I knew one day I'd damage one of my Surefires!

I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

It had to happen no matter how hard I've tried to avoid it! I knew that one day I'd drop one of my lights and it would get cosmetically damaged. Well last night was the night and I dropped my E2e with the KL1 bezel from waist height onto hard concrete. Upon inspection there is a quite noticeable chunk of HA3 gone from one of the cooling fins and a small dent in the alloy. The tailcap is very slightly scratched but otherwise ok. The shame of it this is that if it had dropped onto the tailcap first I could have replaced the tailcap.
The thing is I know that the light works ok and it is only cosmetic damage but it really bugs me. I dont know who it was but some one once said that a light isn't a tool until it carries some signs of use. Well I guess my KL1 is now a tool!

Doug : /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

I know how you feel. I dropped my L4 a couple of weeks ago on concrete also. Bad thing was it was the very good one with excellent color and a cool serial number, A00022. Oh well, I bought it to use. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

dougmccoy

I feel your pain. I too have a couple Surefires that look like they've been through a war.

The HA-III coating is very scratch resistant the underlying aluminum can be damaged as you found out. I will say this however, my 9P with the HA-II coating looks much worse than my E2 with it's HA-III coating. The 9P is very worn and scratched, the E2 simple has a chuck missing, but otherwise unscratched.

GregR

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

My first Surefire was/is a Gunmetal E2 and I bought that one mainly because I loved the look of the gunmetal. I made it a few weeks with it in pristine condition, but one day I was getting out of my car and it fell to the parking lot asphalt. There was a ding in the bezel and it just annoyed the hell out of me. I added many more since then, but I can still pick out that first ding. But as I learned with my knives years ago--you can't baby it, you just gotta use it. Can't be worrying about keeping it "mint" or you just can't enjoy it.

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

Don`t worry about it. Accidents happen!





I did manage to fix that poor KL1 though. Used to think they were pretty indestructable but even SureFires have their limits. Those glass lenses are thicker than I imagined though....

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

I used to have an M3 that had a small nick in it. And I dropped my Arc LS last weekend and got a small nick. I'm wondering if anyone has had success with paint or other product that can be applied (with perhaps a toothpick?) in making make these nicks less noticeable.

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one! The first day I had my McLux TK, I went to the mall and dropped it getting out of the truck. Sure enough, it got little dents and scratches on it!! It took a while before I dropped my e2 on the sidewalk.

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

I actually dropped my E2E while at Tactical Warehouse for the first time yesterday, but luckily, no mark. The thing still looks like new. My 6P is something else. That thing looks like it's from WWII. But I like them both. : )

David <><

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

My McLux got caught on the bottom of my edge of my shirt and went sailing into the Toylet one day soon after I got it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

Little nic off the switch guard I didn't notice until several hours later. I think it hurt the toilet more than itself.

I'll be happy to take any damaged Surefires off your hands, scratches don't bother me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

Don't feel bad. The first night I had my L4 I dropped it from the kitchen table and it landed bezel first on my ceramic tile floor! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sick.gif Probably wouldn't have done anything to the L4 if it had the old style bezel, but it caved in one corner of one of the edges of the scallops! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

My wife just said, "See, you always have to mark something right after you buy it, don't you?" Right, like I really meant to do it!

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

Thanks for the replies, It's sure nice to know that I'm not alone in how I feel about my lights!
It appears that Nitrolon is one of the best materials that surefire use to resist cosmetic damage! My G2's a nd G2z have all survived being dropped onto a variety of surfaces without any harm and so I've never had to worry before. The thing is that I just think flashlights made of aluminum have that certain professional look which plastic just doesn't have. Unfortunately aluminum is not very good at shock absorbtion and so anything made out of it will soon look 'worn'.

Doug

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

don't worry doug, i felt the same way when i dropped my arc LSH for the first time. i spent a few days grieving over it, but i got over the first dent. soon after, i dropped it again from about a metre onto a tiled floor, and it got an even bigger dent that noticeably deformed the metal. after that i didn't bother trying to baby it anymore. i don't know about you, but for me thinking about all the other surefires that are being used and dented up by people around the world helped me deal with it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

Hmm... I guess the point is, the more you try to baby it, the more Murphy will come into the scene... My day will come soon, and until that day all I can say is, if it's dented and it still works, you've got your $$ worth!!

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

My lights (& pocketknives) all have paracord lanyards that are just above floorlength to prevent this.

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

I usually ding any SureFire I get within the first day or so. That way I'm not mothering it in bubblewrap.

A long time ago (I believe Nov02) I got this "A2" from PK. A couple days later I dropped it from 1.5 metres onto rough concrete. After that I treated it like any other tool. If it couldn't handle me then it wasn't good enough.
It's still an EDC option for me after what, 40-50 sets of SF123As on the same bulb (although it's show it's age now)

I suggest you ding the bezel rim on all your new flashlights. Gets it out of the way! And at least you know you intended to do it rather than had a heart-stopping accident.

Al /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

Ninja, what happens if you are seated when you drop your light? Mine have fallen out of pockets and such while sitting down.

If I get something to use, I use it and don't really sweat the cosmetics of it. Of course I worry about the functional aspects of a dropped light more than its looks, I dropped my C2 on its bezel once and got it replaced by Surefire cause I think the dent may have ruined the water resistant seal of the lens ring.

TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: I knew one day I\'d damage one of my Surefires!

tsg68: when i got that major dent in my arc LSH-P i was talking about, i imagined the hell you must have put yours through and i felt better right away /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif