You Don't Know What You Got Till It's Gone

I had three of those fabulous Nitecore single cell lights, two EX10's and a D10. I love those darn things because the UI was nothing less than PERFECT for an EDC light. Well, I dropped one of the EX10's on concrete and it quit working so I'm now down to the two. I can whine for hours, but I'll just ask the simple question: Being such a perfect UI, does ANYONE make such a single cell light anymore? The closest thing Nitecore has to the EX/D lights anymore is their goofy and boring "SENS" series, and I am just not interested. Any suggestions?

Just this weekend I dropped my D10, and broke it in two, so I know your pain. Luckily a VERY generous member has offered to send me a replacement body. There are a lot of us that believe that the piston drive is the perfect mechanism for our edc light.

I thought I found an EX10 for sale but I attempted to add it to the cart to see if it worked and it does not. Apologies

Edit.. It is in stock.. You could just buy another one?

Here .. Here .. Here .. Here

Now if the point of this thread was to praise the light and ask if another had a similar UI and you have no interest in a new EX10 then I do apologize yet again

Any light I can't drop onto concrete and it still work is useless. I'd upgrade to more durable lights.

Zenster, I have had all brands fail on me, many to simple humidity and repeated, rapid temperature change condensation. HDS, Muyshondt, Arc, Fenix, Surefire, etc.
It's the reason to carry a back-up (and spend more money) The EX10 is fairly easy to disassemble. Make sure the springs have not compressed from the fall and that the brass ring is not lodged against the body. I have repaired a EX10 a member thought was ruined from rafting and rock falls, but the light engine was loose. A quarter turn and that light is working fine 3 years later. I also tend to make my own springs for the NC 10 series and that seems to end many of the little maintenance quirks.

I'll check on those sites and see if the ones in the US actually have the light or if they just list them. Nitecore has dropped all references to the PD lights from their website so it's obviously a "NOS" situation whatever I can find. I'm not in love with Nitecore specifically because I do agree that the one I dropped should have shown more resistance to that quite common abuse. What I love about it is the incredibly simple UI that allows infinite adjustment, memory, and quick and easy ability to switch to the lowest low and the highest high, all without having to go through a "manual" to figure out how to do it. While I may very well order a replacement from one of those links to replace the one I dropped (note that one link offers the quite obsolete Q5 LED and the others show them to have the R2's, also an obsolete emitter), what I have done so far is to order the Sunwayman V11R along with the extension that allows it to use an AA battery in addition to a 123 batt. I'm hoping that it will prove to be more durable than the Nitecore I dropped, and also that I will end up loving it's reasonably simple UI as much as I do the PD UI of the Nitecore. I appreciate those links for the Nitecore because to be honest, I didn't even try to find the EX10 for sale because of the Nitecore site abandoning any reference to it. So if I don't "love" the SWM V11R as much as I hope I will, I am definitely open to ordering a couple or more of the now discontinued EX10's (with R2) just to have some spares for the future. The perfect light for me would be if Surefire (who builds a bulletproof light as evidenced by the E1B I've used daily at work for 5+ years and dropped on concrete I can't possibly remember how many times, and it still keeps on working) were to build a clone of the EX10 and D10 with a 180 lumen emitter. IF it had the PD UI, I'd be all over that like a flea on a dog.

Search said:

Now if the point of this thread was to praise the light and ask if another had a similar UI and you have no interest in a new EX10 then I do apologize yet again

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Yes, that's really what I had in mind. I haven't yet found another light with the identical UI as the EX10 and was hoping that someone did make it that might be known by another CPF member. The SWM V11R is the closest I have come to discovering a replacement for the now defunct EX10 that I dropped, but I won't know for sure until I get it and see how it feels in the hand and after EDC'ing it for a couple of weeks.

I couldn't sell my EX10 fast enough....the one flashlight I've owned that I couldn't count on to work when I needed light.

I would like to add that I have carried the same D10 daily for nearly 5 years. I use it at work, and it has been dropped and abused profusely. Occasionally I would have to re-stretch the battery spring when the dimming became erratic. But it always worked. It did break after a rather easy fall, but that was a known design fault that was remedied after the early lights. Nothing but good to say about the light and the UI.

Soooooo true!!! The D10/EX10 lights are wonderful.

Until VERY recently, I have EDC'ed the Nitecore D10 for a number of years. I liked it so much that I bought a back up D10 a couple of years ago. Both are XR-E R2 neutral emitters, which even by today's standards are wonderful emitters for an EDC light! Wonderful beam characteristics, beautiful neutral tint, and plenty of output for an EDC light... plus the D10 UI.

Recently, I got the itch to "try out" a couple of the newer designs, instead. I bought an EagTac D25 XP-G2 R2 neutral tint, EagTac Titanium X-ML neutral, and a SWM V11R X-ML neutral.

The V11R is clearly a beautifully made, quality light. Will it withstand drops to concrete? I haven't the slightest idea and I don't want to test it out on my light!

What I did discover is that as nice as the quality is on the V11R, I'm not taking to the rotary level control as much as I thought I might. And interestingly, I'm liking the D25 with XP-G emitter (which is stated to be neutral, but is warmer than that to my eyes - and happily so, I might add) more than the V11R.

