This is at least an old school Meh deal. Flashlights, folding knives, speaker docks, random crap that I didn’t even know exists but impulse-buy anyway… That’s the Meh I know and love!
@Kidsandliz It turns out that, even if the fridge loses power, the batteries in it still work. And what’s more, they’re super duper fresh (having been previously refrigerated).
@Kerig3 I’m 45 seconds in, and the video at QVC is hilarious.
We don’t call them flashlights per se. They’re lantern lights. They’re LED lights.
Why didn’t they mention that in the meh write-up?
But then QVC only has green. These blue lantern lights are a real hard-to-find bargain.
It only gets better.
[Tries to turn one on. Nothing.] Guess what they did. No! This is the scenario. That oh my gosh, I grabbed the flashlight [sic] and it has no power, right? Instead of searching for brand new batteries, I’m going to grab this hand crank, and maybe around ten times… or more… [still no light] I did this earlier and it worked. The blue one’s working.
@stinks That video was pitiful and a total failure! (but it’s internet gold) And according to the clueless presenter they have “a lot of lumens”.
She also mentions that “a lot of other flashlights use expensive C or Ds” (batteries). Expensive C or D batteries??? Clearly she’s never shopped batteries before.
@stinks I loved how excited she got when cranking the 3rd time finally made it work, so much so that she didn’t notice its power fading within seconds. What a sad job when you have to try to make decades old tech (crank & solar rechargeable flashlights, er, I mean lantern lights) sound like future tech. A soul crushing job for sure, but she was still proud of herself at the end. LOL
@phendrick@Tadlem43 Well, some flashlights will flash SOS, but that’s as close as you’ll get, unless you want to get spastic on the on/off switch and tap out code yourself!
Here in Michigan, these kind of lights are perfect, if, (no-when), our power goes out. I bought them last time, gave a couple away, and use one at home, one at our cabin. I could use a couple more.
Last power outage I used one during my entire shower with ten cranks.
Reporting in that I have received my flashlights, and 8 out of 8 work. Happy with my purchase. Thanks meh for meeting and exceeding my (admittedly low) expectations.
@iwilsker@ruouttaurmind Eexcept mine, not even out of the box for 2 months don’t work by crank and don’t work by sun. In other words, they just didn’t work. Getting ready for hurricane season, testing the equipment, and these are a big Fail.
@ghostinrags Nearly everything I have bought from meh has been working (although some of it has been trash but that’s a different issue that isn’t a customer support issue, rather it was I should have hunted for more reviews issue). Had an empty fuko once due to minimal tape and some busted stuff in fukos once they stop believing in putting in TX air… but overall I have been getting what I paid for and once a wonderful fuko suprise (well and almost the pallet of broken TV’s except I had no where to put them so had to decline unfortunately).
@PooltoyWolf The idea fascinated me too. But these don’t work. Waste of money, non returnable. Good thing I tested them before Hurricane season, at least I found out they are worthless, which means i wasted my money. Don’t fall into the same trap.
I bought a set of these when they were red. They’re decent lights. Build quality seems to be solid. I figure they’d be great for the grandkids. They love flashlights and always leave them on. Now I don’t have to nag them to turn them off. They’ll figure out that the more they use them, the more they will have to work. And it doesn’t take a ridiculous amount of work to get them charged up a bit.
Good for Christmas gifts for kids, and a couple in the basement with the freeze-dried food for when India and Pakistan start lobbing nukes at each other…
I never understood the logic of having a solar powered flashlight.
I guess you could store it in a sunny spot, like a south facing window sill, but I know from experience that these things (the hand-crank ones, anyway) don’t retain a charge; like, if you crank it or sun-bathe it until fully charged and then store it in a drawer or closet, it’ll have little to no charge left (depending on how long you stored it) when you take it out to use it.
I mean, that’s what the crank is for - on-demand charging - so what is the point of the solar cell???
@Al_Coholic The crank, yeah. I have a crank flashlight in my glove compartment, very handy.
But how is the solar power good for camping?
How is a solar powered flashlight good for anything?
You only need a flashlight when it’s dark.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@username Well it might be useful if someone did as I received two dead ones. Hopefully replacement of the battery will solve that. My problem is all my tools were stolen and I don’t have anything to break into it.
