Fenix lanyard breaks, P1D-CE hits tile floor

I carry my P1D-CE in my right front pocket, secured to my belt by two Fenix lanyards, doubled to extend the length. Last night a friend needed light to look in the upper compartment of his locker so I grabbed the P1D and quickly raised it to chest height. Somehow it slipped and fell to the hard tile floor, a distance of roughly 5 feet. The light was fine except for a small mark on the bezel edge.

I was surprised, even shocked that the thin nylon cord that connects the lanyard to the light had broken. How could this happen? It is supposedly very strong with high tensile strength, certainly robust enough to handle extended daily use of this tiny light. I don't recall subjecting the lanyard to unusual stress; perhaps it frayed by rubbing against my keys (on a separate keyring) or somehow being twisted and abraded.

Fortunately this was only a minor nuisance, but what if it had occured outdoors on a dark night, or climbing through rough terrain? Of course, as a "true" Flashaholic I always carry at least two lights because as we all know "2 is 1 and 1 is none". NTL, this was a disturbing incident. Was my lanyard the rare exception to a usually reliable product, or did I unknowlingly overstress it ? What are the implications for my own future carry, and for the hundreds (thousands?) of Fenix users out there?

Brightnorm

I know they claim a lot of strength from that lanyard, but c'mon, that is basically thread, i don't use mine b/c i didn't expect much from it. But, the fact your light took a pretty hard fall on a very unforgiving surface with minimal damage gives me even more faith in fenix. It's funny how everyone around here loves fenix even though they're "not as tough" I'm sure mine will take plenty more abuse and hopefully it keeps lighting up for a long time.

brightnorm said:

What are the implications for my own future carry, and for the hundreds (thousands?) of Fenix users out there?

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I'll be getting out some paracord when I get home, and probably won't be depending on the Fenix lanyards to keep my lights safe.

One of the first reports ever of Fenix's "toughness" came from a fellow CPF'er who had his L1P drop down an elevator shaft. Seventeen floors down, IIRC, and the light still worked.


Ah, found it. No wonder I remembered that, I'm hosting the pics:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1136279#post1136279


Speaking of lanyard attachments for Fenix, I've never trusted those "cell phone" lanyards, so I thread a tiny split ring through both tailcap holes, and then attach a lanyard to that.

I always use a stainless steel split ring and some paracord or elastic shock cord. I too find some of the lanyards privided by manufacturers too thin. Lucky you didn't lose the light or get into trouble.

Kees

Tensile strength, in layman's terms, refers to the amount of force necessary to break or permanently stretch the thread when pulling the two ends directly away from each other - nothing more. That doesn't mean much when you're considering overall durability. It's just a small piece of the pie. Even Kevlar and Spectra thread are vulnerable to fraying and weakening due to repetitive bending, and they are both far stronger in terms of tensile strength than thin nylon.

Glad you didn't lose it, brightnorm.

mchlwise said:

I'll be getting out some paracord when I get home, and probably won't be depending on the Fenix lanyards to keep my lights safe.

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How will you get the paracord through the tailcap's tiny aperture, isn't it too thick?

Brightnorm

Think for a moment about the consequences of using a wrist lanyard which was very, very strong, e.g., braided steel cable.

If your flashlight got caught in some machinery, it could rip your hand off your arm.

brightnorm said:

How will you get the paracord through the tailcap's tiny aperture, isn't it too thick?

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BN, you'll need to thread a small split ring through the holes like I mentioned before. PM me your addy and I'll mail you a couple of the right size.

Examine the edges of the lanyard hole. I have also had a lanyard break on a light and the edges of the hole was sharp.

If there's a sharp edge, you can use a drill but slightly larger than the hole to "deburr the sharp edges, then use a jewelers' file to finish it off.

greenLED said:

One of the first reports ever of Fenix's "toughness" came from a fellow CPF'er who had his L1P drop down an elevator shaft. Seventeen floors down, IIRC, and the light still worked.


Ah, found it. No wonder I remembered that, I'm hosting the pics:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1136279#post1136279


Speaking of lanyard attachments for Fenix, I've never trusted those "cell phone" lanyards, so I thread a tiny split ring through both tailcap holes, and then attach a lanyard to that.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't call it "tough". I'm not criticizing you since, that post isn't your experience, but my opinion is that it's too early to jump to a conclusion from a single incident anecdotal evidence. The light could land on the tail, head or the side and perhaps the exact point of impact would affect the survivability?

You hear in news about people falling many stories and walking away with minor injuries. This doesn't mean that the same person repeating the same fall would get the same result.

I use the tiny split ring through both holes on my Fenixes. I thread one of the cloth covered elastic bands used to tie hair down (get the kind without a metal connection) and use it as a finger loop. When you don't use it, wrap it around the body at the tail. The split ring keeps it from slipping off and it lets your hand know which end is the back when you fish it out of your pocket.

//

I am half expecting to see a youtube video someone makes , of them just trashing their Fenix light hard, then picking it up and blinding the camera with it

One of mine was showing some wear on the fine loop attached to the lanyard.
Now I don't use a lanyard at all

I use one of these strong split rings from Lighthound and put a lanyard with paracord on it. Many times on a duty day i push it out of the holster. O.K. its scratching with the ring at the HA III, but better as falling down.

brightnorm said:

How will you get the paracord through the tailcap's tiny aperture, isn't it too thick?

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As stated, something needs to go between the tailcap and the paracord.

Personally, the first thing I do to any new light (after putting a battery in it and turning it on) is to install a stainless steel 60lb. test split ring, and a McGizmo (Berkelypoint) stainless steel 150lb. test clip, like so:



I normally don't use a lanyard with my lights. The clippy is great for hooking them onto a belt loop until needed, and they're then easily deployable. This is almost always how I carry my lights, and they're almost always lanyardless.

HOWEVER, when I'm working up high, or over something, or otherwise in a situation where dropping my light would destroy it or something else, or make retreiving it very difficult, I will throw a Fenix lanyard around my wrist and clip the light in to that, as a safety.

The fact that we have very little anecdotal evidence of the failure of Fenix lanyards is a point well taken. But... I've always kinda wondered about that thin leetle piece that attaches to the light anyway, and never really trusted it. Now that I've heard of a failure, it's enough for me to not use them.

Since the only time I ever use a lanyard is when I REALLY need to depend on it and failure isn't an option, I think I'm going to make some kind of paracord wrist lanyard to use from now on.

You hear in news about people falling many stories and walking away with minor injuries. This doesn't mean that the same person repeating the same fall would get the same result.

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Er, if ur talking about 4 or more story's than i think that if they had land on concrete or anything substantially hard, then the result would be fatal every time - no matter how they hit the ground.

skyline_man said:

Er, if ur talking about 4 or more story's than i think that if they had land on concrete or anything substantially hard, then the result would be fatal every time - no matter how they hit the ground.

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I actually knew a kid (14 or so) in the Boston area that fell 7 stories.

He landed on his feet on concrete. :green: Both feet were mush, broke both legs in a couple places, broke his pelvis, and broke a couple vertebrae. It wasn't pretty, :shakehead but he made it.

parnass said:

Think for a moment about the consequences of using a wrist lanyard which was very, very strong, e.g., braided steel cable.

If your flashlight got caught in some machinery, it could rip your hand off your arm.

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If you got a good light that close to machinery you deserve to lose an arm!:shakehead

Katdaddy said:

If you got a good light that close to machinery you deserve to lose an arm!:shakehead

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What !?

You guys are lucky I've been trying to find Berkeley clips and stainless split rings in the UK without much luck and para cord and fittings also with no luck :mecry::mecry: