Zebralight Reliability

[ForrestChump]

EDIT: Half asleep.

It does seem as if they've improved recently and had far more issues 3 years ago and earlier with things which is probably what you experienced as well. Most of those who commented about having issues with theirs on this thread also seem to have had some of the older models. You might want to consider trying them again, certainly the first impression I can understand wasn't very good but since then they seem to have worked on improving their lights. If you ever do purchase another you might consider either the SC32 or 62 models, the 62 is extremely small for an 18650 light and the PID controller works great. The 32 is amazingly tiny and also has the PID. I'm not a big fan of timed step downs, I would rather have a light which gives me the best output possible based on the conditions. I hope my comments were helpful on this and if you do reconsider be sure to let us know your experience :)

I'd like to check them out again. Maybe it would be an eye opener. Although at the moment Im content with what I got.

I suppose "YMMV" comes into play with any light and it seems possible that mass produced lights MIGHT be slightly less reliable. I have nothing to back that statement up - it's pure conjecture.

Having said that, my vote was part of the 65% "rock solid" category. Having owned over a dozen Zebralights (currently 6) and having NEVER had one fail, you can understand why I consider them rock solid reliable.

Back in 2011 I conducted a torture test of sorts on an SC30W (here) and it survived without any problems. Carried that little light exclusively after that until I lost it :mecry:. Like most flashaholics, I am somewhat unfaithful to any EDC - from Spies to McGizmos to HDS, the EDC seems to change often. But since acquiring an SC32w and SC62w, those two lights have pretty much taken over all EDC duty.

And again, I've yet to have a failure. Knock on wood.

Nearly mass produced anything usually suffers from fluctuating QC at times and it seems more so when it comes to high performance lights. Electronics by default have a larger predisposition to fail. Mass produced electronic QC can be done though.. Apple... With lights, I have had the best luck with what I consider more "mid tech" brands, where the owner has a direct hand in the manufacturing process vs outsourcing nearly everything.

I was lurking then, but was wondering when the "shake O bag of rocks" post was going to pop up here. I remember reading that the day it came out. Oh the nostalgia! ;)

 

[Woods Walker]

I have 3 of the older ones. H50, H501W and H501. Used them in heavy rain but never tried to dunk one. Now that these models aren't made I am not going to risk it. Based on all the previous negative issues reported here I moved away from the brand. Maybe it's time to check them out again but reliability is key for me.

Edit: Voted the following based on my experience.

They've been rock solid stone cold reliable

 

[Woods Walker]

Not sure I understand the reasoning behind this? The survey results for this thread show a mere 8% who have had serious problems with them. I've ordered and used 3 different Zebralights with no problems as have many others. Sure they aren't perfect sometimes you may get a dud, it happens. They have great products and while they aren't perfect they've drastically improved in the tint arena and have consistently been putting out better quality lights recently. The SC5 is a testament to that, while it is a little heavy it has a nice heat sink that works exceptionally well and is built like a tank.

I am showing:

• Pretty reliable - only 1 or 2 problems
  
  
  14.29%

• I've had more fail than have worked well
  
  
  7.14%

That would imply a failure rate of 21.4% (not individual lights but what owners had with the brand within the context of the poll options) which matches other polls taken. On a side note I don't consider 8% failure rate a mere thing but everyone has different levels of acceptability which is just fine. Also this type of info gathering may or may not reflect the current models. Just tossing out what I think.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

I am showing:

• Pretty reliable - only 1 or 2 problems
  
  
  14.29%

• I've had more fail than have worked well
  
  
  7.14%

That would imply a failure rate of 21.4%

Not really. Perhaps it is just a bad poll question, but I voted "only 1 or 2 problems", because there are a couple of things I don't find perfect on my lights. A scratch in the anodizing on one, a bit of a green tint in another, and some issues with getting max mode if I let the body tube open end get too dirty (so it doesn't conduct electricity). But all my lights work fine. I've never had any failures.

So I don't think you can state there are 21% of people with failures. Clearly, that is not the case with me.

Oh, and I think you'll find with all Internet polls that more people vote who have negative feedback than positive feedback. They're absolutely not scientific polls.