@thewynner I have 2 like that; the others were OK. I put them in the window to bake them (its been raining day after day after day so I am leaving them there for a while). I at least got to the point they’d turn on but I didn’t leave them on to see how long that would last. I figured lets start with as charged a battery as I can get. Likely it is just an older battery on its way out (which doesn’t bode well for the rest of them if that is the issue).
@Kidsandliz thanks for the insight! I will end up trying the others and hope i get a 50% success rate too. These were going to be used for camping so just need a little light at a time but 30 seconds definitely isn’t enough.
@RiotDemon Thanks. I was first going to see if charging them well would make them work as we have no idea how long they had been in the dark (although the fact that some worked and some didn’t doesn’t may mean close to dead batteries). What I am going to do tomorrow (now that they have been in the window sill for a couple of days) is turn them all on and see how long it takes them to discharge. If all of them are roughly the same then no problem. If the two that came dead croak really quickly then I’ll contact support. Hopefully a good charge is all they need.
@thewynner So I roasted them on the window sill for 2.5 days (the 8 I just bought and the 4 that I bought earlier - these are christmas presents for family). The ones that were originally DOA died pretty quickly and much faster than the others. I got 9 minutes from one and almost 11 from the other. The third one I set up next to them is still going at 36 min and counting although much dimmer. I guess I will set up the rest when these die and exhaust them all to see what kind of range there is. Clearly the two that were DOA have a problem (maybe they need a new rechargeable battery in them to hold the power?). I don’t remember if any of the ones I bought before were DOA. I’ll check back in once I test them all. I am not going to test the rest of them until our nasty little rain storm that just started passes that is supposed to have 60-70mph winds, just in case I need the stupid things for actual light in the place.
@thewynner Well this is weird. The next 4 I turned on 3 hours and 45 min ago and while they are seriously dim at this point they are, at least, still going. Way better than the first 3. The last one of the first three crapped out at 47 min (green, the weak ones were blue and red; this time 3 greens and a blue, one green and the blue are marginally brighter than the other two greens)
@Kidsandliz i left mine sit in front of the window for a couple days. Two ended up with weak beam compared to the other two. You can crank them to get them to a similar brightness as the bright two but they revert back when cranking stops. The two that do work and are bright have a long enough lifespan for my uses. 50/50 isn’t bad I suppose. Mine are blue FWIW.
@RiotDemon@thewynner I would rather have 100% flashlights as these are christmas presents and if it is refund only then 2 won’t get what everyone else gets so I’ll have to give up the two I bought for me (one in the car, one in the apt).
@Kidsandliz@RiotDemon ya kind of where I am at. Planned on giving two away and keeping two. My friends will enjoy theirs when camping least. I will have to keep looking for another cheap alternative.
@RiotDemon@thewynner I still have 4 to turn on and run out. Keep forgetting to do them (I bought 8 flashlights this time and 4 flashlights last time). I am too tired now to do it tonight so will try to remember to do it tomorrow.
@thewynner Glad to hear that. I am still screwing around with my 12. I had time today to run out the rest of them. Some good ones and some really, really bad ones. Sigh. I am re-charging and then double checking the ones that crapped out really quickly (I am getting more than 3 hours from some of them) so making sure that it just wasn’t, somehow a charging issue of not being charged enough before I contact them.
How long did it take for your “good” ones to discharge completely?
@Kidsandliz I didn’t time them precisely but I would say they lasted around 1.5-2 hours on a full charge before they began to get too dim for my liking. The others just wouldn’t even take a charge to get bright and were always stuck in “dim” mode. Hoping to get at least the same success rate on the replacements being sent.
@thewynner that’s useful to know. The 3 hour ones were pretty dim then but were bright for a while. My short timers were never bright. Hope you are in luck this time around. I haven’t contacted support yet as I was going to test the dim ones 1 more time in case it was a charging issue.
@Kidsandliz So an update. Mine have been in the window seeing sunlight daily. Just checked them today and they are all near dim/dead. So I think these are just bad products. Guess there was a reason these ended up here at Meh.
@thewynner Yes same problem here (mine have been in the sun too, including some across the dash of my car, the rest in a window). And since I never got around to contacting support I am/we are probably out of luck. I am guessing the rechargeable battery inside is old and thus close to dead.
