Flashlight reliability

Hello flashlight lovers.
How do you test your new flashlight?
What i mean is do you test it in some way to see if its reliable and how do you do it?
Is there some ways to do it?
Like running new light for few hours or go thru one set of batteries?
How do you know it will be reliable as EDC light and not die in few hours of usage?
Is there any way to predict or test is it reliable or is it just a loterry?

staghater said:

How do you test your new flashlight?

Click to expand...

Electronics usually fail within the first 24 hours of total usage and are most susceptible to on/off power cycles. So the way I check my flashlights is to use them around the house a lot for the first week. Need to get a case of pop out of the garage, use the flashlight. Need to go in the basement for potatoes, use the the flashlight. Need to pee in the bathroom, use the the flashlight. Need to look for bunnies running around the yard, use the flashlight. Just use it a lot and affter a week, the light will be well tested for reliability.

PS - this applies to most electronics, so to test out a TV or stereo or computer, just use it a lot the first week.

^^ what he said.

Plus a search here on "[insert name]+warranty" and see what comes up. However, this search pretty much just teaches you "2 is One, 1 is None." :laughing:

Good warranty and customer service are as good as anything in my book.

bfksc said:

Electronics usually fail within the first 24 hours of total usage and are most susceptible to on/off power cycles. So the way I check my flashlights is to use them around the house a lot for the first week. Need to get a case of pop out of the garage, use the flashlight. Need to go in the basement for potatoes, use the the flashlight. Need to pee in the bathroom, use the the flashlight. Need to look for bunnies running around the yard, use the flashlight. Just use it a lot and affter a week, the light will be well tested for reliability.

PS - this applies to most electronics, so to test out a TV or stereo or computer, just use it a lot the first week.

Click to expand...

X2. I always use (some people say play with) my lights at home for a week or so before I use them at work. It gives me a chance to get comfortable with the U.I. and learn the pros and cons of the the light. I do not do the classic tests though. I have never put my lights in a sink full of water or purposely dropped them. It would be good to know the lights can stand up to this type of abuse but I am not going to do it intentionally. I rely on folks on this forum and doing flashlight reviews elsewhere to provide this type of information from their personal experience. I never make a reliability judgement on one impression or review though. It's the general consensus I am interested in.

You could always try what run4jc did.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...bralight-Torture-Test&highlight=light+torture

:laughing:

I pocket them. Use em daily. See which one lives after a few drops.

Lite_me said:

You could always try what run4jc did.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...bralight-Torture-Test&highlight=light+torture
:laughing:

Click to expand...

That's just mean...



Treating a light like that is akin to lumen-abuse...

I have to say that I like the thoughts about practical use to get past the first end of the standard bathtub curb associated with electronics failing. I think this is a good first step. However, in the last ten years I have seen odd failure modes; with both accelerated and natural ageing.

I have a $12.00 flashlight that performs flawlessly and exceedingly well. I have a $70.00 flashlight that required tinkering in order to get it to perform with the same reliability of the less expensive light.

Those two things considered, combined with the wisdom of experience, I would recommend that if you find a flashlight you appreciate and enjoy – buy a few of them. As has already been said, that way you will have a backup; not just for use, but for spare parts.

LedTed said:

I would recommend that if you find a flashlight you appreciate and enjoy – buy a few of them. As has already been said, that way you will have a backup; not just for use, but for spare parts.

Click to expand...

Good advice... I just came to this same conclusion. I have a mid-priced Chinese light that, while not the highest quality, has been reliable and served me well. I've been looking really hard for a higher quality upgrade with pretty much an open budget (well, except for McGizmos :laughing, but I cannot find one with my requirements - 1xAA w/ a really long running low low mode. Actually, I'm hugely disappointed that the quality American companies do not provide much AA/AAA support... guess they assume real flashlight enthusiasts would only use CR123s :shrug:.

So I ended up buying two more versions of my current light in different tint, emitter, UI flavors.

15-20 drops from the hip. Dunk them in water for some hours, and use it hard for some weeks. Every light i own gets this threatment.

I don't see a need to beat up on a light. Generally I look at the light before I buy it to see how it's constructed. If I don't like the materials, form, or fit of the light I'll pass it by and look for another one. It's justs common sense stuff like if a light feels flimsy or rattles I figure that's a bad sign.

I also consider the reputation of the company that makes it but that's not as important.

Every light gets the threads and o-rings cleaned and lubed, the contacts on the light and the battery(-ies) cleaned and treated with DeOxit Gold, and the light is also fully checked over before I use it. They all get preventive maintenance on a regular basis as well.

The few minutes it takes has saved me a lot of grief many, many times.

