You will LOL and puke at the same time

So I stopped at my local Dollar Tree today. Saw this little beaut and bought it because it was aluminum. Also, it had weird unfocused Cree-looking LEDs in it, and the reflector(s) is HORRIBLE>!
It's not even Type 2 aluminum, obivously. Direct drive...3AAA...:green:standard.
.........and the f-ing tint makes me die inside.
reverse clicky.. what do you expect for a buck?
The tint seems to change when it wants to, and I caught it once when one of the LEDs didnt fire.

This is going in the trash.

The only possible reply would be this one: don't buy led flashlights at your local dollar store. You're just likely to waste a dollar, right?

Mod it!

dirtech said:

Mod it!

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Yes, modding time!

Yea, those reflectors make me want to cry and then...

TheInvader said:

The tint seems to change when it wants to, and I caught it once when one of the LEDs didnt fire.

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Wow, just wow. So much fun for $1 where can I get one?

I've bought some dollar store lights just to scrounge some parts out of them. It's a fair way to get some very cheap modding or repair parts.

Don't feel too bad. I bought the exact same light for the express purpose to see just how they can make a functioning aluminum led light and still make a profit at $1.

Direct drive without even a resistor. The three positive legs are bent and soldered into a contact point in the center. The three negative legs are bent to friction fit against the interior of the body, wedged by the pill.

The aluminum is so thin and soft that I shaved a bit off like a shaving of wood with my knife.

jp2515 said:

Yes, modding time!

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Send it to Milky! The host is only a buck! :twothumbs

Well, you know youre a flashaholic when you buy it cos you think, hey its a dollar, why not.

Crenshaw

I bought three of these a while back. I did a run-time test with alkaline batteries and it remained bright enough to be useful for 24hours. I ended up putting fresh alkalines in all three lights. I put one in the trunk of my car so that if someone needs to "borrow" a light I can just give them one. The second one I gave to someone I work with who lost power for a couple of days. I explained that it was basically a throw away light but I thought it might help her get through the power outage. She is still using it (a year later) and is very impressed by how much brighter and more reliable it is compared to the old 2d plastic incandescent lights that she had before.

I know it seems crazy but many people still have those old 2d plastic incandescent lights with crappy switches. These cheap LED lights are simply ridiculous when compared to any of my real lights (fenix, jetbeam, princeton tec) but they are a hell of an improvement over some of the light people have in case of emergency. All for $1 not bad. I'd probably buy more but I found that giving out 50cent fauxton's from DX is a better option.

its not a question of how far does it throw, its how far can you throw it....

matrixshaman said:

I've bought some dollar store lights just to scrounge some parts out of them. It's a fair way to get some very cheap modding or repair parts.

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+1 :thumbsup:

I know its a cheap POC but I have to say I dig that tri-led setup. Very custome looking:twothumbs

I am gonna try and find a Dollah Tree near me and get one or two. as mentiond for a buck I can give them to the bratty kids in my life after I have played with them.

I got one of those from DX and put in some take-off luxeon emitter in. Went direct drive, plenty bright, white, and floody!

I covered the perimeter of the lens with GID paint and kinda screwed up the plastic lens.

I have seen flashlight bezels come out of torture tests looking rounder than the pic of the front side showing the reflector, honest

the thing is bent in a way that i can only imagine how loose or stuck threading might be, i bought a "Lichao Police 3AAA" light that was my first led flashlight, quality wise, is very close to this one, and i definitely got ripped off by like 4 dollars more than you.

i have one thing to thank to that light, it definitely was brighter than any LED light i had seen in Peru (one of the "joys" of living in a 3rd world country) at that moment, and it started my curiosity, started searching, and ended here on CPF.

after getting my Fenix light, and a Inova XO2 that CPF member Relojero gifted to me, i never used it again (the switch went bad very quickly), then i got a Novatac (man that light costed me more than i ever imagined paying for a flashlight), then a Surefire L1 (the first light i felt extremely comfortable with!),etc.

So, the Lichao did its job, it showed me the way here, then died, very martyr like now that i think about it.

Relojero showed me what a quality light is, the inova XO2 probably can smash the lichao until its aluminum foil without suffering much, thanks man!.

In the dark, even a cheapo POS flashlight is better than no flashlight at all!! :candle:

...at least until it fails...

sabre7 said:

In the dark, even a cheapo POS flashlight is better than no flashlight at all!! :candle:

...at least until it fails...

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LOL If you are in the dark then your flashlight already failed.

coyote said:

its not a question of how far does it throw, its how far can you throw it....

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Haha..:thumbsup: