Got my Ra Clicky today - whoop-de-doo!!

I got my Ra clicky today and I have to say, I am not impressed!

For starters, it comes in a plain zip-lock plastic bag, no box, no
spair o-rings, no spare parts at all. It does have a belt clip, but
the edges have burrs and would need to be worked down if I wanted
to use it.
The threads on the light are rough in some spots, with some sharp
burrs which I buffed out with my Dremel tool.
The clicky is nice and solid, and quiet, which I like.
The overall quality is good, but the machining is not as good as my
Fenix TK11 or even my LiteFlux LF3XT, which is only $50.00, dependable,
and comes with a nice wooden box with silicone grease and spare o-rings.

The beam and UI are very nice, but so are my cheaper LED EDC's.

I would say this light is destined for the "Marketplace" in the near future.

I will continue to use my trusty LF3XT and my Nitecore D10 as EDC and
stick the Ra clicky in my desk for some other time.

For my money, not a good buy! :ironic:

The Ra isn't about the packaging that it comes in.

Wow, its refreshing to read someone's honest opinion. I often learn more from criticisms about a product than praise. Thanks for that.

Yeah there are some things that when compared to other less expensive lights may make the Ra underwhelming. For me its really about what's under the hood. The design of the light and it's potential for taking abuse is something that may or may not be evident at first. Depending on how you use and/or take care of your lights you may never appreciate the difference between it and your other lights. I particularly like the fact that I can correspond with the light's designer and know that he will stand by his product.
It's too bad you are disappointed and it must be particularly disappointing in light of all the glowing recommendations. All I can suggest is use it and dare I say abuse it and see if it can overcome you initial impressions and live up to your previous expectations. I am certain it would prove its worth.

Your clicky can be used as a hockey puck, and then still work. Seriously though, if you want a nice case for it, go buy a Pelican 1010.

fairway1 said:

The Ra isn't about the packaging that it comes in.

Click to expand...

I've got to say the same thing. I received my Clicky Prototype in the same packaging, no spare parts. It did come with the instruction manual which was a must-have due to the versatility of the light.

I've had the light for about two months, and it hit me a couple weeks ago how amazed I am by the technology packed into the light and what it can do.

Oddjob said:

Yeah there are some things that when compared to other less expensive lights may make the Ra underwhelming. For me its really about what's under the hood. The design of the light and it's potential for taking abuse is something that may or may not be evident at first. Depending on how you use and/or take care of your lights you may never appreciate the difference between it and your other lights. I particularly like the fact that I can correspond with the light's designer and know that he will stand by his product.
It's too bad you are disappointed and it must be particularly disappointing in light of all the glowing recommendations. All I can suggest is use it and dare I say abuse it and see if it can overcome you initial impressions and live up to your previous expectations. I am certain it would prove its worth.

Click to expand...

You may well be right, and granted, I just got it today.
I do not have much chance of abusing my lights other then dropping
them or having them get rained on.

Well, I dont give a hoot about any fancy packaging really, I agree it's
the final product that counts, but I have to say, this is the first high
end light I ever bought that didnt even give me a spare o-ring!!

Also, I dont doubt that the customer service is great, but so is a bunch
of other light manufacturers. In the long run, how much extra money
can be justified in the price of a product for customer service?

The Ra does have great output for it's size, no question, and for that
reason, plus the circuitry for the UI and LED, it's a good $79.00 light.

IMO, there isn't a damn thing in this unit to justify it's high price.
Of course, WORTH is a very subjective thing. Something is always
WORTH what someone is willing to pay.

First of all, I don't own a clicky. I have a U60GT and a Novatac 120p. None of those came with an extra O-ring. Of course, I could have selective memory.

Nor did my 2 Surefires come with an extra O-ring. Again, this could be that I selectively remember not having them..or lost them.

That said, it does appear that the Ra Clicky has some issues that seem that should be resolved in order to justify the price. That's primarily why I haven't ponied up for one. It seems some folks are willing to live with these issues. I'll wait until Henry fixes them. Hopefully, it's software related and it can be fixed.

Just my 0.02.

You don't want it? Great, I'll give you $79 for it.

If you're still up for trying another single cell light try the Nitecore Extreme, be interesting to see what you think.

PsychoBunny has a good offense and great defense. Lol.

PsychoBunny said:

The threads on the light are rough in some spots, with some sharp
burrs which I buffed out with my Dremel tool.

Click to expand...

That was the only isssue that would bother me.

Woods Walker said:

That was the only isssue that would bother me.

Click to expand...

This is unusual for a Ra. Henry does great work..for the overall LED output the light is overpriced until you get into the easy to use UI and the fact that it is pretty indestructable. I would like to see a MC-E version....

