COME ON MEH… I have blenders… I have blue tooth speakers. I have stripped socks. I have knifes for every room in da house. What I don’t have is a blue tooth blender with CRKT blades that will fit in my sock drawer!!! Been waiting for years for this… I know they have it… I know you have it. I’ve been told you are waiting… Waiting for what… Just put them online already. Because MEH… I will buy “one” then… I will be happy. Ok, got to go. My P.O. is here for visitation. Hey MEH do you have a CRKT blade that will cut through an RT479Z ankle monitor? Let me know…
@bugger Were you our patient the other day? Seriously had a guy come in for an MRI and he had an ankle monitor on which is obviously not MRI safe. Told us just to give him a pair of scissors and he’d cut it off. The MRI tech refused his request and sent him home. I for one would have loved to see what happened if he had done so.
Likely he had permission to come to the hospital or he would have triggered his probation officer coming to his house when he left the area. Then they would have gone looking at him in the vicinity of the signal and he would have consequences instituted for leaving his house and yard without permission. Doubt he’d have done it that way for a scheduled medical test. Also likely he didn’t know he couldn’t wear it in the machine or he could have (a) brought his own scissors or (b) his probation officer could have taken it off - yes they cut them off. Maybe add that to the instructions that if they have one they can’t wear it during the procedure and need to make arrangements.
What can be done in the future, when this gets rescheduled, is to call his probation officer (or that office), get permission to cut it off and then they’d just put it back on him after he was done (and charge him for the strap).
A shame he was sent home as you have to jump through flaming hoops to get to leave the house/yard (my kid, whom I adopted at nearly 10 and was and is really troubled, had on one for a while). Not to mention he needed the MRI done and so likely his doctor is ticked, not just him.
I’d also suggest someone call him, and ask him when he wants to reschedule and ask him to make arrangements to have it removed prior entering the room for the test without involving hospital staff in the removal. Some people don’t seem to be all that good at problem solving and he may just presume he won’t get one now, and may not even have called his doctor to let that person know of the problem. Also then make sure you give him a “work” excuse - without him having to ask for it - so his probation officer knows he actually showed up for the test. If it is in writing somewhere he can’t wear those in the MRI he might be spared the charge for replacing the strap (often they charge $75-150 as a penalty - umm yeah we had to pay that twice as stupid child cut hers off twice to sneak off - she tried sneaking out without removing it once and was nailed by them about it so resorted to cutting it off).
@Kidsandliz I don’t know his story but he was actually at our outpatient center two days in a row the week before. The tech there noticed he had something under his sock but didn’t ask him about it. I’m not MRI, they get to deal with the issue…
I could see buying one of these. Or MAYBE two. But I have no idea what I would do with four of them. That’s just overkill. I get the economies of scale in the shipping, of course, but if these don’t sell out today, consider selling a single or a two-pack at a reasonable price, and I’d consider buying.
@DJP519
That’s ultimately why I didn’t purchase. I was tempted… And probably would have got them $12 for 2. I just have no need for 4 and $20 too much for cheap plastic flashlights.
If you have a need for 4 that’s great and a great deal. If you don’t there are better you can get for $20.
I wonder how long a solar/crank charge lasts… and how bright it really is. If 3 minutes of cranking lasts 20 minutes, great… if it lasts 5 minutes, that will get old fast.
@JT954 that’s not too bad, but doesn’t say how long the battery lasts. Maybe it only stores 5 minutes of charge (no point cranking more than 30 seconds). The fact that it mentions lithium (and not NiCD) is a good sign of decent battery life though.
@Kidsandliz- i intended to be ridiculus & i guess i succeeded! Yes? Thank God, my sarcasm is still intact after70+ years. BTW, y’all this Mad Mex will be 71 on 11•11, Veterans’ Day!!
Now these are the kinds of deals I’ve been waiting for Meh to offer. Could be fun to contrast and compare with my Halo lights. Plus I can save on batteries and use them towards something else like fans. Can you put up crankable/battery operated fans next? It’s still too damn hot in Florida.
