Viking Pro V3 durability

CrocodileAgent

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 16, 2016
Messages
14
So let me start off by saying i bought my light like everyone else and my budget is pretty tight aswell.

Ive had my new viking for a few weeks now and decided i wanted to test out the durability that they supposedly have.

I dont have pictures of my testing process as it was done this morning at midnight under a very close by thunderstorm nearby my house.

It started off with me removing my precious brand new 18650 (that light was unfortunately unpowered during the testing)
and throwing it far as i could across a parking lot.
I threw it twice. Both times the light reached a height of roughly 15 feet and travelled the distance of 11 large parking spaces.
Each throw ended in the light bouncing several times and coming to a rest partially submerged in a puddle.

The light showed no significant damage and the glass was pristine, so i placed it under the front wheel of my f150 and drove over it 5 times.

After that i replaced the battery and checked all the functions which worked as per usual.
The head was ovalized under the weight of my truck and you could clearly see the gasket around the lense. The lense itself was still spotless so i took it inside and began an "elzetta style" test.

I took apart the light and submerged it making sure to remove any air pockets from the tube and tailcap. Then, while still underwater, i loaded 2 streamlight cr123s into it and turned it on.

The light came on in turbo reliably, but all other functions were glitchy and mostly unusable. There was even some flickering and constant firefly mode while turned off.

As i type, the light is currently running submerged in my bathroom sink. It has stepped down due to the low discharge of the primary cells but is still running relatively steady with an occasional minor flicker. There is also definite water ingress in the head around the led and reflector due to the ovalized aluminium.

Tomorrow i will check if it is still running, then dry it out and get pictures for you guys to see.

Guess ill also need to find a new head for my light. Hopefully armytek can sell me just that bit.:p
 

CrocodileAgent

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 16, 2016
Messages
14
Not sure how to embed so bear with me...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B60tfowKDiCGLWxLZVhqTmRrM0U
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B60tfowKDiCGb2VxNXdwdFhlM1k
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B60tfowKDiCGZ1ZIdk84eUlsRVk

Damage is not bad on the finish considering. The heavy scarring on the head is due to being ground into the pavement when i drove over it.
You can see in the last picture that the head is taller than it is wide. The deformation of the head has broken the seal between the gasket and lens.
Upon closer inspection of the head there is a very small crack/chip that is probably not visible in the photos.

Overnight the light ran submerged with the battery tube and head/reflector compartments filled with water. (You can still see moisture inside the lens currently)
After 6 hours the light appeared to be running on low from the turbo mode it was set to at the beginning of the test.
When I drained the light, brown sediment/residue came out with the water from the battery tube.
The positive contact spring and positive terminal of the closest battery were brown and discolored, though they cleaned up easily with alcohol.

After drying the light, I reassembled and tested with a fully charged 18650 and all modes functioned properly.
After prolonged running on turbo, moisture from the head of the light condensed and found its way into the battery tube leaving everything wet again.
Next test will be a few hundred rounds with the light mounted to a rifle firing 7.62x39. While the levels of recoil will not come near a 12 gauge shotgun or the likes, this rifle has a relatively harsh impulse shock to it which I hope will suffice.

After that ill try throwing it from 2-3 stories up onto sidewalk to see if i cant kill it that way.
Hope this is interesting to somebody, or atleast maybe clears up the "made in China" durability fears :thinking:
 

scs

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 9, 2015
Messages
1,803
Thanks for sacrificing your light for these tests.
I'm surprised the finish has hold up like you said. That on mine got all scratched up, bare aluminum showing, just from installing and removing the clip.
 

CelticCross74

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 30, 2014
Messages
4,021
Location
Fairfax Va
I have 3 V3 Viking Pros. Idk what they put in the anodization but what I thought would be permanent damage essentially rubbed off with a cloth. Your a brave CPFer to do these real world tests with these expensive lights!
 

Lumencrazy

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
369
I have 3 V3 Viking Pros. Idk what they put in the anodization but what I thought would be permanent damage essentially rubbed off with a cloth. Your a brave CPFer to do these real world tests with these expensive lights!