The Ra Clicky is a "sleeper" of a light. Really doesn't look too hot from the outside, but it's all business inside. If you are not after the most reliable over-built EDC light avaliable, than the Clicky probably isn't for you.

I respect your opinion and can see where you are coming from. At least you gave the light a shot before coming to your conclusions. With what you have said, the Clicky isn't for you. Many of the things that make the Clicky so amazing are not important factors for you, and there is nothing wrong with that. I am sure you won't have a hard time getting rid of it in the marketplace

Everyone is so mature here. I love the way dissenting opinions are expressed without rancor or snide-ness (sp?). Psychobunny, I'm glad you expressed this opinion. Personally, after not having touched it for months, I wondered if my Husky 2D would satisfy me as much as it did back when it was my first Cree-based light. While I like the construction (yes I still like it's looks) and I lucked out with a nice clicky on the first try, the beam profile has caused me to dub it (cue fanfare)

THE LORD OF THE RINGS!

Seriously, I own a D10 and I love that light. I don't have much opportunity to abuse lights either but my attention turned to the RA line of lights as well. Like netprince, I often find I learn more about prospective purchases from negative reviews than glowing ones. If nothing else, it's taught me how a mature forum with a real community behind it is supposed to function. I hope the mods don't mind me going a little off topic here, but hey, it's my opinion about Psychobunny's opinion. I really do think it's great that there ARE lights out there for you no matter what you value most in a light.

Psychobunny, I'm waiting for your opinion on the DEFT . . . it might be awhile and we may even fall in the same group to get ours . . . we ARE practically neighbors on that list. :wave:

I've heard that Henry's had some issues with machining not meeting spec, and the resulting parts slipping past QA with regards to the clicky.

I'd be more tempted by a Clicky if they came with the option of a low red. Serious killer app there.

Regarding O-rings, when did they stop shipping their lights with the aerospace grease and o-ring? Mine was a pre-order unit in original packaging, with the 1010 case and all the original batteries... but no O-ring. I coulda sworn that they were giving a spare to everyone with each Ra light for a while there, since they designed the thing around said aerospace grease.

Chrontius said:

I've heard that Henry's had some issues with machining not meeting spec, and the resulting parts slipping past QA with regards to the clicky.

I'd be more tempted by a Clicky if they came with the option of a low red. Serious killer app there.

Regarding O-rings, when did they stop shipping their lights with the aerospace grease and o-ring? Mine was a pre-order unit in original packaging, with the 1010 case and all the original batteries... but no O-ring. I coulda sworn that they were giving a spare to everyone with each Ra light for a while there, since they designed the thing around said aerospace grease.

Click to expand...

That was for the Twisty. Not the Clicky.

PsychoBunny said:

You may well be right, and granted, I just got it today.
I do not have much chance of abusing my lights other then dropping
them or having them get rained on.

Well, I dont give a hoot about any fancy packaging really, I agree it's
the final product that counts, but I have to say, this is the first high
end light I ever bought that didnt even give me a spare o-ring!!

Also, I dont doubt that the customer service is great, but so is a bunch
of other light manufacturers. In the long run, how much extra money
can be justified in the price of a product for customer service?

The Ra does have great output for it's size, no question, and for that
reason, plus the circuitry for the UI and LED, it's a good $79.00 light.

IMO, there isn't a damn thing in this unit to justify it's high price.
Of course, WORTH is a very subjective thing. Something is always
WORTH what someone is willing to pay.

Click to expand...

I hope you didn't take my post as an attack. I respect your opinions and was just relaying some things I have learned.

Oddjob said:

I hope you didn't take my post as an attack. I respect your opinions and was just relaying some things I have learned.

Click to expand...

Not at all, I thought your post was helpful.

I am having a problem though.

I can only get one output level. I dont know if it's high mode, or
something else, but I can only get one level, and sometimes the
strobe, but that's tricky to get.

Is there some special trick to this UI to get the different levels?

For starters, it comes in a plain zip-lock plastic bag, no box, no
spair o-rings, no spare parts at all.

Click to expand...

If you expect anything like this when you drop over $100 don't even bother buying any McGizmos.

It sounds like you had a bad first impression of the Clicky but it seems like it grows on a lot of people. I am glad that despite your poor first impressions you are giving it a shot anyway.

The Clicky works differently from many of the multimode based lights you are used to. I don't recall specifics but it generally likes patterns that seem like Morse code. There's probably a user guide online but I'll just spew out a few ideas for you to get started:

click-click-hold
click-hold
click-click-click-hold
hold