 

[snowlover91]

I am showing:

• Pretty reliable - only 1 or 2 problems
  
  
  14.29%

• I've had more fail than have worked well
  
  
  7.14%

That would imply a failure rate of 21.4% (not individual lights but what owners had with the brand within the context of the poll options) which matches other polls taken. On a side note I don't consider 8% failure rate a mere thing but everyone has different levels of acceptability which is just fine. Also this type of info gathering may or may not reflect the current models. Just tossing out what I think.

To add to this I looked back through the comments and those who reported failures were almost exclusively the older lights from 3+ years ago when the QC wasn't as good as it seems to be now. Out of those who commented only one was a recent failure being a SC62d where the LED popped loose. Another person mentioned receiving one which had a bad LED but that was about it. Overall the statistics are hard to interpret because if you have someone who has 10 zebra lights and only one of those fails or has some defect then it'll go under the portion of the poll for one or two problems. The fact that almost 70% have rock solid performance is quite impressive. It seems from my research as I mentioned earlier that the older models have a higher failure rate and less QC but in the past 2-3 years ZL has upped their QC control. Evidence of this can be seen by the recent SC5 and SC32 release, I have seen very few issues with these lights as a whole and mine had no issues at all. My SC5 actually has the nicest pure white beam out of all my lights which is pretty impressive. I do think a case can be made from the poll data that earlier models more than 3 years old aren't as durable and well made as the current ones seem to be.

 

[Woods Walker]

Not really. Perhaps it is just a bad poll question, but I voted "only 1 or 2 problems", because there are a couple of things I don't find perfect on my lights. A scratch in the anodizing on one, a bit of a green tint in another, and some issues with getting max mode if I let the body tube open end get too dirty (so it doesn't conduct electricity). But all my lights work fine. I've never had any failures.

I agree however you misquoted my statement out of context. Polls can say just about anything depending on question and the reader's interpenetration. For example I would consider a light coming with damaged anodizing to be a quality control problem but not a tint preference unless the tint was misrepresented aka neutral lights sold with cool white LED. I don't have any hard facts to support more people report negative issues than positive ones on internet polls beyond supposition. That said a case can be made that hardly anyone in overall percentage terms do respond at all to such online poll threads.

 

[Derek Dean]

My H600 is just such a bad tint color that I don't use it. I also (thought) I was choosing the most floody version, but it's not floody at all with its very narrow focused beam - which isn't my first choice for a headlamp. It works fine, but sees no use because of the greenish tint and spotlight beam. It was a waste of $75 bucks or whatever it cost and I'm very disappointed with it.

What are my options to change the color of the tint and make it more floody? Are there different (more orange peeled?) reflectors available separately? Thanks.

I have the original box and paperwork, which specifically says, "The LED cannot be replaced." The reflector seems like it's already at least slightly orange peeled as well. I should probably get rid of it. How are the ArmyTeks compared to these? Are they better?

It's not hard to tweak the color AND shape of your beam:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?320811-Changing-LED-Tint-With-Filters

Yes, you tend to lose a bit of brightness depending on much correction you apply, but it's certainly better than not using your light at all, and after they try it, many folks find that it's just the ticket for tweaking their ALL their lights to get the color closer to THEIR ideal.

By the way, most of those color filter books also have many pages of different diffusion material, letting you customize how much diffusion you want for the beam as well. Neat!

 

[Woods Walker]

To add to this I looked back through the comments and those who reported failures were almost exclusively the older lights from 3+ years ago when the QC wasn't as good as it seems to be now. Out of those who commented only one was a recent failure being a SC62d where the LED popped loose. Another person mentioned receiving one which had a bad LED but that was about it. Overall the statistics are hard to interpret because if you have someone who has 10 zebra lights and only one of those fails or has some defect then it'll go under the portion of the poll for one or two problems. The fact that almost 70% have rock solid performance is quite impressive. It seems from my research as I mentioned earlier that the older models have a higher failure rate and less QC but in the past 2-3 years ZL has upped their QC control. Evidence of this can be seen by the recent SC5 and SC32 release, I have seen very few issues with these lights as a whole and mine had no issues at all. My SC5 actually has the nicest pure white beam out of all my lights which is pretty impressive. I do think a case can be made from the poll data that earlier models more than 3 years old aren't as durable and well made as the current ones seem to be.

I stated as much. Current response to this poll may or may not reflect today's reality. I don't think one post about a SC62d proves anything beyond the info in that post. Also I feel that "almost 70% rock solid performance" isn't good enough when it comes to gear this topic not withstanding. However again everyone has different tolerances for certain things as to each their own. I also stated the failure information is based on the context of the poll's questions. I voted no failures based on my personal experience.

