Your view of lights with non-replaceable, built-in batteries

[ampdude]

Your view of lights with non-replaceable, built-in batteries

Garbage. Not a fan of cell phones like that either, but a lot of times they don't give you a choice anymore. Plus the new replacement batteries you buy for them are already old stock since the phone is old. At least this can be avoided with flashlights. :thumbsup:

 

[bykfixer]

Well, to be honest, I fill the landfill or recycling bin with a lot more soda, juice, water and shampoo bottles along with a few hundred pounds of other stuff a lot more often than some 'disposable' flashlight that will likely last 3+ years.

So the notion of filling a hole in the ground with non replaceable fuel'd flashlights holds no merit with me. At least they are rechargeable these days. Used to be they were single use lights. And with a fuel guzzling light bulb to boot.

I have a couple here and there, but in general I prefer the option of swapping out fresh fuel cells in a few seconds.

 

[DimmerD]

Not a fan if you cant replace the batteries. I recently looked for wireless earbuds, you can't easily replace the batteries on those either, so I bought wired ones.

 

[Warmcopper123]

never have . never will. to me its another fad that will fade away.

It drives me nuts to spend $300 on a phone and watch the battery life go down knowing that in two years it will probably be at 50% if its life Just cant do it if I don't have to

 

[seery]

Used to not like them. But the Acebeam X65 changed my mind.

We have three that get used every night around our horse farm and property and these big horsepower lights seem to run forever on a charge.

I'd no longer want the hassle of having to remove and charge those 24 cells individually.

Run em' until the red light goes and, then plug em' in for 3 hours. Done.

 

[AVService]

Used to not like them. But the Acebeam X65 changed my mind.

We have three that get used every night around our horse farm and property and these big horsepower lights seem to run forever on a charge.

I'd no longer want the hassle of having to remove and charge those 24 cells individually.

Run em' until the red light goes and, then plug em' in for 3 hours. Done.

I am fairly certain that you can easily replace the batteries in this beast.

 

[GoVegan]

I simply won't buy any light with a non-replaceable battery. In fact I think there needs to be a law to prevent companies from selling consumer devices with non user replaceable batteries.

I feel so strongly about this that I stopped buying Apple products for this same reason and migrated my systems over to Thinkpads and Linux for more freedom.

I just really dislike the throwaway mentality of everything these days.

 

[mortuus]

I simply won't buy any light with a non-replaceable battery. In fact I think there needs to be a law to prevent companies from selling consumer devices with non user replaceable batteries.

I feel so strongly about this that I stopped buying Apple products for this same reason and migrated my systems over to Thinkpads and Linux for more freedom.

I just really dislike the throwaway mentality of everything these days.

but smartphones are no different, also built in batteries... and searchlights like aceabeam x70 i think its user safety, the maker of such lights wouldnt guarantee user safery if someone popped in ultrafire batteries and exploded... that would look bad mix crappy cells in such lights.... if u can afford 500$lights then u can afford spare extra battery packs for those also.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

but smartphones are no different, also built in batteries... and searchlights like aceabeam x70 i think its user safety, the maker of such lights wouldnt guarantee user safery if someone popped in ultrafire batteries and exploded... that would look bad mix crappy cells in such lights.... if u can afford 500$lights then u can afford spare extra battery packs for those also.

The issue isn't the cost of a spare battery pack. The issue is if you can even buy a spare battery pack in 3 years, when the company no longer produces the light or might not even exist anymore.

If I buy a AA light, I can be certain that I can buy a spare battery for it decades from now.

I don't really expect battery availability for decades, but 10 years would be nice. You can get that with replaceable batteries, but built-in or proprietary batteries you can't get any guarantee.

Frankly, if you buy a light that requires a proprietary battery, you should consider that light disposable when the battery dies. That might be okay, depending on your use, but everyone should be aware of it.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

but smartphones are no different, also built in batteries... and searchlights like aceabeam x70 i think its user safety, the maker of such lights wouldnt guarantee user safery if someone popped in ultrafire batteries and exploded... that would look bad mix crappy cells in such lights.... if u can afford 500$lights then u can afford spare extra battery packs for those also.

I don't think smartphones are quite the same. I do abhor the current trend of making the batteries built-in and non-replaceable, and if you look at Apple, for example, the combination of "degradation of built-in battery" plus "cpu throttling as battery degrades" means extra motivation to replace quickly. But the way contracts are currently structured, nearly everyone turns in their old smartphone in order to get a credit (which means they're at least not ending up in the garbage, where the incredibly toxic chemicals are poisoning the ground) and the fact is, at least in our current phase where there's interesting innovation going on, I'd be replacing every few years anyway. In any case, I hate this trend with smartphones, but flashlights with built-in lights do not get traded back to the manufacturer for credit and/or proper disposal, and flashlights can easily have a decade(s) of useful life. Still absolutely hate it -- but unlike flashlights, we have less and less choice when it comes to smartphones if we want to choose replaceable battery.

The Acebeam x70 -- does it have a replaceable battery pack? IF so, that's not the same case at all

 

[codeman0032]

I feel you guys might have a bit more experience than me in the area but I'm a bit of a flashlight fanatic just as a home hobby kinda thing, I love good, reliable, longlasting (both in charge and life) lights.

