Animal Planet Retractable Pet Leash with Flashlight, 16 Foot

So, you'd think that if Animal Planet allowed their name to be used to hawk something, it would have some level of quality. In this case, no. The leash part of this is OK, though probably no better or worse than others. However, the flashlight is a complete piece of junk.I probably only used the flashlight 3-4 times on very short walks, and the switch broke, rendering it useless. As an engineer, and looking at the mechanism they use inside it, it's hard to reach any other conclusion than they designed it to break. A decent switch would have cost them pennies to include, but instead it relies on cheap, thin metal that will bend or break very quickly (in my case, both).I purchased this leash primarily because it included an LED flashlight, and for the brief time that it worked, the flashlight was nice and bright. Now, it is no more.So, save your money and buy another leash. For that matter, you'd probably be better off duct taping a penlight to a good quality leash.

I had another flashlight leash that broke so I thought I would try one from a "trusted" name in animal care, ignoring the reviews. BIG MISTAKE.The product does work as designed- mostly- but the design is terrible. It's big, bulky and heavy (unlike the one I had before). There is no button to quickly stop your dog from pulling out to the end of the leash.Instead, the design is this: the natural state of the leash is to NOT extend. To let your dog pull out a few more feet, you have to actively pull on the trigger in the handle and hold it like that to both extend and retract. If you decide that you'd rather let your dog pull it out and retract it at will without that effort, you can push a switch to allow this, but in this state there is no "stop" button/trigger. To stop the extension, you have to push the switch back to the other side, which is not quick or simple. It's DANGEROUS. If your dog decides to run out after something into the street or engage with another dog you don't want it to, it will take you an extra 3-5 seconds to stop them than with a traditional retractable leash. In that time your pet could've been hit by a car or attacked by another dog and you are suddenly running to the vet with an emergency (if you're lucky).I like that you can take the flashlight OUT of the leash, but it doesn't work very well anyway. I purchased a replacement less than a week after I received this. What a waste of money. Do. Not. Buy. This.

This leash was very poorly thought out. The retractable part relied upon the user having their finger always on the trigger. Extremely uncomfortable. I've never seen a design like this before. Most (all I've owned) have a button,or lever, you push, pull, hold, when you want to stop, hold, dog, animal in place or prevent them from running, going further along. To hold a trigger (and I DO mean trigger as in gun type contraption) is ridiculous.

I bought this as I wanted to be able to walk my dog safely at night and see the surroundings easily. Rather then use two hands one for a flash light and one for a leash this seemed like a great idea. My dog is 45 pounds and after hooking his collar to the leash within 30 seconds of being outside the dog pulled on the leash and it snapped off he went loose around the neighborhood me standing there with a ripped retractable. When I dropped the leash handle to go chase/get my dog the flash light fell out and broke as well. This is just super cheaply made and is garbage, look for an alternative. *I will change my review if the item is replaced without charge and works as described instead of being junk.

Severely disappointed!...Heavily used, non working dog leash received In open packaging

The flashlight works about half of the time and only after switching it half a dozen times. The retractable leash is already broken and the control to keep the leash from retracting never worked.

Bigger than I expected and gets stuck when it retracts

This is the sturdiest leash I have been able to find for our dog. He tends to end up breaking the "leash" part of it and it won't wind back in, but this one has worked very well for us. I bought one for our neighbor too who complains of the similar problem and she seems to like it as well.