I bought these during the last woot-off. The packaging claims these will last more than 200 hrs of continuous use, so I checked it out. I put in 2 fully-charged Eneloops, turned it on, and let it sit. The strobe is actually pretty bright. Very impressive. After about 3 days, however, the light started to dim. After about 75 hours, the light output was too dim to be of any practical use. After about 78 hours, the batteries were completely drained. Three days of continuous use isn't bad, but it falls far short of the claim.

great reviews over at home depot

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=203638846&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&MERCH=REC-_-product-1-_-203638851-_-203638846-_-N#.URNHPPLCaSo

This reminds me that both of the ones I received after the last sale never worked! I sent a note to the vendor and didn't hear back at all. Time to contact Woot.

I should point out that when I posted this info in the prior sale the woot support did reply I could contact them and I forgot about it.

That's potentially due to you using rechargeable batteries though... Since: 1. they only output 1.2v compared to 1.5v most batteries output. 2. Most rechargeable batteries have a diminishing lifespan after a while. 3. This is in no way meant to critique or diminish your findings and thank you for sharing.

CuzzinMerl wrote:I bought these during the last woot-off. The packaging claims these will last more than 200 hrs of continuous use, so I checked it out. I put in 2 fully-charged Eneloops, turned it on, and let it sit. The strobe is actually pretty bright. Very impressive. After about 3 days, however, the light started to dim. After about 75 hours, the light output was too dim to be of any practical use. After about 78 hours, the batteries were completely drained. Three days of continuous use isn't bad, but it falls far short of the claim.

CuzzinMerl wrote:I bought these during the last woot-off...

Way OT, but I have to ask: CuzzinMerl, is your cousin's name...Roy?

If you have no idea what I'm referencing, don't sweat it. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person left who remembers Roy Otis and Merle's purple '69 Dodge Charger.

Got these in the last woot-off. Haven't had a chance to try them out, but the magnets on the bottoms are very strong. Helps to keep in one spot, so they will be around when we need them.

ok, but cheaply made
not sure of the floating in water, but both the units had crushed, torn, flimsey O ring on the switch / bottom end.
one light broke on the switch and the diffuser came off in my hand (nothin some superglue wont fix, but why am i havin to?
anywho, flashes bright and fast, magnet base sticks like glue, will do its job
ymmv, ygwypf

I bought 3 of these on the last woot off all three were completely broken. It is the reason I don't use woot as much as I used too. At $10 for 3 it really was not worth my time and Postage to send them back.Too frigging busy.

I mean ALL three! You have been warned.

pz@woot wrote:This reminds me that both of the ones I received after the last sale never worked! I sent a note to the vendor and didn't hear back at all. Time to contact Woot.

I should point out that when I posted this info in the prior sale the woot support did reply I could contact them and I forgot about it.

Just a question, did you MAKE SURE the batteries were in right? I know it sounds silly, but I thought they didn't work either, then I had my kid look at the battery compartment that was VERY hard to see, too small, and each battery had to be reverse of the other, and just make sure the right one has positive up, and the other positive down... saw your post and remembered that... these lights are AWESOME though! Brighter than a flare!

markmc27 wrote:I bought 3 of these on the last woot off all three were completely broken. It is the reason I don't use woot as much as I used too. At $10 for 3 it really was not worth my time and Postage to send them back.Too frigging busy.

I mean ALL three! You have been warned.

I had 84 woots last month, INCLUDING these flares, which work great, and NONE of the 84 packages were broken... well, except for my "letter carrier's" back, that is...

scotttampa wrote:I had 84 woots last month, INCLUDING these flares, which work great, and NONE of the 84 packages were broken... well, except for my "letter carrier's" back, that is...

Once August comes around, your "letter carrier" will get an extra day to recuperate each week.

Said it before. You can never be too cautious or prepared. Keep a set in your trunk. When you finally do need them, you will be thankful you have them.

jpfaltz001 wrote:Once August comes around, your "letter carrier" will get an extra day to recuperate each week.

