ZL: Inexplicable breakage of frosted lens

[snowlover91]

I have the SC5fd and so far it's held up quite well. Stuff it in my backpack pretty frequently where it gets jarred around, dropped it on a tile floor and a few other bumps but no crack in the lens. Hmmm haven't heard anything back from ZL? How have you been contacting them? Are you US or outside the country?

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

If this question is directed at me, I am not sure how any of them got cracked. I just happen to notice and when I did notice, I couldn't remember dropping them or anything. The H600Fw was never taken out of the house. I kept it in a drawer of my entertainment center without the headband attached. The H600Fw is a real head scratcher. I am sure I probably bumped it or something but it was rarely used.

Did anyone else have access to them? Such as, a malicious child or someone that might be messing with you? Perhaps someone that hates your flashlight addiction?

The new drama is that Zebralight has had them for about eleven weeks and haven't answered my latest attempt to contact them. That's around two hundred and fifty dollars in the wind. I have been very patient, in my opinion, so far.

If you send them to ZL in Texas, all they're going to do is ship them to China. Then they have to be repaired, shipped back to Texas, then shipped back to you. I wouldn't be surprised if this takes 3 or 4 months. It took over a month for me to have my last ZL (a SC5w) shipped from ZL China to me. But yeah, they should give you an estimate for how long it will take.

 

[fnsooner]

Did anyone else have access to them? Such as, a malicious child or someone that might be messing with you? Perhaps someone that hates your flashlight addiction?

Possible, especially the H. I have a couple of cheap lights in the same drawer that I kept the H600Fw in that are supposed to to be used. The kids are grown and married and any one else that has access to them are fairly responsible, but it is a not out of the question.

Less likely on the Sc52Fw and SC62Fw. When I recieved them, I immediately started EDCing them until they had a cracked lens and still carried them some after the cracks were noticed.

But still, if you look at the earlier picture of my Zebralight collection, all clear lenses are in tact and three of four frosted lenses are cracked and the clear lensed ones have had many times over the oportunity to be abused. My opinion is that my use and abuse pattern hovers around the point that the clear lensed lights can handle it and the frosted ones can't. It could also be a freaky coincidence. I am not mad, I am not frustrated or anything negative. I am mostly just curious and was wondering if anyone else ran into the same experience.

If you send them to ZL in Texas, all they're going to do is ship them to China. Then they have to be repaired, shipped back to Texas, then shipped back to you. I wouldn't be surprised if this takes 3 or 4 months. It took over a month for me to have my last ZL (a SC5w) shipped from ZL China to me. But yeah, they should give you an estimate for how long it will take.

I have also sent a light to Texas for repair, a few years ago back, when the original H600 had that weird switch problem. The experience reflected yours. It took about six weeks if I remember correctly. I am really not in need of any of them at the moment. Eleven weeks seems excessive though. When I get them back I will probably go into more detail in the old customer service thread. More as a factual summary and less of an emotional diatribe.

I have made the statement several times that Zebralight always comes through. It might take a while though, be patient. I am going to try and take my own advice.

 

[fnsooner]

I have the SC5fd and so far it's held up quite well. Stuff it in my backpack pretty frequently where it gets jarred around, dropped it on a tile floor and a few other bumps but no crack in the lens. Hmmm haven't heard anything back from ZL? How have you been contacting them? Are you US or outside the country?

I have been contacting them in the "add request" area of My Account on Zebralight's website. That is where I have had the best luck. I am in the US. Just a few hours away from Irving.

I also might add that I have been very, very passive during this repair process and all communications have been polite and cordial on both sides. I even got an unsolicited phone call about a day after they received the flashlights. Some guy named James, if I remember correctly. Very nice guy and the call lasted close to fifteen minutes. He said he called to double check my return address.

 

[fnsooner]

Alrighty, I received my frosted lensed Zebralights the other day. Repaired and ready to go. They even threw in a complimentary headband with a glow in the dark holder. Yay.

For about two months after I had sent them in I didn't even think about them. After that, I started to worry a little. Not about Zebralight's intentions, but maybe that they had gotten lost somewhere along the trip to China. I had all my frosted lens eggs in one basket and I fretted that they may have gotten shanghaied.