You hear a noise in the basement. You can choose 1) a long knife, 2) a Bluetooth speaker, 3) a hand crank flash light. You choose the flash light because Meh doesn’t sell the first two anymore.
@decoratedwarvet@hchavers Hey and in the south where I live you even get a shotgun as bonus when you buy a big enough diamond ring at some jewelry store around here. Gives new meaning to a “shotgun wedding”.
@hchavers@Spheyr Northern Idaho a ton of people had a variety of guns too. I think I was the only one in the neighborhood who didn’t own one, not to mention there were pockets here and there of survivalists, skinheads, neonazis, and other kooks and nuts.
Let’s see, no lumen rating, incandescent bulb, a solar panel AND a hand crank. I imagine every flashlight I have bought in the last decade(there are many)is orders of magnitude better than these things.
Pick up a three pack of NITecore Tubes for $20 and you will be much better off.
@Bandrik You are correct. I guessed without hitting the qvc link because the pics made it look like a bulb.
I watched the video there though at it does seem these are not bright enough to do anything useful.
Well I have a sister who says a woman can never own too many flashlights… so… her birthday is in 6 weeks… problem solved. Probably keep one myself in the car and another one in the apt… So she gets two.
@Kidsandliz one that you keep, put in the bathroom. If the lights go out you can crank the thing while you finish taking a shit!! Now that’s convenience!
I kind of want to try one of these (I collect flashlights) but I don’t need four of them. Anyone here ordering these willing to part with one for shipping cost, if they also don’t need four?
see…THIS is the kind of lame ass crap that MEH used to sell…Just placed an order for a 4-pack. Cheap enough I want them…and even if they work MEH…I will find enough uses or places…NICE job MEH!..keep it up!
@JawjaBill@pixelated If I had enough money that is what I’d give everyone this year too but I’d need 26 of them and I don’t have that kind of money -not to mention we can only buy 12 total. Instead I am giving hubmen (got some from the hubman adoption project, some in fuko’s, and one in a mehrican exchange). I still need about 5 or 6 non-pink ones (have to go count). I’ll pay postage.
I have learned the hard way with windup flashlights is that you can’t just let them sit ignored. You need to periodically charge the battery by winding (or I guess in this case let them sit in a window) as otherwise the rechargeable battery goes bad.
@Kidsandliz If these were well engineered (which I doubt) then as long as you charge it up before storage, you could go 6 months to a year between recharge cycles.
These probably need to be cranked once a month or left in relatively bright light.
The really bad ones don’t have sufficient protection against over charging, so leaving those in the sun for weeks at a time can kill them too. Or one step worse, the solar cells aren’t real. Given that this is Meh, not Ick, they probably have reasonable charge protection.
nutritious-longing-heron
Could not resist. I think the thing our grandkids like the most about camping is flashlights. As the sun drops in the sky, all the flashlights and lanterns come out and get turned on. With these I can stop yelling “turn those off until it actually gets dark!”
Fun fact - we almost always see a nutritious-longing-heron on our morning runs.
Why you can never have too many flashlights so I pull the trigger, ( contemptible-perennial-pot ) Two for me and one each for my 2 outdoor type survivalist camping buddies…
@akparker777 I knew I should have started with this comment months ago. Don’t worry. I will definitely come on the forum and buy it once/if/ever they finally do it. ~Scouts honor.
It’s a race between my order of 4-Pack: Portable Solar & Hand Crank LED Flashlight/Lanterns and hurricane Florence: both scheduled to arrive Saturday (but I’m cool if one of them doesn’t arrive.)
@kabijj Mine arrived today! Happy I got enough to share since we don’t know how long the power will be out - looks like Friday arrival in our neighborhood for Florence.
Mine arrived the day before yesterday (but I am closer to Dallas than you are). They do seem about as bright as the old style double D flashlights but with a whiter light so that part is good.
