Merry Day After Christmas, everyone.
I thought I'd let everyone in on a little-known secret. They have small LED flashlights at the Dollar Store. They're One Dollar! (Batteries not included) They also have various brands of AAA batteries in packages that also sell for...One Dollar!

About three weeks ago, I was in the Dollar Store looking for something else and I saw these little flashlights. I pulled one off the hook and looked it over. It's aluminum, three LEDs, takes three AAA batteries, and has the on/off switch in the bottom end, protected by a rubber cover, so it isn't likely to be inadvertently turned on while stored in my pants pocket, something that had happened with other lights with twist-type switches, or button switches mounted on the side of the light.
I bought a red one and a pack of Panasonic carbon zinc AAA batteries. When I got home I assembled the batteries into the cartridge, shot some contact cleaner inside to prevent corrosion and tried it out.
I was extremely impressed: so much so, that I went back and bought two more, along with some more batteries. I wrapped the case with some red reflective tape that I had sitting around and have used the light nearly every day since. It's the perfect pocket light and it seems to be holding up just fine.

On Friday, I decided to go Christmas shopping and hit the Dollar Store. I bought four more lights, one each in red, blue, silver and black, I then saw that they had Sunbeam brand AAA alkaline batteries, also at four for a buck. When I got home, I thought I would rip open the battery packs and tape three batteries to each flashlight and then wrap them. As I was opening the first pack of batteries, the mechanic in me decided to open each light and insert the batteries and shoot some contact cleaner in them and make sure they all worked. I was soon stumped when I couldn't fit the battery cartridge of the first light into the housing. I thought it was the outstanding Asian quality control that produced an inconsistent battery cartridge, so I took a piece of sandpaper to it, slightly reducing its size. Re-inserted the batteries and it still wouldn't fit.

I got to thinking that it was possible that since I'd bought different batteries from what was in mine, that it might just be the batteries. I took the cartridge out of my known-to-be-good light and it went right in without a hitch. I then tried the other lights and it was the same thing with all of them: the Sunbeam batteries wouldn't fit in any of them, so today, I took back the batteries, along with the two lights that had defective switches. The folks at the dollar store were accommodating enough to let me try the switches in the lights I was taking as replacements.

I've now assembled and tested and approved a total of nine lights, including the one I got several weeks ago. If you can, try the light(s) out in the store, as I've gotten three out of the nine that had defective switches. If you get one, or more that work, they're great. I have one strapped to the upper part of the chin strap of my helmet with a short length of velcro, as well as another that is strapped to my turnout jacket.

Let there be light.