How long before the first drop & ding?

[OfficerCamp]

I love pre-loved lights; I pretty much stopped buying new after discovering the marketplace. Most good brands stand behind their products, so even if I buy a dud, I can get it serviced under warranty (ie:Surefire).
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[don.gwapo]

Last week, my ITP A1 fell 5 feet to the floor. Got a little ding on the head but it still ok.

 

[yowzer]

I can carry a light in a pocket with nothing else in it, never drop it or let it rub against anything metal... and within a week or two it's picked up some scratches and wear. The one that took the longest, since it didn't have any anodizing to wear away, was a stainless LD01 on my keychain. Dropped it a bunch of times and now it has some dents.

 

[OCD]

I tried my best to keep my RRT-0 from getting dinged. Aside from a few indoor falls, it took a good month or two before it got its first taste of concrete. It has since hit the concrete several times bezel first :sick2: dinging and denting the bezel as well as a tail first fall on the ceramic tile in the house. :ohgeez:Even though I really do love that brand new, pristine look of a nice light, I have to admit (like many have said) that it is easier to use (or hand over for someone else to use) a light that has a few battle scars.

PS... This is my first post since arriving in China for business. My RRT-0 and Maratac AAA made the trip too along with (4) AAA Duraloops, (6) L91's, (5) CR123's and (4) RCR123's with now problems. Does this many batteries for 2 lights make me a flashaholic? :thinking:

 

[lightfooted]

However I did drop my new E2D, Nitecore Extreme, and my Springfield XD with slightly different results.

Hopefully not all in the same moment :faint:

My Kahr MK9 has hit hard stone tile once from waist height :eek:...never before was I sooo happy to have spent money on a quality sidearm. Slight ding in the slide was all it showed.

However I made it a day, I believe it was, before my Olight I15 went flying about four feet or so from my hand to land on cold asphalt. Two nice dings about 2mm each... one on the bezel and the other on the tail. Afterward though I was no longer concerned about it getting banged up. Gotta break it in y'know.

 

[AMD64Blondie]

How about this: about 2 or 3 days after I got my Fenix TK40.. I had it sitting on my bed,and I knocked it over.It fell off my bed,plunged about 3 1/2 feet to the carpet,and hit the floor. I picked it up,turned it back on,and it lit up like nothing happened.

 

[scott2907]

I got myself a WF500 and loaded it with the lumens factory HO-5 replacement bulb, and 2xAW 2600mAH 18650's. It was lovely and bright and I was really really proud of my "modding". Now I needed a way to carry it when I used it on jobs. Our force has Maglight belt loops and I asked them for one but they refused, because my torch wasn't force issue. So I bought one, and waited till it arrived before taking my beauty out. I attached it to my belt and went on duty. At 1AM we got a burglary in progress, and I went out. Expecting long range searches, I took her with me and began scanning the housing estate for the runners. As I flicked the light up, I saw a figure in dark clothing run down a road out of sight. I popped the light in the torch ring on my belt and started to run. Almost immediately, the light flew out and bounced along the ground. Momentum meant I also gave it an almighty kick. Two massive dings. I picked it up and ran the rest of the way with it in my hand. As I turned the corner, I saw the guy standing there. Another cop. I'd bounced it along the pavement for nothing!
:fail:

 

[ToNIX]

Dropped my MD2 for the first time the other night. It landed flat on concrete.

I told to myself "oh well, it's a Malkoff... and it's my duty light".

I didn't even checked for damages, but they must be really minor :D

 

[carrot]

My McLux Ti PD skidded and bounce across asphalt the first week I had it. Oh well, its a lot easier to bear use marks after the initial heartbreak. This one's firmly in the user camp.

 

[EZO]

Sadly, I may have won the prize for shortest time from delivery to first drop and ding. Yesterday, I took delivery of a Quark Mini CR2 (Al). Although I was in the middle of a busy day I stopped everything I was doing (in true flashaholic fashion, of course) to open the package, check out the new light, drop a battery in and put it on my key ring to replace the AAA light that was previously there. Didn't have much time to check it out but I knew I'd get to that later. From there I headed into town to run some errands and pick up some groceries. Not 40 minutes after receiving the light I managed to drop my wad of keys climbing out of my truck and sure enough, it ended up with a tiny but (at least for me) impossible not to notice chip near the bezel. OUCH!!

Of course any light like this is gonna show wear and tear after awhile. In fact an older HAII light I carry shows lots of wear on the knurling from the keys abrading it and it looks kinda cool and battle worn, but this was way too soon! It feels just like when my truck was brand new a few years ago and I came back to find that someone had rolled a shopping cart into the driver's side door. At least I could blame that one on somebody else. :sigh: