Tell us the first time you dropped / dinged your favorite light

LED-holic · Jul 8, 2008

I'm ultra careful with my good lights, and keep them on lanyards and carabiners, so I don't drop them.

That said, I swore I'd use my lights, so eventually they'd get dinged up.

Well, it happened, the other night. I was done working out at the gym, and had my gym shorts on, without belt loops to hang my ND10 to. So I got out of the car, and had my ND10 on my lap but not secured. Clang...clack... my beloved ND10 takes a tumble onto the hard and rough pavement.

Mentally I scream "NO!!!!!!!" and cringe as I pick up my poor ND10. Yup, there are a few scratches, one right on the bezel and a few of the knurling are scratched. The light still works fine, no problems there. But my once perfect ND10, is now scarred. On no...

I swore the ND10 would be used and abused, and not be a shelf queen. But still, that first scar hurts...

Share with us your stories, and how you overcame that hurt feeling...

kramer5150 · Jul 8, 2008

I drop my 6P all the time at work... hard ESD lenolium. If it ever takes a serious fall... its a 1-800 call to Fountain Valley for a warranty repair.

FWIW the cheap China-made DX drop in has survived each tumble just as well as the host.

nighthawk · Jul 19, 2008

I dropped my E1L a week after I bought it. I was looking at some cheaper Chinese lights at Ace Hardware, and I wanted to have some comparison between the two then I reached for my E1L in the pocket it slipped thru my finger as soon as it was out of the pocket. Damn....

generic808 · Jul 19, 2008

Dropping lights while getting out of the car ALWAYS seems to happen to me :ohgeez:

TONY M · Jul 19, 2008

Dropping lights is only really painful the first time it happens! Somehow I have never wrecked a good light yet by dropping it luckily but I have too many dings and anodizing chips to mention.

Dropping a light is not always so bad if you can find it. My buddy "dropped" a L2D when he was riding along on his motorbike, it was never found. Hehe.

EV_007 · Jul 19, 2008

It's not so bad after the first drop.

"Character" marks aren't so bad as long as its not too obvious and the light isn't adversely effected by the impact.

My 9P went tumbling down a flight of stairs once. Was my fault, I was trying to spin it in the air.

LED-holic · Jul 19, 2008

EV_007 said:
It's not so bad after the first drop.

"Character" marks aren't so bad as long as its not too obvious and the light isn't adversely effected by the impact.

My 9P went tumbling down a flight of stairs once. Was my fault, I was trying to spin it in the air.

LOL spinning a light, I know about that. Been there.

I love my D10s, and the first drop of my first D10 left some obvious scars on the bezel, which really hurt for a while. Now that it's scarred, it's much easier to use without as much worry.

I guess this is why I don't buy new cars. I would get really really upset if my brand new car got a scratch. :mecry:

Gunnerboy · Jul 19, 2008

generic808 said:
Dropping lights while getting out of the car ALWAYS seems to happen to me

Last year, my three-week-old DX chrome-plated Stylish Fighter rolled out of my SUV and hit the concrete. I let out this blood-curdling scream.. Luckily, it was just a small ding on the tail-stand end.

m16a · Jul 19, 2008

I've dropped my EDC backup(dexlight x.1) numerous times on hard wood. Every single time, not a scratch, dent or ding. The floors have been injured by the lights more than the lights by the floor. I've also dropped my D10 on the same hardwood, and the same result as the dex happened. Mild floor scratch, nothing on the light:laughing:

TITAN1833 · Jul 19, 2008

Mine was a mini maglite,I was working in Birmingham england demolishing a concrete chimney.

The chimney was 100 ft deep,at the 80 ft stage some one had dropped a mixer for the oxy cutting equipment down the shaft.

Well at that point I felt so proud I carried with me my mini mag,I duly proceeded to shine a light down the shaft "lol" the beam did not hit the bottom.

Embarrassed I tried to focus it to a tight spot to see if I could save face,but I lost grip and it fell 80 ft to the bottom of the shaft.

I looked down to see if there was any light emitting from the abyss,but there was none.

Good riddance to a poor performer,in my book.

To this day I do not know what damage it sustained,and neither do I want to.
RIP mini mag it was fun while it lasted.

Juggernaut · Jul 19, 2008

TITAN1833 said:
Mine was a mini maglite,I was working in Birmingham england demolishing a concrete chimney.

