@cengland0 oh, no, not the same, just most similar. The 1250 lumen one has much bigger COBs. I just looked that one up since someone mentioned it was very similar to this one. I used their judgment on the similarity.
I’m teetering on the precipice of buying these. Lack of included batteries prevents it from being a no-brainer (24 AAs would cost almost as much as the lanterns themselves).
@PooltoyWolf I view the lack of batteries as a plus-- they tend to add some cheapo batteries that leak all over the insides of the lamp after a few weeks of sitting there.
@WaltC as oem free battery technology improves, I fully expect to find a flashlight that comes with batteries that are lighter than air in the near future. Then I will go about rectifying the helium shortage by sourcing these batteries to fill balloons.
@PooltoyWolf Just get them from your fridge, which if you’ve been paying any attention here at all, should be well stocked with abundant, fresh batteries of every variety. This really seems self explanatory at this point.
@PooltoyWolf
plus if you recycle ink cartridges you get $2 a piece (up to 10 a month or $20) if you spend $10. I have found this to be a great program and have gotten a ton of stuff by recycling ink cartridges, buying batteries, coffee (k-cups) etc.
@chienfou@unksol If I’m interpreting your question correctly, the answer is almost everyone who still needs to print documents at home. (Laser is expensive!)
@chienfou@PooltoyWolf@unksol
Give up color, get a MFC from Brother, and your per page costs go through the floor because your toner isn’t drying out as you don’t use it (ink does that). Want to lower costs even more? Buy well-reviewed 3rd party toner carts. Want to drop that cost even further? Refill the Brother carts for under $10 each. InkOwl.com is where I get refills.
I have been refilling carts on several of my Brother laser printers for years. Easy peasy.
@PooltoyWolf Meh periodically offers cases of batteries at ridiculously cheap prices. You’ll have your chance to buy 8 times as many batteries as you need for $16 soon enough. Then you can ponder why you need 192 batteries.
@PooltoyWolf@WaltC The ad says “30LEDs” and that’s pretty damn bright. I’ve got one and you can barely look into it with naked eyes! Also, I use Energizer Lithium batteries and they won’t leak, last 20 years in storage and they are much lighter weight and last much longer than alkalines. Yes, they are a little more expensive but if you look around on eBay you can find them for about half of what Walmart charges. By the way, I’ve already ordered this good deal. Cheers, d&b
@mdgoldbe I’ve passed on those green Lucas brand alkalines every time they’ve come up on Meh, ever since my last horrible experience with them…greater than half leaked right out of the box, and half of what was left had barely any charge. The epitome of meh!
Just got one of these from my job for a Hospital Week gift last week. They’re handy to have around. Not the best lights ever but worthwhile for power outages.
@adam2562 About 5.5" high closed, 8" open, and 3.5" across. Mine is slightly different in that it has an adjustable strap for the handle. It unhooks from the side and loops over the top to hang it. Like this one.
@deenK@Felton10, they are about, $2.375=$2.38 ea. if my brain math is correct at 6:51AM. They’ve gotta be worth that much, or else they are worthless!!
@decoratedwarvet@deenK@pmarin I don’t about that. They must have a shit load of these things at 1,604 sold times 8 means they have already gotten rid of almost 13,000 of these. These might be the new candy corn or figit spinner of meh-they will never run out of the these.
@matthewjfazio Am I the only one that still uses oil lamps? Frankly I look forward to power outages when things get really quiet and I can read from the glow of an antique lamp.
@matthewjfazio@tweezak I use oil lamps still well if the powers out long enough. The last outage lasted an hour or so. After what oil was left in the lamp was drained I filled it up than power was back on. So at least I have it potentially ready for the next outage.
These laterns meh is selling are sold all over the place for under $5 each. Under different brands of course. I’ve personally never bought one seem to be cheap probably enough light for a pee when powers out or a night in a tent. But for fishing not for meh.
@matthewjfazio@whomeyesu My lamps are old and huge and it would take days of continuous use to drain one. They are great for long periods of no power. Also since we have several they do a good job of lighting a room. If you want a LOT of light, “Aladdin” lamps are very bright. They use a mantle that glows intensely and throws a kind of greenish light. http://aladdinlamps.com/table-lamps/
Another thing worth knowing…there are rechargeable versions of this electric LED lamp but some are cheaply built and dangerous. Check out bigclive on YouTube for his teardown and analysis of one such design.
Here’s just one example. He’s in the UK so 240V is the standard. This one apparently shorts 240V to the USB port. Not good unless you are buying a gift for someone you kinda don’t like.
