What lights have failed on you?

Curious...

What lights have you owned that have failed on you?... I am not talking about O-rings that wear out, lenses that scratch or rubber switch cap boots that wear out. I mean flat-out DIE and fail to illuminate as they once did when brand new. Feel free to comment further too. If the failure is the result of user error or excessive abuse feel free to state so.



**edit**
I thought about creating a bar-chart, but that might be difficult if this thread continues to grow at this rapid of a pace. Also, I intentionally limited this to LED lights, knowing that there would be a TON of incan lamp failures polluting the "data", since it is unavoidable at some point...

Some great feedback everyone!!! keep posting away whenever they crap out THANKS everyone for not making this into a fanboy brand-bashing session. Mods please feel free to delete those comments that derail this thread in such a way.

Also, please try and keep this thread on topic and post "how-too repair" discussions separately.

Not too long ago I was in search of a light for my job inspecting large 8 foot telco-cabinet gear for ISPs. I was on the fence and flat out could not decide how to spend my $$$. This thread helped clear my mind and weed out some strong contenders. I am VERY happy with the choice I made.

These flashlights failed to light or went dim suddenly:

Arc AAA-P DS (received dead from Arc, replaced by Arc)
Peak 3-LED Matterhorn (replaced by Peak)
River Rock 1AA 1 watt - died after 2nd battery (replaced by dealer)

These flashlights became intermittant shortly after purchase:

Gerber Tempo (returned to dealer for refund)
Inova X1 2nd generation (replaced by dealer)
Inova T1 tailcap (tailcap replaced by Inova)

Note: All the failures above occurred within the last 2 years.

Lost 2 Maglites due to alkaline battery leakage.
Maglite Solitaire became intermittant

Magcharger switch went fubar; granted, it was used with a WA1160 with high capacity nimh cells which weren't exactly stock but still... the switch never got hit or even used heavily.

Dorcy 3 led stopped working after the switch took a hit on a rock.

In both these cases, I was left out in the dark with an arc aaa to find my way back.

Mini Mags--several
Arc AAA
Fenix P2D CE
Surefire M6
Tektite Trek 2

ARC AAA-P, intermittent problem which showed up after some use, about the same time ARC went under as a company.

Inova X0, dropped 2'-3' onto a wood floor in my attic, never worked again. I was disgusted, sold it in non-working condition for $10-15, didn't feel like going through the hassle of a warranty return.

Several AA and D Maglites due to battery leakage. I take partial responsibility as I would sometimes leave the batteries in the lights for several years without checking/replacing them.

Fenix P1.

E1B,flashed a couple of times and went to half brightness and not a battery or contact problem.Used DE-Oxit still no go.Returned for credit.

The first was my U2.. I was using it to light up an abandoned night club and >poof< nothing. It was about 10 degrees out and I assumed it was the cold. Once I got back on here, MANY infomred me it was the tailcap.... yada...yada... Surefire sent a new one... yada.... yada... good as new!!!


The second was a M1 when they first came out. The dam thing had gremilins!!!! On... off.. flicker... it had them all if memory serves. It was a PITA to get another but I finally did and it was awesome!!!


I guess two happy endings!!!

Several older LedLenser models ... for various reasons of bad engineering


SF U2 ... emitter melted and the light became dimmer and dimmer

Arc LS rev2 ... flooded in pool and died

Fenix L1P ... simply stopped. Couldn't find out why.

MR-X ... loose solder contact, was repaired by hotbeam

bernie

First was a 4D maglite, switch failure, had it in the trunk of my car. Guess some moist got in there. Never really worked well again. At that time I didnt know you could remove the switch.
A couple of lights after that, the ones I remember are the ones I smashed...

Fenix E0
Civictor

LiteFlux LF3 - Would drain the battery (with no use) in 2 days. Was replaced by the dealer, and the second one worked fine.

Ultrafire Luxeon Rebel w/ side switch - switch failed after about 2 months.

MagLite 3C - It fell off the back of my motorcycle at 60 miles an hour, and bounced all over the pavement, but still worked. Later it rolled off the top of my roof, hitting the concrete walkway, but still worked. In mid-step between boulders in a cave in Oregon, without warning, it failed. It was probably the lightbulb, but as I was trying to change the lightbulb, I dropped the flashlight on the rocks below. Had to be rescued as I was in the darkness with no backup flashlight. That's when I became an LED flashlight fanatic. And I ALWAYS carry a backup.

frank777 said:

LiteFlux LF3 - I was trying to change the lightbulb, I dropped the flashlight on the rocks below. Had to be rescued as I was in the darkness with no backup flashlight. That's when I became an LED flashlight fanatic. And I ALWAYS carry a backup.

Click to expand...

Good thing it wasn't life or death!!!!

fenix L2P

2 Jet Beams.

Great lights, all of the sudden one day, poof they were gone.

Gerber Reactor was my first..............first Luxeon (holy green batm@n) and first complete failure. Just didn't turn on one day and never again. Then there was a SF 6P, which did in fact fall onto concrete hard enough to dent the bezel. Bulb blown, worked fine with a new bulb. The only other light that went was a no-name luxeon headlamp that I tried to mod by removing the resistor. Instant !

EDIT: Oh yeah, the first run of the photon proton sucked bung. The switch failed quickly on mine and the UI was quite buggy. Almost forgot about that one

Excluding 99 cent store lights and the like...

2 Kroll switches for an Arc LS (which worked great as a twisty), the switch on an old 4D mag lite, and the switch on an even older 4D Kel lite. Also, a fairly new Gerber LX 1.0 which just stopped working one day. Gerber replaced it promptly with a new one.

If light were important, I would have a spare, or a twisty, or both...

Fenix L1P- intermittent, I still can't find the cause
electrolumens blaster junior - switch failure
Maglite aa - duracell alkaline batteries leaked
dealextreme key chain lights - but at 25p what else should I expect?
Everready bike lamps when I was a kid (the ones that took 2 D cells)

the only lights that have really failed have been my SL stinger and Pila GL3XR

the stinger worked wonderfully as a duty light, until one night i dropped it onto carpet before starting my shift, then it wouldnt turn off unless i took the battery out
i never bothered getting it fixed, just replaced it with the GL3XR the next day
after 2ish years of being used on duty the switch in the Pila became unreliable, it still works, but there is a 50/50 chance it wont turn on.

i have also had the normal Broken globes in maglites, which have left me in the dark temporarily
and i have a Pelican M11 that the globe died in, and i managed to lose the charger before i got a replacement globe

Jetbeam CLE & SolarForce 3xCree.