Novatac for you're only EDC?

Sorry, I am beating this to death.
But I am heaing more and more complaints about functioning problems with the Novatacs. If I buy one, it will be my ONLY EDC light. It will get used nearly daily, and be abused regularly. I will be dropped, it will have me rolling over concrete floors on top of it. It will get dropped into metal shavings, and quite possibly kicked a few times when it does get dropped!! It wll be outside with me when it's freezing rain down to -20, and with me when it hits 120. I go from building to building, in and out of the cold to the heat, in and out of the heat to the cold.
I will buy my EDC to use, and these are the conditions of my work envirornment. I expect it to work everytime, as I am there to fix things NOW and my light is NOT one of those things. Dead batteries notwithstanding.
Does this sound like a job for the Novatac, or do I need to look elsewhere?

I have as much confidence in Novatac as I do with any other light currently available. Mine have never given me any indication that they would fail to perform when called upon.

It sounds like you are a perfect candidate, however, for the new HDS Twisty when it becomes available. I can't wait to get my hands on the new HDS' when they become available and they look to be just around the corner.

I don't see that many complaints about Novatac. The P version has lots of features and sometimes it's faster to ask a question here than it is to read the manual. The T version does not have as many features so it is easier to learn without reading the manual. I just did a search for Novatac in Cheers and found 23 posts, a search for Novatac in Jeers found 0 posts.

When doing something like caving where the lack of a light could be fatal, a back-up light is required no matter how a reliable the primary light is considered to be. Like they say "Two is one and one is none".

:)> said:

I have as much confidence in Novatac as I do with any other light currently available. Mine have never given me any indication that they would fail to perform when called upon.

It sounds like you are a perfect candidate, however, for the new HDS Twisty when it becomes available. I can't wait to get my hands on the new HDS' when they become available and they look to be just around the corner.

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I really, Really REALLY REAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYY want one of those!

I have two NovaTacs, an 85p and a 120p. Once I got my 120, the 85 went in the AW case, attached to my Maxpedition man bag. After a week of being transported on the bag, not abused, simply going from car to house or car to locker at work, I went to fire it up today and it came on, them immediately went off. So I turned it on again, went to high: it did some kind of ramping thing then went to low, then went off. I opened the case, tightened everything up, replaced the cell and it appeared to work OK. Coincidentally, the cell I removed is fine. So now I'm not sure what to think.

Also, my 120p will flicker oddly about every 6th time I use my lowest mode. Other than that, the light works great.

Compare this to any of the SureFire L1's I've had. None of them have ever flickered, flashed, died or quit on me.

Just my $0.02

Valpo Hawkeye said:

I have two NovaTacs, an 85p and a 120p. Once I got my 120, the 85 went in the AW case, attached to my Maxpedition man bag. After a week of being transported on the bag, not abused, simply going from car to house or car to locker at work, I went to fire it up today and it came on, them immediately went off. So I turned it on again, went to high: it did some kind of ramping thing then went to low, then went off. I opened the case, tightened everything up, replaced the cell and it appeared to work OK. Coincidentally, the cell I removed is fine. So now I'm not sure what to think.

Also, my 120p will flicker oddly about every 6th time I use my lowest mode. Other than that, the light works great.

Compare this to any of the SureFire L1's I've had. None of them have ever flickered, flashed, died or quit on me.

Just my $0.02

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And this is not the first post I have read like this! This is what makes me wonder about them!! My M@gs had no output, but unless the bateries were dead, they came on!! My L1 (may it rest in peace) was rock solid, everytime!!

I suspect that the failure rates for the Novatac are fairly low. They just get a lot of publicity on a forum like this. If it really worries you too much, maybe the Novatac is one that you should not consider. It's important for you to have confidence in your illumination tools. If you don't, even a $1000.00 light will not give you piece of mind.

fieldops said:

I suspect that the failure rates for the Novatac are fairly low. They just get a lot of publicity on a forum like this. If it really worries you too much, maybe the Novatac is one that you should not consider. It's important for you to have confidence in your illumination tools. If you don't, even a $1000.00 light will not give you piece of mind.

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My thing is, it's a very expensive light, and I have been hearing some functioning isues with it. I am not afraid of paying for it, but I know I am going to be at least 100 times harder on it than about anybody that has one now!
A $30-50 light, it acts up, no biggie, I kind of expect it to. A $150 light acts up at the wrong time, well.............

gosh, I just bought a Novatac and love it, and this is the first time I heard of this, and I thought I did a fair amount of research. Hhmm....crossing my fingers. :sigh:

I thought this was out already? No? This one is on my list to buy.

:)> said:

It sounds like you are a perfect candidate, however, for the new HDS Twisty when it becomes available. I can't wait to get my hands on the new HDS' when they become available and they look to be just around the corner.

Click to expand...

Valpo Hawkeye said:

I have two NovaTacs, an 85p and a 120p. Once I got my 120, the 85 went in the AW case, attached to my Maxpedition man bag. After a week of being transported on the bag, not abused, simply going from car to house or car to locker at work, I went to fire it up today and it came on, them immediately went off. So I turned it on again, went to high: it did some kind of ramping thing then went to low, then went off. I opened the case, tightened everything up, replaced the cell and it appeared to work OK. Coincidentally, the cell I removed is fine. So now I'm not sure what to think.