I am having trouble getting them to charge using solar. They were outside all day on top of the brick wall in the sun - and I got all of about 5 minutes of light out of them.
Tomorrow, if I have time, I am going to take two of them and crank the crap out of them to see what the deal is (and leave the other two in the sun) and see if I can have the flashlight on as long as they claim to try to determine if the problem is the battery (eg too old) or not.
I hope for your sakes that yours don’t have this problem. On the other hand it appears that you can just crank every 5 min to turn the light back on so at least you will have some light.
@Euniceandrich@Kidsandliz thanks, and thanks for the heads up about the battery life. Flashlight plus fun activity every five minutes to pass the time! ♫ Crank you for being a crank… ♫
@Euniceandrich@kabijj Well hopefully your set of these will charge better. Maybe they just take a really long time to fully charge if they battery has been fully discharged for a long time. Or, with luck for you folks since you may well really, really need to them to work properly, I just have a random draw of “something bad happened to this box of them”.
I’d be curious to know if others are having these issues with them or if it is just mine.
My flashlights arrived today. They are pretty neat! But, one of them didn’t seem to work. Doesn’t light up. I tried the generator crank but it did not light up after a solid minute of cranking. It doesn’t have much resistance like the others do so I’m guessing that’s why it’s not charging via cranking. I’ll try solar charging, but for now it seems to be a dud.
@Bandrik Hmm… How stiff is the cranking? Mine, for all 4, wasn’t very stiff at all and I barely got any charge even when cranking for like 10 minutes solid (tried that with each one). The noise they make cranking caused one cat to attack and bite my elbow (arm that was cranking). Not sure what set her off with those as normally she doesn’t bite or scratch. She acted like she was scared (tail fluffed out) and yet wanted to kill the thing. Solar holds a charge a bit longer, but not all that great. Not sure if the problem is the battery or not or that they are just duds. Glad to hear 3 of your 4 work, I don’t have a complete dud but I don’t have anything that does much. Hope we are the exception rather than the rule.
@Kidsandliz Thanks for your reply! Well I can update now. I left it out in the sun, but it did not charge the battery. BUT, I DID find the solar panel AND crank DO work. When powered on, the LED DOES light up when the solar panel is exposed to bright enough light, and it also REALLY shines when turning the crank. But, once you stop, it goes dark. Thus, I conclude that it is functional, BUT the battery has failed and will not actually store energy.
Oh, and my cats find the sound it makes awful as well. XD
@Bandrik You take it apart to see what kind of battery it has? I haven’t had a chance to go look (although I don’t really want to have to pay for a battery for something that should be working to begin with) - but as they are bright enough when they do shine, depending on the expense it might be worth it. I haven’t contacted support yet as I keep hoping if I bake it in the sun for days there will be a different outcome. LOL I think you are right though - these must be old old stock and the batteries may have given up the ghost.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
4x Flashlight/Lanterns
Price Comparison
$43.74 (for 2x 2-packs) at QVC
Warranty
90 day Mediocre
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Monday, July 20th
Four hand cranks for twenty bucks? That’s a bargain!
@nolrak Normal price to get cranked is $10 ea! deal 4 sure!!
COME ON MEH… I have blenders… I have blue tooth speakers. I have stripped socks. I have knifes for every room in da house. What I don’t have is a blue tooth blender with CRKT blades that will fit in my sock drawer!!! Been waiting for years for this… I know they have it… I know you have it. I’ve been told you are waiting… Waiting for what… Just put them online already. Because MEH… I will buy “one” then… I will be happy. Ok, got to go. My P.O. is here for visitation. Hey MEH do you have a CRKT blade that will cut through an RT479Z ankle monitor? Let me know…
@bugger-Mr. Buggerman, Hold Thy Breath!!
@bugger Were you our patient the other day? Seriously had a guy come in for an MRI and he had an ankle monitor on which is obviously not MRI safe. Told us just to give him a pair of scissors and he’d cut it off. The MRI tech refused his request and sent him home. I for one would have loved to see what happened if he had done so.
