Nitecore D20 head is grey

[Rawk]

Greetings !
I'm owner of a new Nitecore D20 R2 since christmas,
it's an awesome light. But when i looked at it in bright environment, i saw that the head color is not the same as the piston part. It's more grey than black.
Is this usual ?

Couldn't find anything about it with the forum search.
I looked at many pictures from the D20, sometimes i see the color difference, sometimes not.

I would prefer one color on both body parts... oo:

 

[Link Archer VI]

Sometimes it happens. The hard anodizing process can leave slight color variations for the different pieces. For example, I have an NDI and it's tailcap is very slightly lighter in color than the rest of the light. It can happen with all makes of lights.

 

[TriChrome]

On my NiteCore Extreme, the anodizing, even on the same piece of metal strangely (the head in this case, moving to the cooling fins), is a slightly different color. Never seen that before but I guess it's pretty normal for NiteCore.

 

[289]

Different pieces are most likely treated in different batches and/or different times, leading to an undesirable production variance.

Poor quality control lets these pieces out the door.

 

[mossyoak]

Thats just how it goes with HA3 Anodizing, even very high quality companies have lights like this.

 

[csshih]

Poor quality control lets these pieces out the door.

I don't think you can call it poor QC.. take a look at some of surefire's lights.

 

[JaguarDave-in-Oz]

When looked at in sunlight, my Nitecore D10 R2 has its head a slightly different shade to its body. The knurling is more agressive on the body than the head as well (same line spacing just pressed deeper).

I love both ends of him just the same........

 

[Rawk]

Thanks for your response !
Here's a picture of my D20, while holding another flashlight on it.

With the light on it you can see a big color difference.
Honestly, it's not a big deal - if i have a bright environment like this i won't need the flashlight, but it's kind of annoying me a bit.

Anyway, this won't prevent me from buying a D10 next week.
I love the piston switch and dim function.

Do you have any pictures like this ?
Who's got the biggest difference ? :laughing:

 

[NutSAK]

My ARC AAA-P has a HUGE difference in color. The head is almost black and the body is light grey. It doesn't bother me a bit--both are finished well, just a normal production variance.

 

[Dioni]

Diferent HA colors are perfectly normal, but wow ..
it has a HUGE difference!

 

[mossyoak]

Diferent HA colors are perfectly normal, but wow ..
it has a HUGE difference!

bright light on them really makes the color difference apparent, in actual use i bet its not even that noticable

 

[289]

I don't think you can call it poor QC.. take a look at some of surefire's lights.

Regardless of the maker, it is poor QC.

How is it that most of the lights out there have no color variance yet the ones that do are accepted as okay?

I completely understand production tolerances, and working in the auto industry I am familiar with what car makers go through to make sure colors from different suppliers match up.

When it comes to flashlights are we to just accept a color mismatch lottery, where you pay good money for a new light and when it shows up with a two tone color theme the maker can just say oh, well, thats how anodizing is.

Slight shade differences are no big deal but the glaring mismatches should be sold as blems or the components matched up with similar colors. Just my $0.02

 

[mossyoak]

Regardless of the maker, it is poor QC.

How is it that most of the lights out there have no color variance yet the ones that do are accepted as okay?

I completely understand production tolerances, and working in the auto industry I am familiar with what car makers go through to make sure colors from different suppliers match up.

When it comes to flashlights are we to just accept a color mismatch lottery, where you pay good money for a new light and when it shows up with a two tone color theme the maker can just say oh, well, thats how anodizing is.

Slight shade differences are no big deal but the glaring mismatches should be sold as blems. Just my $0.02

i think that you are forgetting that these are not luxury items, they are tools, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with them, and you typically use them in the dark when it wouldnt matter if one piece was black and the other piece is gray.

 

[Moonshadow]

Disagree - these are vastly more expensive than most people would pay for a flashlight. The manufacturers make a big deal that this is a high-end item (Nitecore actually print "High Quality Flashlight" on the box). if you claim high quality then you should deliver it.

The car analogy is a good one: manufacturers of even budget models would rightly expect vehicles with mismatched panels to be rejected. The argument that "it's just a tool" and "works fine to get you from A to B" would not wash with even the cheapest car and the similar argument that light comes out one end and it doesn't matter when it's dark is equally unacceptable for a flashlight costing sixty or seventy bucks.

 

[Dioni]

bright light on them really makes the color difference apparent, in actual use i bet its not even that noticable

Maybe can be this.

i think that you are forgetting that these are not luxury items, they are tools, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with them, and you typically use them in the dark when it wouldnt matter if one piece was black and the other piece is gray.

Haha, I hadnt thought that way. Its true, but perhaps many here thinking it as a work of art...

 

[289]

i think that you are forgetting that these are not luxury items, they are tools, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with them, and you typically use them in the dark when it wouldnt matter if one piece was black and the other piece is gray.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing any of the manufacturers. I make watch parts so I am completely aware of the difficulty in getting things made.

That being said, it would not be to hard to color match components after all the parts are anodized. Nobody would mention very slight differences in shade.

These obvious color mismatches should never make it to the customer.

 

[THE_dAY]

Bright sunlight can make even subtle HAIII mismatch look like frankenstein.
I noticed that when I brought my (what I thought was subtle mismatch) SF LX2 into the sunlight. Still love it though..

Maybe if manufacturer's websites didn't show pics of their lights with perfect anodizing match then it would be such an issue.

 

[289]

The thing is they are capable of getting it right, I'm looking at a Nitecore SR3 and a green RRT-2 Raptor right now and the anodizing is spot on.

My D10 is ever so slightly off but it doesn't bother me because it is so slight. All my other lights match fine.

 

[NutSAK]

The only way I'm aware of to perfectly match parts is to be sure all parts for each light are anodized in the same batch. With the way the milling process goes, I'm not sure if this would be a simple or difficult task. A batch of heads are milled, then sent to the anodizer. The milling machine is set up for a batch of bodies, the bodies are milled, then sent to the anodizer, etc.

Somewhere in the process, a number of heads, bodies and tails would have to be kept together, to ensure an equal number of each makes it into the anodizing batch. They would then have to be kept together for final assembly.

 

[mossyoak]

Even having them all cut from the same stock in the same conditions at the same time and then being anodized in the same batch wont insure that the colors will match up, this poop is like trying to make snowflakes, every piece is unique.