So, I've (temporarily, anyway) replaced my D10 EDC with an EagTac D25 X-PG with neutral/warmish tint emitter and so far I'm liking the light. Is it as good as the D10? Well... sort of, maybe, I think. It isn't necessarily worse, anyway. The interface is more typical... no continuous ramping, infant low, instant high. But not bad, either.

I will always be a fan of the D10 and may, in fact, return to carrying a D10 for EDC. I found with my D10 EDC lights that I rarely EVER ramped and only very occasionally did I instant minimum. I mostly left the light at or near max and just on-ed and off-ed it. As nice as the ramping function sounds... for me anyway, it wasn't as important as I once thought it might be.

For me, flashlight output levels are exceptionally useful at three or four pre-defined levels. There really is virtually no true utility in the fine-tuned increments between three or four well placed fixed output levels. With this realization (for me. anyway) I've come to feel that having continuous variable output levels is not anything that matters to me. If a light gives me three or four well-placed output levels that I can quickly and easily choose from, I'm fine. Actually, the Zebralight interface with min, medium, and max levels works magnificently well!

SO that leaves me thinking that the continuous variability of output offered by the D10 and by the V11R, surprisingly, don't appeal to me nearly as much as they initially sounded like they would. Ramping the D10 to find an ideal level is too slow and takes too much user effort. Give me three or four levels to quickly and easily jump to and I'm even happier!

What I've also discovered is that light output on an EDC pocket light has long since achieved desired maximum output requirements and now, it's all about UI, beam, and tint - as far as I'm concerned.

If you can find a D10 or EX10 out there... with an emitter which gives what you like, snag it. But as an alternative, you might consider the V11R and the D25. I think the D25 makes for a better EDC because it's so small and unobtrusive. The V11R is a quality light, but a bit bulky, in my view, for EDC.

treasure all the things we had !
enjoy our lives everyday !

DHart said:

Soooooo true!!! The D10/EX10 lights are wonderful.

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Well, I've received my V11R meant to replace my dropped/SOL EX10. Your comments are all right on, but after using the V11R for a bit, I'm "OK" with the UI. No, it's not the EX10 with it perfect single button, infinitely variable control. BUT, I really am impressed with the V11R as it is. You mention that it is a little bulkier than the EX10, and I agree that it is a little chunkier, but I don't see that it makes any difference in "real world" carrying compared to the EX10. I wrote to Nitecore about the D/EX series, and they quickly sent back a courteous replay that the PD lights are gone forever with no plan whatsoever to bring them back. So that leaves me with one working EX10 and one working D10 (so I guess I should feel lucky to have them), but at the same time, it means that I have to fulfill a quest for a "perfect" replacement. The V11R comes close, and maybe will even be that perfect replacement if I carry it often and get used to it. At the same time, I may look into the D25 and make the investment into one of those just to see how it feels. The bottom line is that the Nitecore PD lights are gone for good and we may not see such a perfectly simply UI in a small carry light ever again. So sad. While I can still find them as NOS in some outlets, I'd rather try to find an equal or better replacement since Nitecore has dropped all support for them.

I know what you mean Zenster,

I no longer have any of my NiteCore D10s and I miss them.

That's why I "updated" to the D11. If you decide to do the same, I recommend the version with the Tritium piston; should you decide and have a choice.

Hope this helps.

LedTed said:

I know what you mean Zenster,

I no longer have any of my NiteCore D10s and I miss them.

That's why I "updated" to the D11. If you decide to do the same, I recommend the version with the Tritium piston; should you decide and have a choice.

Hope this helps.

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I did just check in with my favorite light retailer (Battery Junction) and while they still show the D11 and EX11.2 still on their site, there is no "Notifiy me when Available" link for the "Out of Stock" D11, but there still is a Notify link on their EX11.2 page (which is also, of course, out of stock). So I did add my email to be notified for the EX11.2 if it ever shows up again (not likely from what Nitecore told me directly), but for the moment I guess I'll have to forget about the D11 entirely. If I had a half dozen of the PD series Nitecores, I'd be a happy guy and set forever, but I only had 3 up to recently when it became 2 after ruining one of the EX's.

I have a D-10 and, while I absolutely love the light, I will never EDC it. I had 2 other D10s that snapped while I was changing the batteries.....turn the head to loosen it and it came right apart leaving the threads on the body.
Can't trust it, Don't carry it.

I have 2 PD10 lights. Both have been good lights. One I dropped about 18" to the rug and it quit. I took it apart, cleaned everything and got lucky. It is still working! Maybe....

Zenster,

Since you are in the U.S., I won't recommend any O.U.S. sources. I can, however, offer you the following two suggestions; via stories.

The last D11 V2 (second batch) I got was from eBay. My bid was over $70.00 (+$10.00 s&h), but besides all the original unused items (including flashlight and packaging), I got extras such as: second piston with trit and a holster. Admittedly, I got lucky. For, the last D10 (don't remember which version) I saw on eBay went for about $60.00 (+$10.00 s&h), but was all scratched up and had been used with 14500s. I passed on that one.

I'm waiting on delivery of two more D11 V2s (first batch), which I got from the CPF Marketplace.

As, like you, I'm looking to shore up my back ups, hunting has been half the fun - good luck.