 

[ForrestChump]

That would imply a failure rate of 21.4% (not individual lights but what owners had with the brand within the context of the poll options) which matches other polls taken.

This is what I was thinking as well. Although accuracy can always be debated depending on how most people interpret the questions. I think CPF'ers for the most part understand the poll "1 or 2 problems"are likely a light with a significant issue or a complete failure. Which makes the 21% relative. More below..

To add to this I looked back through the comments and those who reported failures were almost exclusively the older lights from 3+ years ago when the QC wasn't as good as it seems to be now. Out of those who commented only one was a recent failure being a SC62d where the LED popped loose. Another person mentioned receiving one which had a bad LED but that was about it. Overall the statistics are hard to interpret because if you have someone who has 10 zebra lights and only one of those fails or has some defect then it'll go under the portion of the poll for one or two problems. The fact that almost 70% have rock solid performance is quite impressive. It seems from my research as I mentioned earlier that the older models have a higher failure rate and less QC but in the past 2-3 years ZL has upped their QC control. Evidence of this can be seen by the recent SC5 and SC32 release, I have seen very few issues with these lights as a whole and mine had no issues at all. My SC5 actually has the nicest pure white beam out of all my lights which is pretty impressive. I do think a case can be made from the poll data that earlier models more than 3 years old aren't as durable and well made as the current ones seem to be.

The 2-3 years, we are on the same page. Although, worth noting - from memory, in nearly ( or it seems ) every ZL reliability pole we get, the failure rates seem to have an X factor that is explained away as bad info ( this seems to be a trend in most reliability poles ). "The questions are confusing", "I voted this but really meant that", "the lights were old","the dog chewed it", "it was just model XXX ect". Not directed at any one person at all but it seems to be a mass reflex reaction to the possibility that a measurable portion of people participated in the the poll had a significant problem. Thats the part I find odd. People start a ZL reliability poll, people vote, and then the consensus is that the failures weren't really failures but a fault in the poll or a misinterpretation. People point to "bag O rocks" ;) ( I am impressed those lights are still kicking ) and the guy with the sailboat and everyones happy. Rinse and repeat. As mentioned above, if the reliability is as great as as people believe it to be, why are there multiple ZL reliability polls? It's not just ZL, Nitecore I beleive would be the second most popular reliability poll, same kind of thinking. That the poll is dispositioned to make brand X seem less reliable.

IDK, jut something to consider. OR maybe my math is just bad with multiple lights per owner, but no one mentions that the polls actually might be somewhat relevant to peoples experience, and the reported failures aren't some conspiracy propaganda machine. There is some primal unconscious element here. I wish I had the attention span to articulate it.

:shrug:

 

[Amelia]

I just want to chime in here and make a quick statement. Three times so far in this thread, people have brought up the "number of reliability polls" in the discussion of possible faults with Zebralights, implying somehow that if there were no problems with the lights, people wouldn't be posting reliability polls about them. I want to state as clearly as I possibly can that I have 12 Zebralights at this point and have had ZERO problems with any of them. The reason I posted this poll was to find out if I've been really lucky, or if many other Zebralight buyers have had a similar experience to mine. I did not post this poll because I've had problems with these lights, or because I feel that they are unreliable in any way. Just curious if my good experience with these lights is widespread, and if so, to what extent.

 

[ForrestChump]

Double trouble. Delete.

 

[ForrestChump]

I just want to chime in here and make a quick statement. Three times so far in this thread, people have brought up the "number of reliability polls" in the discussion of possible faults with Zebralights, implying somehow that if there were no problems with the lights, people wouldn't be posting reliability polls about them. I want to state as clearly as I possibly can that I have 12 Zebralights at this point and have had ZERO problems with any of them. The reason I posted this poll was to find out if I've been really lucky, or if many other Zebralight buyers have had a similar experience to mine. I did not post this poll because I've had problems with these lights, or because I feel that they are unreliable in any way. Just curious if my good experience with these lights is widespread, and if so, to what extent.

12 out of 12 isn't to shabby.....

What do you think of the poll results and info thus far?

 

[Amelia]

12 out of 12 isn't to shabby.....

