SF LED failure caused by impact?

This is mainly related to SF LED`s, but also to SF incandescant flashlights when relevant to discussion.


I have dropped my incandescant lights from about 60 cm onto concrete (by mistake) and they have broken, the bulb that is. I have dropped (also by mistake) my E2L on concrete from the same hight and the light worked just fine after.

Question 1: When using (normal use) a SF LED flashligt, have any of you dropped one of mistake and it broke?

Question 2: Have you undertaken different extreme tests of SF LED`s and caused one to broke? Dropping it on purpuse.

I know LED`s are quite tough, but just how tough are they?? :thinking:

Kl3 old style on a 6P fell about 6 feet and landed bezel first on concrete, put a dent in the bezel and tiny knick on the tailcap. The same light took at least 2 drops from about waist height (3ft) onto the sidewalk with only cosmetic damage. Both of my Kl1s 1 old and 1 new style have hit the ground a few times and still work fine.
Have only dropped my L7 indoors so far

my L4 head rattles when i shake it and last time i opened it up it smelt like burning plastic, i think something came loose inside it when i dropped it from about a metre (3 feet) onto a tile floor and i think something is intermittently shorting out.
i now use a new KL1 head on the L4 body while i am waiting for surefire to email me back about warranty

my old style KL3/6p body was thrown onto grass from a lookout tower near my place that is about 10-15 metres tall (30-40 feet i think)
it survived no worries

Thanks for the info you both.

It seems that SF LED`s arent as tough as I thought. But does taka a beating better then an incandescant light. Pretty recently I broke my MN11 in my M3-CB, I just thought that happened to easily so slowly but surely I am favouring LED`s more and more. First I used both incan`s and LED`s. Then my favourite was the incan`s.. but after this episode I am more sceptical against them. For most of the time I think LED`s are better, with some exceptions as with my M6.. very powerfull light when needed. But for the most time I am more in a need of a flashlight that will function much longer with reduced output. Like the E2L and even the KL3 on a M2 body.

Well... I really dont know what I wanted to say with this reply, I think it was that I use LED`s more and more despite there shortcomings. I only use the newer SF with optic I might ad. This year I would relly see the KL5 and 6 with new optics, that would be great!

When I created this poll I must have done something wrong since the percents are quite messed up. I apologise for that. :mecry:


Looking at the diagram and how many that has voted in each answer does give you a view anyway. :naughty:

The %s look goofy because it's a multi-choice poll. Consider each choice vs the number of people who voted. If 10 people voted on two choices, and 5 chose one option, while all 10 chose both, one would be 50%, the other would be 100%.

As for myself, I dropped my old L2 only once (about 4 feet onto concrete) and only had a couple slight dings. I likewise dropped my Inova T1 and it showed a couple, even more minor dings. Both still worked fine.

On the flip-side, I can't remember how many times I had to buy new minimag bulbs--or new Minimags entirely-- back in the day (10 years ago) because I dropped it, despite having the rubber thingy on the top.

I've never had any other sort of incandescent.

All my 3 G2s had problems with the P60 after being dropped accidentally from waist-height. But now I see that LEDs CAN fail as well. I think another option is to invest in cheaper but proven incandescent lights rather than one single, evolving, experimental, expensive LED light.

But don't get me wrong, I have an equal number of high power LEDs and Incandescents from Surefire.

However, it might be a good idea to have two G2s for $80 than one U2 for $280. After all, "two is one, and one is none..."

The P61 HOLA broke after I accidentally dropped my 6P down a flight of concrete stairs (about 9 steps to a landing). I wasn't surprised even though the light was off at the time.

On the other hand about a year previously I had the same 6P roll off a tractor fender, right onto a spinning PTO shaft which threw it about 15 feet in the air and then landed tail first in soft dirt (stuck right in with the light shining up in the air). Soft landing but very hard throw and the bulb survived so I guess it was on borrowed time anyway <grin>.

I dropped by KL5 a couple of times... accidentaly of course...

managed to chip the HAIII anodizing and got a little tiny nick in the glass... but its still works fine... its been over 2 years now... its one of the ealry ones.. #519 i think

Oh yeah i forgot to say.. that i have blown a couple of p60s when dropping them on the floor in my SF G2... I've replaced it with a 3W luxeon drop by G&P.. and now my G2 is my "tough light"

i've never dropped my SF M4 so i can't really say if hte shock absorbing bezel would have helped... I'm sure it would though...

chronium said:

i've never dropped my SF M4 so i can't really say if hte shock absorbing bezel would have helped... I'm sure it would though...

Click to expand...

I have dropped my M3 on purpose upon concrete twice.. and thats the way I broke both of my MN10/11. So I suppose the shock-isolated bezel is mainly for absorbing recoil and mot the impact against surfuces. It should be a bit tougher then the regular bezel though.

Experimenting is quite stupid sometimes, I have dropped my KL1 (E2L) on hard surfaces a couple of times, sometimes by mistake but yesterday I dropped it in the same manner as I did with the M3, of course my KL1 has survived every drop. However I can now hear a small rattle from inside, so I wont push my luck anymore and subjecting it to more drop-tests. I have learned that its definately is more tougher then both M3 and ordinary SF incandescents lights.

But its not indestructible.

yeah. i suppose if you really want to break something.........

My U2 gets dropped a little bit more often by mistake, but has never let me down. It just shrugs it off. Once I dropped the U2 and the floor broke. No kidding. There was an impact mark on the floor and the U2 just walked away - not a scratch.

My L4 and M3 are unusual because they managed to drop THEMSELVES. L4 - I had both hands in the fridge and the L4 around my neck when it managed to unhitch itself from my lanyard's quick release and plunge to the floor. Sustained a tiny little stress fracture in the glass but did not compromise waterproofing. Light still continues to work till this day. In fact, I dunked the light after that incident to confirm it was still waterproof.

The M3 is another extraordinary case. Again, lanyarded around my neck. Both my hands were busy, because I was handing my black A2 to another flashaholic and telling him "check this out" when suddenly I hear this huge *CRACK* as the M3 hits asphalt. Apart from a couple of character marks the M3 is fine. Guess I'm grateful to have all that shock isolation.

Out of the dozen Surefires I have owned, both LED and incandescent, not a single failure due to impacts. I have had one E1e (MN01) bulb burn itself out due to lots and LOTS of use (since switched to a KL1 that has never burned out, naturally), and three C-series lamps instaflash out of the box (SF took care of these for me, kudos to them). Every other lamp has lived a long and productive life on my watch. That having been said, I never let myself get caught short with only one light. Remember: ANYTHING can fail. And it most likely will when you don't bave a backup.

You are one lucky guy! First drop with my U2 (on the bl**dy first day) I had a chip the size of a broken heart........ Many chips since then.

Interesting poll.

With 21 respondents so far a little more than half are reporting no SF LED failures from an accidental drop, but it does happen every once in a while. About half have had incans fail from accidental drop.

This highlights the need for a backup in many applications.

The interesting thing to me is M3 lamp failure from drops. I would have thought they were tougher. Use that lanyard or pouch!

Scott

If you want a light that is totally impervious to impacts up to few meters of height, either go INOVA X5 (for flood) or SureFire L5 (for throw).

I have my own record of light failures by dropping, and those are the two lights that NEVER failed. In particular, the SF L5 with the Twist-on tailcap is, in my opinion, a bomb-proof light.

Anthony