@tejas_vern Umm… well, it’s in progress. Depending on Meh shipping times, you may get 'em before the zombies reach your area. And in any case you can pretend they are grenades and toss them at the zombies. That’s because they are made of "military-grade plastic"
@pmcgrane I was picturing one of these just shining continuously for 3 days straight. Either they’re not very bright, like my uncle Stu, or they won’t last anywhere near that long. Maybe I’m fucked up though.
@omegamonkey Using my Trump check to cut down 3 pines that will not last another Wilmington Hurricane. Stop moving here people the weather sucks and we only have low paying tourist jobs and the natives hate all of you.
@katbyter depends on your use case. A solar lamp I keep in the drawer is gonna suck when the power goes out. But so will the one with the leaky batteries in it, so it’s a tossup.
Hey, WTH, with the Pastadrop coupon, these are just over a buck each. I can stash some and share some. Good deal, I guess.
/giphy alluring-boundless-cobweb
@nickm461 They suddenly stopped for me, I contacted customer support after trying to rechoose the setting for that in accounts which didn’t work, they sent me a link and it turned them back on.
@blaineg what do you mean?. AA is the thing to go for if you are going to use “standard” batteries. It’s the AAA you want to avoid – they cost the same (or more than) AAs, but only give you about 40% of the energy storage per $.
But you are right true flashlight geeks would LOL at you for using something like this. A sure sign is when it says how great it is because of “how many” LEDs it has. That was the old, inferior way of doing this, using lots of incredibly cheap parts (less than a cent each in production). The quality way is to use state-of-the-art single LEDs (or a few of them). But you don’t find those lights for Meh. But you do fine PooPourri and Toilet Squatting devices, so there is that.
But still an incredible cheap deal for a large bunch of crappy lights.
The easiest, laziest, way to make an LED flashlight is to use 3 cells, to get enough voltage to turn on the LED. The worst possible way is button cells. The next worst is 3 AAA, followed by 3 AA.
I would love to say how good my lanterns are but they are still MIA. I have always had good luck ordering from MEH but this may be my last time. They were suppose to be here by Jun 3rd I guess I didn’t read the fine print it may have said June 3, 2021
Gotcha meh!!!
No fine print stating that the smartphone, cap, backpack and printed map of a random location were not included! Hahaa!!! That means I get those with my order right? Right??
“Professional shopper, closed brain, do not attempt.”
@jester747 I’m sure all of those items had been placed in your IRK package. Pity the tape on the box just couldn’t hold them in, and what you actually received by the time the battered and largely tapeless box got to you was a useless (small) pile of warm batteries…
@Tadlem43 What is decent is a different Eckerty one that, I think, meh sold ages ago. It takes 3AA’s or 2 C’s and is bright (so it is not the same as this product). There is a third name on these besides the one meh is selling (Active Research) and Eckerty. I am presuming they are just a rebranding of the same flashlight. Looking at reviews for all three it seems like the main complaints are cheaply made (circuit board and soldiering problems with some but certainly not all), not very bright overall - bright at first and then dims significantly as the battery wears down due to missing some circuit board that helps prevent that, some complaints of not getting even close to the advertised 72 hours and not even close to water resistant.
Since it can be used as a lantern, certainly (likely) a better deal than other cheapo flashlights sold all over the place. But since some have problems and some don’t it would be wise to test them all immediately in case you get one of the problematic ones. I failed to do that in a timely manner with some solar ones I bought from meh so the “complaint” ship had sailed with respect to them dealing with that (those were decent if they worked. Around 1/3 of mine didn’t and it wasn’t a dead rechargeable battery). Opps.
One did not work so I tried them all I had to open the broken one and re connect a wire now they all work so far so good I wasn’t going to return them for one bad one in eight
@pmcgrane I’d be happy to have them if the power goes out. Beyond that, I think I’d need to put some tissue paper or something around the globe to not be blinded around it.
Mine didn’t get out of grapevine, been there since 6/1, scanned in transit 6/2.
This one isn’t even on my radar though, since I’ve got stuff ordered 10 days before that hasn’t arrived, and one of the ones from then is also still showing grapevine.
Mine arrived yesterday. All work, but 2 of them have broken battery covers. May have happened in transit, as they weren’t really packed well. Just a plastic bag over the factory boxes.
The lamps seem to work well and they are extremely bright and kind of unpleasant, like all LED lamps! Based on how you unscrew the battery compartment, it is hard for me to believe it is water-tight.
@pmcgrane Yeah, they’re definitely a REALLY blue color temperature. Probably 6000K, maybe even 7000K. Not as pleasant as 5000K but they’ll do the trick during a power outage.