Solar-operated lights are good for different workplaces, leisure, and household uses. It is critical to acknowledge the particular advantages that solar energy provides for survival gears such as flashlights.
This is at least an old school Meh deal. Flashlights, folding knives, speaker docks, random crap that I didn’t even know exists but impulse-buy anyway… That’s the Meh I know and love!
@shahnm And these will work even if your fridge loses power.
@shahnm If you rig your fridge so the light stays on when you close the door, these would always be charged up!
@Kidsandliz It turns out that, even if the fridge loses power, the batteries in it still work. And what’s more, they’re super duper fresh (having been previously refrigerated).
I know!!!
@2many2no Or, alternatively, I could keep them out of the fridge and in routinely available light as a means to keep them charged up…
@shahnm Out of the fridge!!??
/giphy Oh the horror!
@Kidsandliz @shahnm lol
Fridge loosing power
Chuckle
so, if I arrange these in a circle, with the light from one shining onto the solar cell of the next, I get free light forever, right?
@Steve7654 Be careful.
Is Meh now selling all of QVC’s overstock? Weird.
@Kerig3 I’m 45 seconds in, and the video at QVC is hilarious.
But then QVC only has green. These blue lantern lights are a real hard-to-find bargain.
It only gets better.
@stinks That video was pitiful and a total failure! (but it’s internet gold) And according to the clueless presenter they have “a lot of lumens”.
She also mentions that “a lot of other flashlights use expensive C or Ds” (batteries). Expensive C or D batteries??? Clearly she’s never shopped batteries before.
@stinks I loved how excited she got when cranking the 3rd time finally made it work, so much so that she didn’t notice its power fading within seconds.
What a sad job when you have to try to make decades old tech (crank & solar rechargeable flashlights, er, I mean lantern lights) sound like future tech. A soul crushing job for sure, but she was still proud of herself at the end. LOL
Damn it meh, when I asked if you could sell me a quarter of crank, this was not what I meant.
So these are powered by the sun. But wait … If if I have the sun shining, why do I need a flashlight?
As the write-up said, these do lead to deep questions.
These are in the category of emergency equipment, subcategory: non-working and forgotten
I see the photovoltaic module, where is the crank?
EDIT: Nvm, there it is…
@ruouttaurmind on the other side. Qvc shows it well enoughenough.
@jml326 I actually found the pic on MorningSave
Well they are cheaper than last time when they were $20 for 4 so that is a good thing.
OK, Cranky, something for you.
Seriously, can I run my house on one of these?
Who’s “bright idea” was this?
If it only had am/fm…
@Tadlem43 And cw, for a real emergency?
@phendrick @Tadlem43 When you need The Flash? I’ll see myself out…
@phendrick @Tadlem43 Well, some flashlights will flash SOS, but that’s as close as you’ll get, unless you want to get spastic on the on/off switch and tap out code yourself!
@Tadlem43 also a usb port
Here in Michigan, these kind of lights are perfect, if, (no-when), our power goes out. I bought them last time, gave a couple away, and use one at home, one at our cabin. I could use a couple more.
Last power outage I used one during my entire shower with ten cranks.
@punkynpye Your shower had ten cranks? Sounds crowded.
@punkynpye You shower with ten cranks? Kinky.
@punkynpye Yeah, I like to crank it in the shower, too
@punkynpye Also in Michigan. Given I don’t remember the last time I saw the sun for more than a few minutes, I can see the crank being very useful.
Reporting in that I have received my flashlights, and 8 out of 8 work. Happy with my purchase. Thanks meh for meeting and exceeding my (admittedly low) expectations.
How bright are these?
How long do they last when charged?
@iwilsker Answer to this question from the QVC product listing:
@iwilsker According to the QVC video they specify that these have “a lot of lumens”.
@iwilsker The light sucks. But its good to have one of these in your car in case you dont have batteries.
@iwilsker @ruouttaurmind Eexcept mine, not even out of the box for 2 months don’t work by crank and don’t work by sun. In other words, they just didn’t work. Getting ready for hurricane season, testing the equipment, and these are a big Fail.
I’ve yet to be disappointed with any Meh purchase, and these are no exception. All ours work awesome. Zero complaints!
