deal alerts: @ ebay, all flashlights below $5

Oh, it’s started all right but that one actually looks genuine. This one on the other hand…. :Sp

It says Q5 because much people (who bought this X2000 zoomie) know LEDs mainly by names like “Cree” and “Q5” - without knowing what it even means.
That’s why a lot of sellers write “Q5” somewhere.

You are right, I was worried also about the other informations, since here on BLF, someone showed a XP-1 rip-off

btw seems the specs are totally wrong, or maybe are the photos….

$1.99 (Free Shipping)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281756374862

This one is kind of a gamble but I just bought one (only two left).

I’m not sure which flashlight is actually being sold since the item pictures show two different flashlights.

Also, the seller of this Vander flashlight accepted my offer of $2.75.

$2.75 - $2.95 (Free Shipping)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281750725950

Thats a good deal :smiley: for me shipping is only 90.65 US$ FedEX or $ 137.69 DHL They are pulling this numbers out of their buts :expressionless:

I ordered the light from the second link about three weeks ago, and it arrived yesterday. This light is identical to the “Ultrafire” variant I reviewed previously:

It has the very-loose-fit drop-in pill, and the plastic reflector/lens combination and the same “XP-E” (counterfeit?) emitter. As Pulsar13 pointed out, a strong point of this light is that the tailcap has a removable/replaceable switch with a proper threaded retaining ring vs. the cheaper press-fit style. Also, as I mentioned somewhere I can’t find at the moment, the battery tube from this host is a good fit on a 501b host, if you’re looking for something a bit different.

Due to the poor heatsinking, I would only use this as a host for lower-power builds. My previous Ultrafire ended up as a host for an EDC-sized UV build, and it works very well for that. Keep the factory reflector, or replace with a 20 mm aluminum reflector, replace the plastic lens with glass, and swap in a 3535-sized UV emitter (purchased via eBay). I’ll likely end up using the Vander host for the same purpose, but with the newer 365nm UV emitters I received at the same time…
8)

Some time ago I’ve bought a similar cheap S5 copy from eBay in silver. It had the same loose pill. I’ve searched for a replacement and found a pill with the matching threads at Kaidomain: http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S024126
Instead of the reflector I’ve used a 30° TIR together with a XML-2 and a 101-AK-A1 driver.
But there goes the bargin… together with the new parts it’s a nice, working light but to be honest too expensive compared to other cheap hosts.

That’s a nice looking pill via KD:

…but you are right… after ordering a $3 light and a $3.30 pill, you’re better off ordering the C20 host for $6.87 + BLF discount. Then you have a quality light with a good switch and a brass pill to work with.

UltraFire AT-007
$3.61 (Free Shipping)

I have been tempted to buy one of these flashlights for a while now and so far, this is the lowest price I have seen.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/361352256422

Pregulla wrote:

Not ebay, but $3.61 for Hugsby XP-1 is a great price

I love that Hugsby and a good deal so I ordered one (not 2). Aliexpress sent me email warning that the buyer protection was about to run out on the purchase. So I opened a claim and said please wait as long as possible for the package to arrive. Next day I was refunded. Aliexpress said the vendor could not produce tracking information.

Anyone else that bought from this vendor may want to see how much time they have left to open a dispute.

For $1.79

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-LED-3W-260LM-waterproof-Lamp-Clip-Mini-Penlight-Flashlight-Travel-Torch-AAA-/271978994847

AAA lights

thats cheap!

Probably fake...

Hugsby XP1 for $2.95 , but crazy cheap.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CREE-XPE-R3-LED-1000-Lumens-Lamp-Clip-Mini-Penlight-Flashlight-Torch-AAA-Tool-/271979065071

$3.26

And its bigger brother.

fake?

2x AAA

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CREE-XPE-R3-LED-1000-Lumen-Lamp-Clip-Mini-Flashlight-Torch-Penlight-AAA-Tool-/281793308726

Those are fake. You can tell by looking at the clip. The real ones have a notch in the clip to attach a lanyard.

I recently did some mode of the “600lm” ones and SK68 clones for their bad tint and low lumen outputs. The results are amazing. They are better than my original SK68 that I always use as a benchmark in light output. It is especially true when using 14500 batteries. The output with 14500 would easily be higher than 300 lm according to my best estimate.
Your XP-E2’s are good but one need to reflow them. Not everyone can do that. I found some in Fasttech works well. I have used this and this on my smaller 600 lm ones. They works great. At a better price point these LEDs should be good. I have ordered a few for my “sk68”’s but haven’t received them yet.
My conclusion is that the best way to get decent small flashlights is buy some cheap ones and replace the LEDs.

There are a rash of Fake Hugsby lights surfacing, and those look like the fakes. Someone here bought one and its horrible compared to the real ones.

I cant justify spendin even 1$ on these crap emitter lights unless they are well built and with long runtimes just like those cockroach lights do.

I doubt any of these are any good, Ive used so called police-lights and they have been crap compared to well built light.

You get what you pay for and Im not that rich to afford to buy cheap crap again :D!

I’ve lucked out on a few occasions on ebay where I’ve bought the following on auctions

2x 501B with a decent 5 modes XML2 dropin for around $3
1 x UniqueFire HS-802 with a green LED for about $5
1 x C8 with XML2 for about $5

All were good working examples. Quality of what would be expected for each model type

I’ve also bought rubbish too. A C9 torch for $9 which has a hollow pill, plastic reflector and low quality host.

Sometimes you can luck out, other times cheap does = rubbish. I find that auctioned items are normally when some true bargains can be found. They are very few in number though.

I got them already and tested them out. Now they are installed in the small “600lm” flashlights. I think they are genuine Crees. Their tints are good. The light output are good also. I tested their light output on my home made IS. It is not calibrated so I cannot give the accurate lumen values. However, relatively, they are very good. For example, the reading from a Convoy C8 at highest brightness is 20000 lux from the IS. The two small ones with the replaced LEDs gave me 9000 lux with 14500 and 3000 with AA. Conservatively, I would divide 30 to get the lumen number but again it is not calibrated. (Edit: I made the dividing factor wrong. It should be 30, instead of 300. Corrected.)

Good to have a warning. They are too cheap to be true.

Nonetheless, I have been using a non-Cree AAA twisty light from eBay from 5 years ago. I put some dx tape on the lens, an it's a great little bedside light my wife used. No modes, just on off. And with the tape a pretty smooth beam.

But Iwouldn't like to have as my edc.