waaaaah!

Took my very new (the prev. owner only had it for a few weeks, and i maybe 2 weeks!) HDS u60 w/ u-bin mod, out while walking the dog. somehow lost my grip, fumbled it, hoped it'd fall into the grass, but instead it hit the concrete sidewalk, once, twice...about 10 times on the rotations.

lens completely shattered. nice fat ding on the bezel and head rim. ironically the one part i could have exchanged out, the tailcap, got only one or two tiny dings. murphy's law!

so where do i find a replacement lens, and a tool for getting the bezel out, on the cheap?

i'm also thinking i want a ti or ss bezel now, for protection, and also to help 'mask' the ugly ding on the rim...

Sorry to hear about your accident. Totaly sucks dude!

Ahhhhh, the love affair begins...

Write a mail to [email protected], I'm sure Jim will help you.

That really sucks mcmc,

I got a lens kit from Lighthound.com. It comes with a tool to remove the retainer ring, O-ring, glass lens, polycarbonate lens, and a polycarbonate diffuser lens. It's about $30.

kelmo

Thank you guys for your support, it's helping me get over the hump =) I didn't realize how much I liked this guy (had a B42XRGT before but sold it) until I dropped it! The beam is really perfect for outdoor nighttime use (compared to my U-bin LF1 and a CR2 clone from 5th unit). But, this on the heels of my losing a brand new blue CR2 Ion... Maybe it's a sign...?

CFU - thanks for the free bezel removal tip! And I hope that lens will fit, as $1.50 sounds much better than $30 (but thank you Kelmo for the info as well!).

CFU, do you use the SS bezel in yours as well? Do you find that it does help against this sort of accident, as I hope? I originally thought the shiny metal looked odd next to the HA natural, but for the extra protection it would provide I can get over it. You wouldn't happen to know what size tritium fits in these guys, right? I recently bought some from Bart and his are so bright, I'd like to use his if possible...thanks!

AW's Beam Shaper lens:
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=81875

Flashlight Lens:
http://www.flashlightlens.com/products.htm

22.8mm is the size.

Got it. I'll probably troll the bst's for a used one, until I get my replacement lens, and if no luck, order from fenix-store...thanks!

I'm just hoping nothing else got damaged - looks okay so far. Anyone else have experience dropping (or otherwise abusing) their hds's? Just wondering exactly how bombproof these are.

I'm surprised I dropped the light. I rarely drop things. Perhaps part of it is that the knurling is a little less aggressive than I remember the knurling on my B42XRGT was.

Put it this way, you'll be a lot more willing to use the light the way it's meant to be used now that it's less "pretty." After I dropped my Fenix L1P and Surefire A2, I've been a lot more comfortable with using them. Heck, the bezel dings and scrapes on my A2 don't even bother me now. Just a sign of a well-appreciated (workhorse) light.

If the mousepad doesn't work to remove the bezel (didn't budge mine), you can make a bezel tool pretty easily. I took a piece of metal strapping, the kind used to strap lumber and other stuff to pallets and cut it to fit the notches inside the bezel with a pair of tin snips. Fine tuned the fit with a file and it worked like a charm.

I have the SS bezel with the trits and love it. If there's a weak spot on the HDS, it's the bezel. It's thin enough that a drop could ding or dent the threads. IMHO, the SS looks good contrasting the HAIII anodizing.

Lanyard!!!!!!

sorry to hear about your accident.

aorry about your loss... LANYARD!!!!!!! these things are the best, and best of all they are really cheap and easy to make if you use paracord. best of luck!!!

I dropped my McluxIII-PD onto concrete from about waist high and it landed right on the titanium bezel and when I picked it up I couldn't find a single scratch on it. Titanium bezel=GOOD

Glad to hear that... I wondered if the ti bezel was worth the $$$ for the McLux but I went with it anyway.

Now I just need one for my HDS... I'm a real ninny about messing with my stuff though, always worry I going to slip and break something

The lanyard is definite though, Lighthound have all the bits you need.

Hope it isn't too late for a SS bezel for you mcmc. That ding on the existing bezel and lip might mean that you will be unable to remove it, and so unable to put in a new lens. I don't know what people in that situation have managed to do. Maybe HDS has an idea.

Scottiver - great, that's exactly the sort of news that I wanted to hear!! =)

Thanks guys, for the suggestion on the lanyard. I'd seen the lanyard attachment hardware another fellow is selling here, but do you guys wear the light around your neck then? I felt like the hds would be too big and heavy to wear comfortably around your neck, and esp. walking the dog that it would bounce around. Or do you use a wrist lanyard? Some of my chinese lights came w/ various sizes of wrist lanyard, but they always felt like they could slip off at any time and that it might serve to give even false security...

wasBlinded: i was worried about that too. From the looks of it, the ding was a lateral force once (parallel to body) - haven't tried to remove it yet, but hope it comes off. If it doesn't, perhaps another ding in the opposite direction would help. Just kidding.

carrot: well, if you want to be all LOGICAL and STRAIGHTHEADED about it all...hehe just messing with you. that's the first thing i thought too, of course. but thinking about the loss of resale value, and also the fact that my MM Arc 2-stage lux and the HDS were no longer a 'nicely matched pair' were what made me want to go 'waah.' But if the functionality isn't hampered, then ja, it ought to make it more of a used light, and isn't that what we're supposed to do? use our lights for making light. but of course all of us love the lights we love not just for function but also for nice form =) So I'm hoping none of my other lights will suffer the same fate, while still being utilized to the max. Wishful thinking though of course.

Ouch! That's quite a bit of damage. I always thought that the HDS lights weren't anywhere near as durable as everyone though, and this just proves it. I hope you are able to fix it as good as possible and make it look decent again.

adirondackdestroyer said:

Ouch! That's quite a bit of damage. I always thought that the HDS lights weren't anywhere near as durable as everyone though, and this just proves it.

Click to expand...

Perhaps balance your observation with this thread: http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=123314&highlight=abuse
The culprit is the UCL window which is quite fragile. A polycarbonate window, mineral glass, or a sapphire window will stand up to more abuse.