Just gone mine today. I slapped 3 AA’s in one to test it out. It wasn’t quite as bright as I had hoped, but that’s probably just fine. I didn’t get them to use as a work light or anything, I got 'em to use to light up the kitchen, hallways, and bathrooms during a power outage. Don’t need a lot of light just to walk around, so that’s fine. I just wish the color temp wasn’t so blue – it’s a pretty harsh sterile white color – but eh that’s ok too.
Still haven’t got mine. Tracking said still stuck in LA. USPS never got the package from Pitney Bowes. Meh did refund my money… I would have rather had the lanterns…
They arrived!! Boxes mildly weathered. Now waiting for many AA rechargable batteries to be delivered to test them out. Kids sad they don’t collapse into a disc.
I bought these thinking they were the lantern/flashlight kind with a real flashlight on one end. They are not and I’m disappointed. I would not have bought otherwise.
Ordered May 26th. First said “In Michigan June 3rd, 1:09am ET.” Then said it’s, “In Transit Greenwood, IN, June 3, 2020, 3:08pm ET.” It is now June 18th. Where is my package? Just ordered something else. If this happens again, I will rethink buying from MEH again. I know we are having hard times, but I would like to be kept in the loop if there is a problem with shipping to give me a way to cancel my order if need be. Not a happy camper!
Mine were delivered today…finally. It was worth the wait, though. GREAT addition to my hurricane preparedness stockpile. These things are BRIGHT! Wanted to buy more to give to friends, but ALL GONE.
I got a message that my lanterns were found and have been traveling the country. They started in Texas, went to LA maybe came close in San Diego, then got lost for 26 days. My guess is someone walked them across the country to New Jersey. They have now been trapped in NJ for days. How hard is it to put a box back on the truck and send it to the address on the label?? PB if you are paying attention? PLEASE give it to an actual NJ mailman. Fingers crossed.
WTH Meh. My lights have been touched and handled so much they are now apparently apprehensive about coming home. Seriously though why have they been shipped back and forth from IN to KS and back to IN, only to have my updates state daily that they are still in IN? Are you seriously just taunting me? Get them to my house already. I paid for them over a month ago. The solar lights I ordered last weekend are already here… FAIL>
Well, let this be a lesson to me - never opened inside factory sealed box of lanterns until today, which looked outwardly pristine; yet somehow inside of perfect box rested 4 absolutely crushed lanterns. How the heck they were smashed so thoroughly, & yet nestled in their untorn plastic sleeves inside said perfect box, I can’t begin to guess.
HA! Diogenes! Superb!
@SHOVAR actually Diogenes gave up looking for an honest man, because somebody stole his lamp! LOL!
Just in time for hurricane season?
Does it say how many lumens anywhere and I’m just missing it?
@cengland0 I would also like that in candelas or candlepower, whichever is handier.
(The similar harbor freight one is advertised as 250 lumens.)
@djslack Harbor freight also has a 1250 lumens model too.
@cengland0 I saw that. I thought the 250 lumen one looks the most like this one.
@djslack they dont look the same to me. The Meh one has 30 discrete LEDs and the cheapest Harbor Freight one ises a LED COB.
@cengland0 oh, no, not the same, just most similar. The 1250 lumen one has much bigger COBs. I just looked that one up since someone mentioned it was very similar to this one. I used their judgment on the similarity.
@cengland0 @djslack The HFT one is also a COB LED model. I got one for free during one of their sales…it’s quite bright.
@cengland0 According to this site, they are around 60 lumens: https://amazingoutdooradventures.com/best-led-camping-lanterns-reviewed/
@cengland0 @ldsuncle so if you buy 8, you get about 480 lumens…
You light up my life!
I’m teetering on the precipice of buying these. Lack of included batteries prevents it from being a no-brainer (24 AAs would cost almost as much as the lanterns themselves).
@PooltoyWolf I view the lack of batteries as a plus-- they tend to add some cheapo batteries that leak all over the insides of the lamp after a few weeks of sitting there.
@WaltC as oem free battery technology improves, I fully expect to find a flashlight that comes with batteries that are lighter than air in the near future. Then I will go about rectifying the helium shortage by sourcing these batteries to fill balloons.
@PooltoyWolf
If you are a rewards member at office Depot you can often get Duracell batteries essentially for the price of the sales tax.
@chienfou I’m not, but that’s valuable info!
@PooltoyWolf Just get them from your fridge, which if you’ve been paying any attention here at all, should be well stocked with abundant, fresh batteries of every variety. This really seems self explanatory at this point.
@PooltoyWolf
plus if you recycle ink cartridges you get $2 a piece (up to 10 a month or $20) if you spend $10. I have found this to be a great program and have gotten a ton of stuff by recycling ink cartridges, buying batteries, coffee (k-cups) etc.
@chienfou @PooltoyWolf who on earth is still isn’t ink cartridges?
