Drop Testing for the Real World Reviews_Your input requested

[zespectre]

I'm seriously considering adding some sort of "Drop Test" to the "Real World Reviews" but I'd like some input and thoughts from others before I start doing it.

My intention is that I would like to test a little of the shock-and-impact resistance capabilities of some lights but I don't really want to intentionally "test to destruction" so I'm trying to figure out what might suffice to simulate a "trail drop" without dinging up the light too much.


Right now I'm thinking about a shoulder height drop of 5ft onto a chunk of "office style" low pile carpet with no other padding, sitting on a concrete slab floor.
That should give any light a good hard jolt but the carpet should keep things from getting "dinged up".

I was thinking about a drop onto the head, a drop onto the tail, and a drop "parallel" to the floor.

The things I want to see are...
Does the light stay on
Does anything bend/break
Do any pieces actually come off
Does the light function normally post-drop or do things get "quirky"

I welcome your thoughts and ideas.

Dutch.

 

[offroadcmpr]

The biggest issue I can see is making sure that it lands the exact same way every time. Any kind of rotation during the freefall makes the test not comparable or reproducible.
Ideally you would want to make some kind of contraption that would guide the light down at a specific angle. I envision something that looks like a guillotine, except instead of a blade something that you can lash the light to. Then you can change the angle, height, and landing surface as needed.

 

[zespectre]

Good point.

Initially my thought was that I would just like to say "yeah if you drop this it will probably survive" vs "wow, one drop and dead".

 

[KuroNekko]

I guess it really depends on perspective and goal. If you want to take a comparative and more scientific approach, then I agree that the drops need to be controlled and reproducible. You may need proper equipment to release and record the drop to ensure that the drops are valid in terms of impact position. I've seen phone drop tests conducted this way, especially when the reviewer is trying to compare the drop/impact resistance between different models.

However, real life drops aren't so scientific. You don't control how it drops or how it lands. What's important is that the product functions after the drop regardless of how it landed. In this light, you aren't going to be testing one product to another but a product to itself to see if it will survive a single random drop from a certain height. This sort of testing would also avoid the issue of possible cumulative damage. Repeated drops of the same product in a series may damage the product as a result of numerous impacts in a cumulative sense. For example, a solder point may weaken from one drop but come off completely from subsequent drops. While a single drop may "kill" the flashlight, each preceding drop may have played a part in it. Therefore, unless you have multiple samples of the same product to test one per type of drop, it's hard to really control for variables that may affect the validity of a drop test. Otherwise, you can't really say a head drop killed the flashlight if the tail drop and side drop preceding it was already doing some damage internally.

Basically, there are pros and cons to different test methods. I think the truly valid scientific approach is unrealistic to all but a manufacturer who has access to multiple samples of the same product. However, the consumer reviewer can still create a drop test that is of some value to see if a product survives a deliberate, but more random drop.

 

[Woods Walker]

In my field use reviews almost always there is an accidental drop so if something bad happens as a result would report it. I don't intentionally drop um rather just fumble finger new lights and headlamps. Not sure why. I do test weatherproof ratings as I actually use this stuff outside and it will get wet. That said will only test to the IPX rating. Some gear items don't have a rating then the testing is optional or rather just kinda happens during field use.

 

[Lou Minescence]

I would say drop a light from the height the manufacturer states in their specs. Most reviews are based on comparing lights to manufacturer specifications.
Roll the light off a table and let it fall as it will. Let the light fall on concrete.
This topic has been brought up in the past and some people say such a test offers no value for different reasons. I would disagree. I hope you get free lights from the manufacturer zespectre, because the drop testing might get expensive. I look forward to your reviews.