@cinoclav
Likely he had permission to come to the hospital or he would have triggered his probation officer coming to his house when he left the area. Then they would have gone looking at him in the vicinity of the signal and he would have consequences instituted for leaving his house and yard without permission. Doubt he’d have done it that way for a scheduled medical test. Also likely he didn’t know he couldn’t wear it in the machine or he could have (a) brought his own scissors or (b) his probation officer could have taken it off - yes they cut them off. Maybe add that to the instructions that if they have one they can’t wear it during the procedure and need to make arrangements.
What can be done in the future, when this gets rescheduled, is to call his probation officer (or that office), get permission to cut it off and then they’d just put it back on him after he was done (and charge him for the strap).
A shame he was sent home as you have to jump through flaming hoops to get to leave the house/yard (my kid, whom I adopted at nearly 10 and was and is really troubled, had on one for a while). Not to mention he needed the MRI done and so likely his doctor is ticked, not just him.
I’d also suggest someone call him, and ask him when he wants to reschedule and ask him to make arrangements to have it removed prior entering the room for the test without involving hospital staff in the removal. Some people don’t seem to be all that good at problem solving and he may just presume he won’t get one now, and may not even have called his doctor to let that person know of the problem. Also then make sure you give him a “work” excuse - without him having to ask for it - so his probation officer knows he actually showed up for the test. If it is in writing somewhere he can’t wear those in the MRI he might be spared the charge for replacing the strap (often they charge $75-150 as a penalty - umm yeah we had to pay that twice as stupid child cut hers off twice to sneak off - she tried sneaking out without removing it once and was nailed by them about it so resorted to cutting it off).
@Kidsandliz I don’t know his story but he was actually at our outpatient center two days in a row the week before. The tech there noticed he had something under his sock but didn’t ask him about it. I’m not MRI, they get to deal with the issue…
How very enlightening… meh
/buy
@kabijj It worked! Your order number is: woolen-paltry-celery
/image woolen paltry celery
I could see buying one of these. Or MAYBE two. But I have no idea what I would do with four of them. That’s just overkill. I get the economies of scale in the shipping, of course, but if these don’t sell out today, consider selling a single or a two-pack at a reasonable price, and I’d consider buying.
@DJP519-consider your friends!!Especially those you can’t See anytime you want!!
@DJP519 I came here to ask if anyone wants to give me one, as I couldn’t ever need more than one. Wanna make a deal?
/giphy let’s make a deal
@DJP519
That’s ultimately why I didn’t purchase. I was tempted… And probably would have got them $12 for 2. I just have no need for 4 and $20 too much for cheap plastic flashlights.
If you have a need for 4 that’s great and a great deal. If you don’t there are better you can get for $20.
If only it had am/fm radio… but, still…
Sure, why not? Gift 2, keep 2.
Sure, it is great that I can crank them or put them in the sun and all, but I’d really like it if I could also just plug them in.
@SnakeJG “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try some time, you get what you need!” Mick Jagger-The Rolling Stones
/buy
@CraigDanger It worked! Your order number is: frivolous-outspoken-kangaroo
/image frivolous outspoken kangaroo
I wonder how long a solar/crank charge lasts… and how bright it really is. If 3 minutes of cranking lasts 20 minutes, great… if it lasts 5 minutes, that will get old fast.
@rmeden The QVC video says it’s a 10 to 1 ratio. Ten minutes of light for a minute of cranking.
@rmeden Now you know why you get four of them. Wouldn’t want you to have to crank them in the dark now, would we?
@JT954 that’s not too bad, but doesn’t say how long the battery lasts. Maybe it only stores 5 minutes of charge (no point cranking more than 30 seconds). The fact that it mentions lithium (and not NiCD) is a good sign of decent battery life though.
@ciabelle @rmeden it has to be better than the other thing one does with one’s hand!!
How bright are these (eg lumens)?