@chienfou @unksol If I’m interpreting your question correctly, the answer is almost everyone who still needs to print documents at home. (Laser is expensive!)
@chienfou @PooltoyWolf @unksol
Give up color, get a MFC from Brother, and your per page costs go through the floor because your toner isn’t drying out as you don’t use it (ink does that). Want to lower costs even more? Buy well-reviewed 3rd party toner carts. Want to drop that cost even further? Refill the Brother carts for under $10 each. InkOwl.com is where I get refills.
I have been refilling carts on several of my Brother laser printers for years. Easy peasy.
@chienfou @Jonas4321 @unksol Giving up anything that isn’t a shade of gray is a pretty large ask!
@PooltoyWolf @shahnm are you sure about the fridge? I’m 73 and didn’t know that
@PooltoyWolf Meh periodically offers cases of batteries at ridiculously cheap prices. You’ll have your chance to buy 8 times as many batteries as you need for $16 soon enough. Then you can ponder why you need 192 batteries.
@patbarrett1 @PooltoyWolf It’s absolutely true. There is no doubt about it. Incontrovertible.
@PooltoyWolf @WaltC The ad says “30LEDs” and that’s pretty damn bright. I’ve got one and you can barely look into it with naked eyes! Also, I use Energizer Lithium batteries and they won’t leak, last 20 years in storage and they are much lighter weight and last much longer than alkalines. Yes, they are a little more expensive but if you look around on eBay you can find them for about half of what Walmart charges. By the way, I’ve already ordered this good deal. Cheers, d&b
@mdgoldbe I’ve passed on those green Lucas brand alkalines every time they’ve come up on Meh, ever since my last horrible experience with them…greater than half leaked right out of the box, and half of what was left had barely any charge. The epitome of meh!
Just got one of these from my job for a Hospital Week gift last week. They’re handy to have around. Not the best lights ever but worthwhile for power outages.
@cinoclav How big are they?
@adam2562 About 5.5" high closed, 8" open, and 3.5" across. Mine is slightly different in that it has an adjustable strap for the handle. It unhooks from the side and loops over the top to hang it. Like this one.
/image Genesis 1:3
Magnets? I’d be seriously interested if it had a magnetic base. I could stick it to all sorts of things. And then light them up.
@WaltC hot glue gun to the rescue!
Got one in the side deals irk and it’s quite good
Don’t quite need 8 of them, though.
@thechinglish when did side deal do irks and how do I get in on that?
@dino2269 It was the April Fools IRK. Meh took you to Sidedeal.
@cinoclav @dino2269 And to get the irk we had to look at a ton of products… That would be called sneaky advertising.
Meh… A little light on the practical side
No a bad deal-I paid $ 22 for 4 at amazon.
@Felton10 How bright are these? are they good lights, or are they good enough for 3 $ lights.
@deenK ones I bought were strong enough to light up a small room. Now I have one for each room including the bathrooms.
@deenK @Felton10, they are about, $2.375=$2.38 ea. if my brain math is correct at 6:51AM. They’ve gotta be worth that much, or else they are worthless!!
@decoratedwarvet @deenK @Felton10 well, at least they are irkless. Unless we don’t buy them all, in which case they will be irkfull.
@decoratedwarvet @deenK @pmarin I don’t about that. They must have a shit load of these things at 1,604 sold times 8 means they have already gotten rid of almost 13,000 of these. These might be the new candy corn or figit spinner of meh-they will never run out of the these.
@decoratedwarvet @deenK @Felton10 @pmarin
or… the Built NY Neoprene Sleeves… or… BATH!
Soooo… Why do I need 8 of these, exactly?
@UncleRummy You’re an optimist and think there are more honest men out there than people realize?
@UncleRummy you get 4 I get 4?
@UncleRummy Because 8 is better than 7.
@cranky1950 But 7 8 9
@cranky1950 @UncleRummy
8 is enough…
@UncleRummy cause your power is going to go out and everyone is going to think you’re rich cause you have one for every room.
@UncleRummy Why the hell would I need 8 of anything?
@UncleRummy 8 is Great! Don’t hesitate! I am just trying to figure out what “collapsible” means? I’m hoping to find an image of that.
@ThunderChicken @UncleRummy
I will have your 7 million dollars. Since you only want
1 :*P
@RAYT721 It means the shaft of it goes up for the lantern to show and down for the area that lights up to be covered.
These will go great with the tent and sleeping bags I bought from that other site…
/giphy adjoining-dopey-stick
@booleiu What other site? I want a tent!
Very very illuminating deal.
I think these would be great-- one for each room in case of a power outtage. At $20… I mean, come on.
