Cheaper than Dirt & fake shake lights

[Dixielee]

We were reading about the fake shakelights others had found, and recommended Cheaper than Dirt because we had bought some from them. After this experience, we wanted to start a new thread to let as many people as possible know about it.

A couple of months ago we ordered two "shake lights" from "Cheaper than Dirt". These lights do have a magnet, but small magnets are cheap.

The lights look like shake lights, but they actually have two small batteries that power the LED light. When those batteries run down the light will NOT work, no matter how long you shake it.

We contacted Cheaper than dirt about the two "fake" shake lights.
The person that we talked via the internet to said that our light may be defective and that Cheaper than dirt said that they were "shake lights", but never claimed that they were "Faraday shake lights".

After explaining about our lights and mentioning that other fake shake lights are turning up he said that they will run their own test on some of the lights that they have to see if they really work.

This was a pretty neat scam by somebody. If you get one and shake it, the light does come on. If you check to see if it has a magnet, it certainly does. The only way you will know it is fake is to leave it on until the two little bateries run down, and shake it.

We thought that ours worked too, and if we had not seen the thread here about fake shake lights we would not know the truth.

I believe that Cheaper than dirt is a reputable company, and that they got scammed just like some of the rest of us did.

 

[cannoncocker]

Cheaper than dirt burned me years ago. They sell crap gear and crap "surplus" for way too much money. I laughed my ass off when George Ure was claiming an ammo shortage based on CTD not having any 7.62x39. They actyually have some of the worst prices on the interternet and they have crappy service. They did not get burned, they are the burner....

 

[Dixielee]

Cheaper than dirt burned me years ago. They sell crap gear and crap "surplus" for way too much money. I laughed my ass off when George Ure was claiming an ammo shortage based on CTD not having any 7.62x39. They actyually have some of the worst prices on the interternet and they have crappy service. They did not get burned, they are the burner....

Sorry you had bad experience with them. We have bought from them in the past and this is the first time we have had any problem.
The Rep. that we talked to(via the internet) told us that they would check out the shake lights in their stock to see if they were fake, or defective.
The ones we got certainly looked and acted like they were the real thing. You open the box, read the simple instructions, shake them for 30 seconds, and the LED light comes on.
For all appearence they seem to be working.
The light also comes on even after the light has been sitting untouched in a drawer for months.
It is only if you leave the light on for several hours and the light gets dim, or stops working at all that you can see that the shaking is doing nothing, and that it has been running off the two tiny batteries. Pretty clever scam.

 

[Satanta]

I've dealt with them and for 98% of the time have been pleased with the item ordered. Sometimes they do get something that falls under the 'CTC' line. [[Cheaper Than Crap]] but any business that deals with low-end surplus and gray market wares is going to have that problem on occaision. Their help people have always worked with me and been fairly informative on the products but with anyy place of business-they can only know so much about a product unless they've handled it themselves.

You really have to read the print and consider the price for the item as well as the manufactuer.

YMMV.

 

[Dixielee]

I've dealt with them and for 98% of the time have been pleased with the item ordered. Sometimes they do get something that falls under the 'CTC' line. [[Cheaper Than Crap]] but any business that deals with low-end surplus and gray market wares is going to have that problem on occaision. Their help people have always worked with me and been fairly informative on the products but with anyy place of business-they can only know so much about a product unless they've handled it themselves.

You really have to read the print and consider the price for the item as well as the manufactuer.

YMMV.

You are so right. We tried to buy shake lights at about 1/3 of the going price for the "Faraday" brand. We both doubt that CTD knew they were fake, or defective. We had ours for a couple of months and until we saw a thread here about fake shake lights we never knew. You pay your money and you take your chances.
Most of the time we have been pleased with the stuff we got from them and certainly pleased with the price. Sometime it is true that you get what you pay for. LOL.

 

[ainitfunny]

I too have been VERY satisfied with the stuff I bought from cheaper than dirt. But then I usually am a careful buyer and know what to look for.

One thing the REAL shake flashlights won't do is light when you first pick them up without shaking. They store their charge in a capacitor NOT a battery. So if you haven't shaken or used your shake light in a long time and the light will come on when you just pick it up and turn it on, it is probably a FAKE light.

I paid quite a bit ($27.99 ea.)for 4 GOOD ones Shakelight 60 from Modern Outpost and I got what I paid for. http://www.modernoutpost.com/gear/details/gg_shakelight60.html

 

[Mongo]

Because of several problems, I have sworn off of CTD and am now a solid Sportsmansguide.com customer.