VAN GOGH! MANGO! TANGO! AWESOME!
@ghostinrags Nearly everything I have bought from meh has been working (although some of it has been trash but that’s a different issue that isn’t a customer support issue, rather it was I should have hunted for more reviews issue). Had an empty fuko once due to minimal tape and some busted stuff in fukos once they stop believing in putting in TX air… but overall I have been getting what I paid for and once a wonderful fuko suprise (well and almost the pallet of broken TV’s except I had no where to put them so had to decline unfortunately).
Bring back the Halo lights.
$16.96 for 2 on QVC as of 2-27-19
how heavy are these lights?
4 for $4 and you have a deal.
Hand crank technology of any kind fascinates me. Sold!
/giphy breathtaking-brilliant-jam
@PooltoyWolf The idea fascinated me too. But these don’t work. Waste of money, non returnable. Good thing I tested them before Hurricane season, at least I found out they are worthless, which means i wasted my money. Don’t fall into the same trap.
I bought a set of these when they were red. They’re decent lights. Build quality seems to be solid. I figure they’d be great for the grandkids. They love flashlights and always leave them on. Now I don’t have to nag them to turn them off. They’ll figure out that the more they use them, the more they will have to work. And it doesn’t take a ridiculous amount of work to get them charged up a bit.
@HankB33 i picked up the same set, except two of the four don’t work
@dsschnau That stinks. Did Meh make good on them?
Solar Powered Flashlights!@? What’s next? Screen Doors for Submarines!!?
Oh look! Another shitty flashlight on meh…
Got these for stocking stuffers last year - they work & make great emergency gifts (oh crap it’s Bob’s birthday! Wrap up one of those flashlights!)
/giphy bony-tainted-stork
/giphy vorpal-bouncy-mom
I’m honestly afraid of doing this.
EDIT: Looks like I was right to be afraid, but for different reasons.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
4x Flashlight/Lanterns
Price Comparison
$33.92 (for 2x 2-packs) at QVC
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Thursday, July 16th
I’m a sucker for a flashlight…
/giphy miserable-anterior-yeti
@daleyshow *fleshlight
Sure, fun for camping.
/giphy textured-spiteful-ostrich
Good for Christmas gifts for kids, and a couple in the basement with the freeze-dried food for when India and Pakistan start lobbing nukes at each other…
/giphy assertive-kingly-pig
I think I need more …
/giphy worthless-eaten-ginger
I never understood the logic of having a solar powered flashlight.
I guess you could store it in a sunny spot, like a south facing window sill, but I know from experience that these things (the hand-crank ones, anyway) don’t retain a charge; like, if you crank it or sun-bathe it until fully charged and then store it in a drawer or closet, it’ll have little to no charge left (depending on how long you stored it) when you take it out to use it.
I mean, that’s what the crank is for - on-demand charging - so what is the point of the solar cell???
@DennisG2014 great for camping.
@Al_Coholic The crank, yeah. I have a crank flashlight in my glove compartment, very handy.
But how is the solar power good for camping?
How is a solar powered flashlight good for anything?
You only need a flashlight when it’s dark.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@DennisG2014 You leave it out during the day and use it when it’s dark. It has a battery inside that stores the power…
/image glorious-fiery-shame
/giphy enchanted-minor-puffin
/buy --color=blue
@Euniceandrich It worked! Your order number is: rapid-obvious-bottle
/image rapid obvious bottle
/giphy rapid obvious bottle
anyone taken it apart to see what kind of battery is in there?
@username Well it might be useful if someone did as I received two dead ones. Hopefully replacement of the battery will solve that. My problem is all my tools were stolen and I don’t have anything to break into it.
Only have tried one so far but all the cranking won’t keep it lit for more than about 30 seconds. Always a gamble here, seems a loss this time.
@thewynner I have 2 like that; the others were OK. I put them in the window to bake them (its been raining day after day after day so I am leaving them there for a while). I at least got to the point they’d turn on but I didn’t leave them on to see how long that would last. I figured lets start with as charged a battery as I can get. Likely it is just an older battery on its way out (which doesn’t bode well for the rest of them if that is the issue).
@Kidsandliz thanks for the insight! I will end up trying the others and hope i get a 50% success rate too. These were going to be used for camping so just need a little light at a time but 30 seconds definitely isn’t enough.