@matthewjfazio Am I the only one that still uses oil lamps? Frankly I look forward to power outages when things get really quiet and I can read from the glow of an antique lamp.
@matthewjfazio @tweezak I use oil lamps still well if the powers out long enough. The last outage lasted an hour or so. After what oil was left in the lamp was drained I filled it up than power was back on. So at least I have it potentially ready for the next outage.
These laterns meh is selling are sold all over the place for under $5 each. Under different brands of course. I’ve personally never bought one seem to be cheap probably enough light for a pee when powers out or a night in a tent. But for fishing not for meh.
@matthewjfazio @whomeyesu My lamps are old and huge and it would take days of continuous use to drain one. They are great for long periods of no power. Also since we have several they do a good job of lighting a room. If you want a LOT of light, “Aladdin” lamps are very bright. They use a mantle that glows intensely and throws a kind of greenish light. http://aladdinlamps.com/table-lamps/
Another thing worth knowing…there are rechargeable versions of this electric LED lamp but some are cheaply built and dangerous. Check out bigclive on YouTube for his teardown and analysis of one such design.
Here’s just one example. He’s in the UK so 240V is the standard. This one apparently shorts 240V to the USB port. Not good unless you are buying a gift for someone you kinda don’t like.
/giphy alcoholic-fluent-platypus
Just in time before the zombie apocalypse.
@tejas_vern Umm… well, it’s in progress. Depending on Meh shipping times, you may get 'em before the zombies reach your area. And in any case you can pretend they are grenades and toss them at the zombies. That’s because they are made of "military-grade plastic"
72 hours for 3 AA batteries? I’m less than convinced.
@warpedrotors should it be longer? That seems normal to me.
@pmcgrane I was picturing one of these just shining continuously for 3 days straight. Either they’re not very bright, like my uncle Stu, or they won’t last anywhere near that long. Maybe I’m fucked up though.
@pmcgrane @warpedrotors “Tyrell:
The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy.”
So these burn a long time, therefore definitely not that bright.
@pmarin @pmcgrane @warpedrotors Can you light them with a match or do you need a torch to get them going?
Raise your hand if you don’t already have at least 1 or 2 of these ubiquitous, sold everywhere, branded and unbranded, even at Eddie Bauer, lanterns.
@RedOak me…
/giphy raise your hand
The one sort of review I saw(https://amazingoutdooradventures.com/best-led-camping-lanterns-reviewed/) said they put out 60 lumens at average settings. Are there settings on this thing?
@Knightp There’s one setting… average.
@Knightp fakespot found a bunch of reviews and gave a C
https://www.fakespot.com/product/active-research-led-lantern-best-ultra-bright-portable-flashlight-water-resistant-lantern-for-camping-outdoors-hunting-emergencies-hurricanes-outages-30-led-battery-powered-3-pack
@Knightp @warpedrotors
There’s one setting… meh.
FIFY
Hold my flashlight, I’m going in!
/buy
@dam091 The card was declined.
@mediocrebot oh, for shame…
Five shame, at least. I’ve checked the numbers.
@mediocrebot fine, robut. 2nd time’s a charm:
/buy
@mediocrebot ok why isn’t this working
@dam091 even without card issues, I believe that buy command needs to be on its own line, on a primary post, not a reply?
… something you apparently discovered below…
/giphy disturbing-terrific-chipmunk
Hurricane season coming up, thanks for the reminder Meh!
@omegamonkey Using my Trump check to cut down 3 pines that will not last another Wilmington Hurricane. Stop moving here people the weather sucks and we only have low paying tourist jobs and the natives hate all of you.
/buy
@bigkiskewl It worked! Your order number is: droopy-distinguished-gate
/image droopy distinguished gate
@bigkiskewl @mediocrebot Interesting picture. The bikes look retro but the cars are modern. Must be a classic bike ride.
These look virtually identical to the ones Harbor Freight sells for 7 bucks a piece.
/buy
@squishybrain It worked! Your order number is: perfunctory-numerical-skate
/image perfunctory numerical skate
/google terpenes
What are cannabis terpenes and what do they do? | Leafly
https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/terpenes-the-flavors-of-cannabis-aromatherapy
/buy
@chesng It worked! Your order number is: wireless-full-verse
/image wireless full verse
Oh fine.
/buy
@barugon It worked! Your order number is: purple-choosy-coast
/image purple choosy coast
@barugon @mediocrebot ‘We are choosy with what we accept’ has to be the most pretentious statement/motto I’ve ever heard from a consignment shop.
@barugon @mediocrebot @PooltoyWolf We have one similar here. They don’t seem to take anything unless it’s from VS or Buckle or someplace like that.