@Kidsandliz I bet if you crank up 3 of these fully, they will be bright enough to find the 4th in the dark.
But, I also bet trying to keep all 4 cranked up will probably be like the old plate spinning routines:
/youtube Erich Brenn
@Kidsandliz-779,9 Lumens!
@decoratedwarvet I think you made a typo. That “,” should be a “.” and likely belongs 2 digits to the left.
@Kidsandliz- i intended to be ridiculus & i guess i succeeded! Yes? Thank God, my sarcasm is still intact after70+ years. BTW, y’all this Mad Mex will be 71 on 11•11, Veterans’ Day!!
@Kidsandliz 0.7799 Lumens (barely)!!
@decoratedwarvet Did you get your meds stabilized?
@decoratedwarvet Yes I knew you were joking.
Illuminating idea
@AttyVette No, but a Bright Idea!!
I’m tired of buying batteries. In for 4, if I hate them, I can give them away! Win-win, Meh.
@charlie_tca we all know you want more room in the fridge for beer.
That’s a pretty tame last pic.
@ELUNO More lame than tame, IMO.
/BUY
@rand3y It worked! Your order number is: shocked-lax-almond
/image shocked lax almond
Now these are the kinds of deals I’ve been waiting for Meh to offer. Could be fun to contrast and compare with my Halo lights. Plus I can save on batteries and use them towards something else like fans. Can you put up crankable/battery operated fans next? It’s still too damn hot in Florida.
/giphy best-capricious-pelican
@JT954 No, but what about a hand operated Bowie Knife!!
Why do I get the sense that the author of the write-up recently watched The Disaster Artist?
Think you could get them here before Hurricane Gordon hits us?
@Mehrocco_Mole No {HurriCANe} Do!!
@decoratedwarvet So how long have you waited to spring that one?
/giphy punny
You hear a noise in the basement. You can choose 1) a long knife, 2) a Bluetooth speaker, 3) a hand crank flash light. You choose the flash light because Meh doesn’t sell the first two anymore.
@hchavers & if you live in the south you have #4 a shotgun, #5 an AR15, #6 a 357 Magnum, #7 C-4, etc.etc. etc.
@decoratedwarvet @hchavers Not so much the C-4 but we do stock Tannerite as a staple…
@okay?hchavers @rustyh3
@hchavers The south? I have most of that in PA!
@hchavers meh typically sells whatever was a fad two years ago.
The Bluetooth speakers was a result of the early boom of people wanting to cash in on cellphone speakers being truly over.
@decoratedwarvet @hchavers Hey and in the south where I live you even get a shotgun as bonus when you buy a big enough diamond ring at some jewelry store around here. Gives new meaning to a “shotgun wedding”.
@hchavers @Spheyr Northern Idaho a ton of people had a variety of guns too. I think I was the only one in the neighborhood who didn’t own one, not to mention there were pockets here and there of survivalists, skinheads, neonazis, and other kooks and nuts.
@Spheyr I live in PA too. Pretty much anywhere outside a 30 mile radius from Philly IS the south.
@hchavers @Spheyr -Well, you are hereby an Honorary Southern Gentleman! Welcome, Boodrow!!
@hchavers @Kidsandliz @Spheyr - I’m Sorry, but In the South we can be a Regular, God Fearing, Loving & Decent Human Being & own a firearm!!
@decoratedwarvet Well that is true but I think here we are talking about nut cases who could arm a small army.
@cinoclav @Spheyr
In parts of Ohio it is anything south of Lake Erie.
/buy
@PhysAssist It worked! Your order number is: fatty-astounding-polish
/image fatty astounding polish
@mediocrebot Thank you!
Let’s see, no lumen rating, incandescent bulb, a solar panel AND a hand crank. I imagine every flashlight I have bought in the last decade(there are many)is orders of magnitude better than these things.
Pick up a three pack of NITecore Tubes for $20 and you will be much better off.
@ponagathos they’re LED, not incandescent.
