Well dang, I thought a twist style light wouldn't turn on in a pocket

I've read before that one advantage of a twist over a click style light is that when carried in the pocket the twist light won't accidentally turn on.

Well, after getting home from work, I pulled the Minimag out of my pocket and found that it was on! I have no idea how long it had been on. It was slightly warm, but being in my pants pocket causes the light to be warmed up anyway.

Nothing lost, really, because it had rechargeables in it and it was probably getting time to cycle them anyway. But it was kind of a nasty surprise! It could have caused the light to be dead when I needed it. But I wouldn't have been in the dark though because I had the little 1AA Task Force in a belt sheath. (so far that one hasn't turned itself on!)

Depends on how much friction there is from the O ring. Sometimes, you need to change O rings to get enough...

It would depend on the friction of the twistie, what you have in your pocket, and how the light moved in your pocket.

But they should be harder to turn on then clickies.

I've had bad luck with twist-momentaries in pockets

yup, yup

There's a lot of difference from light to light. My Fenix L0D twists really easy and can be operated one-handed. Makes me a bit nervous that it will turn on in my pocket. On the other hand, my Fenix E0 twistie is really stiff and I'm pretty sure there's no amount of regular pocket activity that will make it come on.

Well I was doing a lot of walking around today, which may have loosened it up a bit. Then on the drive home, with the light in my left pocket and using the clutch with my left leg, that may have been what did it.

minimags need to be loosened to turn it on.So i would say its much easier to accidently turn on, then having to tighten another light.

Crenshaw

geek4christ said:

yup, yup

There's a lot of difference from light to light. My Fenix L0D twists really easy and can be operated one-handed. Makes me a bit nervous that it will turn on in my pocket. On the other hand, my Fenix E0 twistie is really stiff and I'm pretty sure there's no amount of regular pocket activity that will make it come on.

Click to expand...

My L0D has gotten turned on in my pocket.. With 10440! But luckily I noticed it.

IMO, the Minimag heads twist too easily. On every Minimag I have, I change the oring out for a slightly fatter one so it's tighter. For my Minimags that I use krolls on, I use an even fatter oring so the head doesn't move. Other than the Minimag, I've never had a twisty light turn on in my pocket.

Khaytsus said:

My L0D has gotten turned on in my pocket.. With 10440! But luckily I noticed it.

Click to expand...

lol, gives new meaning to 'hot pants' eh?

I guess I could try using the belt holster for it, but I'm more of the "concealed carry" philosophy.

The 1AA light snugs up nicely to the multitool holster, so they kind of blend together unless someone's really looking. And lots of people carry cell phones on their belts so that doesn't really get a second look. A longer light like a 2AA would be more obvious though....

Not all twisties are created equal. Some turn on very easy others not so. I keep the o-rings on all my lights decently well lubed, my minimag twistie is very loose as a result. Furthermore, ~10 degree rotation is all it needs to turn on.
I like my minimag, but I find its far too easy to accidentally turn on.

Conversely a 6P is much tighter and requires a tightening to turn it on. I loosen it 1.5 full turns when its pocketed on the job, so it requires MUCH more rotation to get it to turn on compared to my MM.

geek4christ said:

On the other hand, my Fenix E0 twistie is really stiff and I'm pretty sure there's no amount of regular pocket activity that will make it come on.

Click to expand...

Funny that you mention it. My E0 (attached to car keys) accidentally turned ON while in my pants pocket. I think it was ON for maybe 10 minutes before I noticed it when reaching for my keys. It was a little warm. I recall I lent it to someone to use for a moment and they barely twisted it OFF for me, but shame on me for not checking.

My NiteCore D.I. clicked ON accidentally in my pants pocket once and it got HOT , but that's another thread...

Gary

Hi Everyone,

Years ago when I carried a M-Mag I had the same problem with it turning on.

I corrected it with a quick and easy solution. I took a rubber band - wrapped it a few times around the base - rolled it up to where the base of the head meeets the body. With some of the rubber band on the head and some of it on the body, it added enough resistance for the head not to move as easily.

Bye

since the MMs head treads were changed to the actual style, they turn on in pockets always.
Even the original ones gave a good chance to turn on.

Was the 2nd reason I never used mine too often and immediately switched to pushbutton lights, when good ones came out.
(1st reason were the 5.5 hour max-runtime-till bulbs)

I carry my twisty light in a nylon pouch in my pocket,
it was a nice one from lumapower and made for my M3
but I put a Sak in the main pouch and a AAA light
in the battery side pouch

Gunnerboy said:

Funny that you mention it. My E0 (attached to car keys) accidentally turned ON while in my pants pocket. I think it was ON for maybe 10 minutes before I noticed it when reaching for my keys. It was a little warm. I recall I lent it to someone to use for a moment and they barely twisted it OFF for me, but shame on me for not checking.

Click to expand...

haha, well...

I've been wrong a time or two before.

geek4christ said:

lol, gives new meaning to 'hot pants' eh?

Click to expand...

I think it must have just gotten turned on, because it wasn't even warm. Lucky, I think. Could have damaged the light and/or the battery. And maybe my leg ;-)

I tried carrying an inova X1 in my pocket for a little while but i stopped because I had similar problems. Most often it would continue to loosen itself until I would take it out and the tailcap would almost fall off, but I recall once I did have it turn on in my pocket. So I put it next to the bed for nitetime trips, and now when I need a cheapie light in the pocket I use a River rock 1AA, which in my opinion does a better job. The recessed reverse clicky has yet to come on, it has a pocket clip if one wants to use it (which can be easily moved for nice bezel down carry) and it puts out more light besides. Live and learn.

I have a Jil that came on a few times in my pocket. I just cut a thin plastic disk the size of the battery tube and dropped it in on top of the battery, now I don't have to worry.

Some may say that "You have to take off the head remove the plastic then screw the head back on to turn it on." While that is true, its a back up light and I know it will work when I need it.


Bill