I got both the 100 lumen 3 pack for $17 and the 900 lumen 2 pack for $100 from Costco.
I agree that in an urban setting with lots of street lights, this would suffice as a
primary light(100 lumen 3 pack). Heck, I've been riding with a Planetbike 1/2 watt headlight for years.
But the 900 lumen light really packs a punch, this is the 1st light that I used that I got comments from
drivers and pedestrians on how bright my light is. Since these are flashlights that didn't come with
mounting hardware, I've used a strap to attach them to my helmet(one at a time). Now I can focus
the beam on what I choose, straight ahead looking for potholes or diagonally at a car approaching the
intersection I'm on.
Originally Posted by
CptjohnC
At least one of my local Costco warehouses (Centreville for you Northern Virginia types) has (had?) 3 packs of 3-AAA LED tactical flashlights for about $17. Nominal rating of 100 lumens on high, and claims 'half brightness' on low, plus a strobe mode, for the flashers. Machined aluminum body, o-rings for water seal, rubberized end cap. NOTE: These are NOT the $100 for 2 set on their website.
I'm not trying to claim that they are as good as the super high quality/ uber bright lights out there, but for a bargain price, they are bright enough to see reasonably well by, and way better than my Walmart/ Target specials (they are significantly brighter than my previous ~brightest~ "bell" multi-LED 4-AAA light), and cheaper, to boot. The cheapest equivalent lights I've seen are 100-110 lumen tacticals @ aforementioned big box retailers for about $13-5 Ea.
I think they'd make great back up lights, if you're already running quality lights as primary, but they seem bright enough (in my opinion -- obviously YMMV) to work as primary for someone with a mostly urban/ MUP commute, and on a budget. I've only used them a couple of times, so no predictions about long term service or such.