@barugon @mediocrebot @tweezak Wow lol
I have one of these that is solar. Much better. But the battery ones are all I usually see for sale.
@katbyter depends on your use case. A solar lamp I keep in the drawer is gonna suck when the power goes out. But so will the one with the leaky batteries in it, so it’s a tossup.
/image flippant-atomic-ivy
huh. i need maybe two of these.
but i have some friends, so iii guesssss
/buy
@flynnski It worked! Your order number is: coy-harmful-cream
/image coy harmful cream
@mediocrebot I don’t love that.
Hey, WTH, with the Pastadrop coupon, these are just over a buck each. I can stash some and share some. Good deal, I guess.
/giphy alluring-boundless-cobweb
A buck eleven each with the pastadrop coupon… why not?
@chienfou
/giphy tidy-bitty-class
Also, does anyone still get the daily emails? I haven’t for a long time and I miss them. I double checked my spam folder and settings in my account.
@nickm461 They suddenly stopped for me, I contacted customer support after trying to rechoose the setting for that in accounts which didn’t work, they sent me a link and it turned them back on.
@nickm461 count tour blessings. They’re still reliably hitting my inbox for both accounts.
/buy this crap I really don’t need
@caffeineguy It worked! Your order number is: nocturnal-gratifying-skate
/image nocturnal gratifying skate
Oh why not, we like lights
/Buy
@Seeds It worked! Your order number is: punitive-answer-top
/image punitive answer top
@mediocrebot not who I would have chosen to be my top, although I suppose it is supposed to be punitive…
/giphy punitive answer top
/giphy puny-divine-bee
I don’t get why the one pic shows pin drops like they have gps
@astroglide that’s simply saying you can take it with you while you explore! It’s an old sales tactic called “misleading advertising”. Works great
@astroglide @dam091 I only buy $2 lanterns if they have GPS.
Apparently it’s “3rd times a charm”! Who knew?
/buy
@dam091 It worked! Your order number is: hateful-excellent-top
/image hateful excellent top
@mediocrebot it’s about time robut
/giphy hateful excellent top
3 AA? Beyond Meh. I want something with some runtime.
@blaineg what do you mean?. AA is the thing to go for if you are going to use “standard” batteries. It’s the AAA you want to avoid – they cost the same (or more than) AAs, but only give you about 40% of the energy storage per $.
But you are right true flashlight geeks would LOL at you for using something like this. A sure sign is when it says how great it is because of “how many” LEDs it has. That was the old, inferior way of doing this, using lots of incredibly cheap parts (less than a cent each in production). The quality way is to use state-of-the-art single LEDs (or a few of them). But you don’t find those lights for Meh. But you do fine PooPourri and Toilet Squatting devices, so there is that.
But still an incredible cheap deal for a large bunch of crappy lights.
@blaineg @pmarin
To be fair, these are more likely mediocre lanterns.
@blaineg @RedOak Well, at least this doesn’t apply: “Boy, the food at this place is just terrible. … And such small portions.”
At least we get a large serving of mediocre lanterns.
@pmarin No, I want to avoid both AA and AAA.
The easiest, laziest, way to make an LED flashlight is to use 3 cells, to get enough voltage to turn on the LED. The worst possible way is button cells. The next worst is 3 AAA, followed by 3 AA.
There’s nothing non-standard about C or D cells.
@blaineg @pmarin my preferred battery for flashlights and lanterns is the 18650.
@blaineg @cengland0 @pmarin it wouldn’t be too hard to turn these into 18650 lights. 3D printer, wire, solder = better lantern
@blaineg @pmarin wait, when did meh sell a squatty potty? Did I miss it?
@cengland0 @gustador @pmarin Sounds simple enough.
“Leave phone in pocket” made me think that today’s Meh was bluetooth headphones - tricky tricky!
As a neophyte preppar, I figure these will be good in my “Go Bag” to light up my tent while waiting for FEMA to come get me a new place to live!
@pndicker Not a real “preppar” – any real one already got all the stuff they need in their bunker. And would never trust Big Gummint FEMA.
Ah, mine are still in Pitney Bowes version of “pass the button”…who’s got the button?
===============================
Delivered to Pitney Bowes (local facility…like 5 miles away) 11:04AM June 1
Picked up and processed by Agent 6:40 AM June 1
Delivered to Pitney Bowes (local facility…again, 5 miles away) 12:02 AM June 1.
==============================
USPS says its in Greenwood, Indiana…on June 8.
@eeterrific my order is also still stuck in Greenwood, IN. It’s been there since June 5th.
I wish I knew how well mine worked. Mine are still sitting in Indiana.
Last tracking info I have on my set was 06/02/2020… since then… nada.
