400 Go Bag Flashlights by next week!

Office wants 400 Go Bag flashlights by Monday! I'm flabbergasted. They mentioned this to me days ago, but I thought they were joking with the resident flashaholic. So many choices... It's gotta be cheap, reliable, I guess small as well. Wholesalers available? Thanks for any suggestions.

www.cheapbatteries.com has a good selection. Forget fancy flashaholic lights. Just get some sturdy cheap incandescents. If they're for an office, D cells are fine.

http://www.cheapbatteries.com/flash.htm

I'd get on the horn with some of our known-good dealers.

What's that regulated AA Pelican people like?

Might LEDs also be considered if they are bright and cheap enough? So many inexpensive incan lights have intermittent and many connections. I was thinking ( /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif oh no!) that a hard wired LED will eliminate a few connections, especially the flaky PR type contacts.

I'm still an incan fan and realize they may give more lumens per $$ than LEDs.

What are the go bags for, and the specific requirements?

Yup,

cheap, long shelf life - Ostensibly 1 time use - sealed batteries. Like sealed 4.8v unit often seen on fireman's helmets as backup? If anyone can think of that specific brand for known survivability, thanks.

Energizer V220-2ACS Zap Light flashlight $2.00 in 144+ lots at www.batteriesandbutter.com. SAME Brooklyn NY address as www.cheapbatteries.com

Even in this city, I'm not sure I could get 400 of the same thing easily!

Pelican MityLite 2AA is a decent thing. Mine has Lith AAs and would be AWESOME with a clickie!

Long shelf life, one time use, cheap. Makes me think of the Countycomm.com $1 lights. It would be hard to find anyone that can ship 400 of anything, but for the Countycomm lights, that is only 20 small orders or 4 large orders. I'll bet they have that on hand and can meet your deadline. 10 year shelf life, very compact and your whole order costs only $400. Your employer will be impressed.

Unfortunately they seem to be out of the white ones right now, but the blue are very bright and the reds are long lasting.

Whatever you get, you need to order today. Good luck!

Be sure to get a few extra in case they come up short and/or so your boss and others can have one to play with.

How cheap is cheap?
Infinity Ultra or UltraG would be a good durable choice...if not that durable, maybe Dorcy AA or AAA LED lights?
As a one and only light, a countycomm would definitely be better than nothing - I really like them - but I'd sure prefer an UltraG or at least a Dorcy AAA.

I forgot to mention, cheapbatteries is in Brooklyn. You can drive out there and get the 400 lights. I suspect they supply a lot of the 99-cent stores in the city, so they should have plenty of inventory. I'd get the Eveready 2AA lights for space-challenged go bags ($1.00 with batts), or the 2D lights ($1.50 with batts) if more space is available. Don't bother with expensive batteries. The lights will get used for non-emergencies, go missing, etc., so you're going to have to check on them periodically no matter what. Test or replace the zinc-carbon cells once a year and they'll be fine.

Actually, if the $1 lights are in the running, then maybe the Energizer 2LED lanterns would be viable...they put out a lot more light and are only $3.29 at Office Depot...all that would be left would be getting ahold of 1,600 AA batteries to fill them.

I've got all the CPF favorite LED and non-surefire incandescents in my offce including a 1MCP spot, but I think the office wants to spend significantly less than I have. I suspect $5 is a grudging limit. The application is 1 time use, distributed only in emergency, sealed, cheap, long shelf life, only enough to get people out of the building scenario is in force. I'm lobbying for bigger and better for the floor fire wardens, but the rank and file will probably get the Energizer V220-2ACS Zap Light flashlight $2.00 or Garrity LL10GSE12N. But 400 by Monday (Republican National Convention day) will be tough.

I really don't think it will be so hard. Just pick up the phone and find a wholesaler. I'd start with cheapbatteries but there are other possibilities too. If shelf life is a real issue, then use alkaline batteries. And $5 is way more than you need to spend. $1.50 should be plenty. If you are ok with keychain lights, maybe Countycomm can fedex you 400 of those "tough" squeeze-only lights today for arrival tomorrow if you call them right now.

The squeeze lights are now down at $1.00 each too I think, same deal at 20 for $20.00.

Mike

Batteriesandbutter.com - Same brooklyn address as cheapbatteries has only 150 of the $2 zap lights. Anybody familiar with these lights?
The Garrity LL10GSE12N or the alkaline LL11's are the "Firefighter Helmet Dressing" light, identified as Target Markets: Office Evacuation... That seems to fit the bill. Thanks all.

Alledges,
The $2 elcheapo lights will have their alkaline (carbon?) batteries leak over time. Get something with a lithium battery so in an emergency, the thing will work! Imagine how bright 400 keychain LED lights would be!

Let's see, your budget is $5.00 per light. Use that for the $1.00 keychain lights and drop 5 in every Go Bag.

Mike

Alkalines generally claim to have 5+ year shelf life these days. I think most stories about them leaking involve storing them at extreme temperatures. In an office building with climate control, I wouldn't worry about it, especially for larger cell sizes, which don't seem to leak as often.

Really though, if you are serious about wanting delivery by monday, you better do something pretty soon (i.e. get on the phone and take whatever sounds reasonable).

Time factor relieved - Sr. Execs on vacation till after Labor day. Go Bag lite not for flashaholics. It's for the lumen proletariat, who would remove the batteries and put them in their walkmen. You know they would. It's for a one time office evacuation scenario. Out of the building, out of mind. Cheap, long shelf life, no maintenance, ultrabright not needed, service life of just a few hours ok. Garrity Life Lite fits the bill, particularly the LL11 with Alkalines and faceted reflector. Looks like 3 A rather than AA cells sealed battery pack. Only a couple google hits, so contacted Garrity for distributors. I'd give the fire wardens PT40's with Lithium and I'll keep my Arc LS, MM650, PT 40s/Rages w/Lithium AA/AAA, and 1MCP spot light. Thanks all for suggestions, input.

Oh cool, you mean those rectangular disposable flashlights. $2.87 each in qty 500 from these guys:

http://www.garritypromo.com/page8.html

Or maybe even better from your distributors. You can even get their company logo on them.

Excellent link.