How fragle are the new LED's and are Inova any good?

I have an iNOVA I bought a few months ago because my tools got stolen and I am deployed overseas right now and the brightest light they had at the base store was an inova T2. I dropped it about 15ft off a lift and it has a little rash on the side but other than that everything looks ok. Took it apart and checked everything and it all looks good as much as I can tell. Even checked the clicky switch with meter and it is good. It just wont turn on at all. Someone told me that the new high output LED's they have in these light now days are very fragile but I had an Olight M20 that I dropped about a dozen times even cracked the lens once but it never stopped working. I have a feeling it might just be the electronic controller inside didn't like the fall. Anyone have any input? I would love to tell my co-work he is full of it but i don't know much about the workings of LED lights. And are Inova lights any good. I need to buy a new light in a day or two because I can't wait 2 weeks for a new light to get shipped to me and the store on base only has inova and a bulky crappy looking Gerber light.

Not sure if this is here or there, but I was checking out the Rayovac "Indestructible" flashlights and saw these videos. If seeing is believing, then these are some mighty impressive flashlights at any price. But for the price they are sold at, they look to be amazing. 100 lumens, 30 hour runtime, and about $20 or so. Saw one video where the flashlight was bolted to a cement block and a guy beat it with a hammer until the cement block underneath the light broke, but the flashlight still worked. That's impressive! I think I might buy one just to see how much abuse it can take before it dies.

I wonder if anyone has the money to try this with a bunch of Surefires. :devil:

I hate it when that happens. Good luck with your quest for a replacement. Inova is not the company it used to be, unfortunately. I have several T2-MP from years back, when Inova was made in the USA, and those lights have served me well and still function (drops and all), but I won't touch the new stuff.

Modern power LEDs are fragile mainly in the sense of errant fingers damaging the dome, electrostatic discharge, and chemical contamination (i.e. glue fumes). Once soldered in place and protected by the flashlight head, they are typically quite durable and resistant to vibration and shock. I think your assessment of damage to the driver electronics is probably correct (if you metered the switch, I assume you metered the batteries and checked for deformation and contact).

It is unfortunate you have constraints in obtaining your next light, as current sale pricing for Malkoff Turn-key MD2's is very reasonable (especially if you register at the Marketplace and retrieve the members' code). I had to get over the window size looking small to me, and the spring on the drop-in which first seems to be upside down, but now I really appreciate how sensible the light is constructed. I have 3 T2-MP's sitting on the table where I am charging batteries right now for my Malkoffs. If I could turn them in and get my purchase price credited to buying more Malkoffs, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Monkeyman69 said:

I have an iNOVA I bought a few months ago because my tools got stolen and I am deployed overseas right now and the brightest light they had at the base store was an inova T2. I dropped it about 15ft off a lift and it has a little rash on the side but other than that everything looks ok. Took it apart and checked everything and it all looks good as much as I can tell. Even checked the clicky switch with meter and it is good. It just wont turn on at all. Someone told me that the new high output LED's they have in these light now days are very fragile but I had an Olight M20 that I dropped about a dozen times even cracked the lens once but it never stopped working. I have a feeling it might just be the electronic controller inside didn't like the fall. Anyone have any input? I would love to tell my co-work he is full of it but i don't know much about the workings of LED lights. And are Inova lights any good. I need to buy a new light in a day or two because I can't wait 2 weeks for a new light to get shipped to me and the store on base only has inova and a bulky crappy looking Gerber light.

Click to expand...

LEDs themselves are not fragile. Pretty tough. But, sometimes if a light is not well built then it can have poorly soldered wires, poor quality and tiny wiring, internals not secure etc. But a good one that's well built is very strong. Which gerber is it? Some of gerbers lights are pretty good. I'd recommend you get a light to get you by till the one you want arrives on order.

Any number of things could have happened, but a popped solder joint, cracked PCB cutting a trace, or cracked component come to mind - especially with a 15 foot fall when 1 meter is the drop standard the industry shoots for.

*Poof*