What do you think of the poll results and info thus far?

It's interesting. I was not aware that the older Zebralights are not potted - I still have a pair of H501w, a H501R, and a H51w that I guess are of the pre-potted, QC problematic era. So far, they've worked fine. I also wonder, of those who have had problems, how many of them are of the older generations before Zebralight apparently worked things out.

All I know for certain about these lights - I really like mine... hope they all keep working! :)

 

[ForrestChump]

It's interesting. I was not aware that the older Zebralights are not potted - I still have a pair of H501w, a H501R, and a H51w that I guess are of the pre-potted, QC problematic era. So far, they've worked fine. I also wonder, of those who have had problems, how many of them are of the older generations before Zebralight apparently worked things out.

All I know for certain about these lights - I really like mine... hope they all keep working! :)

I concur. Most definitely a massive QC fluctuation years ago. Even then I was still impressed with the unreal engineering even though there wasn't consistent QC. In this thread; It's mentioned multiple times that the electronics are potted and there are quite a number of folks that currently have a handful of problem free lights. I gather the time period I gauge reliability for ZL was the "right angle" era. They only had right angled lights, after all the failures I didn't keep up to date. It also does appear that a chunk of defective lights are much older models. Hope your lights keep working well.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

12 out of 12 isn't to shabby.....

In electronics overall, there's about a 5% return rate due to product defects. I expect that flashlights would be just as good, or better, than the overall electronics market. So, 12 out of 12 is about what I would expect.

I think if there was a truly random sample of Zebralight buyers, you'd find at least 95% of the lights work fine.

Only really cheap flashlights likely fail at a rate more than 5%.

The only failures I've had are from Maglites (stupid switch flicker problems they have on all their twist lights) and some really cheap (i.e. a couple of dollars) lights.

What do you think of the poll results and info thus far?

A better poll question might be "Would you consider buying another Zebralight light in the future?".

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

It's mentioned multiple times that the electronics are potted

Does anyone know when they started potting their electronics? Is my original SC52 potted? Is my L2 version potted? (I think the latter is, but I'm not sure when they started.)

 

[Sarlix]

I just want to chime in here and make a quick statement. Three times so far in this thread, people have brought up the "number of reliability polls" in the discussion of possible faults with Zebralights, implying somehow that if there were no problems with the lights, people wouldn't be posting reliability polls about them. I want to state as clearly as I possibly can that I have 12 Zebralights at this point and have had ZERO problems with any of them. The reason I posted this poll was to find out if I've been really lucky, or if many other Zebralight buyers have had a similar experience to mine. I did not post this poll because I've had problems with these lights, or because I feel that they are unreliable in any way. Just curious if my good experience with these lights is widespread, and if so, to what extent.

I wonder if the other poll starters made them with a similar motive. I was contemplating earlier why there is a disproportionate amount of polls and threads for Zebralight, yet most people seem to have had no problems. Out of the three I've owned all have had issues, one of them had to be sent back. I've probably just been unlucky though since most people don't seem to have an issue. Unless of course everyone is lying :tinfoil:

 

[ForrestChump]

A better poll question might be "Would you consider buying another Zebralight light in the future?".

Considering I was pretty much the only one who questioned reliability based on oldish observations, I think we all could reasonably guess what the answer would be.;)
There was a lot of thoughtful and articulate responses which were a welcomed surprise for this kind of thread. I was also trying to think of a "foolproof" pole method.... Something we can really analyze, perhaps I should start another thread to brainstorm?

Even though the results of the poll could be debated, I think we covered a lot of ground and solidified the fact OP was looking for. There has been significant improvements and there is a sizable number of people with multiple lights that have recentlyish been produced,that for the most part appear to be more reliable than past iterations.


Well done CPF.

 

[ForrestChump]

I wonder if the other poll starters made them with a similar motive. I was contemplating earlier why there is a disproportionate amount of polls and threads for Zebralight, yet most people seem to have had no problems. Out of the three I've owned all have had issues, one of them had to be sent back. I've probably just been unlucky though since most people don't seem to have an issue. Unless of course everyone is lying :tinfoil:

See, Im not nuts. :candle:

 

[Woods Walker]

Does anyone know when they started potting their electronics? Is my original SC52 potted? Is my L2 version potted? (I think the latter is, but I'm not sure when they started.)

I never even knew they did that till reading this thread.