@Bandrik You are correct. I guessed without hitting the qvc link because the pics made it look like a bulb.
I watched the video there though at it does seem these are not bright enough to do anything useful.
@Bandrik @ponagathos that’s why you get 4!!
@ponagathos You guessed before hitting the QVC link? It’s right there in the title! 4-Pack: Portable Solar & Hand Crank LED Flashlight/Lanterns
@cinoclav Wow! Don’t mind me. I am an idiot it seems.
Well I have a sister who says a woman can never own too many flashlights… so… her birthday is in 6 weeks… problem solved. Probably keep one myself in the car and another one in the apt… So she gets two.
@Kidsandliz one that you keep, put in the bathroom. If the lights go out you can crank the thing while you finish taking a shit!! Now that’s convenience!
Slap on a USB port, and I’ll take it!
@DVDBZN-that’s what Duck Tape is for!!
/buy
@bwiderski It worked! Your order number is: responsive-obscene-trout
/image responsive obscene trout
I kind of want to try one of these (I collect flashlights) but I don’t need four of them. Anyone here ordering these willing to part with one for shipping cost, if they also don’t need four?
see…THIS is the kind of lame ass crap that MEH used to sell…Just placed an order for a 4-pack. Cheap enough I want them…and even if they work MEH…I will find enough uses or places…NICE job MEH!..keep it up!
Worst case scenario 4 nieces/nephews have a stocking stuffer.
@JawjaBill my thoughts exactly!
@JawjaBill @pixelated If I had enough money that is what I’d give everyone this year too but I’d need 26 of them and I don’t have that kind of money -not to mention we can only buy 12 total. Instead I am giving hubmen (got some from the hubman adoption project, some in fuko’s, and one in a mehrican exchange). I still need about 5 or 6 non-pink ones (have to go count). I’ll pay postage.
I have learned the hard way with windup flashlights is that you can’t just let them sit ignored. You need to periodically charge the battery by winding (or I guess in this case let them sit in a window) as otherwise the rechargeable battery goes bad.
@Kidsandliz If these were well engineered (which I doubt) then as long as you charge it up before storage, you could go 6 months to a year between recharge cycles.
These probably need to be cranked once a month or left in relatively bright light.
The really bad ones don’t have sufficient protection against over charging, so leaving those in the sun for weeks at a time can kill them too. Or one step worse, the solar cells aren’t real. Given that this is Meh, not Ick, they probably have reasonable charge protection.
nutritious-longing-heron
Could not resist. I think the thing our grandkids like the most about camping is flashlights. As the sun drops in the sky, all the flashlights and lanterns come out and get turned on. With these I can stop yelling “turn those off until it actually gets dark!”
Fun fact - we almost always see a nutritious-longing-heron on our morning runs.
You know if they do not list the lumens, it’s nothing to brag about. I am sure it’s better than nothing, or a candle, but not by much.
This isn’t a toothbrush
Why you can never have too many flashlights so I pull the trigger, ( contemptible-perennial-pot ) Two for me and one each for my 2 outdoor type survivalist camping buddies…
Meh I have anxiously been awaiting for you to post a toothbrush for sale again. I will post this everyday until you finally sell another one again.
@reclaimercube only if they sell ones that are better than the one brand they normally sell.
@reclaimercube Day 2 no toothbrush. Let’s see how long this takes.
@akparker777 I knew I should have started with this comment months ago. Don’t worry. I will definitely come on the forum and buy it once/if/ever they finally do it. ~Scouts honor.
@reclaimercube Well you should have a nice long click face streak if you are coming here to post each day until they sell them again.
@Kidsandliz Game on, my friend.
These make good Christmas gifts for little nieces and nephews.
/buy
@Euniceandrich It worked! Your order number is: gratifying-chatty-team
/image gratifying chatty team
Can we still buy this?
