Surefires: a 3 foot drop = broken?

[Blikbok]

Has anyone else dropped a Surefire and had it break?

The first time, I dropped it in the street. Dead. Bought a new lamp, worked. Then, I dropped it in a bathroom onto the tile floor. Dead. Now I'm waiting for my *second* lamp assembly. Yes, I know the 6Z has a lanyard.

The Surefire forum recommended the Z32 "Shock-isolated bezel", and I'm gonna get one soon, once the lamp comes in. But how many other people have dropped a normal Surefire (not a ruggedized model) and had the lamp quit?

 

[rycen]

I have a G2 and droped it a couple times with good luck.Although I cringed every time it left my hand!It is a very tough little light.

 

[Frank C.]

I've dropped my E1 many times (both lit and not lit) and have had no problems.

I've dropped my E2e twice now - once not lit (fell from about waist-height to linoleum floor), and once lit (about the same height, to a layer of indoor/outdoor carpet). No damage or blown lamps.

 

[revolvergeek]

Dropped my 6P more times than I want to admit, and one day was being stupid and had my E2 clipped to my belt and bumped a chair and sent it flying across the room. No busted bulbs yet.

 

[Size15's]

I've never broken a P60 by just dropping it.

But bulbs break. It happens

A Shock Isolated Bezel will go a long way to help avoiding damage.

In my experience, thousands of bulbs aren't reported every night to have not broken each time the flashlights are dropped etc.
Every once in a while someone reports a broken SureFire lamp (and that's on a discussion board like CPF & SF that has perhaps the highest concentration of flashlight users reporting stuff)

I break SureFire lamps. I've done so on purpose (?!) many times, but also I've had a small faction fail when I would have expected them not to.

It's amazing that more bulbs don't break more often...

Al

 

[Darell]

LED lights suddenly look a lot brighter when they're still pumping out photons after multiple drops onto concrete, huh?

Sorry, I sneaked up here from the LED forums when nobody was looking... won't happen again.

Shhhh.

- Darell

 

[LEDagent]

I've dropped, scraped, and bashed my E2 gunmetal light many times and it still looks good and works good too! I've had one premature bulb failure though. I don't know if it's a manafacturer fault or if it was my fault for not wearing gloves or cleaning the bulb while handling it. But i have on two occations dropped my E2 bulb onto tile and had it slide about 5 feet from chest high without breaking! (about 4.5 feet high.

I've dropped my E2 about 5-7 times on tile and concrete with no harm to the light what so ever....oh wait....i did manage to dipple a set of Duracell 123's but they still worked.

 

[Darell]

Hey, you haven't managed to break the MNO3 that I just sent recently, have you?

Sheesh, you're tough on these things!

 

[Josh]

my M2 fell out(4 ft) of my pocket as i was running across the street and crashed and scraped on the pavement for about 20 ft, yet my the graces of sure fire it still works.

 

[DonL]

By "break", are we talking about the glass shattering or the filament taking a dump?

I lost a P60 in my older 6P when it was dropped. It landed on concrete from around 5'. Glass intact, filament hosed. I don't recall exactly how it landed, which may have something to do with whether or not a bulb survives a fall or not.

My M2 has survived a drop from ~12', clattering through an injection molding machine on the way down to the concrete shop floor, the beam dancing wildly around the building as the light ricocheted around. When it rolled and came to a stop, I simply asked one of my slack-jawed co-workers to toss it back up again. A couple of small scrapes, but no problemo.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

A few years back, surefire lamp assemblies were infamous for breaking way too easily after short drops. I had it happen to myself once, and it was obviously being reported enough that even Surefire took notice. The bummer was, my overbuilt expensive tactical light would break after a short drop, and I couldn't get that damn Maglite to break even if I tried!

