46 cent keychain light

Thanks for the tip! I'll be buying 50 of these tonight for my Scouts!

I wonder……..if I bought 1000 of them would they give them to me for free?

its amazing how little they charge with included shipping …

im actually not quite sure how they make money … but they must as they are still in business

"im actually not quite sure how they make money"

They take a small loss on each unit, but they make it up in volume.

–B.G.–

Well technically if they're taking a small loss on each unit, then with volume they're taking a large loss ;)

But the economics work out if you're making thousands of these in China. It probably only cost 5 cents or so each if you're making 10,000+ units. Factor in shipping to America and then to customer and even a worst case scenario of a quarter cost each, they're making nearly 100% profit (ie selling for ~200% the cost). These people are ripping you off! I mean seriously they're making like $2000 for every 1000 packages of 10 (yes 10,000 flashlights) they sell!

Consider that next time you purchase a name brand product that looks identical *cough* photon microlight II *cough* To photon's credit they're product is supposedly made in the USA, but at a 20x price premium =/

Actually, I just did an alibaba search… it is indeed $0.05/unit (not including shipping) with a minimum order of 500 or so from China.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/401487859/led_keychain_flashlight.html

I intend to give them all to scouts, but at that price, I might buy an extra 10 or 20 just for the extra batteries! It cost $4 or $5 just to replace the two batteries in my $8 Photon X (still my favorite keychain light).

I've been using these lately. I remove the metal bits and attached a cord that I put around my neck while in camp and when I'm sleeping. It's a cheap backup to my primary light. If the battery goes dead in the middle of a long hike, I don't have a problem with chucking it into the nearest trash can.

Cool, I got me a 10 pack will put one on each of my packs and maybe one on my climbing harness (topped out in the dark with no headlamp once this year dohh)

I ordered 50 of those squeeze lights and some iPhone power cords/adapters. Ordered on 12/23. Received shipping notification on 12/29. Package got here on 1/12. Compared to domestically sourced toys, it really did take a "slow boat from China", but they got here!

The batteries worked in all 50 lights. 47 lights functioned as advertised. 2 lights worked fine in squeeze mode, but the constant-on switch didn't work. 1 light flashed randomly when squeezing. Not sure what the problem was, but it didn't last long enough to matter. That one gave up a fresh set of batteries for my Photon X-light!

In the spirit of BPL… Each weighs 7 grams, 6 grams without the key chain!

Thanks again, Daryl, for turning me on to that DealExtreme!

These cheapies are awesome lights! We brought two on the JMT and used them as tent lanterns every night…worked great, and still plenty of juice after 3 weeks. It's cheaper to toss out dead ones and buy more, than to replace the batteries.

nm

My wife and I only carry keychain lights when backpacking. We started out with Photons but have had good luck with the cheapies too. They are light enough so spares can be carried.

A few years ago we broke camp and hiked out in the middle of a dark cloudy night due to an approaching forest fire. We illuminated the trail by holding the light a bit below waist level (that's where our arms end).

Worked fine. It was a bit disorienting, however. The trail ahead of our feet was visible but everything else was dark. Could have been a cougar sitting on a tree branch within a couple of feet and I wouldn't have seen it.