On Jun 12, 1:01*pm, " wrote:
On Jun 12, 7:15*am, wrote: How reliable are they? I'd worry about the switch and the LEDs
crapping out. Good LEDs and machined aluminum are not cheap even in
China... I'd buy a tie for 10RMB in China, but not an LED flashlight.

Who knows? *None of mine (or the ones that I gave as stocking
stuffers) have failed yet. *Not very long, but no obvious infant
mortality. The illumination is uniform. *With fresh batteries, the
light is very bright. *As far as I know, they are all made in China
and imported. *The only advantage I know of getting it at a place like
REI is that they will give you a replacement if yours breaks, but for
the price difference, I can afford to be self-insured. *I have an
older brand-name LED flashlight (Coast), and it is not as bright and
some LEDs have failed. *And for 10 RMB, I would be and was willing to
take a chance.

You realize there is a huge gray market in China for LEDs which are
marginal or test rejects that reputable companies stay away from...
It's the same market dynamics for microprocessors, and for
semiconductors in general. Nothing is really thrown away in the trash,
except absolutely dead parts - if it wiggles, somebody will sell it.
What you're doing is basically doing the 100% burn-in screen on these
lower or downgrade binouts. Also, infant mortality is only a very
small part of the so-called reliability bathtub curve - you've seen
only a few beginning data points and you really don't know where the
"knee" of the plateau of this curve is (the LED manufacturer does -
they know exactly what their failure rate curve is based on an
extended, accelerated life test and they also know exactly what kind
of burn-in duration is required to prove out a sample size whereas you
don't...). It's really you get what you pay for, even in China.