Target's new River Rock and Dorcy offerings...

I was in a Target today and discovered what all the recent flashlight clearances were in preparation for ... more flashlights! A lot of cutting-edge CPFers won't be knocked over with excitement. Several old Luxeon 1 watts in new packaging, and quite a few K2 offerings, all with increased price tags over the models they replaced.

River Rock has upped the price of their LED lantern to $25. In return we receive a K2 light source, redesigned reflector system, runs on three AA cells instead of four, and now has an aluminum body instead of plastic. River Rock also has a K2 headlamp which runs on three AA cells (battery holder on rear of head). Between RR and Dorcy, there are also a few new K2 flashlights, and a few old 1 watters in new skins, with higher price tags! But Dorcy tops the list in the WTF department with a K2 flashlight large enough to hold two C-cells, but runs on three AAA cells instead!

I suppose the general public will be happy enough with the new offerings, but to photon nerds like us, "new" is already old, and Target's offerings might be yawn-inducing. Oh well, we know where to look for the real stuff!

I bought my first River Rock light at Target last week. It is the 2 aaa light for $10. I thought wow this thing is great and a great value. Got it in my pocket right now. I have several SF and Fenix lights but I use this one now all the time because puts out enough light for around the house, switch is reliable, and uses aaa. I am off to Target today to check the new lights out due to Hurricane season coming and they said it will be a bad one this time. Thanks for the info.

I bought the K2 headlamp, and the K2 lantern and I'm quite pleased with them. Sure, the Dorcy's are pretty much consumer junk, but I feel like I got a great value with the River Rock stuff.

I'm still giggling about the .... "WTF department with a K2 flashlight large enough to hold two C-cells" comment, because I saw that one and was thinking the same thing...lol

I saw that stuff too, DORCY also had a 4 AAA 0.5 light that looked similar to a princeton tech 40, and a round yellow stubby light 4 AA, also 0.5 however the LED is sitting on an apparent aluminum slug, wich might be a good canidate for a mod

I picked up the river rock aa 1 watt. It is a very nice light that is nice and bright. The reflector is deep too, it would be a great cree host. I just have to figure how to get the head off.

vinsanity286 said:

I picked up the river rock aa 1 watt. It is a very nice light that is nice and bright. The reflector is deep too, it would be a great cree host. I just have to figure how to get the head off.

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I thought it looks really slick too, but I could not justify $23 for a single AA, 1 watt Lux light.

Turbo DV8 said:

But Dorcy tops the list in the WTF department with a K2 flashlight large enough to hold two C-cells, but runs on three AAA cells instead!

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If it's the same one I was looking at, it uses SIX AAA cells (three more of 'em stacked behind the others in the display package) - which if anything, adds even more of a 'WTF? factor' to the light...

I just bought the new (or old for us) RR 1-AA Luxeon and actually do like the little light. The tint is pretty nice for my tastes and it is bright as can be expected. The best feature I believe is the fact it can be purchased at any Target store for just over 20 dollars....I hate waiting for on-line purchases and then there is also the advantage of being able to return it to a local store if it is faulty.....Target is doing pretty well I believe for us CPF type people.

The 6-AAA light looks to be some sort of joke as no way would I have the patience to load two of those barrel style adapters.....I have never really liked the 3-AAA form factor and now a 6 cell using the AAA...yeah WTF sums it up nicely.

The sleeper of the bunch is the 4-AAA .05 watt that looks like the Princeton Tech from Dorcy. It was 10 dollars and for that I did not expect much however was very suprised with the light. I am not sure what the runtime will be however it is easy to load the AAA cells as they drop in the body stacked on top of each other side by side. The weight feels nice and the tail cap clicky switch feels pretty nice as well....the beam and output is what got me.

I only bought the light because looking at the emitter I had never seen one like this....it did not look like the .05 watt LEDs in other lights and seemed to be a very small version of a 1 watt luxeon emitter....of course I knew it was not but it looked so strange I wanted to try it anyway.

The hotspot is very round and actually bright while the spill is nice and large...the tint is a little cool blue however I actually like that better so for me it was a nice suprise....zero artifacts in the beam and for a 10 dollar light that is asking alot however once again this light suprised me and I feel it is very much worth the 10 dollar cost.

I have been carrying the RR 1AA light for about a week and I like it a lot. IMO for the money it's a great light, and the lanyard is a bonus. Best lanyard in the industry!