NEW SF Z59 clicky tail cap is dead!

CAUTION, RANT:

Ever since I got my DX Cree drop-in LED module (fantastic unit for the price), my Surefire 6P has been my go to flashlight. Not having a clicky was kind of a pain, so I decided to splurge and spend the $38 and get the Z59 tail cap. It took me a while to convince myself that the price was justified, but in the end, I knew I wanted the best quality light I could put together. I know, the DX Cree module is not exactly SF quality, but until SF comes out with theirs... Well, things didn't work out quite like I'd hoped. The SF clicky came in yesterday. It worked fine for a few actuations, but quickly started feeling rough. After a few more presses, the clicky has stopped working altogether. :thumbsdow Now, I feel like a fool. I own several Brinkman Maxfires (all with LED dropins) each with hundreds if not thousands of actuations on their clicky tail switches and they are all still working fine. I've owned three SL Propoly Luxs without problems in their switches. In fact, I don't think I've ever purchased a flashlight with a clicky switch that has gone dead virtually right out of the package. I hate to say this , but if I had to choose a light to potentially save my life, it would be any light I own EXCEPT MY SUREFIRE. How can any company charge so much for a product that is so bad? Do they not have remorse? Are they not ashamed?

Well, what do I do now? 1. Send it to Surefire with the privilege of paying postage both ways and waiting for weeks or 2. send it back to Optics HQ (really not their mistake) or 3. try to fix it myself which may void the SF lifetime warranty or 4. chuck it in the lake and go back to my trusty Maxfire.

End of rant.

From what I've read here, most of the time you can fix the clicky easily by yourself and I don't think it will void the warranty. Also, call Surefire and tell them about the bad clicky, like all post I've read, they usually send clickies without asking for a return. You'll probably end up with another new clicky and a spare one you may be able to repair by yourself.

LightHearted said:

CAUTION, RANT:

Ever since I got my DX Cree drop-in LED module (fantastic unit for the price), my Surefire 6P has been my go to flashlight. Not having a clicky was kind of a pain, so I decided to splurge and spend the $38 and get the Z59 tail cap. It took me a while to convince myself that the price was justified, but in the end, I knew I wanted the best quality light I could put together. I know, the DX Cree module is not exactly SF quality, but until SF comes out with theirs... Well, things didn't work out quite like I'd hoped. The SF clicky came in yesterday. It worked fine for a few actuations, but quickly started feeling rough. After a few more presses, the clicky has stopped working altogether. :thumbsdow Now, I feel like a fool. I own several Brinkman Maxfires (all with LED dropins) each with hundreds if not thousands of actuations on their clicky tail switches and they are all still working fine. I've owned three SL Propoly Luxs without problems in their switches. In fact, I don't think I've ever purchased a flashlight with a clicky switch that has gone dead virtually right out of the package. I hate to say this , but if I had to choose a light to potentially save my life, it would be any light I own EXCEPT MY SUREFIRE. How can any company charge so much for a product that is so bad? Do they not have remorse? Are they not ashamed?

Well, what do I do now? 1. Send it to Surefire with the privilege of paying postage both ways and waiting for weeks or 2. send it back to Optics HQ (really not their mistake) or 3. try to fix it myself which may void the SF lifetime warranty or 4. chuck it in the lake and go back to my trusty Maxfire.

End of rant.

Click to expand...

Step by step instructions to your problems:

A) Call surefire and tell them that you have a bad Z59 Clicky Tailcap.
B) They'll send you a new one for free. (No postage charge)
C) Use the new one they sent you
D) Throw the old one out or try to fix it.

When you call it in you *will not* have to pay postage or any handling charge to get the new tailcap. Remember. A company can't have 100% accuracy on every single product they've ever shipped. There's always going to be a problem on at least a few units (Alot more in the case of the new L1's) but it seems that your tailcap is the one that got by QC this time and your the unlucky one that got it. If i remember dissembling the tailcap voids the SF warranty but don't quote me there.

You have to realize that no matter the company, clickie switches in general are much much less reliable than the tactical twist/momentary switch options. We a can't expect even the best of companies to make a non-reliable product "foolproof". All clickies will someday die and perhaps yours did so prematurely, but compared to a twistie you will ALWAYS be disappointed in the very very long run or under heavy use.

I bought (2) new Z59s on Monday. One was bad. I simply returned it to the gun shop I bought them at, but was told I could just call Surefire directly if I chose. Surefire makes great products, but Im sure they do not manufacture the switches.

BTW....If you are looking for a quality drop-in for the 6-9volt lights, MALKOFF DEVICES rule ! I own several of his DX cree drop-ins and they rock! Very high quality and built for duty use. Its brighter than the Wolf-Eyes, better throw, and spill. Ive purchased all the different cree drop-ins from $8 to $55. and Gene's wins.....

Just my opinion and experience...

FWIW the last E series tailcap Surefire replaced was sent to me within one week. Always call, don't gamble with email and unwanted delays.

Once I had the replacement tailcap I felt brave enough to try disassembly of the faulty unit. Not sure what got "fixed", except after reassembly the broken one now works 100%. I think maybe the tailcap rubber seal or something gets offcenter when tightened down and binds the mechanism. HTH.

Paladin

Your surefire clicky costs more than my Eastward YJ, and i've been using it like a 100 times a day for the past 2 months with no problems at all with the clicky!!
Take it from me and my experience - never ever buy surefire!!! blatant rip off company IMO.

