My Fenix L0D CE is not hard anodiced

My Fenix L0D CE is certainly not hard anodiced. The spec clearly say 'hard anodiced', is this common?

BBL said:

My Fenix L0D CE is certainly not hard anodiced. The spec clearly say 'hard anodiced', is this common?

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How can you tell?:thinking:

Fenix has always been known to have somewhat weak (or perhaps thin)anodizing.

I believe hard anodizing refers to a more natural colour, kinda olive greenish. SImilar to Jetbeam or arc AAa type colours. A lot tougher.

Fenix has never had this.

Hard anodized can be black, clear and I believe dyed different colors as well. The natural color i believe is the usually greyish/bronzish/greenish we always see. Yeah, how do you tell your L0D CE is not HA? Because its black?

Yup that's true.

The Gladius has HA 3 in other colors besides the usual black and natural.

Hard annodizing refers to the process, not the color. I was at the Fenix
manufacturing plant and it is most definitely hard annodized (type 3).
They have a device that measure the thickness too. All the lights (including
my edc) clock in over 50 microns.

If you think hard annodized means the light will never scratch - that is not
true. Any sturdy blade can scratch HA. (done this with SF lights too)
Also repeated rubbing by something like keys will take the aluminum oxide
off layer by later - though very slowly.

The L0D is worn like an old maglite - after a few weeks. The anodiced is gone on broad areas, not just the edges.

In comparisson, my P1, that was on my keychain for a year, shows slight wear on the edges, not more. My P1 is natural, but i dont think that makes so much difference.

BBL said:

The L0D is worn like an old maglite - after a few weeks. The anodiced is gone on broad areas, not just the edges.

In comparisson, my P1, that was on my keychain for a year, shows slight wear on the edges, not more. My P1 is natural, but i dont think that makes so much difference.

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Same here, a week on my keyring and its showing signs of wear, I think a Solitaire would last longer to be honest, well my last Solitaire did last longer than that before showing signs of wear.

My P1DCE (Black) was on my keyring just as long,maybe longer, no signs of wear at all.

My LOD still looks nice.

A little trick for the keychain; put your LOD BETWEEN your Kroger discount card (whatever), and the plastic body of your car key.

Whatever you carry that isn't metal should be on each side of the light.

Makes a big difference.

A lot of lights say HA and it may be some type of HA BUT it is not mil spec HA.IIRC mil spec is done at 32F and to a certain thickness.I think the surefire are mil spec HA.But I could be wrong.
DON

Something to point out, although it may not apply to the particular problems posters are here discussing, is that HA is generally harder than steel. I have HA cookware (Calphalon) and the pans visibly pick up what appear to be scratches on the outside. However, when I scrub the pans with a scotchbrite pad and some Comet, the scratches go away, which means that the steel actually rubbed off onto the anodized exterior of the cookware, instead of the anodizing itself having rubbed off. :duh2: So I think maybe some of the "wear" that people are seeing may be attributable to bare aluminum or steel actually scraping off onto the HA of the light rather than the HA itself wearing off. Maybe. :shrug:

Eu

First off believe me when I say that I LOVE lights. I do, however, have to laugh sometimes when folks put such a priority on the looks of their lights. If it still works (ie, still puts out light), then who really cares what it looks like?

Sorry, just playing devils advocate :devil:

L0D with a few weeks of use on the left vs. P1 with a few month of use right. I say this is not the same finish.

My LOD still looks as new

cv3po said:

First off believe me when I say that I LOVE lights. I do, however, have to laugh sometimes when folks put such a priority on the looks of their lights. If it still works (ie, still puts out light), then who really cares what it looks like?

Sorry, just playing devils advocate :devil:

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Don't be sorry. I just assumed "HA" was what I used to refer to as "Hard As F**$".
I expected it to last longer than a week on the keys, but I still love the light.

How do you use your LOD? has it been scrapped against stone or anything like that? Are you saying it got like that just from pocket carry with keys?

Ill get some pics when I get back in from work.
My L0DCE is only on my keyring.
It's not like I'm going to send it back, just commenting I expected it to last longer, I have a Minimag 2AA that I have had at least 12 years, and that does not look 12 years old.

The Fenix HA has been called into question a few times, I think it was suggested that the coating itself is adequate but the aluminium alloy they are using is weak. Looking at the picture of your torch, the edges have worn down, not just had their coating rubbed off.

Having said that, I have had an E0 on my keyring for about 9 months and whilst being natural in colour (so the wear isn't as obvious as with black), I don't think it has worn as badly as yours appears to have done. Perhaps you have a torch from a particularly soft batch of aluminium.

Andrew

Fenix HA does not reach the level of hardness on the Rockwell scale of a true Mil Spec HA. It sits somewhere between Type II ano and HA.

4sevens said:

Hard annodizing refers to the process, not the color. I was at the Fenix
manufacturing plant and it is most definitely hard annodized (type 3).
They have a device that measure the thickness too. All the lights (including
my edc) clock in over 50 microns.

If you think hard annodized means the light will never scratch - that is not
true. Any sturdy blade can scratch HA. (done this with SF lights too)
Also repeated rubbing by something like keys will take the aluminum oxide
off layer by later - though very slowly.

Click to expand...

I agree that anodizing never scratch is mistake,but I think it will keep a long from scratching,maybe 5 to 10 years,so why just several weeks later,which scratching more in that picture?how to explain?