Whats up with Photons intl cr2 ion??

[Smogcity]

I ordered the Photons intl CR2 ion and recieved it last week. It's a great looking light but i got a dud. It shorts out and only turns on 1/2 the time you twist it on. I've sent them 2 emails about exchanging it and have not heard back. I just checked their website and it says:

"We are closed until further notice
Our website and company are currently undergoing renovations to avoid any confusion with other trademarks. We will be closed until they are completed.

Sorry for any inconvenience, we look forward to serving you in the following months.
In the meantime, please visit our resellers if you are interested in any of our past product offerings, and if you need any direct assistance (warranty issues, etc.), please contact us - it may take a few days to respond, however."




Did i spend $150 on a non working light?

Anyone know anything about this?

Thanks

 

[dixemon]

I would say give them a couple of days. They have a good reputation for customer service, However, with what they are currently going through they may be pre-occupied at the moment. Sorry to hear about you light

 

[Thujone]

In emailing Enrique in the past I have found he is not always the quickest to act. But if it says they will still take care of you then they likely will, their timeliness is the only question.

Did you order direct?

 

[Smogcity]

I would say give them a couple of days. They have a good reputation for customer service, However, with what they are currently going through they may be pre-occupied at the moment. Sorry to hear about you light

I searched CPF but can't find anything about what "they are currently going through"...any info would be greatly appriciated. I have been waiting over a week for a return email but i dont want to bug them if there's a illness or death in the family..And yes i did order direct.

 

[Thujone]

From the description on the page I would assume that someone sent them a cease and desist on a trademark infringement. I would think at some point you will see a comment about it on here from someone on their side of the fence explaining the situation but you never know. You can always try sending Enrique a PM as well.

 

[Spalding]

Smogcity,

Your experience with the Ion is identical to mine...The light fails to go from off to low reliably but it will almost always work on high.

I have tried every brand of battery and all perform the same.

I've tried re-seating the "circlip" in the head and that didn't work.

I've completely washed the body and the exposed parts of the head with non-residual cleaner and then re-greased with Super Lube (a silicone based lubricant) and was pleasantly surprised to find the light worked perfectly...for a while and then it reverted back to it's nutty behavior. The problem is intermittent - sometimes it's ok, sometimes it flickers and sometimes fails to work altogether.

I finally went to my local Radio Shack today and bought the De-oxit/Pro-gold chemicals and I'll give them a try.

I really want to like my little Ion but I'm beginning to think its behavior is not so much a low tolerance to resistance but rather a lack of proper engineering.

The Ion to which I'm referring is my second. I returned the first as it had the identical symptoms, so you know.

Spalding

 

[Spalding]

I just registered upon reading your post, Smogcity, and I forgot to mention I've made movies of the Ion acting up. I'll post those for you to see as soon as I figure out how to do it.

Spalding

 

[mcmc]

All the Ions I've run across seem to have this problem too. Unlike other twisties I've had, it doesn't stay "on" when you first make contact. I've resigned myself to giving it a good healthy twist, past the original point of electrical contact, so that it'll stay on at low. This is after application of DeOxit and ProGold as well.

I haven't had the best of communications with Enrique either. Overall he replied to all my emails, though some very slowly (and after I posted on CPF about the slowness, he replied very quickly). I wouldn't say they have "great" customer service, but it doesn't look like they've let anyone down badly either. It's just that compared to other vendors on CPF, esp. people who make the boutique and pricey lights like the Ion, I don't get that much of a very warm, receptive, I-care-greatly-about-the-customer-being-happy feeling from PI. YMMV of course. And maybe it doesn't matter to some people. After all, the vendors are here to make money, right? But some vendors seem to genuinely care about their customers.

That said, I hope that whatever legal issues they may be going through right now, gets resolved with a minimum of impact (in time and money) upon them. Good luck, Enrique.

 

[greenLED]

Guys, make sure the retaining ring is well seated into the head of your lights. Tap the ring lightly with a pointy object if necessary and work yourself around the ring like that. That's helped when I've dealt with this issue.