I've got countless numbers of 18650 lights and rechargeable 18650 lights, normal 2-3x AAA/AA batteries, old school bulbs and LED all of which I've been mildly disappointed with but would take over anything from my grandparents or parent's generations, though I've never taken one of those old ones and put an LED in it, I don't think it'd be much different. Overall they all drain too fast, they all break too easily or have small parts that were made of bad materials.

That's all till I started looking at Anker as more than a charging company, while looking for battery packs I ran across their flashlights and it so happened a guy at work got the Bolder lc90 which seemed a little big for the edc flashlight I was looking for, so I went with the Bolder lc40. I've used it damn near every single day since I got it a couple months ago and only had to charge it twice, with using it at work and at home for working on vehicles, under the house I just bought (too frequently there) and just in general cause it's so compact. I use it over literally all of the other flashlights I have, not that any were super expensive or anything but this thing is only 20 dollars and I'd buy another 10 if this ever dies cause it's just that great.

Everyone talking about it being a waste once the cell that comes with it dies, how many batteries do you think you go through in the lifespan of a good rechargeable cell? How much do those batteries cost? I know prices on lights varies greatly but for the 20 I spent on this light I'd probably get 2 years worth of batteries, so to me it 100% evens out, if I don't lean towards rechargeable simply for convenience.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

The Acebeam x70 -- does it have a replaceable battery pack? IF so, that's not the same case at all

It is if Acebeam no longer makes the pack in a few years, or they go bankrupt or shut down. IMO, I'd consider the x70 to be a disposable light when the battery dies. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll still be producing new packs, but I doubt it.

 

[paulr]

As with phones, lots of times you can open up the light and replace the battery with a little determination. When it's a rectangular pouch cell you have to find a replacement that's the right size or close, so you might check that out beforehand. It would be great if people with these lights who opened them up, could note the battery size.

 

[UFO]

Your original question can be answered very easily: No.

 

[vicv]

Small electronics like phones need built in batteries because the general consumer wants them lighter, thinner, longer runtime, waterproof, ect. So it's impossible to get all of those things while still being able to take it apart easily to change a battery. A flashlight doesn't need these things. Or at least to me none of these things are important. A flashlight will work basically indefinitely as long as you can replace the battery when it wears out. So no I will never buy a light like that

 

[Olumin]

I dislike them as much as necroposts.

 

[vicv]

Lol. I didn't look up more than a few posts. Didn't realize.
That being said, Necro bumps don't bother me. What's wrong with continuing an old conversation if there's new, relevant information. Even if that's just info coming from a new person

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I was a fan of some of the Nitecore lights and headlights, but they have their issues or are wearing out. My original Tip has a shot battery. Parasitic circuit on lockout wore it out faster. Replacement is overly complicated with no lockout. Should have stuck with the second version that simply fixed the parasitic lockout. Has no good replacement. NU20 headlight battery gets half the runtime by now, though I used it a lot. Updated versions screwed up regulation on high so there isn't a good replacement for NU20. NU10 headlight flickers on low, is too low for hiking on medium, and has 45 minute cutoff on high. NU30 headlight is nice, but my brother messed up the on switch. Replacement has a high cri setting half as bright which was the best setting on the light. No good replacement. Replaced my Tip with a Tip 2. I have no complaints so far on that light. Second generation Tip CRI still works but they screwed up it's potential replacement. I'm starting to get away from the lights with built in batteries as those lights with replaceable cells are getting decent. A Fenix e01 v.2 is okay for some uses of the Tips, though not as bright. Got an Acebeam H40 headlight as a compromise between the lightweight NU20 headlight and my heavier bright Nitecore HC60 headlight. Gets near 2 hours at 230 lumens on an 1100 mAh li-ion 14500 cell and goes up to 1050 lumens on turbo. At the time I got the lights with built in batteries, l.e.d.s were still getting decent improvements over time so the lights would be outdated by the time the batteries died and I'd just replace the light anyway. Now we are seeing less increases in efficiency as we approach the maximum potential for l.e.d.s so we're going to want our lights to last through multiple rechargeable batteries.

 

[paulr]

Oh lol I didn't realize how old this thread was when I posted. I had done a search for threads mentioning the Surefire Sidekick and had a lot of tabs open and was flicking through them one by one. Heh. Anyway, the issue is still with and these lights are getting more common. My feeling is I wouldn't get a large or expensive light unless they used standardized batteries (18650 or whatever), but for keychain lights the small pouch cells can be tolerable.

 

[Olumin]

I dont really buy olight because of this. Not inbuilt in many cases but proprietary. I make no distinction there. Also wanted to get the fenix wt50r. Such a beautiful design IMO and looks well balanced. But same problem. For some reason that thing also has a OP reflector and I dont get it. Would prefer either a smooth reflector or a tir optic on such a light for improved throw. if someone could make a 2x 21700 adapter for that light id get it. If they made that thing properly they could have made it a bit bigger and got 4 21700 inside. 20000 mah vs 5500 on that nugget. sorry im sidetracking.