Dead Reliable Lights

[qwertyydude]

My vote would have to go with maglite's 2AA and my inovas, x1 and now my bolt 2AA.

 

[kramer5150]

I dropped my AA minimag once and it did something to the small contact piece inside. The small copper tab that touches the end of the body-tube to turn it on got bent/dislodged somehow. I had to re-bend it to get it to work again. But now all is well:thumbsup:.

 

[Juggernaut]

I dropped my AA minimag once and it did something to the small contact piece inside. The small copper tab that touches the end of the body-tube to turn it on got bent/dislodged somehow. I had to re-bend it to get it to work again. But now all is well:thumbsup:.

The Minimag is not at all invincible:mecry:. What I like to think about it is that any problem you do have with it can be fixed relatively easily. If a C/D Mag's switch breaks, well it needs to be replaced. While the internals of a Minimag are easy to take out and put back in, sanding the contacts and re-stretching the tail spring fixes most problems I can think of without having to do much else. Granted It's nice knowing that an LED will not just die randomly about 89%:thumbsup: of the time while an Incan may 15%:shakehead of the time but I like the ability of easily replacing it if something does go wrong. Besides it's relatively short life span 5-7 hours. I have yet to break a filament / the glass it's self from pure shock abuse:devil: "while I have broken PR based bulbs this way".

 

[kramer5150]

The Minimag is not at all invincible:mecry:. What I like to think about it is that any problem you do have with it can be fixed relatively easily. If a C/D Mag's switch breaks, well it needs to be replaced. While the internals of a Minimag are easy to take out and put back in, sanding the contacts and re-stretching the tail spring fixes most problems I can think of without having to do much else. Granted It's nice knowing that an LED will not just die randomly about 89%:thumbsup: of the time while an Incan may 15%:shakehead of the time but I like the ability of easily replacing it if something does go wrong. Besides it's relatively short life span 5-7 hours. I have yet to break a filament / the glass it's self from pure shock abuse:devil: "while I have broken PR based bulbs this way".

x2... I think the AA minimag deserves some credit here for being easily serviceable. Very few lights are now-days.

 

[BIGIRON]

CMG Ultra Infinity if I could have only one light forever. ARC AAA second. Also supportive of the MiniMag with some type led.

 

[RA40]

The AA Mini Mag. Mine has been dropped, thrown, driven over... Once when I was soo peeved I threw it down on the garage floor. Bent the front bezel and head, it still turned on and is with me today for basic shop duty. Those bulbs seem pretty tough for an incan.
SF E-series with KL-1 does well but I don't use it in harsh conditions.

 

[Black Rose]

I have a tendency to take things a little too literal at times, and when I first saw the thread title, I thought to myself "How can a dead light be reliable?"

Of the lights I own, the only one I would say I would categorize as being reliable is the Fenix E01...it's such a simple design/implementation.

 

[mossyoak]

havent managed to hurt a fenix p2d-ce or a nitecore ex10 either...

 

[Patriot]

Well, let me be the first one here to point out . . . .


No matter what flashlight you decide to carry,


you should ALSO carry a back-up.


Always.



If there's one thing we've seen here on CPF,
it's that ANY brand of flashlight can fail.

Any brand of BATTERY can fail.

Not to mention, you could just plain ol' DROP IT.


If it's critical to have a flashlight,
then be sure you carry a spare.


Words of wisdom, gathered from numerous CPF postings.

_

I second this advice. A back-up light can be so minimal but it's still a good idea to have one. Mine is an LOD Q4 but for someone else it might only be a Photon or similar key chain light.

It seems like nearly every light I use on a regular basis is "dead reliable."

Surefire
Novatac
Zebralight
Polarion
BitZ
Fenix
Customs from Mac and FM

All have been perfect.

 

[WadeF]

I haven't had many problems with my lights, but reading this forums it seems no brand or model is 100% reliable. However it seems most issues are noticed when the light is received, but some develope issues down the road as well.

As mentioned above, always back a back up, or two, or three, four, five, and in my case, maybe a few more than that.

I usually have my EDC, and if I'm out of the house I have a keychain with a couple back ups, and a few in the car.

 

[carrot]

I have never had my McLux PD fail... or most of my SF's for that matter.

 

[Hans]

How do you judge reliability? I've got quite a few lights that never failed on me, but I don't use most of them enough to say something about their reliability. The only lights I feel I can can safely comment on are the ones I have been using day in and day out, in all sorts of situations, over a long period - the "old" HDS B42 and the Fenix LOD. They are my current EDC and have been since they came out. No failures whatsoever, not even after putting the light through the washing machine. (Yes, it also happened to my HDS once.)