When I talked to the Zebralight rep a couple of days ago, he mentioned that there was some confusion over my SC62Fw and he thinks they initially put a clear lens in it and that is what caused the extra time to get it taken care of. Seeings that it may be the only one of its kind, it is understandable.

But all is well and I am very happy!

 

[snowlover91]

Great to hear they took care of you and even threw in a little something extra! Hopefully the new frosted lenses will last many years to come, my SC5fd is still going strong after several drops and a lot of use.

 

[Skivvy9r]

I have been contacting them in the "add request" area of My Account on Zebralight's website. That is where I have had the best luck. I am in the US. Just a few hours away from Irving.

I also might add that I have been very, very passive during this repair process and all communications have been polite and cordial on both sides. I even got an unsolicited phone call about a day after they received the flashlights. Some guy named James, if I remember correctly. Very nice guy and the call lasted close to fifteen minutes. He said he called to double check my return address.

This is good to hear. I love Zebralight's products but their communication is sometimes lacking. Happy to hear they handled this well. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tre_Asay]

As much as I hate to raise up these old threads I should mention that I had the same sense of confusion as the op:

So a quick update on the Zebralight, I have had it for about a week.
At a first glance I didn't like the beam, it just looked like a failed attempt at a diffuser. There was still a noticeable hotspot and the spill faded into a 180 degrees of much wasted light. The hotspot was maybe 20 degrees wide and the spill 90 degrees so not bad. But it turned into a 3 layer beam, hotspot spill and more spill, overall not what I was looking for (90 degrees of even light).

The other problem I quickly noticed was the head had a fairly sharp ridge where the pocket clip met it, resulting in difficulty and wear against whatever it was clipped to when I removed it.
Finally as a last issue I was able to detect PWM with my cell phone camera.
I decided to let all these issues slide, after all the pwm is not noticeable to the naked eye, the flashlight could still be used as a standard flashlight beam with a little bit more spill, and I could be careful to leverage the pocket clip away from the body while taking it out of my pocket.

The final nail in the coffin came just about an hour ago, I unclipped it out of my pants, intending to use it as a dim light in my room while I showered and found this to my complete bewilderment:

I don't think that this is the light for me

From the thread:http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?415774-Dedicated-Mule-Flood-light

It was fine a few hours ago when I used it at work then it was cracked when I pulled it out of my pocket, never dropped or otherwise damaged.

 

[shira]

Is there a frosted version of Gorilla glass?

 

[Wiseguy]

Having read through the whole thread, I started wondering whether the frosted glass may absorb more radiation than the clear, heat up more and then expand too much for the space allowed. A fractionally smaller diameter might do the trick? I'm no engineer, just my 5c worth!

 

[Tre_Asay]

It sounds like a good guess, but it really does not absorb enough of the light as it heats up. I think it is because it has such a large number of defects on the inside which makes it much more fragile from the outside pressure.

All glass has defects, they are like a small weak spot where it is much easier for cracks to start, this frosted glass has thousands of places for the cracks to start. I had actually hoped that the lense would have the frosted side out because I knew how much weaker the lense would be.
It is possible that the glass hit against something else in my pocket with just enough pressure to break the weakened glass.

 

[eh4]

Thanks for the update Kj2. So it does appear that they physically change the glass in order get the diffused characteristics. So it is possible that the frosted lenses could be weaker than the clear lenses.





Not yet. I will probably contact them this week and see what they say. I would imagine that they have already seen the pictures.


I have been weighing my options. For a while, I seriously thought about trying to replace the glass frosted lens with acrylic. I have also been thinking about having ZL replace the frosted lens with the clear, to make them tough again but I really like having the frosted lens option. It is very nice and the tint is amazing..

So at the moment, I think I will contact ZL and have them throw new frosted lenses back in them and roll with it. I am wondering if they can do a simple lens change in Irving, or if they will have to send them to China. Their US office is only about a four hour drive from me down hwy 75. Not that I would drive it though to get these fixed.

I'd request clear replacement and try the translucent adhesive film, at least for one of them...

 

[eaglespeed]

I know I'm not suppose to revive an old thread, but I have to participate.
Ironically I ordered a Zebralight h600fw MKII for the sole reason of cuz my armytek wizard pro v1.5 lens cracked and then it electronically failed, being unable to send it for replacement cuz of where I currently live , and now after reading all this, I'll either cancel the order and go buy me a Nitecore hc30 or request Zebralight to send me a clear lens version. I own alot of Nitecore lights and they never failed me, even after putting them through hell.

