most disappointing flashlight?

raggie33

*the raggedier*
Joined
Aug 11, 2003
Messages
13,565
got the box today i open it as if it was a Christmas present all excited all happy . to only learn it is that damn colon test where you need to put a bowel movement in the box i was so bummed lol. which lite delivery made you most disappointed?
 

raggie33

*the raggedier*
Joined
Aug 11, 2003
Messages
13,565
lol this is the 3rd time they sent this box. i just cant do it i even told my doc i doubt ill do it. but its better then the other test which i think they put a vhs camcorder in ya back side.
 

AstroTurf

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 21, 2020
Messages
1,173
Location
RVA USA
got the box today i open it as if it was a Christmas present all excited all happy . to only learn it is that damn colon test where you need to put a bowel movement in the box i was so bummed lol. which lite delivery made you most disappointed?
Sounds like you need a beer to go with that test…

A Butt Lite!!!

LOLz
 

Stress_Test

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
1,334
Well, in seriousness.... (i.e. a non-poo related answer to the question!)

Biggest disappointment was a Fenix TK11 R5 edition. I had the TK11 R2 and TK12 R2. I really liked that series so I eventually ended up getting the R5 edition of the TK11.

What a letdown! They changed the driver so that it was PWM on the low mode!! NONE of the other TK series at that point had PWM. Felt like a bait-and-switch. For the "premium" cost of the light, that was a real downer.

Also, the lens was slightly cloudy. In hindsight I should've sent it back for that reason alone. I think it may have gotten worse over time.

It causes a very funky color change to the beam, it's yellow/purple/yellow in a concentric pattern. I'm not a super-picky white-wall hunter or anything but this was ridiculous.

I thought maybe I'd just take it to work and use it as a beater light that I didn't care if I dropped it off a 100ft catwalk, but even for that purpose it was just too terrible to put up with. The PWM bugs me on top of the tint also.

Major disappointment for a Fenix light; I'd had all good experiences until then, but for me that was the end of my Fenix purchasing (not helped by the fact that I also had a PD31 with flaky mode-shifting; another "premium" R5 light).

The TK11 R5 now sits loaded with cr123a cells, gathering dust as a last-last-last resort, or maybe as an emergency loaner.... to some neighbor I don't like!
 

brachypelma44

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 16, 2019
Messages
58
Location
Maryland
Convoy makes some great lights, but the S11 sucks pond water. Ugly dark beam artifacts including a black ring in the corona, and the tail switch is too recessed. If your thumb isn't lined up perfectly with one of the open sides, it hurts to press down on it (because your thumb hits the metal edge before it hits the button.) I've retired it as a flashlight, and am now using it (with diffuser) only as a mini lantern for power outages, since the runtimes are decent with the 6200 mAh 26650s I got for it.
 

3_gun

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 27, 2021
Messages
643
Fenix E35 v3. It's not that it's a bad light it's just the one that with 20/20 hindsight I would tell myself not to buy. Truth is if I didn't have better lights I might just call this amazing BUT I do have better. It IS the one that if I lost it I'm sure I wouldn't look to hard(i would look some) to find or buy it again. As good as it is it just shows how some of the lights we have to choose from really are exceptional
 
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