Step by step instructions to your problems:

A) Call surefire and tell them that you have a bad Z59 Clicky Tailcap.
B) They'll send you a new one for free. (No postage charge)
C) Use the new one they sent you
D) Throw the old one out or try to fix it.

Click to expand...

E) Call surefire again because your new clicky stuffed up
F) Tell them to send you 10 of them!!
G) Put them in a glass cabinet for display
H) buy a 20 cent clicky from DX and use that instead...
I) No more clicky problems

Well, I just called Surefire, and they were very helpful. They are sending me a new Z59 with no questions asked. Hopefully, this one will work. Maybe they'll check it before they mail it. When it comes in, I will try to fix the old one. Thanks for the advice everyone.

skyline_man said:

Take it from me and my experience - never ever buy surefire!!! blatant rip off company IMO.

Click to expand...

I could really go off on how much of a lie that little line is but i wont. Because if i do i'll shoot off like a rocket into space and go off on one properly. :green:

MUST. RESIST. DUMB. COMMENT. MUST...

Back to the topic, I think you were a bit lucky in your bad luck, in that the tailcap failed almost immediately.
You had a dud one to begin with and it showed its fault right away.
I rather have a dud fail quickly, than something that slowly and unnoticed marches toward failure, which inevitably will happen at the worst time.

Well, I got my new Z59 within a week of contacting Surefire. That was world class customer service alright. Unfortunately, the same can not be said for the quality of their clicky swithces. The new one is already showing signs of a premature death. Most of the time it works. Sometimes the switch engages without a click. Sometimes it won't engage at all. This is just crazy. I do not understand how a company that is as good as Surefire is can mass produce such a poor product. I think I'm just going to have to write off Surefire for a while untill they get this problem worked out. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...

:tsk:

I have the same issue before with DX Cree using the Z59 with my 6PD. I called SF and sent me new one. I red in this forum regarding having a short somewhere that is causing the problem either a contact from the DX Cree lamp assembly or the clicky, thats why you have that kind of problem.

Lucky me, the Z59 that was shorted before was now working fine, and I believed the one that SF sends me was already misplaced by me:shrug:.

Search out the forum again regarding a Z59 failure.

You might be interested in Pointer removed.

I had a similar issue with my L4 (I think it's a Z57 clicky). It worked fine for a couple of days, but then it started to feel less crisp. Seconds after that, it became mushy, and clicked on/off occasionally. Five minutes after that, it stopped working.

I decided to take the tailcap apart and see what made it tick. I removed the ring that secures the clicky mechanism (you screw it out), and everything slid out. The workings reminded me of one of those black government ball-point pens, where a geared plastic "cup" meets with another plastic interface, with a spring. I gave the unit a little tap and the assembly came apart. Everything looked fine, so I put it back together.

To my amazement, it works now, like a champ! I'm not sure what caused my tailcap to fail like that.

Since you're getting a new one, you might want to check out the assembly (hopefully turning out like mine did!).

I'm thinking the rubber boot somehow gets positioned where it binds the internal mechanism. I "fixed" an E series tailcap recently by merely taking it apart and reassembling.

Paladin

Okay, with two bad Surefire clickies and all of the positive reports about just taking them apart, I decided to have a go at fixing my own. I used a pin spanner and took the switch apart. Everything came out easy enough with a little bit of pulling. I saw that white plastic toothed part that looks like an old ball point pin mechanism. I added a few drops of mineral oil to it and put it back together. To my amazement it instantly worked like new. That was a very easy fix to what looks like a serious problem with Surefire. I don't know that I fully trust the switch in a life saving situation just yet, but it does appear to be fully functional. Maybe SF needs to add a little lube in the switch in order to solve this problem. Anyway, thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I feel a lot better now, although I am still not 100% confident in SF's clickies. At least I'm not in the dark now. Thanks agian everyone!

Ken

I'm using the Z59 in a 6P with a DX drop-in and no problems yet. I use it as a glove-box light and sometimes as a carry light BUT...I would not trust the drop-in for a life-threatening situation unless I had no choice. I also do not consider the clickie switch to be "tactical" for a few reasons: 1) It makes noise, 2) in a high-stress situation I could easily push too hard and temporarily lose the momentary function, and 3) they seem to not be as reliable as Surefire's momentary switches. I put the Z59 on because it is more intuitive/user friendly for non-flashaholics (my wife and kids) who are used to Maglight's or other "average" lights.

Maybe you can disassemble the other switch and lube it and have two...

This is a little off topic but since it was about Surefire replacements I thought I'd ask...

My new E2D's lamp assembly is completely stuck inside the bezel... like I mean it was superglued in there or something because I can't for the life of me get it out without destroying the lamp (it's not dead yet!). What's Surefire's policy with replacing bezels? I've heard they're great with tailcaps but I haven't heard much about their bezels having problems.

White Lightning chain lube works very well on these switches and does not attract dirt. Most bike shops will have it, give it a try.

MARNAV1 said:

White Lightning chain lube works very well on these switches and does not attract dirt. Most bike shops will have it, give it a try.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I'm a cyclist and happen to have some of this in my bike box. I'll give it a try if it looks like the mineral oil is not working. So far, so good. I did the other switch and it too woks like new. Now I have two working clickies agian. Thanks to all of you people for your good advice.

Ken