River Rock 4AA lantern... rubber splitting

[Turbo DV8]

I have two of the old 4AA RR lanterns with the switch on top. I discovered both of mine have a split clear from top to bottom of the rubber body. The split goes all the way through to the silver plastic body underneath. These lanterns have not been abused, or even used, for that matter! They have just been sitting... one in an indoors drawer and the other out in the camper. I happened to think to give the Hybrid cells a booster charge after a year of sitting and noticed the split, then came in and checked my other one and it has a split also. In both cases, the split has occurred just to the left of one of the two molding seams in the rubber, but not right on the seam, and the split is not perfectly ruler straight. Everyone take out of the drawer their RR 4AA that they quit using for a brighter lantern and check! This sort of reminds me of the Inova 24/7 headlamp issue, in which the plastic case cracked around the brass inner battery tube.

 

[rushnrockt]

I have mine in my car all the time and it survives the desert heat just fine, the batteries didn't. You can get a replacement on DX or even cheaper at LEDshoppe.

 

[Turbo DV8]

I have mine in my car all the time and it survives the desert heat just fine, the batteries didn't. You can get a replacement on DX or even cheaper at LEDshoppe.

The ones on DX look similar, but they are not the same. For one, they are not regulated at all. The RR is well regulated.

 

[download]

My Energizer Hardcase 2AA & 2D got the same problem.
The rubber bezel & tailcap cracked itself with a few time drop within a year or 2. :sick2:

The Mag survive much longer.

 

[rushnrockt]

The ones on DX look similar, but they are not the same. For one, they are not regulated at all. The RR is well regulated.

The ones on LEDShoppe look the same and are regulated, so I listed that in case DX wasn't good enough.

 

[NutSAK]

The LEDShoppe one doesn't even compare the RR lantern. It uses a cheapo emitter of some sort, and it isn't heatsinked.

Both of my RR lanterns are fine--no splitting of the rubber. I live in a more humid environment, though.