Fenix Flashlight = crappy (weak) aluminum

Summary: I feel that Fenix's aluminum is too weak, and can be much stronger (based on my comparison to aluminum carabiners).

Yesterday, I dropped my like-new Olive L2D on accident. It fell out of my pocket at about 4 feet, and hit the asphalt. Oh crap. I picked it up, and there it was... 3 moderately big dents.

If any of you have dropped your Fenix's before on a hard rough surface (excluding the stainless steel version), you probably know that it leaves quite a dent in the light. I am concluding that Fenix's chosen aluminum... sucks. [pictures to come, sometime]

I also am a rock climber, and have nice carabiners (image link: http://tinyurl.com/czm2bk ). They are able to take a drop from about 50 feet up, and hit rocks, and have no dents whatsover (they do get surface scuffed though, but nothing like my Fenix). I even smashed it against asphalt, and saw that there was no dents. Even more, these carabiners cost about $6... so the aluminum probably isn't that expensive.

From that, I belive that aluminum can be higher quality and not so darn soft. If any of you agree, or would like to differ, please express your opinions. Or like me... send an email to Fenix and ask them to use better aluminum. [email protected]

UPDATE:
I included pictures and more info on post #38.
Also, I really like pictures from other people. My light is not all scratched up, but in comparison, the dings/chip seem much deeper and and more like a chuck whacked out (rather than being simply dented)

A hollow aluminum tube is not exactly comparable to a solid aluminum bar, right?

I think that fenix lights use T6 aerospace aluminum so the aluminum is not low quality. it is just very thin in some of their lights, this has been observed in several reviews. Thin aluminum dents, it's a fact.:shrug:

Saint_Dogbert said:

...3 moderately big dents.
...
From that, I belive that aluminum can be higher quality and not so darn soft. If any of you agree, or would like to differ, please express your opinions. Or like me... send an email to Fenix and ask them to use better aluminum. [email protected]

Click to expand...

Can we see pics of the dents? I'm curious to see what you call "moderately big dents" and how that compares to my sense of normal dents in dings in a light. Any light that you drop will get dinged.

'biners of course are designed with a completely different usage in mind. I don't think it's appropriate to compare a device designed to withstand extreme loads, with a simple flashlight tube.

Substitute your story for SL, Mag, SureFire, or whatever, and my opinion wouldn't change.

Saint_Dogbert said:

I think that fenix lights use T6 aerospace aluminum so the aluminum is not low quality. it is just very thin in some of their lights, this has been observed in several reviews. Thin aluminum dents, it's a fact.:shrug:

Click to expand...

Even thick aluminum dents! It's not a matter of thickness, but rather one of resistance to impact (toughness, if you may).

Also, refer to your high school physics classes about the relationship between mass, acceleration, and force. A Fenix L2D with batteries no doubt has about twice the mass that your carabiner does.

eh, sounds like a rant. but that aside carabiners are not flashlights.

flashlights
- have a battery (or more)
- often weight more per volume
- are hollow tubes of metal
- are not made for the kind of stress subjected to a carabiner

you have the option of a few stainless steel flashlights like Fenix LD01) but they will weigh & cost more. :green: yet it does not mean the glass window will not crack due to a drop...

Alternatively you could try and use your caraibiner, as a flashlight and see how that does, expect it won't be as good as a fenix.
Ie you can't compare the two, if they made them out of EN16T, they would be a lot stronger, and about twice the price.
tabetha

Yes, I would agree that comparing the two is apples to oranges as 'biners are really light imo... but pics would help. I have dropped a P3D from about 3 ft from a bathroom sink onto hard tile floor with only minor scuffs and no dents.

The only 'dents' I have every experienced was when I dropped my UF L2M from the exact same location (needless to say, I will not be putting any more lights on the sink!), it landed onto the tile floor and, after I inspected it, I notice a small dent on the bezel and, again, some scuffs on the body. But, the L2M is type II ano so it wasn't unexpected.

Btw, were the 'biners you dropped from 50ft up on quickdraws or part of your belay system? Come to think of it, you should NOT use them again for any of your climbing equipment! There could be small, undetectable cracks in the aluminum that could later result in catastrophic failure. I would replace them, afterall, they only cost a few dollars and your life is worth more than that.