@suekay Sure can! You just can’t buy them here. You’ll have to go over to a sister site, called morningsave.com and buy them there. Here’s a link! https://morningsave.com/deals/4-pack-portable-solar-hand-crank-led-flashlight-lanterns-1
It’s a race between my order of 4-Pack: Portable Solar & Hand Crank LED Flashlight/Lanterns and hurricane Florence: both scheduled to arrive Saturday (but I’m cool if one of them doesn’t arrive.)
@kabijj Mine arrived today! Happy I got enough to share since we don’t know how long the power will be out - looks like Friday arrival in our neighborhood for Florence.
@Euniceandrich stay safe and keep those lights cranked!
@Euniceandrich @kabijj Good luck to both of you with this storm.
Mine arrived the day before yesterday (but I am closer to Dallas than you are). They do seem about as bright as the old style double D flashlights but with a whiter light so that part is good.
I am having trouble getting them to charge using solar. They were outside all day on top of the brick wall in the sun - and I got all of about 5 minutes of light out of them.
Tomorrow, if I have time, I am going to take two of them and crank the crap out of them to see what the deal is (and leave the other two in the sun) and see if I can have the flashlight on as long as they claim to try to determine if the problem is the battery (eg too old) or not.
I hope for your sakes that yours don’t have this problem. On the other hand it appears that you can just crank every 5 min to turn the light back on so at least you will have some light.
@Euniceandrich @Kidsandliz thanks, and thanks for the heads up about the battery life. Flashlight plus fun activity every five minutes to pass the time! ♫ Crank you for being a crank… ♫
@Euniceandrich @kabijj Well hopefully your set of these will charge better. Maybe they just take a really long time to fully charge if they battery has been fully discharged for a long time. Or, with luck for you folks since you may well really, really need to them to work properly, I just have a random draw of “something bad happened to this box of them”.
I’d be curious to know if others are having these issues with them or if it is just mine.
My flashlights arrived today. They are pretty neat! But, one of them didn’t seem to work. Doesn’t light up. I tried the generator crank but it did not light up after a solid minute of cranking. It doesn’t have much resistance like the others do so I’m guessing that’s why it’s not charging via cranking. I’ll try solar charging, but for now it seems to be a dud.
@Bandrik Hmm… How stiff is the cranking? Mine, for all 4, wasn’t very stiff at all and I barely got any charge even when cranking for like 10 minutes solid (tried that with each one). The noise they make cranking caused one cat to attack and bite my elbow (arm that was cranking). Not sure what set her off with those as normally she doesn’t bite or scratch. She acted like she was scared (tail fluffed out) and yet wanted to kill the thing. Solar holds a charge a bit longer, but not all that great. Not sure if the problem is the battery or not or that they are just duds. Glad to hear 3 of your 4 work, I don’t have a complete dud but I don’t have anything that does much. Hope we are the exception rather than the rule.
@Kidsandliz Thanks for your reply! Well I can update now. I left it out in the sun, but it did not charge the battery. BUT, I DID find the solar panel AND crank DO work. When powered on, the LED DOES light up when the solar panel is exposed to bright enough light, and it also REALLY shines when turning the crank. But, once you stop, it goes dark. Thus, I conclude that it is functional, BUT the battery has failed and will not actually store energy.
Oh, and my cats find the sound it makes awful as well. XD
@Bandrik You take it apart to see what kind of battery it has? I haven’t had a chance to go look (although I don’t really want to have to pay for a battery for something that should be working to begin with) - but as they are bright enough when they do shine, depending on the expense it might be worth it. I haven’t contacted support yet as I keep hoping if I bake it in the sun for days there will be a different outcome. LOL I think you are right though - these must be old old stock and the batteries may have given up the ghost.
These were actually really excellent. The kids love to play with them and they’re very durable.
Would love to see these on sale again!
@ChaoticHavok They did resell them just this last Feb. https://meh.com/forum/topics/4-pack-crank--solar-led-flashlightlanterns I also hope they sell them again as I didn’t get around to contacting tech support in time about my 3 that were duds (the rest worked fine).