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You get what you pay for. That phrase isn’t always true, but it often is. While some things are certainly overpriced for what you get, in other cases, if you try to buy the least expensive version of a product, it probably won’t be nearly as good as something that costs a little more.

In this story, a customer was shopping for a flashlight. He wanted to get a really bright flashlight, but he didn’t realize how expensive that would be.

The employee who helped him can only shake his head at the decision the customer finally makes.

Let’s read all about it.

“I want the best without spending the money for it”

A customer came in looking for a flashlight “As bright as car headlights!” He said he lives on a huge plot of land and needs to see “Everything” when he goes outside. He’s especially concerned about spotting coyotes in the distance.

Sounds scary so of course I’d like to help.

Unfortunately a car headlight is on the order of 1500+ lumens, which is a tall order for a small flashlight. It’s also going to be expensive, so I let him know.

The customer didn’t realize just how expensive a really bright flashlight would be.

I point him to the brightest light I have in the store, a nice, compact rechargeable flashlight with an output of about 600 lumens (going any brighter is a special order).

It’s $180.

He balks at the price. “Oh man no I don’t have that kind of money. You got anything else?”

“Yes sir I do, this light over here is the same brightness but not rechargeable. It retails for $100.”

The customer insisted there had to be something less expensive.

“That’s really too much money. Got anything cheaper?”

We’re not gonna get close to car headlight brightness for anything under $200. I tell him so.

He says “sure you can, my buddy did.” (Great, one of those ‘so-and-so said I can, so I can do it too’ people.)

We go to the $50 flashlights. 300 lumens. Still not cheap enough.

The less expensive the flashlight, the less bright it is.

$40 flashlights, 200 lumens, still not cheap enough.

$30, 160 lumens, 10% of the light he was looking for.

Not cheap enough.

He’s not going to see much with this!

Settles on a $15 worklight meant for working underneath a car for basic maintenance.

To roam his multi-acre field at night.

And spot coyotes out in the dark.

Good luck bro.

Wow! You definitely get what you pay for. I don’t think the customer is going to be happy with that flashlight.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person has a suggestion.

Another person shares what he has.

Someone who sells computers weighs in.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a grandson who is tired of driving 5 hours one way to work on his grandparent’s investment property for free.

Another person has a friend with a really bright spotlight.

The customer needed to decided how important it was to him to actually be able to see coyotes on his property at night. I don’t think he’s going to see very much with the flashlight he chose.

You can’t always get what you want if you aren’t willing to pay for it.