# Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E



## EnduringEagle (Jun 20, 2011)

Hello all. With the hurricane season coming I thought it would be prudent to go get some backup lights. I was in Costco and they had a blister pack of 3 "High Intensity Tactical" lights on sale. On the top it they were using the CREE XP-E emitter. I bought them and tried one out and it worked really well and actually had a lot of throw. The take AAA batteries :shakehead but are supposed to get 4 hours on the medium/low setting which throws better and has better run time than my Quark 123. I threw one in a bath tub filled with water and the light went 3.7 hours. For $15 how bad can that be?


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## kramer5150 (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

If its the kit with the red illuminated button, they should not be stored with cells installed. The tailcap switch circuit has a parasitic drain that can deplete loaded cells within a week.


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## tre (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

I am pretty sure those use the XPC which is a "dumbed down" XPE.


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## EnduringEagle (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

The blister pack says CREE XP-E. The image is one I pulled from the Web.


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## EnduringEagle (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*



kramer5150 said:


> If its the kit with the red illuminated button, they should not be stored with cells installed. The tailcap switch circuit has a parasitic drain that can deplete loaded cells within a week.


 
This one has a recessed Black button on the tail switch. Nothing illuminates but the light.


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## someguy4747 (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

My girlfriends parents shop at Costco religiously and know I like flashlights. My girlfriends dad bought 2 packs of these and gave me one flashlight.  I was pretty surprised by it. It has a nice output has a nice tight and bright hot spot that for comparisons sake out throws my pd31. The fake momentary on function is kind of cool. It also seems to be built pretty solid. After hearing about the runtime my only concern is the battery pack but for $5 a light I think this thing is a steal. I can't get myself to leave one of my more expensive lights in the car but I may put some lithiums in this light and do just that. For $16 a pack this is a great light to lend out to someone or if you are like me and don't like to keep your nice lights in the car(you can't play with them if they are in the car).


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## CarpentryHero (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

The two pack costco lights were of a higher quality than the most recent batch. 
Still great lights for the price, and better to lend those rather than the highend ones


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## john-paul (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

I bought one the three packs about one year ago, and they seriously didn't last a couple of weeks. Two of them died just sitting idle, one stopped working I thought "this is weird". Picked up the other two neither worked, tried new cells- nope still dead. In the garbage they went. I know I could have returned them but they were seriously so cheap I didn't care.


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## Biker Bear (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

I picked up a pack - one of the lights is defective (put the batteries in and it's just ON - can't turn it off) so the set will be exchanged, but as others have said I am looking at these as loaner lights. I go on a group camping trip every Labor Day weekend, and invariably someone loses/breaks/forgets their flashlight. Rather than lend out my nice Quark or Fenix lights - people will get these, where if I don't get them back - no big loss.


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## qwertyydude (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*



tre said:


> I am pretty sure those use the XPC which is a "dumbed down" XPE.


 
Of course in the CPF community the XP-E is just a dumbed down XP-G.


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## EnduringEagle (Jun 21, 2011)

Ok. Here is a status report. All three lights are working. Power drains are closed to posted ratings on the blister pack. Waterproof seems to be working with bathtub test. It was raining like heck down here in South Fl so I left one out in the downpour and wind hanging LED facing up from some 550 paracord. Worked just fine. So far. I left one with a new set of batteries in the off position to see if they will get drained. The throw on these is still pretty impressive. My theory is that there were a lot returns on this light and the manufacturer addressed the issues. Losing Costco as a customer is way to painful/embarrassing. Stay tuned.


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## rodwolfington (Jun 21, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

I got three of them last year for my cars. They ran the batteries dead in about two weeks, even though they were stored off.

Hopefully, the new ones at Costco will have a better switch, which will actually not cut in on battery life.


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## EnduringEagle (Jun 21, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*



rodwolfington said:


> I got three of them last year for my cars. They ran the batteries dead in about two weeks, even though they were stored off.
> 
> Hopefully, the new ones at Costco will have a better switch, which will actually not cut in on battery life.


 
If that is the story then I will put them in the cabinet with the hurricane supplies and leave the batteries out for when we need them.


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## EnduringEagle (Jun 27, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

Lastest update is that all the lights are still going and there has been no loss of power sitting on the shelf for about 1 1/2 weeks. Did under water test again in the tub and it still did 3.7 hours on medium mode.


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## EnduringEagle (Jul 7, 2011)

Ok. Final test done with one flashlight loaded up with batteries for 2 weeks. Through it in a tub of water on low. It lasted for 3 hours 45 minutes. These cheapo lights are working out well.


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## TPDOFCR (Jul 7, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

I picked these up as well a little while ago. Put one in each car and kept one in the house. We lost power the other night during a thunderstorm and I was very happy with the performance of the light. Stood it on-end and it was able to light up the entire kitchen.


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## dondulah (Jul 11, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

These are $19.99 at the Costco in the Detroit burbs.


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## EnduringEagle (Jul 11, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*



dondulah said:


> These are $19.99 at the Costco in the Detroit burbs.


Did you pick any up? So far mine are going great!!


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## EnduringEagle (Aug 19, 2011)

*Re: Costco Truelight 3 pack with 150 lumin CREE XP-E*

I realize this is getting to be a "One Man Thread" but I thought I should report back. We have been using the flashlights for about 2 months and have worked out great for cheap lights. Just for giggles I attached the light with the most use to a shotgun and used it for run and gun. I put about 50 rounds of 00 buckshot through it and it survived!! I have to say, the stuff works. Is a great light? No. Does it keep working? Evidently so. BTW, The tint is better than on some of my other lights.


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## someguy4747 (May 8, 2012)

EnduringEagle said:


> Did you pick any up? So far mine are going great!!



Mine still work great but they honestly don't get much use except for loaners. I was at Costco yesterday an saw they updated the packaging and emitters! Ha ha! They now use xpg's and claim 200 lumens with all the same runtimes. For another $15 I picked up a set. Couldn't resist honestly. I didn't have time to try them last night but I will tonight.


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## cccpull (May 8, 2012)

You'll like them, I paid $20 a few months ago, and will probably pick up another pack now at $15. Good deal!


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## Brian10962001 (May 9, 2012)

These look a lot like the three pack of lights I purchased at Menards. I've had one of those with the cruddy "heavy duty" batteries in my range bag since before Christmas and it still lights up just fine.


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