Anyway, 2+ years ago or so I noticed the number of short-drop lamp breakages on SureFire to go way down, or at least the number of gripes about it on the net. So even without the shock isolated bezel, they seem to have shored things up. I've definitely dropped my SureFires loads of times in the past few years, and haven't seen any more breakages. My experience doesn't prove anything, but all told I think they're doing a better job of de-fragile-izing their lamps, if that's even a word

'course, the number of reported, "I put in new lamp assembly, and within 10 seconds it blew" stories is what irritates me now.

Joe

 

[Frank C.]

Hmm, I've blown numerous lamps in my Mag 3D in the past when it was dropped.

 

[LEDagent]

darell

No i haven't broken the MN03 that you gave me. HAH...not yet anyway. I remember posting here that i've gone through 3-4 Maglight AA lights through my lifetime...i think i just realized why. Everyone here says it is a tough flashlights.....not with me it isn't. Surefire's have lived up to my grueling EDC expectations!

I would think though that dropping a flashlight while it is on, or has been on for a while, would be more prone to breakage if dropped or jarred. I once dropped a warm light bulb 4 inches onto a desk and it popped and shattered. I did the same thing with a cool bulb and it survived. I don't know if this observation can be used with SF because we all know that there is a different magical way they make their bulbs.

 

[Blikbok]

DonL:
By "Break" I mean the light went out and the lamp/reflector assy was at fault:
My p60 in a 6v weaponlight didn't work;
the lamp from the weaponlight *did* work in my 6Z.

Joe Talmadge:
My 6Z is at least 2 years old. I'd hate to illustrate my poor memory by trying to date it, but I definately got it before the modelnumbers changed to Z2. Off topic, anyone archive the old SF catalogs in PDF?

All:
According to your anecdotes, almost all the newer lights ("x2") seem to survive drops fine. I'm disregarding the M2's for a moment because they are structurally tougher.
Both my breaks were while the light was on, or recently on, and it fell from my hand about shoulder-height, which should be 5' or so. The lamps should arrive this week, so we'll see. :-D

 

[robo]

My 8NX dropped from waist-height onto concrete..the lamp body hadn´t had a scratch, but the x80 lamp took damage...from there on it flickered all the time (went bright and dim).
Had to buy a new one

 

[Blikbok]

Yippie! Got a new lamp today and the old 6Z is good as new. Amazing friends and blinding animals. Just like old times. (*sniff*) No, I'm not crying, I just caught the backscatter off a white birch when my eye was dark-adjusted.

And I've dropped the light twice now, from shoulder height, and the bulb is still working. May still get that Z32 bezel, though.

Thanks for your input, guys.

 

[Spidey82]

it seems that MN03 is one of the thoughest SF lamp...
i drop my e2 so many times that i couldn't count...... the lamp still working.....
i only had one broken MN03 that is wen i drop the bare LA on to hard concrete.

Linfeng

 

[brightnorm]

Why are you guys dropping all those lights?

I haven't dropped any of mine (yet), but I have found that despite the crosshatching engraved in the body of some of the Surefire lights, it is quite easy for them to feel insecurely held, especially when your hands are cold and/or dry. The Scorpion avoids this problem with a totally rubberized body, which unfortunately can grab during a quick holster pull. The ASP Taclite body has a very "grippy" hard foam cover, applied in such a way that "holster grab" is not a problem. Both of these approaches eliminate that slippery Surefire feel. OTOH, the beautifully textured "sculpting" of the M6 makes it feel un-droppable despite that fact that it is metal.

Perhaps this isn't a real issue; I don't recall any of our professional members commenting about it. Once I dropped a heavy 6 C battery UKE SL6 about seven feet (held over head) onto concrete. Result: a slight body scratch, period.

Brightnorm

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I just got an E2 on the weekend!!! It is Awesome!!!

TornAdo

 

[Blikbok]

Brightnorm: The 6Z even has a *lanyard* so trust me I'm swallowing my pride when I admit I drop it often.

I'd like to say I'm loosing control during CQB exercises, or in a driving rain while shoring up the sandbags, or something else, but I just sometimes drop it while looking for my keys.

That's why I like my Petzel Tikka-- it straps to my head. But that just means I knock it off on tree branches and car ceilings.