrote: "I think you mean that for the older styled reflector version, it is EASIER to change the LED..."

Ooops... many thanks for the correction/clarification.

I'll edit my post above to make it clearer.

Thanks,

I saw a couple of the old style black 1-AAA Dorcy's at a local WalMart a couple of weeks ago. I had previously bought a silver and a blue of the old style a year or two earlier, but these are the first black ones I had seen, and of course one went home with me. Should have bought more.

-Keith

Anyone have any pics of the black ones? I've never seen them before

I picked up a couple of these yesterday at Wal-mart. I remembered something from this thread, or I wouldn't have even checked for black ones. Same at this store, the blue, red and silver ones have the magnifying lens and the black ones have reflectors. Tiny little booger, but it works pretty well I suppose. If it runs as long as Quickbeam expects it to on the little AAA, I think it's pretty good for just under 6 bucks.

Ken

Yes, SNAG! I found a pair also at just one of the four local Wallmarts. I have plenty of these, with the old model going away, but had never found the elusive black body ones. I even got the shiny pewter ones from the ACE hardware with the smooth grip - for ten bucks a piece, and the last time I was there they were up to $11!


You really must try them with a premium LED, though. I have a couple with Nichia CS's, the best overall performer. I really like the 50K JELED, though, for it's superior throw ability in a 5 mm, but it does have some nasty rings outside the hotspot. The SMJLED and uncut MJLED came out nice, but it is a "wall of light", even with the uncut one, there is a lot of light but almost no hotspot. Great for walking around, but you need something else handy to spot something in the distance. The only tough part is busting the head threads loose, I use a bunch of rubber bands wrapped around the head and body, and then grab the head with pliers over a piece of leather. No marks, and it's pretty easy once you have enough bands to build up the diameter.

Hondo

You guys should buy them all and sell them for us that can't get them!!

The dorcy head I unscrew by hand, or use one of those rubber jar oepeners and use that to open the head. All of the ones I've seen were just screwed on really tight or must have had some mild threadlocker. Also tapping the head on something hard like a wood board seems to help loosen it too inbetween twisting.

Ok, ya got me. Where can I buy the Nichia CS LEDs? Searched cust., mod b/s/t. Nutt'n. Didn't find them at Lighthound. Do you remember how much they cost?


IsaacHayes, If I find more black ones I'll post here.

Ken

Ken: There used to be group buys for the CS. But you can get them at the SS here.
I don't think I'll buy a black one at this time, but in the past I sure would of liked one or two. I'm sure others on CPF would like to get them though!

I found some Dorcy 1AAAs with reflectors at a K-mart in Brighton, CO., about 1/2 hr north of my house. I hadn't been in a K-mart for years. (Remember the movie "Rain Man"?) It was close to where I was going so I went in. The lights were next to the car batteries, not in the sporting goods dept. I was looking for black ones, but did a double take when I looked at the lens and could see the LED. Looked again, and then unloaded both pegs to find all of them had reflectors. Of course I had to get one of each color. I went out, sat in my truck for a couple minutes and then went back in and bought the last three they had. K-mart price was $7.99, $2 more than Wallyworld. Oh well, 50 bucks but I'm just glad I found them. Many CPFers have been dinkin' around with these little lights for years, so no matter what a "normal" person might think, I know you guys understand my excitement. :laughing: I took a silver one apart, but haven't plugged in the soldering iron yet.


Ken

I just bought a few 380nm leds off the custom for sale board and needed a host for them, so off to Wallyworld I went. Nothing but fisheyes at two of the stores, but I found a reflector model at Kmart so I scooped it up. Hit another Wallyworld and found two more of the reflectored versions, score !! I know that Kmart has two more of the good ones, so another road trip may be in order. These were blue and red ones, which doesn't matter to me, but a black one would have been a nice find.
Being the impatient type that I am, and not being able to sit idle waiting for the UV's to arrive, I thought about what I could do to one of these lights. I unsoldered the led, made a thin copper heatsink and glued it to the stock disk with Arctic Alumina, drilled a couple holes for the wires, and AA'd a LUX I to the heatsink. Had to enlarge the reflector hole and trim the bottom of the reflector to get it to focus, but it worked just fine. The light now has a little less hotspot than the original, but it has a lot more useable spill. And it got rid of that angry blue that the stock 5mm led had.

Overall a worthwhile mod, at least for me, as I can't stand led's that lean towards the blue end of the spectrum. And I picked one of my crappier unknown binned LUX I's just in case it goes poof.

These may become a suitable replacement for the newer styled Dorcys.

http://www.garritylites.com/page49.html

Claims a 12 hour runtime and uses a Nichia too for around the same price.
Looks to be a bit more rugged than the metal ring/button style of the Dorcy. I wonder if it's a twisty head.

That little Garrity looks like another to add to the stable of AAA's. Has anyone seen it in any stores?

Geoff

dehnehsu said:

I noticed at a couple of Wal*Marts in the SF Bay Area that they had the AAA Dorcy LED Flashlight in black. Not only is it black but it's the old reflector style and not the new crappy optical lens. Interestingly the package says "magnifying lens" and it's not! It looks like the black ones all have the old reflector. Just a heads up, since the old style is becoming more and more scarce. Maybe someone can post if in fact all the black Dorcy's are like this.

Click to expand...

Not just WalMart, but K-Mart has them too! That's where I picked up the one currently riding on my house-keys. Gave my blue Dorcy (with dome lens) to my mom. She loves it, but I think the black one is better. K-Mart also had silver Dorcy's with the old reflector as well, but with the new-style diamond checkering on the rubber grip; just like the black one.