Unlike most of the other manufacturers they apply a complete type 111 hard anodization. Nothing special, just done properly.
 

CrocodileAgent

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 16, 2016
Messages
14
I have 3 V3 Viking Pros. Idk what they put in the anodization but what I thought would be permanent damage essentially rubbed off with a cloth. Your a brave CPFer to do these real world tests with these expensive lights!

Most of the wear and tear on my sample would dissappear with a quick wipe as you said. Only damage bad enough to affect the aluminum itself has caused problems
 

CrocodileAgent

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Joined
May 16, 2016
Messages
14
I hope to cut open the head after all this is done and get some photos of whats really going on in there
 

CrocodileAgent

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 16, 2016
Messages
14
Firstly I apologize for the blurry pics. My gopro doesnt work well close in and my phone camera has a broken lense.

So today I had some free time at in the warehouse. I found a large garbage bin (12ft x 24) and threw the light at it as hard as I could from about 10 feet away. I did this multiple times to ensure I hit a different spot each throw.
Then I used it as a hammer on the concrete floor which started bending in the bezel prongs just slightly. And to finish the job, I found a large protruding bolt on a nearby forklift and used it to strike the lense repeatedly. I swing a hammer all day every day at work, and it took me several solid strikes before the glass gave way.

Once the glass was gone, I could pull out the O rings. (2 of them. One very thick with a flange on the inside.) Upon challenging a co-worker to try and break it, the light was hurled down onto the concrete floor and bounced back up nearly 5 ft. All this did was loosen the reflector which had been freed in the absence of the glass and rubber holding it in. I used a grinder to cut off the ovalized bezel which was preventing the reflector from being removed. I managed to use a set of nearby tin snips to turn the flats on the electronics capsule and break the red loctite on the threads holding it into the head.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B60tfowKDiCGZDVKOUYtZ09JLTQ

This is the capsule with the led clearly visible on the front. The small bushing next to it appeared to be sitting between the led and reflector. In the following function test, please note that in the removal of the capsule, my tool slipped several times and damaged the clear layer on the pcb. Primarily where those two wires (possibly for detecting head loose state) emerge next to the led. Therefore I would like to be optimistic and say that up until its removal, it was functioning as it should. (Though there is no way to tell now.)

I cleaned all the threads and reassembled the light to function test. In turbo the light functioned normally 70% of the time. Other times it would flicker to constant on, or turn on dimly or not at all. Impacts began affecting the light. Causing flickering and mode changing (though very rarely for the latter). In a head loose state, the light would not function properly, or in a regular pattern. 10% reliable in head loose.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B60tfowKDiCGUkRIZE5zMWJrU2s

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B60tfowKDiCGaTJVTFRCQTdITGc

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B60tfowKDiCGUUo4Yjk1ak9zYlE

The rest of these images show the capsule after being taken apart. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to do neatly with a 4" angle grinder. The back of the led pcb appears to be copper with a good application of thermal compound. Separating the led pcb and the pcb with the battery terminal is a layer of black potting and then a layer of aluminum. (aluminum against the led pcb) I wasn't able to get the potting off very well so there is not much to show there. Seemed to me there was a few small air pocket around larger components, but not all that bad in general. (though im no expert)

If anybody has any questions ill try and answer them. Also yes it pains me to lose a light. But I feel much more comfortable testing it firsthand and knowing what it can do.
 
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CelticCross74

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 30, 2014
Messages
4,021
Location
Fairfax Va
My GOD man! You took it to it with a vengeance! After reading through your thread and looking at the photos it seems that the light held up like it was made of stone most of the time. I actually feel better about all the AT's I have now. Some of the photos were not the greatest but from what I could tell the driver looked like it was put together very well. I see good soldering, good wiring. Even after abuse that would have killed most small home safes the light still worked! Despite the crushed reflector and all! You have done CPF a great service sir! You answered a lot of questions for the Armytek curious.
 
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