All my other lights *may* be dead reliable, but I'm not really in the position to say so.

 

[lengendcpf]

Alright, so recently i've been wondering about the reliability of my lights, and I want to know what you guys think.

IMO the most reliable light that I own is my Arc AAA

What do you guys think is the most reliable light out there regardless of price, battery, etc....

IMHO, a candle..
.

 

[Burgess]

A candle is a quite UN-reliable source of light. :shakehead


Mild breezes can easily extinguish the flame.


Same with a single drop of water.


Heck, you can't hardly even walk fast, whilst carrying a candle.

Running is outta' the question.



Oh, i suppose . . . .

maybe, if you had a candle mounted inside
one of those "candle-lantern gizmos", as seen in
sporting-goods stores & catalogs.



But i'd rather have a plain ol' 2AA Mini-Mag light,

with its standard incand. bulb ( ! )

rather than a candle.

:candle:
_

 

[ampdude]

I understand the votes for the Maglite 2 AA light, but like any incan light, its weakest point is the bulb. I know the light has a spare in the tail cap, but that doesn't cut it for me.

In fact, it was a Maglite bulb failing at 3:30 am (it was mounted on my bike's handlebars, probably the worst environment for an incan) in 2003 that led to my searching on the internet and finding CPF. It's been entirely different since then: all my light purchases since have been LED-based.

So, for me, the Maglite 2 AA and all other incan lights FAIL.

Let it go man, let it go!!! Hey, the guy in your avatar even has an incan. They served you well long before that.

I've had plenty of LED lights fail on me. I still buy them sometimes though. Mostly just the drop-ins these days.

As far as dead reliable lights I like to have around me WHEN FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION ™ I like to have a Surefire E2e with either an MN02 or MN03, Surefire batteries and a Z52 twisty tailcap.

Or some sort of C or P series Surefire light with a twisty tailcap and an incan bulb.

 

[Gatsby]

I tend to not keep a light if it's not reliable - but if forced to choose I'd go for design features which I have more faith in - a single level twisty with LEDs. In my case in a SHTF situation the lights I'd rely upon most would be any of my handful of Peak lights - either of the Kilmanjaros, my Pacific or my McKinley. The simple twisty design, potted electronics and simple/well proven circuitry have proven to be very reliable and are designed to be so.

The Pacific gets a small nod as it can run off a AAA, AA, CR2 or 2xAAA equally well - which when you need light having multiple battery options is an attractive option.

I love my Novatac, and the design is pretty robust, but I don't think I'd rely on any microchip controlled multi level light if I had to choose only one.

However, as stated, there is one reason my EDC and backup tend to be one multi level light and one single level twisty! :thumbsup:

 

[sORe-EyEz]

hmmm, in no specific order... its CMG Infinity (non-Ultra), Pelican M6 LED, Gerber Infinity Ultra, Inova X5T (seems to get many votes here), Gerber LX1.

looks like a long list of lights to be grabbing in a rush! .... not to mention the amount of spare batteries... :sick2:

 

[asdalton]

How do you judge reliability? I've got quite a few lights that never failed on me, but I don't use most of them enough to say something about their reliability.

I mainly look for consistency in complaints that other people have had.

Examples:
- Surefire's older E-series clicky switches jamming
- Arc AAA (2003-2004 versions) with intermittent turn-on problem
- Minimag AA/AAA developing bad switch contacts
- Streamlight 4AA 7-LED having dead LEDs due to overdriving
- Inova X1 (current generation) with flaky regulation

 

[RA40]

With as large a collective we have here, most lights that have come-gone has shown at least one bad sample. I dunno about the custom-mods though...I suspect they are equally prone but due to the skill and testing, these may be a different sample size.

I haven't had any switch problems with my HDS U60 but there were those who did. I've not had any SF clickie switch problems but I immediately swapped mine for the Aleph tail caps with the McClickies. YMMV

 

[22hornet]

Maglites and Surefires have been used for years and people found them really reliable, so I guess they actually are really good.

I guess most led-lights are just too recent to tell whether they are reliable or not. (We should pose this question again in 10 or 20 years.)
Nevertheless I have a feeling that (aside from Maglite and Surefire) ARC and Peak are really good.
I have more confidence in these lights than in my Fenixes (2 failed thusfar: an L2T that just stopped with no reason and an L2P that fell from maybe 4 feet maximum and stopped functioning) or Inovas (Bolt and X1 that need slapping in order to function).

Funny thing is I really really really like Fenixes 2AA models and most often edc one, but I always have a Peak or ARC as a backup...

Kind regards,
Joris