Pelican MityLite 1900 and Pelican SabreLite 2000

[Bachac88]

Hi Guys this is my first post so hope all goes well. I searched about this forum and did not see any thing about my subject. So here goes.... I've owned these pelican lights for some years now and they seemed pretty sturdy. But here's my problem. In both cases the instructions recommended using a silicon grease to the O rings. This I did sparingly and the O rings got swollen, that meant the heads were very tight and it was difficult for anyone to turn the light on, save me who eventually expected to use great effort. I eventually had to replace otherwise good O rings. Seems like such a waste. I very soon gave away the first 1900.

Hole Punched Through "Indistructible" Casing

I liked the size to brightness ratio of the 1900 and therefore bought another 1900 earlier this year. Now this is what happened, the Energizer batteries leaked in it, i think I caught it in time (good thing I like to open my flashlight periodically) the flashlight was working fine otherwise. So i took out the leaked batteries (very common occurrence it seems) cleaned out the inside with a blast of Co-contact cleaner and CRC. Now everything is fine right.....WRONG!! When I put in the new batteries they punched right through the bottom of the flashlight.

Major garbage!! Isn't this flashlight supposed to be corrosion proof and acid resistant, all that? How could it? It can't stand up to a common chemical such as that found in common AA batteries. Total garbage , I'm not buying Pelican again. Battery leakage is a common occurrence, so it should have stood up to this. These lites are extremely expensive in my part of the world. Anybody have these issues? Just a warning to intended buyers.

 

[Monocrom]

Different issue with one of my two Pelican lights. My 3330 M6 LED Pelican is all polymer, except for the rubber boot and metal clip. The body actually warped. (Something that never happened with my two Surefire G2 models). Surefire definitely makes a better polymer light than Pelican.

The warping is very slight. You'd never notice it just by looking at the light. There's no seperate tailcap, so you have to unscrew the head to swap out batteries. Problem is, the LED lamp assembly doesn't come off when you unscrew the bezel. And since the body is warped, it becomes a huge pain just to pull out the lamp assembly. Careful not to touch the inside of the reflector. (Much easier said than done).

The cells always get stuck. Once the lamp assembly is off, you need to bang the light sharply to get the old cells out. Then the new cells never slide in properly. You've got to shove your thumb in there as hard as you can, just to seat the new cells properly. Thankfully, forcing the LED and reflector back in place is easy.

Had I used my Pelican light for many years, with plenty of abuse; I could understand why it would warp. But that wasn't the case. I carried it with me on one particularly cold Winter's day. Other than the day I bought it, it has sat mainly unused. I have another Pelican light that runs off of 3C cells. The battery carriage is flimsy as Hell on that light. It's also a polymer light. I have no experience with their aluminum lights. But from my limited experience with their polymer lights, it seems to be a good idea to skip them entirely.

 

[Bachac88]

makes you wonder whether the Pelican Poly's are worth it.

2 junked flashlights :sigh:

I have the three C also. Lousy beam pattern. Not sure why the fuss over the Pelicas. I also have an L1. I wonder if the larger Pelican LED's are better than the incans.

 

[Monocrom]

I wonder if the larger Pelican LED's are better than the incans.

Pelican hasn't upgraded the emitters on their larger LED lights in a long time. I would only consider buying one of those (non-polymer) Pelicans if they were selling at a large discount. Otherwise, there are better lights out there. I had considered buying a Pelican M3 LED model. But then learned that Inova's current version of the T5 can easily run off of 2x17500 cells.

That 3C model LED Pelican is designed for use in extremely wet conditions. Apparently, the perfect light if you're out & about during a hurricane. But it's not really suitable as a dive light. I agree, beam profile is horrible. I wouldn't mind the square beam, if it was powerful.

 

[Bachac88]

Well you've got the Surefire to rely upon. Everyone seems to be raving about the SureFire lights. i should get me one.

Well I have a Dorcy Spyder and a Brinkman MaxFire xenon lights and will be using those instead. Despite the expensive lithiums. But they are really bright lights with nice beams.

When the batteries die in the Pelican 3C 2000. I'm going to retire it. I've got a few LED lights from Dorcy so I'll rotate them with the Maxfire.

Glad for your opinion Monocrom.

 

[Monocrom]

Happy to help.

 

[Bachac88]

Haven't received much discussion on this issue. Is it that not many if any people experienced this problem or is it that pelican lights aren't as popular as I'd originally thought? :shrug:

 

[labrat]

Hi Guys this is my first post so hope all goes well. I searched about this forum and did not see any thing about my subject. So here goes.... I've owned these pelican lights for some years now and they seemed pretty sturdy. But here's my problem. In both cases the instructions recommended using a silicon grease to the O rings. This I did sparingly and the O rings got swollen, that meant the heads were very tight and it was difficult for anyone to turn the light on, save me who eventually expected to use great effort. I eventually had to replace otherwise good O rings. Seems like such a waste. I very soon gave away the first 1900.

Hole Punched Through "Indistructible" Casing

I liked the size to brightness ratio of the 1900 and therefore bought another 1900 earlier this year. Now this is what happened, the Energizer batteries leaked in it, i think I caught it in time (good thing I like to open my flashlight periodically) the flashlight was working fine otherwise. So i took out the leaked batteries (very common occurrence it seems) cleaned out the inside with a blast of Co-contact cleaner and CRC. Now everything is fine right.....WRONG!! When I put in the new batteries they punched right through the bottom of the flashlight.

Major garbage!! Isn't this flashlight supposed to be corrosion proof and acid resistant, all that? How could it? It can't stand up to a common chemical such as that found in common AA batteries. Total garbage , I'm not buying Pelican again. Battery leakage is a common occurrence, so it should have stood up to this. These lites are extremely expensive in my part of the world. Anybody have these issues? Just a warning to intended buyers.

I have had some Pelican MityLite 1900 over the years, and some of them have broken at the rear end, "punched out by the batteries".
I did fix these with composite glue and shrink-tube, and also added a magnet in the rear of those I fixed (the old ones had magnets, the new ones do not).
Some also have splintered into many pieces when they got old.
And the transparent front end have broken too, when be being tightened too much too many times.
I still have some lying around, the polymer body is light, water-proof, and does not short if falling into areas where there are open power connector points! (Inside power-supplies or computers!)
These where very bright lights once, but now I have other smaller and brighter lights.
So I keep the Pelicans in my toolbox only.
If you use grease that contain petroleum (like Vaseline) the O-rings will swell.
Silicone grease should not make them swell up.

 

[nfetterly]

You need to read the fine print on the Pelican warranty - not warranted against shark attack and children under 5 (? maybe 4 I am going from memory).

So a shark = a child under 5.

Too funny.

I have several pelicans, super sabrelights mostly - good industrial light.

 

[LukeA]

Call Pelican and you'll have a new one in less than a week at no cost.

 

[Rob187]

Call Pelican and you'll have a new one in less than a week at no cost.

Exactly.

 

[Monocrom]

Haven't received much discussion on this issue. Is it that not many if any people experienced this problem or is it that pelican lights aren't as popular as I'd originally thought? :shrug:

Definitely the latter.

 

[Bachac88]

Labrat as suggested here in these posts Pelicans aren't that popular anymore. i suspect that they have not done much to change their aging technologies or materials and aren't as successful retaining their good name as MAG has. Pity I used to like their lights alot. I really must get me a SureFire.:naughty: