Worst Experience With A Light.

What is the absolute worst experience you ever had with a new light?

Mine happened today! I bought a 2AA Victorinox flashlight. The one that looks like a silver clone of a regular Mini-mag, but uses a very bright LED. Besides not turning on, the twist-action flashlight had not been properly lubricated. To say the threads were bone-dry would be a compliment! Then the bezel got completely stuck. (Constantly having the sharp, metal Victorinox logo cutting into my hand as I tried to get it unstuck..... well, that didn't help).

There's a lot of temporary scaffolds in NYC. And I got so frustrated, I smashed the plastic lens on an exposed bolt, and tossed that never-should-have-made-it-past-QC light straight down the sewer. The only thing that worked properly was the SAK Classic Pen knife that was sold together with the light.

I'm not blaming Victorinox, nor the company that was given permission to make the light for Victorinox. I am blaming the lazy bum who didn't bother to lube the threads.

It doesn't have to be about the light, your worst situation could be about the situation itself, or the people who were with you when you needed a light. Share your horror stories.

lubrication is part of maintenance... it seems YOU failed in that aspect.

Dropping them.. That is my worst experience..
I dropped my L4 when it was new, it bounced for what felt like an hour from a roof to a cement driveway. Minimal damage.
The other was PM6 that was a gift from a member, it fell from my hand or pocket (I don't remember which) to a hardwood floor, in a flooring store. I was on a very high ladder and it did some serious damage to the light, smashed the mineral glass window and dented the bezel. When I got home I replaced the fragmented window with the original plastic and you would hardly know it was dropped, sorta.
Somewhere in the halls of this place are threads on both life altering tragedies.

Worst has to be not having one. This was when I didn't EDC a light for a "just in case" situation. Nothing like working on your car in the dark to make you realize that having a flashlight on you isn't a bad idea.

running out of batteries (even though I've never had it happen)

BBL said:

lubrication is part of maintenance... it seems YOU failed in that aspect.

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It was a BRAND NEW light!

I had a Streamlight Argo, which was (at the time) one of the first 1w Luxeon headlamps. It had three brightness settings, and when the batteries were low it would turn off completely, rather than dropping to the next lower setting. Needless to say this happened at various inopportune times, so I got mad and threw it down the tarmac, breaking the plastic case. On the plus side, when I sent it back to Stramlight they replaced it with an Enduro, which is very nice.

Monocrom said:

I'm not blaming Victorinox, nor the company that was given permission to make the light for Victorinox. I am blaming the lazy bum who didn't bother to lube the threads.

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Just so that you know who to not blame... :lolsign:


Emissive Energy is the maker of the Victorinox lights. They are also the makers of Inova lights. The light is based off the Radiant models.

I've bought many lights that didn't have lube on the threads. Lubing them was the first thing that I did as an owner.

Victorinox has a lifetime, no-questions-asked warranty. But I guess it's too late for that.

NutSAK said:

Just so that you know who to not blame... :lolsign:


Emissive Energy is the maker of the Victorinox lights. They are also the makers of Inova lights. The light is based off the Radiant models.

I've bought many lights that didn't have lube on the threads. Lubing them was the first thing that I did as an owner.

Victorinox has a lifetime, no-questions-asked warranty. But I guess it's too late for that.

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I am aware of the light's Maker. I bought the light because another CPFer made a thread in which he praised the light.

I rotated the twist-light 1 1/2 tuns before it became permanentally stuck. The light never did turn on, despite having batteries in it. The Maker didn't even supply enough lube to get the head off, once! How am I supposed to lube the threads if I can't even get TO the threads?

THAT type of warranty is little comfort when you're in an Emergency, and NEED your chosen light to work reliably. Perhaps one should choose a different light than the Victorinox 2AA. But I plan to buy this light, again! I want to be certain whether the light is a POS, or if I was unfortunate enough to get stuck with a lemon. I'll post the results! Fair enough?

Worst experience ?
2003 : I was on a hiking trip with my girlfriend with only ONE MiniMag AA : at nightfall I cooked the meal with almost dead batteries, very weak light.
2005 : Dead batteries of my Streamlight Batonlite when I was trapped in a train under a tunnel. See my story on THE CAFE forum subject : nightmare stories or somethng like this.

I've mentioned this incident before as it also probably set me on the road to flashaholism.

It was the summer of 1967. I was 16 and sailing as a deckhand on a 630' ore boat on the great lakes during summer vacation from high school.

The ship was built in 1906 (!) and because there was no salt water in the lakes it was still running -- even though it was so old that it was driven by a reciprocating steam engine and hand fired, meaning that men shoveled coal into the firebox by hand.

The ship had 32 telescoping steel hatchcovers that had to be opened and closed each time we loaded or discharged cargo, which happened about twice a week. In order to open or close a hatch we had to drag a cable perhaps a couple hundred feet up the deck, attach a snach block to change the direction of pull 90°, attach the cable to the cover and then signal the winch operator to pull it open or closed. (Of course, they were steam deck winches.) In the daytime we used hand signals as we were often a long ways away from the winch and the environent was far too noisy for verbal instructions.

The old equipment and many other factors made opening and closing hatches a very dangerous operation. There would usually be 4 men up by the hatch all the time and everyone had to remain alert and be in just the right positions at all times to avoid being seriously hurt of killed.

At night we had to signal the winch operator with flashilghts which generally worked fairy well. The crew was provided with cheap, chromed, 2xD Ray-O-Vacs -- the ones with the refridgerator magnets.

One night I was giving the signals to the winch operator for the crew. It was something I took very seriously. Accidents on deck happen very quickly and once something goes wrong it can't be undone. Anyway, things were pretty routine that night -- until it started to rain. Even then, it wasn't bad at first but it was a big job that took some time and we just got wetter and wetter. The cold rain also makes you tire more quickly so you're more accident prone.

Eventually, the light got so wet that it was not only hard to get it to turn on, but then it would also go dark before I would want to turn it off. It was maddening for everyone on the whole crew. The winch operator sure didn't want to hurt anyone. I was close to freaking out. If someone on my crew was hurt while I was calling the shots it would have been very upsetting. Of course, it was no fun for the guys with their hands and legs and whole lives at risk during the operation. When we were finished I never looked at any flashlight the same way again. Ever.

Try a European vacation with a UV light. You realize that the beds are just sperminators.

My most embarassing experience was showing a police officer my Mag85 and the batteries were almost dead so it's output appeared to be STOCK! AGHH!

Officers replied, "Uh...yeah...thats pretty uh....bright there."

Jeff

Droping my Aleph 1 from my belt the the assfolt, But a good ding in the bezel and tail cap…

I bought a geni-uine Mr. Bulk Space Needle III used off B/S/T. (5 watt Mag mod direct drive off 3x123).

It worked great for a couple of days of short bursts. But the first time I had it in use for more than 10 minutes it got very hot to the touch and just as I realized it was overheating it dimmed to 1/2 brightness (because 2 of the 4 dies- ummmmmm died).

I didn't even bother to inform the seller (certainly wasn't HIS fault as it worked fine when I received it). :sigh:

Anyway, from now on I'll stick to better designed 'Gizmo's... :nana:

Shot my brand new Orb Raw after 20 Minutes of usage because i didn't knew about that Voltage Peak this Lithiums have right off the charger.
Switched to high mode on fresh cell and...

Sub_Umbra said:

I've mentioned this incident before as it also probably set me on the road to flashaholism...It was the summer of 1967. I was 16 and sailing as a deckhand on a 630' ore boat on the great lakes during summer vacation from high school. The ship was built in 1906 (!) and because there was no salt water in the lakes it was still running -- even though it was so old that it was driven by a reciprocating steam engine and hand fired, meaning that men shoveled coal into the firebox by hand.

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Great story Sub_Umbra!

I've always been amazed by those huge reciprocating steam engines. They seem so primitive, but at the same time, so awesomely powerful. They turn slowly enough that you can see the individual parts working with and against each other as those long stroke pistons pump out the power.

And steam winches! Amazing.

Monocrom said:

THAT type of warranty is little comfort when you're in an Emergency, and NEED your chosen light to work reliably. Perhaps one should choose a different light than the Victorinox 2AA. But I plan to buy this light, again!

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I mentioned the warranty because it probably would have been a better--or at least cheaper--option than throwing it into the sewer. It didn't sound like you were in an emergency situation, but maybe you were.

I look forward to your review of the second one.

ringzero said:

Great story Sub_Umbra!

I've always been amazed by those huge reciprocating steam engines. They seem so primitive, but at the same time, so awesomely powerful. They turn slowly enough that you can see the individual parts working with and against each other as those long stroke pistons pump out the power.

And steam winches! Amazing.

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<OT>
The pistons on the main engine were over two feet in diameter. As you stated, you could see the connecting rods going back and forth and other moving parts as well. While many bearings had oil automatically pumped to them all the time much of the parts had to be exposed so they could be oiled manually -- they had guys called oilers who had schedules for oiling the various bearings and they seemed to be moving from bearing to bearing, squirting oil, 24 hours a day whenever we were under way. They carried oil cans that held at least a quart of oil and had a spout three feet long so they could reach waaaay into tight places.

The deck winches had six inch diameter pistons.

The ships wear out but those steam engines will run forever if taken care of. They ran on reatively low pressure at very low RPMs and at temps way below what an internal combustion engine must face.

And there is nothing like the smell of oil and steam.
</OT>

NutSAK said:

I mentioned the warranty because it probably would have been a better--or at least cheaper--option than throwing it into the sewer. It didn't sound like you were in an emergency situation, but maybe you were.

I look forward to your review of the second one.

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Thankfully, no; it wasn't an emergency. Besides lights, I often carry other gear with me in my pockets and on my belt. Blackouts are not uncommon in NYC. And, my job-site is unfortunately on a prime spot for a Terror attack. As much as I like my Dorcy 1AAA, I'm hoping my primary light doesn't fail me when I really need it.

I'll either post the review here, or in the LED forum. It won't be an extensive review, so I won't post it in the Reviews forum. Most likely, will post on this thread.

Honestly, I'm just used to companies that offer a basic warranty because they work very hard to make sure each product is as least likely to fail as possible.