@Kidsandliz @thewynner meh.com/support
@RiotDemon Thanks. I was first going to see if charging them well would make them work as we have no idea how long they had been in the dark (although the fact that some worked and some didn’t doesn’t may mean close to dead batteries). What I am going to do tomorrow (now that they have been in the window sill for a couple of days) is turn them all on and see how long it takes them to discharge. If all of them are roughly the same then no problem. If the two that came dead croak really quickly then I’ll contact support. Hopefully a good charge is all they need.
@thewynner So I roasted them on the window sill for 2.5 days (the 8 I just bought and the 4 that I bought earlier - these are christmas presents for family). The ones that were originally DOA died pretty quickly and much faster than the others. I got 9 minutes from one and almost 11 from the other. The third one I set up next to them is still going at 36 min and counting although much dimmer. I guess I will set up the rest when these die and exhaust them all to see what kind of range there is. Clearly the two that were DOA have a problem (maybe they need a new rechargeable battery in them to hold the power?). I don’t remember if any of the ones I bought before were DOA. I’ll check back in once I test them all. I am not going to test the rest of them until our nasty little rain storm that just started passes that is supposed to have 60-70mph winds, just in case I need the stupid things for actual light in the place.
@thewynner Well this is weird. The next 4 I turned on 3 hours and 45 min ago and while they are seriously dim at this point they are, at least, still going. Way better than the first 3. The last one of the first three crapped out at 47 min (green, the weak ones were blue and red; this time 3 greens and a blue, one green and the blue are marginally brighter than the other two greens)
@Kidsandliz i left mine sit in front of the window for a couple days. Two ended up with weak beam compared to the other two. You can crank them to get them to a similar brightness as the bright two but they revert back when cranking stops. The two that do work and are bright have a long enough lifespan for my uses. 50/50 isn’t bad I suppose. Mine are blue FWIW.
@Kidsandliz @RiotDemon 50% defective means 50% refund? One can hope at least…
@RiotDemon @thewynner I would rather have 100% flashlights as these are christmas presents and if it is refund only then 2 won’t get what everyone else gets so I’ll have to give up the two I bought for me (one in the car, one in the apt).
@Kidsandliz @RiotDemon ya kind of where I am at. Planned on giving two away and keeping two. My friends will enjoy theirs when camping least. I will have to keep looking for another cheap alternative.
@RiotDemon @thewynner I still have 4 to turn on and run out. Keep forgetting to do them (I bought 8 flashlights this time and 4 flashlights last time). I am too tired now to do it tonight so will try to remember to do it tomorrow.
@Kidsandliz Meh took care of my defective issue to my satisfaction. I am not a squeaky wheel so maybe why they were so kind.
@thewynner Glad to hear that. I am still screwing around with my 12. I had time today to run out the rest of them. Some good ones and some really, really bad ones. Sigh. I am re-charging and then double checking the ones that crapped out really quickly (I am getting more than 3 hours from some of them) so making sure that it just wasn’t, somehow a charging issue of not being charged enough before I contact them.
How long did it take for your “good” ones to discharge completely?
@Kidsandliz I didn’t time them precisely but I would say they lasted around 1.5-2 hours on a full charge before they began to get too dim for my liking. The others just wouldn’t even take a charge to get bright and were always stuck in “dim” mode. Hoping to get at least the same success rate on the replacements being sent.
@thewynner that’s useful to know. The 3 hour ones were pretty dim then but were bright for a while. My short timers were never bright. Hope you are in luck this time around. I haven’t contacted support yet as I was going to test the dim ones 1 more time in case it was a charging issue.
@Kidsandliz So an update. Mine have been in the window seeing sunlight daily. Just checked them today and they are all near dim/dead. So I think these are just bad products. Guess there was a reason these ended up here at Meh.
@thewynner Yes same problem here (mine have been in the sun too, including some across the dash of my car, the rest in a window). And since I never got around to contacting support I am/we are probably out of luck. I am guessing the rechargeable battery inside is old and thus close to dead.
Solar-operated lights are good for different workplaces, leisure, and household uses. It is critical to acknowledge the particular advantages that solar energy provides for survival gears such as flashlights.