Get three LED flashlights for $5

Three LED flashlights for five bucks? How can you go wrong?

(Credit: Froobi)

I really dig the new breed of LED flashlights. (Of course, I'm easily impressed by bright, shiny things.) LED flashlights are supercompact, but give off way more light than the big, bulky, skull-cracking glow sticks of my youth.

Today only, daily-deal site Froobi is offering a three-pack of 9-LED flashlights for $0 (plus $4.95 shipping).

Each light measures about 3.5-inches long and promises a whopping 100,000 hours of bulb life. (Take that, tungsten!)

You'll have to supply the batteries (three AAA's per flashlight). Speaking of, I'm a big fan of Duracell precharged rechargeable batteries that are only a little pricier than disposables, but can be recharged hundreds of times (ergo, they're way cheaper in the long run--and better for the environment, too).

These little flashlights are crazy-handy. Toss one in your car's glove box, another in your tool kit, a third in the junk drawer--you get the idea.

It's difficult to tell from the product page just what colors you're going to get, but the ones shown are all metallic and cool looking.

Alas, it's too late to get these in time for Halloween (they'd be perfect for trick-or-treaters), but, hey, there's always next year.

[40list04]

Or, if you want cheap small LED flashlights right now, you can go to your neighborhood Harbor Freight store and get two of them virtually identical to the ones shown for $2.99. And these come with the batteries already installed. Only downside is that this is a coupon deal but conveniently the store seems to keep a stack of ad booklets with coupons stacked by the front door. (at least my local store does)

[mvanlies]

I've had these lights before, they are pretty much junk.

[rickbroida]

Specifics, please. What's junky about them? Flimsy design? Weak output? Don't leave us hanging! :)

[ktappe]

Agree. I got one of these in the past and the flashlight lasted may be a few months (perhaps 10 uses). I don't know what part of the unit failed, but even after a change of batteries it simply wouldn't turn on.

[wirelesscaller]

Housing is good but the plastic lens is too weak for the battery spring, the reason why these fail easily is that the plastic lens push out and the batteries then fail to make a solid contact which keeps the electricity from flowing properly. That's why this particular style sucks and prone to failure unless you push the plastic lens back into the flashlight.

[unw1red]

Your advertisement for the site must have overwhelmed it. When you click on purchase, it times out to the checkout page. Hopefully, it will be back in operation soon.

[rickbroida]

Yep, I'm encountering the same thing. The "Cheapskate effect" strikes again! Come on, Froobi, fix it!

[RTFM]

www.dealextreme.com

Always free shipping no matter how small the order.
Flashlights way cheaper than yours.
There are too many deals to list.

[bodycount187]

I ordered these flashlights about two weeks ago from Yugster except the deal was 4 for $5! So far they have performed well and my kids can't wait to use them when we go trick or treating! At $5 even if they last for only one use they are still well worth the price!

[joejmcnulty]

I have a few of these flashlights. They are crap. I was keeping one in my car and one in the house. They are so cheaply made that the connector wiggles and the lights go in and out at the worst possible times. I was using one of them to work on my car last weekend and it kept going in and out, so I had to bang on it to get it to come back on. Sorry, I have a little sore spot for these flashlights.

[Steve000]

I agree with previous comments. Seems like a nice flashlight (small, bright) until you try to use it. I've had a couple like this with the 3 AAA battery pack. They all have the same problem with the light going off (or not coming on at all). The light is nice and bright for the few moments that it happens to flicker to life.

[Static-X-Machina]

Perhaps you should all buy name brand LED flashlights next time instead of the cheap 2 dollar LED lights at the cash register.
They are designed to fail and take your money.
I went a blew 30 on a duracell daylite which takes 2 AA batteries. I have thoroughly tested this thing to see if forceful impact would break it.
So far it has not broken under the weight of my purely destructive nature with it.
Ways I tested it?
Try throwing it up as far as you can in the air and letting it clack down on asphault or concrete.
Try taking the thing and slamming both ends down on a good solid surface.
Try splashing water on it if it's water resistant.
Try stomping on it with good solid boots on.
Try running over it with your car.
Try slamming it in a door frame a few times.
I tried these things.
All of them. with the light on, with the light off. a REAL scientific test with controls and variables.
After all that.... No break, no inconsistency. Light is still very bright. the focusing mechanism still works.
Perhaps LED flashlights are as with all things. You get what you pay for and I'm sure whatever you buy is worth every penny.

I bought an LED flashlight from northern tools. it was the store brand. paid 12 or 15 dollars for it.
after a month and 2 drops from hand level it quit working. Junker.

[jon345111]

I bought a flashlight from woot, the engergizer hardcase (i think that was the name) was $25 shipped, and it is the best flashlight ever. It has red and blue lights, an infared light, and of course a really bright LED main light with a swivel head. Woot did a test to try and break it and they couldn't even after tossing it 50ft in the air and landing on concrete and running over it with a car. Highly recommended!

[bryanb867]

I've had one of these and it worked fine. No problems with it - lasted until I sacrificed it on a hiking trip when I lost all my matches and tried to use them to start a fire (could only get smoke, no flames). As flashlights they rock, as fire starters, not so much!

I also picked up a couple similar flashlights recently at a retail store (yes, I actually leave my computer to go to the store sometimes). These were on sale from $11 down to $5 each....the reason I bought two? They each came with a small flexible tripod that screws into the end of the light! Great of setting up a light to read by on a trip or somewhere that you can't balance the light by itself. And, as the BONUS!, the tripod screws into my digital camera, which makes it handy to have around for either the flashlight or when you need a quick, steady photo op!

[SanjayGuam]

HomeDepot had a similar product for sale. I bought 10 6-LED flashlights for $9.00 and they came with 30 AAA batteries. I swear, next time I need AAA batteries, I'll be buying these. The LED lights are reliable. My kids love playing with them and they haven't broke yet. It's been about 2 months of near everyday use. Best part is, they haven't run out of batteries due to LED long-life.

Boo... Hiss... There's 22 hours left on the deal (according to their website) and they've already sold out!?! Usually this is a scam to get you to their website to buy something more expensive since you can't get what you were promised and you're already there. I'm really disappointed with Froobi and I'll never buy anything from them. It's not like they didn't know this sale was scheduled for today, so there's no excuse not to have stocked up And, they sold out in 2 hours -- maybe they planned it that way so they wouldn't have to give away very many.

[ZForray]

I agree on the "junk" status and that you can "go wrong with free".

Last year Home Depot had "3-LED Flashlights" for $5.00 (including the batteries). I bought 2-packages of which only 2-flashlights still work.

On the other hand, I have purchased 2-LED flashlights from Office Depot for $3.99 each and both are much more rugged and still work after many months. Always keep one in my pocket for when I have to climb under tables and such.

Just got mine and can't get them to work. Again, you get what you pay for.