3W Police Lights LED Flashlight

I am kind of a sucker for a "bargain". I figure for a couple bucks I can't really get hurt too much. I bought these two flashlights from two different Chinese sellers on eBay recently. Both came with free shipping. One was $1.25 (seller = teewin) and the other $1.97 (seller=suncn2010).

I have no idea how they can ship a product to the US (with confirmation number no less) for that, much less include any product in a padded envelope.

The $1.25 unit confirmation info shows:
Delivered
Dec-02-11, 12:18 PM
Processed Through Sort Facility
Nov-22-11, 14:24 PM, SHENZHEN

The $1.97 unit confirmation info shows:
Delivered Nov-30-11, 13:34 PM
Processed Through Sort Facility
Nov-22-11, 16:23 PM, BEIJING

The eBay listing description for these things are pretty consistent. I copied one of them here.

Qty: 1 pcs
Weight: about 50g
Size: 9.5cm x 2cm x 2cm
Material: metal aluminum
Powered by 1 x AA battery ( not included )
High tech, ultra-bright LED, operation life up to 100,000 hours, never need replace
Ultra portable, ideal companion for hunting, camping, fishing, hiking, traveling, climbing etc
Extensive LED lifetime, high intensity 1LED 3 Watt white bright light the latest generation
Less wattage and high light output
With the black strap and keychain , you can take with it anywhere easily
Waterproof and shock proof
Notice: please don't put it in the water for a long time.

I do not believe for a second that they are 3 Watts of anything. 3 Watts on a AA cell would be 2 amps, and that would be 24 AH of battery capacity needed to run this thing for the 12 hours of run time claimed. That is 5-10X the typical capacity of most AA cells, but might conceivably be within the capacity of a lithium battery. It is pretty bright for an AA powered flashlight. None of the listings I saw mentioned any lumen figure.

I have seen a bunch of these for sale on eBay and the price dropped over time. When they got to $2 I figured it was time to grab a couple.

The first one to show up exhibits noticeable flicker. The second one does not.



Both are marked "POLICE 3W" on them. The one with the marking perpendicular to the end is the one that exhibits the flicker.

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Both sellers offer returns, but you have to ship them back on your dime according to the listing. Hardly worth it for an item that is <$2. I am going to email the seller and see what he says about it. Sometimes these guys are pretty good about this kind of problem and other times not. We will see. I will update later.

They actually look to be pretty well made. I am not sure I trust the lanyards they came with though. They are attached to the flashlight body with nylon cord that will eventually fail.

ETA: 12-5-11
Shortly after I wrote this post I emailed the seller of the defective unit. He agreed to a full refund without me having to ship back the defective unit. The transaction was subsequently cancelled and I did indeed get a full Paypal refund. Cannot ask for any more than that.

ETA: 12-7-11
A guy on this thread asked for a video

Chain-o-lakes State Park 12-3-11

We were driving by so thought we would stop in on our way back from visiting some of Fran's relatives.

We went in first to the Oak Point picnic area accessed off route 173. It appears to be a boat launch, fishing and picnic area.

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We saw a big pheasant by the side of the park road but did not get a picture of him.

Then we drove a little west on 173 and south on Wilmot Road to the main park entrance only to find it is closed for hunting.

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