ebow86
Flashlight Enthusiast
I first off want to apologize for lack of photos, I don't own a camera and even if I did what I'm about to describe would be hard to capture.
I've owned 3 of the minimag led models over the past several years and all have exibited the exact same issue. All 3 lights would work flawlessly for the first few months then they would slowly start showing issues I can only describe as "a bad contact" where the light would become intermediate, flicker somewhat, and fail to fully turn on half the time. At first this issue was blamed on the now infamous laynardless tailcap with the 2 metal prongs on the edge of the tailcap. All models now feature the tailcap with laynard hole which indeed is a better tailcap and more reliable. However, in my experience both tailcaped models still exibit the same issue. After close examination of both models I have found the source of the problem.
On the base of the led module is the metal contact plate which makes contact with the battery terminal. I have discovered that after frequent usage this metal contact actually wears from all the twisting of the bezel. This constant contact slowly grinds away at the contact plate making it less reliable with each twist of the bezel. It makes perfect sense that is why the lights work fine for a short period of time then they start having issues with flickering and not fully engaging half the time. On one of my minimag LED's there is actually fine metal "dust" from the battery constantly grinding the metal contact plate of the led.
So I have come to the conclusion that this is the source of the reliability problems with the mini mag LED and NOT the tailcap. I encourage anyone who has had similar issues to examine what I have described and post back your thoughts and opinions.
I've owned 3 of the minimag led models over the past several years and all have exibited the exact same issue. All 3 lights would work flawlessly for the first few months then they would slowly start showing issues I can only describe as "a bad contact" where the light would become intermediate, flicker somewhat, and fail to fully turn on half the time. At first this issue was blamed on the now infamous laynardless tailcap with the 2 metal prongs on the edge of the tailcap. All models now feature the tailcap with laynard hole which indeed is a better tailcap and more reliable. However, in my experience both tailcaped models still exibit the same issue. After close examination of both models I have found the source of the problem.
On the base of the led module is the metal contact plate which makes contact with the battery terminal. I have discovered that after frequent usage this metal contact actually wears from all the twisting of the bezel. This constant contact slowly grinds away at the contact plate making it less reliable with each twist of the bezel. It makes perfect sense that is why the lights work fine for a short period of time then they start having issues with flickering and not fully engaging half the time. On one of my minimag LED's there is actually fine metal "dust" from the battery constantly grinding the metal contact plate of the led.
So I have come to the conclusion that this is the source of the reliability problems with the mini mag LED and NOT the tailcap. I encourage anyone who has had similar issues to examine what I have described and post back your thoughts and opinions.