lights you regret buying? why?

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rocketsurgeon01 said:
All of them. Now I have an addiction to contend with.
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Lol. Good one bro. I think most of us regret buying the first flashlight we own as we might have needed it for some general purpose and then realizing it isn't powerful or good enough for the job at hand. I know I did (34 lumens cheap as light :sigh: in my case).
 
I regret buying this head lamp from my local camping store. They were selling it for 30 dollars, but I got for 18 bucks on sale. I thought "boy oh boy, what a great deal." Couple weeks later, I found out that ebay sells them for 5 dollars. :/
 
I was quite disappointed with the nitecore TM11. Sold it after 2 weeks at a loss.

didnt like the beam profile or the camera style button. Shame because I wanted one for a good while.

Will say it was a superb looking thing. Only my sunwayman m40a is on a par in that respect.
 
There are a few that I ended up being disappointed in, either because the lights were unreliable or because I didn't like some feature of them.

First on the list was one of the original Lumapower lights from the very early days when they first appeared on CPF. It was their first full-sized thrower, and to their credit it worked fine on 2xCR123 cells but output was not nearly as good on 18650s. The disappointment in performance on rechargeables led to the sale of that light.

The next was a Nitecore light (forget the model - it's the press-and-hold to "infinitely" vary the output). I didn't research appropriately before the purchase and found that the UI drove me absolutely up the wall. I still have it because it has a custom neutral emitter in it, but it stays on full-power and lives in a closet that doesn't have an overhead light in it.

The Surefire L2 was my first "real" light, and I eventually sold it here on CPF even though the construction was such that military vehicles were jealous. The tint was pretty bad, and in my naivete I didn't realize how much money in batteries I would be spending with runtimes that short on high. Aesthetically, that light set the standard for my future purchases, and very few lights since (or any other items, for that matter) have been able to compete. I still miss the two-stage tailcap.

The worst experience was hands down with my one Wolf-Eyes light, a 2x18650 triple emitter model. I constantly had problems with flickering (some kind of contact problem I think) and after a good bit of back and forth with the vendor (Pacific somethingorother I think) I sent it in for service. Never heard back, never got the light back. By that time I was so disgusted with the whole experience and frustration that I never bothered to try to get the light back. Adding insult to injury was that the Wolf-Eyes brand 18650s I bought (four, I think) died within less than a year even though I used a Pila charger on them and never ran them dry. I learned the hard way that AW cells are the only ones worth buying.
 
Fenix LD01:

Can't stand the M-L-H UI (prefer L-M-H) -- Learning experience I guess...




Four Sevens P0 (now called Atom A0):

My first full flood / mule light...
it had some flickering issues which I fixed by tightening the emitter module/capsule in the head

My main issues with this light is that I usually use Eneloops in all the lights I use often (at least in the aa/aaa lights), and the low is noticeably lower on those than say an L92, so being a mule with even less than .24 lumens on low and with the light so spread out, it was often not enough light for what I needed (I use moonlight mode often in other lights), and then high was too much light 🙂 and a lot less runtime. So now it lives in a Altoids smalls survival tin with an L92 in it. Granted it's the only aaa light that I own that would fit in that small of a tin, so thats cool, and I do like the magnet in the tail.

I also learned that I am not really a fan of battery crusher lights (no battery spring) I guess I would rather deal with a tad longer light and not deal with the downsides of that..
 
Zebralight AA headlamp 4-5 years ago. The problem at the time was that I liked the light WAY to much. But after about a year of light to moderate use, she died. She just didn't wake up one morning and I was pretty bummed as Zebralights engineering is nothing short of genius. It just seems they either have waterproofing issues or all of a sudden stop working. At the time I was definitely not the only one. Hope their reliability has improved, AWESOME lights, when they work.
 
Niteye MSC-10 - sold as their Military Soldier Series - glad I'm not a soldier who has to rely on it - stopped working in a suburban environment
 
Luckily, I don't regret any of the lights I've purchased.
Most new lights were better than the one acquired before it... So, even though some lights have been rendered virtually useless after purchasing the next, I don't regret them.

No that I've had my HDS Rotary for a while, I'm hooked and have ordered a second. It's about the only light I use, but all the other lights I've owned/still own were necessary for me to fully appreciate just how good the HDS is.
 
4Sevens Maelstrom S12. I want to love this light, it's beautiiful, bright & compact. But it just sits on the shelf saying 'use me I'm awesome' and I keep replying 'you have no clicky, an annoying two handed constant on/off & no real low mode I'll just use something else'. Usually the well worn HDS rotary that has made a nest in my pocket for the last few years. ��
 
Quite a few... usually they were cheap or on sale, and I just wanted to see what they had to offer.. and most of the time it was just a bad buy. Usually sold them for cheap or sent them as a gift with another light I sold.
 
Regret might be too strong a word, but I have a few that rarely get used:
Nitecore MT-21A. Nice light in its own right, but I don't really need a 2xAA thrower.
Olight S15 Ti. Don't need a 2xAA flood light either. And don't need a Ti light, period. Lots of smaller 18650 lights in my collection that I prefer, including the Olight S20.
Led Lenser SEO7r headlamp: interesting concept, imperfect execution.
 
jimsmith1370 said:
Niteye MSC-10 - sold as their Military Soldier Series - glad I'm not a soldier who has to rely on it - stopped working in a suburban environment
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I have a MSC20, their 18650 version. Generally speaking, I like it, and haven't had any issues with it. I really do like the UI, but I have had the light come on in my pocket a few times, so if I pocket carry it, I have to lock out the tail cap, or just be very aware. That is a bit of a PIA, but otherwise, it's been good to me, and one of my grandson's likes it in particular. He just giggles as he takes it out of my hands, and gives me whatever he is carrying. 🙂

All smiles :thumbsup:
 
A blue Zipka.....

Light was awesome until I "painted" it black. :shakehead

Got a Grey Tikka inbound.

Spray paint will stay where it belongs. Far away.....
 
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Jetbeam wl-s1. On paper it's a nice light. But you need to buy the wl-s2 to work the 900 lumens. Also mine came with defect and jetbeam ignores my email. Even a sales rep here in the forum ignored my problem.
 
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IIRC, the Trek lights made by Tektite. Goes back a LONG way, when 5mm LEDs were still new in the market. One, two and three LED lights seemed pretty "common" then, so when the Trek 7 and Trek 19 came out (7 and 19 LEDs respectively)...they were considered bright. Still, I remember being so underwhelmed..from the get go.
 
Any light that has a dimmer switch that one has to hold down.
The Black Diamond Storm. Rather than offer one or two outstanding features, the light is weighed down with all kinds of sub-par features. The absolute worst is that every time the light is turned off, the light will switch from throw mode to flood mode and vice versa. I wish I had never bought it.
 
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