New Costco Cree "tactical" lights?

At Costco today.

They had a 2 pack of "tactical" flashlights for around $20.

Each light used 3 AAA batteries. They claimed 160 lumens on high and 120 lumens on low. Thought this was strange. Maybe a typo on their sign. Plastic lens. Made in China. Look tough, however.

Didn't buy them. Anyone else got these yet? I didn't see a review on here for them and when I did a search for "costco" and "cree" it came up with some lights but not these "tactical" lights.

Nothing "Tactical" about them. Read this and this.

Peter

3xAAA :thumbsdow

LitFuse said:

Nothing "Tactical" about them. Read this and this.

Peter

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Thanks for the link. Not sure why those links didn't come up when I did a search.

I'm not a fan of 3XAAA either and having to click through the functions to shut it off is annoying so I'll probably pass on these.

You're welcome. I don't know which search you are using, but I have much better results using the Google search instead of the vBulletin one.

Peter

I'm still holding out for the tactical version of the Hello Kitty light.

Stress_Test said:

I'm still holding out for the tactical version of the Hello Kitty light.

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I find the claim of 160 lumens to be rather fishy...I came across these at Costco last week too, but these didn't seem like quality lights. I'll gladly take a 2AA multi-mode Mag over these.

There's no way they're 160 lumens. Yet for $10 each, it's pretty hard to beat them. They've got plenty of other strikes against them (tactical . . . really?), but again, $10 each!

If you want me to, I can show a comparison beamshot against a D10 once I finish breaking in the Eneloops, aside from that I have no other way to compare them.

A "Tactical Light" using AAA :thumbsdow

I flipped through the Costco Connection catalog and visited Costco's website the other day and I noticed Costco is selling led flashlights packaged and described to look like highend lights. The product descriptions range from vague: HID, tactical, visible over 1-5 miles, high end Cree LEDs, high lumens, to specific: regulation, multi-modes. Most are relatively inexpensive but some are comparable in cost to the lights discussed in this forum. Has anyone evaluated any of these lights and put things into perspective for light buyers? How much more is a buyer getting by spending anywhere from $60-$300 dollars for lights discussed here? Put it another way, what corners do manufacturers of those Costco lights cut, in order to market them at relatively lower prices?

sharp threads (easier to cross thread), absolutely no lube on threads (all the ones we've gotten at least), older generation LEDs, overstated lumens, usually non regulated, usually huge, non centered LEDs in the refletor, cheaper plastic reflectors, plastic windows...

However, there's the occasional chance that there's a random high end component found on costco merchandise at a really low price point, like last year where they had the ultegra component set on one of their bikes, and it was being sold for $200...

The more expensive lights that I can find on costco.com are the smith and wesson, and the Icons (which are decent quality budget lights as found here... 3pack too). No idea on the S&M, though...

used one the other day its about as bright as my 2aa led maglite. No where near as bright as my quark aa or my ld20. Mabey 60lums topps

I picked up a pair as toss-away lights. Overall quality is similar to the other Chinese origin lights. They use a Cree, also have the 3AAA cage (in a series/parallel set-up). The UI is horrible, and shouldnt be called "Tactical," that being the most over used flash word in recent times.

Output is a abut 80 or so OTF lumens, with a decent hotspot and ringy corona.

For the price point, and convenient power source, they aren't bad.

These lights will be $5 off ($14.99) from 3/11-4/3. No coupon required.

Peter

With another $5. off looks like a good deal to me.

They'll run down a set of batteries in less than a week when when turned off. Ask me how I know.

ubetit said:

They'll run down a set of batteries in less than a week when when turned off. Ask me how I know.

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That is frustrating, but good to know.. I guess my un-opened package is going back. I can't believe they'd design them with such a dumb "feature". Maybe you have a bad batch? Any current draw can probably be measured with a DVM.

LitFuse said:

These lights will be $5 off ($14.99) from 3/11-4/3. No coupon required.

Peter

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I bought a set - for $7.50 each, I really cannot go wrong. They are maybe 160 lumens side by side lol - they do have the surefire style scalloped head and tail + spot 2 flood + strobe, so I thought they were a goo deal