 

[eraursls1984]

I know I'm not suppose to revive an old thread, but I have to participate.
Ironically I ordered a Zebralight h600fw MKII for the sole reason of cuz my armytek wizard pro v1.5 lens cracked and then it electronically failed, being unable to send it for replacement cuz of where I currently live , and now after reading all this, I'll either cancel the order and go buy me a Nitecore hc30 or request Zebralight to send me a clear lens version. I own alot of Nitecore lights and they never failed me, even after putting them through hell.

I believe most new models use Gorilla Glass now to help fix this issue. Stephano (posts lots of Zebralight beam shots) said the new frosted lens is a little less floody than the old lens though.

 

[eaglespeed]

I believe most new models use Gorilla Glass now to help fix this issue. Stephano (posts lots of Zebralight beam shots) said the new frosted lens is a little less floody than the old lens though.

Thank you for ur reply.
Can u confirm that the mkii has gorilla glass? All I can find on their website is that it has Tempered optical grade glass, I already contacted them regarding this and attached this thread link. One avoids Chinese companies cuz of these issues only to buy from American and Canadian companies and expect the same issues and the inability to have international return and replacement. I think I'll just order Nitecore hc30 and leave it as backup.

 

[eraursls1984]

Thank you for ur reply.
Can u confirm that the mkii has gorilla glass? All I can find on their website is that it has Tempered optical grade glass, I already contacted them regarding this and attached this thread link. One avoids Chinese companies cuz of these issues only to buy from American and Canadian companies and expect the same issues and the inability to have international return and replacement. I think I'll just order Nitecore hc30 and leave it as backup.

I'm not sure of all the models with Gorilla Glass. Hopefully they will get back to you quickly.

 

[eaglespeed]

To put this issue to rest for everyone who is concerned about this including my self, I just recieved a reply from Zebralight which is extremely pleasant.
Here is what they had to say.

Customer 10/5/2016 4:43:20 AM	Dear Sir/Madam. regarding order 10368240 I am concerned about the sanding process of the inside of the lens to create the texture since I have read on the forums that are many people having their lenses crack. so I have to ask before shipping this order is the lens on the FW weaker than that of the normal version ? or has the same structural integrity, as I mention in the order comment I will not be able to return the headlamp once it's shipped to me since it's going to be shipped to another country as a gift. so if the lens crack it will negatively effect zebralight reputation and effect me as well. please don't ship the items until this request is solved. thank you. waiting for your reply.
Customer 10/5/2016 7:02:18 AM	here is an example thread of such incidents. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?407314-ZL-Inexplicable-breakage-of-frosted-lens. should I just order a clear lens version instead just to be safe ?
Staff (Administrator) 10/5/2016 9:40:19 AM	We had one batch of frosted glass from one of our glass suppliers that turned out to be weaker than we spec'ed, but that was several years ago. Other batches are fine. We also switched to Corning Gorilla Glass 3 about two years ago for the H600/H602 and some other models.
Staff (Administrator) 10/5/2016 9:42:51 AM	Just want to add that the current H600/H602/H603... , clear or frosted, are all come with (extremely tough) Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
Customer 10/5/2016 12:37:41 PM	thank you for the detailed and pleasant reply. so just to confirm the H600FW MarkII has corning glass 3 frosted glass? and I shouldn't worry about it breaking under normal use? thank you.
Staff (Administrator) 10/5/2016 1:21:10 PM	Yes, the H600Fw Mk II you ordered comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, frosted. No need to worry about breaking under normal use.
Customer 10/5/2016 4:41:02 PM	thank you for your reply, I appreciate it alot, ok please go ahead and ship the order, how soon will the order reach the address?, please don't add pricing. I'll be ordering more in the future. most of my family are outdoor oriented and love this kind of stuff so I'll be gifting them more of this. thank you

I'm sure this will be of help to everyone here, I thank the guy who pointed me toward this thread.

 

[fnsooner]

Thanks eaglespeed for the updated info. Hopefully they use Gorilla glass in the newly released SC600 PLUS. I just received mine yesterday.

 

[raduverdes]

Thanks eaglespeed for your good news !