andrewwynn said:
I figure that i'm like 'the vast majority' who will.. instinctively clean the dirt off a window of their light (torch for most of the world) with their T-shirt or a spit-wetted thumb when needed.. it's this basicaly 'crazy behavior' that ruins a perfectly good plastic window, but i just can't help it so whenever i can i use glass.. it's worth the risk for me (drop=break risk that is).. Also many of my lights are far too powerful to use plastic, they just will melt within minutes.
-awr
Pretty much what Andrew states,
I use glass in all my mods since I will get better brightness with them. No scratches so it has that extra bit of class.
I've broken glass "windows" in a modded minimag by dropping it in some gravel but had a spare so no problem. My D cell sized Mag mods run glass to keep the reflectors stabilized as plastic will bow under pressure. If I drop the Mag in gravel, I'll have the weight of the flashlight and 8 NiMH AA cells to make sure the glass gets destroyed.
Thanks to kiu, he is making black HA-III crenulated strike bezels which will help protect the glass. The farther up the head the gravel has to go to hit the glass, the less force and chance it has to actually shatter. I have two of them on order, one for my LuxV Mag and one for my upcoming Quad XR-E Mag.
For my EDC 2AA and AAA lights, the stock plastic lens works fine and has taken some hits. When glass breaks, it can tear up the reflector and punch a hole in the Luxeon domes. Not a good thing if your really, really need the light to work in rough situations.