Durability of EN finish on Aleph Mules

I am looking into building a light some someone, and believe that the Mule will work very well for them (I know it works well for me ), but I wanted to see what people's opinion on the EN finish is. I have everything I need to make a regular black HA Mule, and I know Don's HA finish on the Aleph products is very good, but I wanted to see if people think the EN finish might be more durable even than the HA.

I have the black oil can Mule and love it, and it looks just the same as it did the day I got it, but I think the light i'm making will see harder use than mine does as my EDC.

So my real question is, has anyone managed to mess up the finish on their EN finished Mule in any way? I've seen some people have some trouble with the black plated ones, but mine has been fine.

Which finish would you pick for a hard use Aleph mule?

Thanks,

schiesz

I have a "OIL" Black EN Aleph Mule that I've EDC'd for a month. I'm only using the body with a Black A19 Head. The Mule Head has been sitting in the case on another body so I think this is a good comparison in how the EN will wear.

On the Body the edges of the neck and tail are brassy in color. Thats only the edge, its even and looks like a highlight. The ribbing in the middle doesn't display the same effect.

The Head does have the finest sign of brassy lines on the outer edge of the crenellations. Some more so than others. Again I didn't carry the Mule Head more than a handful of times just the Body.

My two cents... It looks SO much better than a worn Maglite, the brassy color highlights blend in with the oily black/green/puple/brown and highlight the edges.

I bought both the black and EN Mule McClicky packs, but have carried only the EN one. I've carried it daily since receiving it, when it replaced my black Aleph 1, 1 X 123 as my EDC. The A1 finish held up very well, but a recent trip through the wash exposed some alum on the edges of the tail. But even after a full wash cycle, it fired right up!

My EN Mule is quite dusty around the tail, but if I cleaned it up I'm sure it would look new. I don't give it any particularly special care, and fortunately haven't dropped it yet. There are a couple tiny dings in the edge of the tail which is exposed when clipped to my pant pocket, but no chipping as might be the case with a chrome finish.

Overall it has held up better than I expected, and I have no hesitation putting it to hard use. I don't know how it stacks up against a good HA, but at least any wear or scrapes in the finish would not be as noticeable as a dark HA.

I wouldn't go too hardcore on the light , yet normal everyday-hangin-by -the-clip-outside-of-jeans seems to be all right for me...The finish is good but the sharp edges will suffer the most. The black is just EN with a dark coating of some sort on top, mine came off while trying to polish, but I got a little creative:




Its till holding up well, and I don't baby this one , I don't even have a holster for it , and I holster everything...

That looks very nice Cuso. I love the combination of polished and unpolished areas.