I would love to say how good my lanterns are but they are still MIA. I have always had good luck ordering from MEH but this may be my last time. They were suppose to be here by Jun 3rd I guess I didn’t read the fine print it may have said June 3, 2021
Specs
What’s in the Box?
Price Comparison
Currently Unavailable at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Thursday, July 16th
Gotcha meh!!!
No fine print stating that the smartphone, cap, backpack and printed map of a random location were not included! Hahaa!!! That means I get those with my order right? Right??
“Professional shopper, closed brain, do not attempt.”
@jester747 I’m sure all of those items had been placed in your IRK package. Pity the tape on the box just couldn’t hold them in, and what you actually received by the time the battered and largely tapeless box got to you was a useless (small) pile of warm batteries…
Haven’t you heard? The Apocalypse is over (for many states anyway). Well, I guess I could stock up for the Return of the Apocalypse.
@hchavers These won’t ship before the rapture so don’t bother.
@hchavers I don’t recall a virus knocking out power. Or it being dark during the day for a few months
@hchavers @unksol
yep Stuxnet is not the same as SARS CoV 2.
Do I have to travel to Lake Solitude when I get these in the mail?
@nickm461 Try Bright Falls.
Bye bye /buy
@t0nyc0tt4m meh is no fan of NSYNC, I see
@t0nyc0tt4m the /buy command has to be at the beginning of the line.
Considering this will not arrive until August, perhaps it will be useful in those end times!
Here’s the Amazon review. About 7 inches tall…but has decent reviews, as a whole:
https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Portable-Camping-Lantern-Batteries/dp/B01C5QSENQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=active+research+lantern&qid=1590395354&sr=8-1
@Tadlem43 There are several identical looking, different branded out there, of which this is one of them.
Fakespot gives a C under the “name” it is being sold under on meh.
https://www.fakespot.com/product/active-research-led-lantern-best-ultra-bright-portable-flashlight-water-resistant-lantern-for-camping-outdoors-hunting-emergencies-hurricanes-outages-30-led-battery-powered-3-pack
@Tadlem43 What is decent is a different Eckerty one that, I think, meh sold ages ago. It takes 3AA’s or 2 C’s and is bright (so it is not the same as this product). There is a third name on these besides the one meh is selling (Active Research) and Eckerty. I am presuming they are just a rebranding of the same flashlight. Looking at reviews for all three it seems like the main complaints are cheaply made (circuit board and soldiering problems with some but certainly not all), not very bright overall - bright at first and then dims significantly as the battery wears down due to missing some circuit board that helps prevent that, some complaints of not getting even close to the advertised 72 hours and not even close to water resistant.
Since it can be used as a lantern, certainly (likely) a better deal than other cheapo flashlights sold all over the place. But since some have problems and some don’t it would be wise to test them all immediately in case you get one of the problematic ones. I failed to do that in a timely manner with some solar ones I bought from meh so the “complaint” ship had sailed with respect to them dealing with that (those were decent if they worked. Around 1/3 of mine didn’t and it wasn’t a dead rechargeable battery). Opps.
Meh, why not?
/buy
@PHRoG It worked! Your order number is: cuddly-permissive-trouble
/image cuddly permissive trouble
/giphy cuddly-permissive-trouble
But, I don’t want to see the dark side of the moon.
Lanterndrop?
@lehigh No because you actually know the quantity of lanterns you’re getting before you buy.
I don’t know for sure what “collapsible” means but I have an idea that the light is what goes into the base. This is a great price! The collapsible ones on Amazon are higher priced and listed as “new model.” https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Flashlights-Batteries-Collapsible-Emergency/dp/B073P3MCSX/ref=dp_ob_title_sports
@RAYT721 Except we don’t know for absolute sure that the Etekcity ones are identical to this one.
Worked in for 8, 4, 1
/giphy unnatural provocative ornament
@edsa Best Giphy Ever.
I have 3 kids who camp. So who’s getting only 2?
/giphy nasally-depressed-effect
@JaBbA64 give them all two and keep two for yourself.
/giphy timid-worrisome-quartz
…
Ok
One did not work so I tried them all I had to open the broken one and re connect a wire now they all work so far so good I wasn’t going to return them for one bad one in eight
These are really fucking bright
@Seeds well, that’s LED’s — do they seem useful?
@pmcgrane I’d be happy to have them if the power goes out. Beyond that, I think I’d need to put some tissue paper or something around the globe to not be blinded around it.
How do I return. Some of the light bulbs don’t work
@brooke30 contact support. Go to your orders page, find the right order and click “I need help with this.”
Meh.com/orders
Mine have allegedly been near Atlanta for about a week.
It is about a 6 hour drive.
