Yeh, pretty good. I’d still consider the lights disposable, ie, use ’em up as-is ’til something fries, then just toss ’em. Well, after gutting it for the emitter and optix, at least. Probably a decent XP-G or a LB clone. 
I wouldn’t try refitting any of these to Li use, though. 3×AAA lights use the internal resistance of the AAAs to limit current. Stick a Li cell in there, and you’ll have a DD light that would probably fry itself to bits in no time, as there’s near-zero heatsinking.
I forced one apart this morning. I took pictures of the destruction and will post pictures tonight when I get home.
For me, it was very interesting as to how these were made.
If they came with a nice neutral-white emitter, they might make a nice cheap light. But, I’m guessing they all have an ugly bluish cool-white LED.
Yeah, you would think it, but not so!
Beautiful tint, I’ll post pics later tonight.
My AstroLux S42 stainless with 4 - XP-G2 is much more blue
And I paid $42 for that light, and it has problems.
Here are pics of the 4 lights in the pack side by side shot with my iPhone. Not the best way to compare tint, the 3rd from the left is a little warmer than the other 2. All lights are on low.
Now on top is my quad XP-G2 S42 on a brightness level comparable to the Duracells
Finally a Mag mini, 2AA light and 272 Lumens
This morning I really tried to get one of lights apart. I had tried before in the past with strap wrenches with no luck.
This time I tried a torch and pipe wrenches. With 2 - 18’ wrenches I could budge the tail section from the head, but just barely. Body started to deform, so I stopped and decided to use a hack saw.
Before I show pictures of the massacre, here are pics of the tailcap and switch, I did have success with that.
What you get for $10
The unfortunate victim.
XP-G2
The battery carrier
The driver is in the tailcap.
I couldn’t pick up any numbers on the MCU
This was after using a torch trying to separate the head, the centering ring around the LED melted
I tried to pound out the slug, a 17mm socket was a perfect fit but it wouldn’t budge.
socket in tube
After this didn’t work, I hack sawed the light into 2. The head actually is pretty beafy.
Even at this point I could not pound out the center. It must have been either pressed in by the guy that does the almighty press videos on YouTube, or it is put in place and then swedged out into a channel machined into the tube. There seems to be stops on either side of it in the tube.
There is no metal star, aluminum or copper. Just a fiber board with what looks like copper foil on each side. I lost the emitter during the operation.
Believe it or not, after all this I put it back together and it still worked! :confounded:
Hmm, that’s a nice chunk o’ metal!
From the usual 3×AAAs crowbarred right across nine T-1¾ LEDs, there’s maybe 200mA-250mA being pushed through them. A bit more than their 20mA/unit rating, but doesn’t cook them that fast.
I wouldn’t count on more’n a few hunnert mA going through that G2 with a fresh set of cells. A little usage, and that’ll drop quite a bit as the cells’ internal resistance rises.