I drop my lights to check for "cold soldering" etc. Ic's on the driver, led's etc can get loose on impact. Cant tell that by eye, and i dont want it to crap out on me when im up on the mounitians etc. My Zebralight crapped out on me in heavy rain for example. It's not a tool if it cant take a little abuse.

staghater said:

Hello flashlight lovers.
How do you test your new flashlight?
What i mean is do you test it in some way to see if its reliable and how do you do it?
Is there some ways to do it?
Like running new light for few hours or go thru one set of batteries?
How do you know it will be reliable as EDC light and not die in few hours of usage?
Is there any way to predict or test is it reliable or is it just a loterry?

Click to expand...

Upon receiving the new light, I immediately submerge it in water for about 2hr. Then I run it on high until the battery dies. If it still works, I am pretty confident it will work for a while. Here a my lights going through a 2hr waterproofing test.

Use an industrial blow torch, apply torch to flashlight for 10-15 minutes, if it gets hot. Then the heat sinking works

I haven't purchase a new light in a year or so already. However, when I do want to check whether a light is waterproof or not. I do what you do. Let it run at max under water.

The rational is simply, if it can't survive that simple test, it would be useless to me. Then after the test, I would check for any leakage. I usually take the opportunity to do runtime & output graph from the test as well. Two birds with one stone! =D

davidt1 said:

Upon receiving the new light, I immediately submerge it in water for about 2hr. Then I run it on high until the battery dies. If it still works, I am pretty confident it will work for a while. Here a my lights going through a 2hr waterproofing test.

Click to expand...

2 is 1, 1 is none

davidt1 said:

Upon receiving the new light, I immediately submerge it in water for about 2hr. Then I run it on high until the battery dies. If it still works, I am pretty confident it will work for a while. Here a my lights going through a 2hr waterproofing test.

Click to expand...

David, that is reasonable and easy to do test.
I will do that with all my lights.
Thank you :thumbsup:

Use-a-lot the first week is a good test. I basically play with my new lights the first week or two, mostly during TV commercials (on/off/on/off, morse, try all the settings and every possible combination) and also take it with me everywhere. I go through at the very least two battery charges before I can put it down.

Normal Life just produces tests for my lights... a kid dropping them, falling in water etc.

bfksc said:

Electronics usually fail within the first 24 hours of total usage and are most susceptible to on/off power cycles.

Click to expand...

I would disagree with this statement as most lights I've bought can beat 24 hours of use but very few beat 6 months. Unlike a true "flashaholic" I usually only have one light. At the same time, my guess is I use and need my light more than 95% of flashaholics thus my 1 light could possibly get 20X the use in 6 months as a true flashaholic's light who has 30 lights on rotation. (I do buy lots of lights as I find they make some of the best gifts and have no problem giving them slightly used.)

I loved my thrunite scorpion and it went thru the "longest death" of any flashlight I"ve had. Because I liked the beam, I continued to use it as the UI got eratic, lost modes, added modes over a period of 3 months and then finally is now at a point I would call unuseable for just about any situation. One thing I've found has killed most lights I've owned is putting them in a bicycle mount and then mounting them to my dirtbike for light at night. Motorcycle handlebars vibrate quite a bit and while most lights can hand 24 hours and even a few days of that, very few will be working a month later. I've never bought a surefire and am curious if they would significantly beat some of the other brands I've owned. FWIW I didn't subject the scorpion to that abuse - it died from more ordinary "tests".

Fenix headlamp I have worked great for 2 weeks and slowly got eratic/unreliable from then on. Still have it 3 months later (that's an enormous amount of time in this day of the "disposible culture!") and it randomly works sometimes.
I just had a situation where 6 lights I had were all broken at the same time; Remember 2 is 1, 1 is none thus 2 is none and so is 6! That was the thrunite scorpion, Fenix headlamp, a cheap "police" brand light, 2 photon lights, and the headlight of my motorcycle (the reason I was looking for a light - I needed to fix it). I mention the names so you know I'm not talking about 6 "top of the line" brands, nor the cheapest DX brands either.

This forum could be one of the best tests for flashlight reliability as we could have the compilation of many flashlight users experience posted here. With all due respect to this forum though, I have found very often when I post about a light (ecspecially a light that advertises here - most of the lights I buy are advertised here) having problems that thread is shut down or removed. I've assumed in the past, so let me just ask openly, are we not allowed to criticize lights or dealers that advertise here? I may seem to criticize many lights, but I haven't shared 1/2 the problems I've had as I do get the sense that is really frowned upon here. I do really appreciate this site and realize they pay the bills not me!
I just mention it in this thread because if were actually encouraged and not frowned upon to compile data on the reliability of different lights that would be the ultiamate way to test these lights reliability! Lumens/lux/weight/tint can be tested in a moment, but long term reliability takes teamwork, communication and transparency!

Dude, you're hard on your lights! what bfksc meant is that if a new electronic circuit board is due to fail, it will do so on it's own in the first 24 hours of use (I tend to agree with that statement). In your case, abuse kills your lights. You should definitely invest in Surefire as they repair or replace defective lights no questions asked. You could save a fortune!