Can I assume that Congress has FINALLY agreed to stop Saturday deliveries in August??!!! Great difficulty for postal employees, but necessary for the future stability of the post office.

I bought ... I forget how many. Several of these. About half of them worked but would not shut off. I did a quick search and found a phone number. I called the company and they sent out replacements no questions asked, did not want the defective ones back.

pz@woot wrote:This reminds me that both of the ones I received after the last sale never worked! I sent a note to the vendor and didn't hear back at all. Time to contact Woot.

I should point out that when I posted this info in the prior sale the woot support did reply I could contact them and I forgot about it.

Ditto - unfortunately, I don't have the time to waist tracking down the vendor or Woot for that matter. Batteries in, twist, no light....

I bought these in the last Woot(-off?). Opened one up, tried to twist it - and the clear plastic housing the LEDs came off in my hand. Crappy glue. Put it back on (didn't glue it - it seems to stay on somewhat), added batteries, twisted on/off/on/off - NOTHING. These stink.

Adding my 2 cents. I too had trouble getting the batteries in correctly, but once I figured that out, the lights are very bright. Plastic is flimsy, but you get what you pay. I bought them as emergency flares for our cars and they will do the job.

One of the things I like best about flares is how completely unsafe they are. Is there any way to modify these to be less safe?

I guess including the dimensions of these was too much trouble for woot. No matter, based on the sketchy reviews here...Ill pass.

When I see these, I think of the Leakfrogs. You think it's just another stupid little gadget. Next time around, you order one for the hell of it. Then you find out just how awesome it was and order more during the next Woot Off.

You may never use it, but that one time you need it, it's invaluable. Keeping one in my glove compartment, batteries rubberbanded on it. Will replace when I replace my smoke detector batteries. Got one for dh, mom, bro, & myself.

CuzzinMerl wrote: I put in 2 fully-charged Eneloops, turned it on, and let it sit.

But these don't seem to be the batteries it came with. Eneloops are about 750 mah (at 1.2v, not 1.5v), while alkalines are more like 1200. And both could vary. A fair test would be to use the included batteries.

robgendreau wrote:But these don't seem to be the batteries it came with. Eneloops are about 750 mah (at 1.2v, not 1.5v), while alkalines are more like 1200. And both could vary. A fair test would be to use the included batteries.

You're right. So to be fair, I tried the same test with the batteries it came with. I was literally left in the dark.

mjonczak wrote:Can I assume that Congress has FINALLY agreed to stop Saturday deliveries in August??!!! Great difficulty for postal employees, but necessary for the future stability of the post office.

We will still get woot deliveries since they are packages! Only letters won't be delivered on saturday as of right now, who knows in august what will actually happen.

mjonczak wrote:Can I assume that Congress has FINALLY agreed to stop Saturday deliveries in August??!!! Great difficulty for postal employees, but necessary for the future stability of the post office.

Nope, Congress passed a law specifically prohibiting the P.O. from going to a 5 day week. P.O. is technically still delivering packages on saturday and mail to P.O. Boxes, but not houses.

This will only delay the demise of the P.O. The economics just aren't there.

jrpigman wrote:One of the things I like best about flares is how completely unsafe they are. Is there any way to modify these to be less safe?

That's right. Nothing says flare like running around with your hair on fire.

I bought several of these. they are cheaply made and can only be turned off by removing the batteries.

Just got these yesterday and finally got around to opening the package. They didn't come with any batteries, so I went for the cheap Fujis I bought from Woot a while back. They worked intermittently. After messing around with it, I discovered the negative side of the battery is slightly concave. The metal piece on the bottom of the flare is flat where it makes contact, so it wasn't making a good connection. I tried some Meijer brand batteries that stick out more on the negative side and they work great. My rechargeable Energizers are completely flat so I'd bet they would work fine also.

Tl;dr: make sure the negative side of your batteries aren't concave and these should work fine.