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I had a million candle power flashlight that could only be recharged 5 times. Are all these high output flashlights like that? Buy.com doesn't say.

Yes total junk. They have Chinese crudola lead acid sealed batts. Like other Bensie specials, they work fine so long as they are never used.

Maximum life 6mos.

Minimum cost of replacement batt., $20.

YANBFB

Yes total junk. They have Chinese crudola lead acid sealed batts. Like other Bensie specials, they work fine so long as they are never used.

Maximum life 6mos.

Minimum cost of replacement batt., $20.

YANBFB

The $4.50 Radio Shack rechargeable spot light I bought via Ben's over 2 years ago is still running and charging fine.
YMMV of course. But if you're paying $20 for a small gel cell, you should be shopping elsewhere.

Have had several Dorcy products over the years - quality seems to have down the crapper on recent ones - wouldn't buy any of their new products.

I hate it when they don't publish the brightness..

You get ehat you pay for. You can't expect great quality at this kind of price

-- LED technology as a spotlight? Yeah right? LED lights barely project a beam at all!

1st, SLA batteries are really old tech by now, those made in China should be fine. Two things about SLA, you don't want to let them drain down to nearly completely empty nor use (typically included) crude above-trickle-rate charger and forget to unplug it so it overcharges (same as with any battery actually).

Take proper care of the battery and it should last about 3-5 years depending on how long you need it to run. Replacement batteries in these small sizes do not cost $20, more like $7 to $15 although with 13 LED instead of a halogen bulb this might even be NiCd or NiMH instead of SLA, since LED draw so much less current and a small NiCd pack would be cheaper and longer lasting than a small SLA.

Dorcy products were never great quality, basic Black & Decker or Victor product quality (though Victor might actually make these, they make many rebranded spotlights).

#6, you can't get a good brightness reading off encapsulated 5mm LEDs without a col. lens on the front, the hotspot is too wide for a good equivalent measurement. Generally 14, 100mW LEDs is bright enough to see by but certainly not bright, won't wow anyone or be very useful outside for distance viewing.

#8, LED tech is equally suited to spotlights, just depends on the type of LED, reflector and lens (just as with incandescent bulbed lights). While what Ben usually pimps are the cheapest of type encapsulated LED lights with no attempt to focus well, most of the next tier up in lights have reasonable beam projection, some of them very good beam projection. They cost more than $15 though, there is definitely a minimum price for something that's both reasonable quality and long runtime, half the cost of this one is the battery and AC-DC adapter "charger".

#9 dave_c,

-- Whoah! Okay, then. Well answer EVERYBODY already.
-- Wow, that was great. Thanks. Stick around Bens here and keep us informed on what you know.