Mine have been stuck in LA, since 6/1…
Mine didn’t get out of grapevine, been there since 6/1, scanned in transit 6/2.
This one isn’t even on my radar though, since I’ve got stuff ordered 10 days before that hasn’t arrived, and one of the ones from then is also still showing grapevine.
Allegedly been nearby Atlanta for over a week.
Really nice! 3 AA batteries are all it takes to light these babies up. Super bright as previously noted.
All my orders are left just inside my gate. Ups & Fedex deliver this way. How do I leave these instructions with pitney b.?
Mine arrived yesterday. All work, but 2 of them have broken battery covers. May have happened in transit, as they weren’t really packed well. Just a plastic bag over the factory boxes.
This was eventually delivered via the US Post Office on June 12 (about 3 weeks after ordered). It still shows as undelivered on the website.
The lamps seem to work well and they are extremely bright and kind of unpleasant, like all LED lamps! Based on how you unscrew the battery compartment, it is hard for me to believe it is water-tight.
@pmcgrane Yeah, they’re definitely a REALLY blue color temperature. Probably 6000K, maybe even 7000K. Not as pleasant as 5000K but they’ll do the trick during a power outage.
Mine has been in transit back and forth from the same place in Texas to the same place in Georgia. I don’t get it???
Just gone mine today. I slapped 3 AA’s in one to test it out. It wasn’t quite as bright as I had hoped, but that’s probably just fine. I didn’t get them to use as a work light or anything, I got 'em to use to light up the kitchen, hallways, and bathrooms during a power outage. Don’t need a lot of light just to walk around, so that’s fine. I just wish the color temp wasn’t so blue – it’s a pretty harsh sterile white color – but eh that’s ok too.
Still haven’t got mine. Tracking said still stuck in LA. USPS never got the package from Pitney Bowes. Meh did refund my money… I would have rather had the lanterns…
Last update 6/5 at PB in IN.
Your return policy is non existent
Lights have bulbs that don’t work contacted u 3 times for return and not one response. Credit card is next
Still MIA 6/16, no response on inquiry.
They arrived!! Boxes mildly weathered. Now waiting for many AA rechargable batteries to be delivered to test them out. Kids sad they don’t collapse into a disc.
I bought these thinking they were the lantern/flashlight kind with a real flashlight on one end. They are not and I’m disappointed. I would not have bought otherwise.
Ordered May 26th. First said “In Michigan June 3rd, 1:09am ET.” Then said it’s, “In Transit Greenwood, IN, June 3, 2020, 3:08pm ET.” It is now June 18th. Where is my package? Just ordered something else. If this happens again, I will rethink buying from MEH again. I know we are having hard times, but I would like to be kept in the loop if there is a problem with shipping to give me a way to cancel my order if need be. Not a happy camper!
Still nothing, last USPS update
June 8, 2020 at 5:52 pm
Departed Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
GREENWOOD, IN 46143
Mine were delivered today…finally. It was worth the wait, though. GREAT addition to my hurricane preparedness stockpile. These things are BRIGHT! Wanted to buy more to give to friends, but ALL GONE.
Still waiting…
6/21 still nothing from meh. No product, no answer from support.
@keydric That is because no one works in support, all the smarta**** work in writing the witty ads.
6/24 They showed up today. very bright white light, 3 AA batteries each needed.
I got a message that my lanterns were found and have been traveling the country. They started in Texas, went to LA maybe came close in San Diego, then got lost for 26 days. My guess is someone walked them across the country to New Jersey. They have now been trapped in NJ for days. How hard is it to put a box back on the truck and send it to the address on the label?? PB if you are paying attention? PLEASE give it to an actual NJ mailman. Fingers crossed.
Still waiting on mine. Tracking said it reached my town a month ago but still no lanterns.
@davinarice My tracking said the same and then a week later were back at PB in IN.
Surprise. I actually got them today. Ordered in May they have been lost and traveled the country, but PB finally got them to me.
WTH Meh. My lights have been touched and handled so much they are now apparently apprehensive about coming home. Seriously though why have they been shipped back and forth from IN to KS and back to IN, only to have my updates state daily that they are still in IN? Are you seriously just taunting me? Get them to my house already. I paid for them over a month ago. The solar lights I ordered last weekend are already here… FAIL>
Well, let this be a lesson to me - never opened inside factory sealed box of lanterns until today, which looked outwardly pristine; yet somehow inside of perfect box rested 4 absolutely crushed lanterns. How the heck they were smashed so thoroughly, & yet nestled in their untorn plastic sleeves inside said perfect box, I can’t begin to guess.
Mine arrived but two were broken. Sent an email to MEH and no reply.
I just got mine today! They shipped on May 27 and arrived August 24. Weird.