Wasted $200 on a cheap viral TikTok ring light that fell apart in 3 weeks

I saw this ring light all over my feed, like every creator was using it for those perfect beauty shots. It was only $35 on one of those flash sale sites, so I jumped on it without reading any reviews (big mistake). The plastic arm snapped clean off on day 12, just trying to adjust the height a little. Then the USB port got wobbly by week three, and it stopped holding a charge altogether. I ended up buying a proper Neewer one for $60 that's been solid for 6 months now. So I basically threw $35 down the drain and lost time re-shooting content with bad lighting. Has anyone else fallen for those super cheap ring lights that just don't last?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly_west7423d ago

Honestly I've noticed this with so many viral cheap products lately. It's like the whole manufacturing model shifted to make stuff that looks good on camera but falls apart the second you actually use it. Those flash sale sites know they'll never see you again so they just pump out garbage with zero quality control. Tbh I stopped trusting anything under $50 if it's from an ad on social media, learned that lesson the hard way with a stand mixer that smelled like burning plastic after two uses.

king.wyatt23d ago

Nah I gotta push back on this a bit. A lot of those cheap products are actually fine if you know what you're buying and don't expect it to last forever. The whole point is you're paying for the convenience and the trend, not a lifetime warranty. I've bought like 5 different random gadgets from those flash sale sites and most of them still work fine a year later. The stand mixer thing sucks but that's a heavy duty appliance, you can't compare that to a $15 hair tool or whatever. People just need to manage their expectations and not buy a $40 knockoff KitchenAid and act shocked when it's not built like a tank. Plus you can always just return it if it's actually broken, most of those sites have decent return policies now.