Rate 1 to 10 - Dereelight lights: Build Quality, Durability, and Reliability ???

[yalskey]

Ok folks, what is your overall evaluation of Dereelight lights? How is their build quality, durability, reliability / dependability? How much rough-n-tumble abuse can they handle? Are they up to (what many cpf-ers believe) Surefire's legendary reputation? How would they be if thrown around, used heavy, and abused? You get my drift.

Please rate 1 to 10, 10 being the best, 5 being about DX quality (man, I know someone's going to say something about that), and 1 being a plastic Ever-Ready plastic Wal-Mart cheapy.

You can rate Dereelight as a whole, or rate each of its lights individually.

Also, you can provide a short explanation of what you think.

 

[Fird]

For what it's worth: I've dropped my CL1H V3 numerous times and thus far have made 1 mark on it (concrete, ouch) Good solid anodizing. The guts and beam quality seem first rate, and the metal is heavy enough to handle being heavily used. Due to a blunder on my part and a huge amount of force pulling on the belt clip, I broke one of those.. Alan replaced it for FREE! so customer service is also first rate. I've had a couple DX style lights to compare to (but no SF's), and Dereelight would be about a 9.25 overall if 10 is my theoretical "perfect light." I've got a C2H on the way but until it shows up I can't comment on it specifically. I also don't own a DBS (yet, working on that too..)

Fird

 

[mikes1]

I have six of them all different I like them a lot

Performance 9.5
build quality 7.5
reliability 8.0 (personal experience)

Switch is the week point latest ones are better

Mike

 

[metlarules]

Quality-10
Durability-10
U.S. availability-0

 

[Gatsby]

I have a CL1H v3.0, have owned Surefires, HDS, Novatac, Peaks, Arcs etc.. as well as a few Gerber's (but no DX stuff).

If a 10 is the perfect light - meaning durable, rock solid reliable, etc...

Well I'd have to rate the CL1H v3.0 as a good 8 on the list. Anodizing and threads are outstanding, as is overall build quality of the body, bezel, tail and head. Maybe just a notch below Surefire or HDS/Novatac build, but darn close. The beam is outstanding and the upgrade flexibility is great.

I've only had two problems with it - one which is not really the fault of Dereelight.

I have the 2SM pill for flexibility with cells - it has a spring on the back of the pill (low) and when the head is turned it engages a central gold plated contact rod for high. The instructions warn not to tighten past the point that high engages or you'll risk breaking the pill. I loaned the light to a friend when we were looking at my house and his Mag instincts took over and he cranked down on the head trying to turn it off. It didn't crack the pill (a solid point for Dereelight) but after that it was acting flaky going to high. After I took a look at it the spring got misalinged a bit from that incident and was making the contact with high irregular. I adjusted the spring and it works fine again. This is likely not an issue with the digital pills and the design is a fair compromise for the battery flexibility. But ideally the spring could be a hair larger to provide more room for error, as it is the tolerances are a bit tight for proper functioning. Small deduction for design but mostly no deductions for my friend using it improperly - still a tough light should work for the average person without additional "care".

And like some others I have an earlier one with a flaky switch. I have some deoxit and will try to get it back reliably operating, but to Alan's credit they have improved this and he is sending me a new one of the current design. It seems like switches are an issue with many clickie lights all the way back to the Arc Krolls, and including Surefire's one weak link, so they are at least providing great service.

 

[FlashCrazy]

Quality-10
Durability-10
U.S. availability-0

Quality: 10
Durability: 10
U.S. availability: stay tuned