New Luxeon lights at Costco

I got an email flyer from Costco this morning so I thought I'd take a look at their site to see if they still list the 2-pack that keeps coming down in price. I couldn't find it, but they do have a 3-pack Smith & Wesson listed that I don't remember seeing before.

It's item #887501. It has two 1W Luxeon flashlights and one 1W Luxeon headlammp. They describe the lights as "tactical" with a switch on the tail. $49.95. Here are some images from their site:



And a link to the product:
Smith & Wesson Luxeon

Next time one of you are at Costco, can you take a look at these? Not as cheap as the $14.99 2-pack, but they appear to be of better quality too.

*Appear* better quality. Take a look at the 2AA cell one on the top right. The same basic design as the old, with some frills added, such as logo on flat spot, knurling, painted black instead of silver.

Real measure of quality will be if they take more care picking the bin of the LEDs in the lights than they did with the old Costco lights.

If they can reduce the proportion of lights with noticeably diminished beams (either color or brightness) from about 30% (my experience and guess based on everyone's comments) to - say - less than 5%, then they will be worth a higher price. A better binned one of the old lights plus the typical reflector/mineral glass upgrade yields a pretty good light.

Better binning? Or are you saying if they picked the special premium bins like XO or WO only?

Short picking premium bins, the distribution of the LEDs within the non-white bins (like X1 or WA), wasn't bad at all, and overall, fairly close in, in relation to the white bins.

Only one was towards the outer edge of it's color bin, the QX1J 3.

Suppose I'm a pessimist, but my guess is same light, different cosmetics. Guess we'll just have to wait and see who bites first (and it won't be me...).

I went by Costco today and didn't see the Smith & Wesson lights. They did however still have a few cases left of the 2-pack lights so I picked one up at $14.97.

Like everyone else reports, one emitted a nice white light while the other one had the green tinge. On the "white" one, I think the light is actually a little whiter (or bluer) than my Arc LSH-S.