 

[mcmc]

That's an interesting suggestion - thanks green. But, what part is the retaining ring?

 

[Smogcity]

I've tried everything..This light has a mind of its own...It works one out of every four or five time i try it now..this is pissing me off!

 

[MarNav1]

My Ion was finicky too. I bought an Ion kit $6 and it helped tremendously. There is
a CPF'er who sells em. Luxbright sells em for $6. Type in Ion kit in google search.

 

[greenLED]

But, what part is the retaining ring?

Take the head off the body, and look around the foam gasket. There should be a thin ring of metal on top of the board (it's actually touching the inside of the light's "can"). Pressing down on it and/or cleaning the contacts (pogo stick, threads, bottom of battery tube) has helped the lights I've dealt with.

 

[jch79]

I've tried everything..This light has a mind of its own...It works one out of every four or five time i try it now..this is pissing me off!

What kind of batteries are you using?

 

[kitelights]

I had the same issue. Remove the retaining clip and clean the surfaces with Deoxit until they are clean (wipe with lint free cloth after applying Deoxit until cloth no longer shows dirt). Reseat the retaining clip and make sure that it's making good contact all the around.

Mine is working perfectly again. Exact same on/off point and low to high point consistantly.

 

[fleegs]

I am so glad to see this thread.


Ditto on the above except for post about good customer service. I feel the same as mcmc. I stopped doing business with Photons Intl. The loss of my CR2 Ti Ion XRE in the mail...well I took it has a sign. They did refund my money but the interaction was so weird. I just can't figure it out. Mcmc's post really hit home for me.

I have two ions (black Al and Al Bronze) and they both do this. I found taking them apart and cleaning them makes them work for about a month and its back to cleaning. This is with wiping all the threads down (after about two weeks) and relubing when it starts to act up. Then after a month I have to take them apart because wiping no longer helps.

I really have a love/hate relationship with my ions.


Best of luck,
rob

 

[mcmc]

fleegs, what you expressed in your post was one I think subconscious reason I wanted to post mine - I sensed that the not-quite-there, uneasy feeling I had, was also felt by others (based on some other posts in other threads), but not enough to really warrant a 'negative' post by them. so I was wondering if this was the case, and related my experience as truthfully as I could express it.

I hope, if Enrique reads this, he doesn't take it as bashing, which it's not, but as honest feedback from two people who use and like his lights, overall, but feel like something is lacking. Because something is intangible or hard to express, does not diminish its importance, I think.

I think your comment that you have a "love/hate relationship" with your Ions captures how I feel perfectly. I had an Ion a long time ago, and partly due to the twist flicker for low, and partly due to the odd email exchange, I didn't want to deal with it and sold it off and looked elsewhere. But, I liked the flood beam more than I'd realized, and I find myself now with another couple Ions. This time around I find myself appreciating the size and design much more, perhaps because many other lights went through my hands in the interim. I must say Enrique's take on the Larry light was very well executed.

 

[Smogcity]

Damn...shame on me for not doing more research before buying...I was going to use this as the back up for my HDS U85 in place of my Arc aaa-p but it seems to be more trouble than its worth..

 

[mcmc]

Take the head off the body, and look around the foam gasket. There should be a thin ring of metal on top of the board (it's actually touching the inside of the light's "can"). Pressing down on it and/or cleaning the contacts (pogo stick, threads, bottom of battery tube) has helped the lights I've dealt with.

Thanks for the detailed description. I'll try it out tonight.

Btw, 'pogo stick' is a great descriptor for the 2-stage mechanism =)

 

[mcmc]

Smog - well, after all that's been said and done above, the light is still a great light. Like I said, I just ignore the flicker by turning it on a good distance beyond the initial contact point, and no problems getting to a solid low. And it's built very solid, and waterproof. I think it would be much more useful than an Arc, depending on your needs of course - but consider that it runs 40 hours or something absurd like that on low, and the flood complements your U85's throw perfectly. Don't let the quibbles above dissuade you from the light itself, I would say... =)

Btw, I don't think research beforehand would have done you any good anyway =) as far as I'm aware this is the first thread of this type on Photons Int'l...