Poor man's Novatac Tactical Button mod

[Beastmaster]

Now, I will say that I do own a tactical switch for the Novatac. And that my unit #13131 is the one that contains the tac switch.

However, my most recently acquired unit (11502) was going to be the experiment of the "Poor Man's Novatac Tac mod"....with all apologies to the Poor Man's Watch Forum in advance.

So - here's the steps.

Step 1 - Go to Ace Hardware. Get Item number 5044524 - which is 10mm or 3/8" vinyl self adhesive round domed clear pads, 16 piece count. You'll pay $3.50 for it.

Step 2 - Take your Novatac, your clear pads, and some rubbing alcohol, and some towels/cloth/etc., or some alcohol cleaning pads. (Pictured below)

Step 3 - Clean the flat button with the alcohol.

Step 4 - Apply clear vinyl button to the Novatac switch. Press it HARD. I do mean very hard.

I like it because it's slightly tacky on the exterior, it's easily removable, yet it's taken enough abuse so far today. We'll see how it is long term.

Not every pad has good adhesion. I found that the first two didn't have enough glue. Number three did.

-Steve

 

[Oddjob]

That's pretty clever. I might try that. I like that it is reversible.

 

[Beastmaster]

That's pretty clever. I might try that. I like that it is reversible.

I can't take full credit for it. There is a thread somewhere here on CPF that had a member say that they took some sort of skate tape and placed it onto the P series tailcap.

I'm taking it one step further. This gives you the ability to reverse it or keep it that way.

You can't imagine the looks I got at Ace Hardware - comparing sizes of these vinyl pads to the P series tailcap button.

-Steve

 

[scottaw]

"poor man's novatac" just sounds funny to me....but i really like the look of it, bet it feels better than the T cap anyways.

 

[Beastmaster]

Since some of us here on CPF also frequent PMWF, I figured it would be a hilarious take on words - especially since the Novatac is higher than the average cost of most flashlights depicted here on CPF if you take the entire per-capita amount of lights likely owned by people here and get a statistical mean from it. I'm sure that all of my SF and Novatac purchases have been more than offset by someone's DealExtreme units.

As for the look and feel - I like it better. You know you have it on your thumb, it's smooth but tacky enough to have a feel for it, and even when wet or oily (yes, I tried that today) it's still enough to gain a purchase to turn it on.

-Steve

"poor man's novatac" just sounds funny to me....but i really like the look of it, bet it feels better than the T cap anyways.