Streamlight 4AA at Costco!

I went to pick up some food at Costco today and what did I see but the Streamlight 4AA! It came in a plastic blister pack complete with 4AA batteries for $19.99. Now, if only they would start selling Surefire E2E's at that price....

Oh, this was in Burbank, California btw.

Bruise

Hey Bruise, I got mine at the Costco in Northridge, CA. Great light for the money. Love the extended burn time. It's a great gift for friends.

Oh. Good to see they are back again somewhere. I got mine in Honolulu a few months ago. What a great deal!

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soloco said:
Oh. Good to see they are back again somewhere. I got mine in Honolulu a few months ago. What a great deal!

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Really? Which Costco was that at? I haven't seen it at the Gentry one.

I bought one at the Victorville Costco but had to return it two days later because the reflector assembly was starting to melt on it just like on the first propoylmer 4AA I bought last year. It's a nice light but you sure can't run it long due to it getting too hot. John

Hey anyone notice that the sl4aa7led isn't really selling that great at Costco? At the San Diego Costso, it isn't really taking off. The display always seem to be full.

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pilot4x4 said:
I bought one at the Victorville Costco but had to return it two days later because the reflector assembly was starting to melt on it just like on the first propoylmer 4AA I bought last year.

[/ QUOTE ] I heard SL had problems with the earlier models but fixed it. If you would have contacted SL they would send you a replacement led module. The cool thing about this light is that part is one piece and replacable.[ QUOTE ]
It's a nice light but you sure can't run it long due to it getting too hot. John

[/ QUOTE ] I don't have any problems with mine.

Man, what bummer news!! I bought a SL 4AA LED propolymer, black, earlier this spring. Now I don't need one, and I hit my local Costco all the time!
DOH!! Double DOH!!

I did contact Streamlight regarding the first light I had problems with. They wouldn't send me a replacement module so I ended up returning it to the retailer where I purchased it. They didn't have another 4AA Propolymer in stock so got something else. When I saw them at Costco I figured I'd give one a try from there since they have an excellent return policy. I was hoping I'd have better luck with this light but unfortunately I didn't. The plating on the reflector started bubbling up due to high temps and the adhesive that they use to bond the LED module to the battery contacts was starting to liquify. Both lights were the new design. It just seems that some lights have the heat problems and some don't. I called Streamlight about the 2nd light I got and the woman I spoke with said she didn't like the light herself and that she'd had one and had the same problems.
If you want one though you can't go wrong with Costco since they will take anything back if the light does turn out to be defective.
John

Wow! Thanks for the heads up John. I bought one at a Seattle Costco and planned to use it as my camping flashlight. The last thing I want is my flashlight melting down when I'm in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, even if I do have a backup.

I now will likely just keep it around the house.

John,
After what amount of burn time were you experiencing the reflector bubbling and glue melting? How long does it take to reach those "high temps" ?

I have the proploymer LED in the 3N, 4AA, and the 3C. Now after hearing this, I am concerned that I might face similar problems. However, I would not say that I use my lights for "extended" burn times. Usually only a few minutes at at shot.

Checked my local Costco today. No streamlights. A bunch of Mag stuff, some cheapo looking LED lights and Dorcy Spyders in a 2 pack with batteries for $26.

Lukejt

If you run the light for only a few minutes you will be ok. I wanted to use my for a walking light. With both lights I took a walk around the block here which takes just over 20 minutes. So the light was on around 20 - 25 minutes. Then returning home I noticed the damage. The LED assembly gets very hot. After running it for that period of time on fresh batteries it was too hot to hold.
John

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pilot4x4 said:
I did contact Streamlight regarding the first light I had problems with. They wouldn't send me a replacement module

[/ QUOTE ] Do you mean they wouldn't send you one on your word, you had to send yours in first?

For those in Hawaii, the Iwilei Costco had them tonight but only about 20 or so. I don't know how long that will last. The price is $20.89 if I recall correctly.

I haven't had anything melt in mine. I even sold one to my friend. I hope his doesn't melt either. Is this a common thing?

Because of Costco's liberal return policy I decided to test this flashlight for myself.

I turned it on and left it in my kitchen sink (in case it *really* caught fire) for 2 hours. Ambient temperature, about 70 degrees.

When I came back it was warm, but not hot, to the touch and showing no signs of any problems. I turned it off and immediately opened it up. The LED reflector assembly (head) was pretty warm but not too hot to handle. Close inspection showed no indication of any damage or problem. I did notice a slight smell of hot electronics. It may have only been some left over solder flux or it may have been a resistor.

I have worked with electronics enough to recognize the smell but not enough to really know if it is a problem or not.

Looks like it's back on my camping list. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I think I'll buy the Xenon version of this light too as a nice complement. I thought of just buying the head but decided that, in addition to the convenience of not having to change heads, I really should have extra batteries anyway so why not carry them in a flashlight.

I took some pictures which I hope to add soon. They don't show much, just the head as it should look, with no damage.

I was thinking about getting one,
But now I will get something different.

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pilot4x4 said:
I bought one at the Victorville Costco but had to return it two days later because the reflector assembly was starting to melt on it just like on the first propoylmer 4AA I bought last year. It's a nice light but you sure can't run it long due to it getting too hot. John

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I can only say I've owned my SL 4AA for about a year now and use it regularly without any signs of it getting uncomfortably hot, nevermind overheating and melting. On the other hand, I've never had mine on for more than 20 minutes at a time, either, so I'm not saying this couldn't happen.

I wouldn't hesitate to rely on mine during a camping trip. I actually use mine a lot while working on my car. It's been dropped several times on my concrete driveway from a height of 3-4 feet without any ill effects.

I just wish I paid $19.99 for mine, lol.

Bruise

The SL 4AA has a couple of basic design problems - it does get very hot when run for more than a few minutes when the batteries are relatively fresh. The LEDs are being overdriven at very high levels with what could only be considered "inadequate" resistance". Just like a Luxeon, heat is generated by the LEDs when they are driven harder. Since the body of the light is not a conductor (metal) and is instead an insulator (plastic) the heat is retained and builds up internally. This is the same reason Luxeon Star lights are almost always metal - so the heat has somewhere to go instead of building up.

I ran mine for a 15 minutes on fresh batteries and it does become very hot. Since my initial experiences, I use a dummy cell and 3 AA. Less light, but no heat.

Costco in Charlotte, NC has them as well. You can get one, then get the xenon module for the light from BrightGuy and have a convertable light. The xenon beam is actually quite nice.

The Westminster, CO Costco is now carrying them. Even though I already have one, I was tempted to buy another today because of the great price. However, this thread convinced me to not do it.