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That sounds like it thought you wanted to do a soft reset, or maybe you changed to rechargeables without a battery detect reset to let know the battery type had changed.

Other than the fact that I find the NovaTac just a bit too fat for an EDC, I think it would be great if that is not a problem for you.

I have found that the tolerances seem to be very tight. I tried several different things to try to may an antiroll feature, lanyard rings and stuff like that. I find the clip the ugliest thing and not at all complementary to the light so I can't use that. This meant I opened it a lot.

Anyway I found that the various tube/tailcaps sections are extremly picky about being screwed together tightly. Even though it is using that spring for current path, something is very sensitive (maybe the spring is not really working correctly all the time). I suspect this is the cause of many issues.

There is a lot to like about these lights and a few things that make you go Ummm or ... but I really like my 85P for many tasks. I have been carrying it fairly regular in a larger pocket with the colder weather.

I have used my 120P everyday at work and everynight at home since I received it from Lighthound.( The 1st batch that went out.) It has been dropped numerous times onto concrete and tile floors. It has been in the rain, at the bottom of a pool for an hour and this week it passed the hot tub test.
Most of the functions have been used including the locator function and I've had no problems at all. Every once in a while I'll get a slight flicker in low mode but it does not stay for long. The cold weather is coming and that will be the last test.
The Novatac would serve you well, It's been a great light for me.

Art Vandelay said:

That sounds like it thought you wanted to do a soft reset, or maybe you changed to rechargeables without a battery detect reset to let know the battery type had changed.

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I can understand what you're saying, but I'm very careful about detecting. In fact, since it was going in my pack with the thought that it wouldn't get much use, I switched it back to primaries and definitely did a detect.

When i first got mine (120P) it was acting very weird (bought it used), flickering, not turning on, wouldn't program blah blah blah. I cranked everything down as tight as i could (all the internal retaining rings) and now eveerything works fine. I haven't been through a battery since, and my only other issue was a minor flicker one day on low.

It seems to be a flawless light now, AMAZING beam and tint quality, love the programmability, but there's just a tiny bit of distrust in the back of my head. Either way, i do carry the light a lot and haven't had any issues since.

That said, im nowhere near as tough on lights as it sounds like you are, so best of luck.

Got mine a few days ago.... built like a tank and I love it. I don't see why it would fail on me.. I would hope there is less of a chance than some of the cheaper competitors!!

The novatac is a fine flashlight.
It will serve you very well under the conditions you describe.
Like any EDC equipment The Novatac needs to be checked and lubed.
when replace a battery have a look at the threaded parts inside the light to make sure they are snug. I believe that the early Novatics had an issue with these threads with the parts loosening causing intermittent operation. For the most part I believe NovaTac has addressed this issue with new locking adhesives insuring optimal operation over long periods of time under harsh conditions.

Novatac stands behind their product. If you have a prom they will sort it out for you.
The NovaTac EDC 120 P is not really that expensive. it is roughly double the cost of a high end Chinese made Fenix. That is for a USA built with premium components flashlight. There are plenty of flashlight which will cost you more than a Novatac.

So there you have it from somebody who has EDC a Novatac since they have been available.
Believe me I am the last guy to recommend a light which is not of the highest quality.
'Go get one.
Yaesumofo

My EDC 60 LE is probably my most reliable flashlight. Its glass window won't take the impact that the 120T polycarbonate window will. My Novatac is occasionally a little squirrelly with battery changes and deeply drained CR123's. I put those drained batteries in the EDC60 and it will find a useable level when the 120T won't.

From the standpoint of bulletproof function, Inova X5's are considered the standard, but are lacking in other regards, which is why I gave mine away.

Hmmmmm....... first of all, seriously..... if you depend on your light as much as you sound like you do..... and you abuse it as much as you do..... then for heaven's sake..... carry a back-up! I mean.... that just makes sense. No matter how good anything is made..... there is always a chance of failure... so folks that don't carry backup equipment are just kidding them selves.

I've had my NovaTac 120P from when they first came out...... and I've EDC'd it every single day.... all day. My first one had the infamous flickering problem... and was promptly replaced by NovaTac. The one I have now has been excellent... but has had a few squirrelly episodes which required either taking the battery out for a few minutes, or a soft reset.

I've said from the start that I believe one of the trade-offs for having all the wonderful features and options that this light provides is also having the possibility of having more things go wrong.

If I were you..... I'd be looking at the new HDS twisty light, due out soon. Henry specifically designed that light with folks like you in mind. Will I be buying one to replace my NovaTac...... probably not...... I love the features, beam, and styling of the NovaTac, and it suits me just fine thank you....... but if I absolutely, without a doubt had to count on only one light........ I'd probably choose the new HDS twisty...... and we haven't even gotten a real first hand review yet, ha.....so..... good luck with your quest.

I have to chip into this thread.
I will list issues that are inherent with all Novatac P lights:
1. When you open the body to replace the battery, the emitter may turned independently from the reflector. Some will complained that the LED is no longer centered following such move.
2. It flickered when the battery voltage dropped and may not fired up. When I put this used battery into my SF L1, it fired up fine at low mode.