On an aside, if you drop a carabiner from a height of 50' - make sure you retire it [i.e. use it for non load-bearing activities involving live loads]. Aluminum is brittle and microscopic hairline fractures may have formed - how much is your life worth? You can NEVER be too safe when climbing. Don't mean to sound like your dad or something, but I just wanted to make sure.

maybe just the anno is dinged

Just a single data point here, but I've been carrying a P2D for something over a year now. I've dropped it a lot, and it's got a number of dings, scrapes, and scratches on both the tube and the ends, but no dents yet.

I also had it mounted on a 12 gauge for about 50 rounds, just to see if it would hold up (it did) or if it would switch modes under recoil (it didn't), and it went flying off at one point to land on the floor behind me (still in the mount). No problems from that except for another ding in the bezel, though the mount probably protected the tube.

It's pretty short compared to a L2D (I have one of those, but don't carry it), and maybe I've just been lucky, but so far, mine's held up pretty well in the real world.

ImGeo said:

Summary: I feel that Fenix's aluminum is too weak, and can be much stronger (based on my comparison to aluminum carabiners).

Yesterday, I dropped my like-new Olive L2D on accident. It fell out of my pocket at about 4 feet, and hit the asphalt. Oh crap. I picked it up, and there it was... 3 moderately big dents.

If any of you have dropped your Fenix's before on a hard rough surface (excluding the stainless steel version), you probably know that it leaves quite a dent in the light. I am concluding that Fenix's chosen aluminum... sucks. [pictures to come, sometime]

I also am a rock climber, and have nice carabiners (image link: http://tinyurl.com/czm2bk ). They are able to take a drop from about 50 feet up, and hit rocks, and have no dents whatsover (they do get surface scuffed though, but nothing like my Fenix). I even smashed it against asphalt, and saw that there was no dents. Even more, these carabiners cost about $6... so the aluminum probably isn't that expensive.

From that, I belive that aluminum can be higher quality and not so darn soft. If any of you agree, or would like to differ, please express your opinions. Or like me... send an email to Fenix and ask them to use better aluminum. [email protected]

Click to expand...

Have you not yet gotten to your high school physics class? The mass of a falling object is a major driver for the damage incurred at the end of the fall.

Fenix uses 6061-T6, which is a high grade aluminum.

Not tough you say??

Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WvhJWE3_Oc

I am glad Fenix uses 6061, but I still wish they would make their PD20, PD30 etc just a tad thicker. If they would just increase the wall thickness by 0.5 mm, it would make a huge difference to the strength of the flashlight while only adding 1mm to the diameter. Just my .02.

Neil

Marduke said:

Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WvhJWE3_Oc

Click to expand...

Wow, but "Will it Blend?"

ntalbot said:

I am glad Fenix uses 6061, but I still wish they would make their PD20, PD30 etc just a tad thicker. If they would just increase the wall thickness by 0.5 mm, it would make a huge difference to the strength of the flashlight while only adding 1mm to the diameter. Just my .02.

Click to expand...

If I may ask: How many lights (Fenix or otherwise) have we seen crushed by normal use (and some even under heavy abuse)?

There was that crazy CPF'er :nana: crushing lights in a testing rig, and I dropped a T10 off a tall building -can't remember how many times- but none of us will ever use our lights that way. (and in my case, the light never really broke (dented, sure, but the body's integrity was preserved).

Seeing the wall thickness on those things, I don't think they need to be any thicker.

Any flashlight that's seen even a modest amount of real-world use should have some wear and weathering to it. Anyone carrying around a flawless flashlight just hasn't used it enough yet.

The bigger issue is that this thread is about "I dropped my light and now it's scratched," not "I dropped my light and now it doesn't work." Those who bought less than a Fenix are not so lucky..

PetaBread said:

Wow, but "Will it Blend?"

Click to expand...

Slip of the tongue. Unfortunately, a retake was not in the budget

mmm we should have a, "will it vent?"

for batteries

gallonoffuel said:

Also, refer to your high school physics classes about the relationship between mass, acceleration, and force. A Fenix L2D with batteries no doubt has about twice the mass that your carabiner does.

Click to expand...

i thought this was common sense.:shrug:

if it still works dont worry about it.

HoopleHead said:

A hollow aluminum tube is not exactly comparable to a solid aluminum bar, right?

Click to expand...

+1

I have some Fenix lights. Dropped my TK20 in hard surface ground several times... just one tiny micro scratch.