The chimney was 100 ft deep,at the 80 ft stage some one had dropped a mixer for the oxy cutting equipment down the shaft.

Well at that point I felt so proud I carried with me my mini mag,I duly proceeded to shine a light down the shaft "lol" the beam did not hit the bottom.

quote]

So you demolished a concrete chimney on to a Minimag, Wow I would like to have seen what that looked like.
I was out in my yard once with my 3xAA LED Minimag and it started blinking again, totally frustrated at that point to it's bad performance, I thought to my self that if the terminals were already not properly working there wasn't much I could do to make it worse. So I went on to whip it as far across the yard as I could.:devil: It seemed to work a little better after that.:thinking: Come to think about it any good LED light should be able to be thrown as far and hard as possible in a yard because how could grass and dirt ever affect it. It would pull much less Gs hitting the soft ground then a metal light falling to cement floors from a foot. So I guess if you want to really impress dumb friends throwing your light will work. "Note: make sure not to hit a rock or tree"

I have no lights I consider real shelf queens, but once I was modding a old sealed beam rayovac lantern with a 12 volt 18Ah SLA and I moved the head which hit a soldered point on the opposite charge and it melted the chrome finish there:hairpull:.

TITAN1833 · Jul 19, 2008

Sorry I left with 40ft to go,I could not bear to see the damage.:mecry:

Duff72 · Jul 19, 2008

mine was a rough one, dropped my surefire u2 from my hand to the concrete- it put a nice bend in the bezel ring and scratches on the side

LightJaguar · Jul 19, 2008

I think that I drop my flashlights just about every other day, many times at least twice or more on the same day. That averages to about once a day. Today I dropped my Cabela's 6P clone twice already so hopefully I'm done for the day. Putting the flashlight on my lap while driving and then getting out seems to be the most common reason for droping it. The worst drop that it suffered so far was a 10 ft fall it suffered some months ago. That was pretty bad and it landed right on the bezel too. The aluminum around the bezel sunk in a bit and even distorted the beam. Still the light and the cheap Q5 drop have yet to fail me. One reason why I bought them was because I did not want to use one of my more expensive lights for wok. They are meant to be abused.

scottaw · Jul 20, 2008

First time my 120P hit the ground i was shoveling snow and it dropped out into some shale, left a ding in the metal, didn't break the anodizing. It's not shiny metal, still anodized, just moved in a bit, tough stuff.

Fallingwater · Jul 20, 2008

LED-holic said:
Mentally I scream "NO!!!!!!!" and cringe
Yup, there are a few scratches
my once perfect ND10, is now scarred. On no...
that first scar hurts...

You worry about this stuff waaaaay too much.

They are lights. They aren't made of paper precisely because, as tools, they are supposed to be banged around.

Personally, I kinda like the "used and abused" look. Shows the gadget in question hasn't been uselessly sitting on a shelf all the time. And if I drop/scratch a light of mine, I just shrug and get on with my life.

signal 13 · Jul 20, 2008

I had my brand new M3 in my hand and dropped it in a parking lot. Put a nice ding in the bezel. It was like when you get your first ding in a new car. But I figured it's a necessary imperfection. Like when Native Americans would sew imperfections into their blankets to let the evil spirits escape. It's like a flashlight karma protection plan :thumbsup:

LumenMan · Jul 22, 2008

nighthawk said:
I dropped my E1L a week after I bought it. I was looking at some cheaper Chinese lights at Ace Hardware, and I wanted to have some comparison between the two then I reached for my E1L in the pocket it slipped thru my finger as soon as it was out of the pocket. Damn....

Sounds like your E1L was jealous of the Chinese competition :poke:

Bullzeyebill · Jul 22, 2008

I fit springy cords to most of my lights and carry them affixed to my palm, and the light can dangle from my hand, while using that same hand for something else. Helps a lot. Am considering using around the neck carry for my smaller lights. PIA when I drop one of them.

Bill

zipplet · Jul 22, 2008

I remember the first time I dropped my Fenix L2D-RB100 outside... *clack*... it went out as well so I assumed it was dead. Not so, somehow the drop had caused the tailcap to loosen a little, so I tightened it and it was good to go with a small scratch on the bezel

I'm gonna need to look into getting a necklace for my Wee NS though... if I drop that I doubt I'll find it even with the help of a backup EDC, as it's so tiny

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