scout24
Flashaholic
Instead of a rambling post in the "What did you use your light for today" thread, I figured a bit of rambling praise in it's own thread, out here in LED land and not in Don's subforum either where it's preaching to the choir. 
As others say, some more mainstream exposure is good once in a while.
I'm a mechanic by trade, and was recently tasked with doing valve cover gaskets in a 1991 Ford E350 van with a 351w V-8 engine. Anyone remotely familiar with the basic U.S. van architecture will cringe at the thought: a big V-8 with no room to work on it, all the requisite emissions hardware, EFI, heater hoses, looms of wire, etc. that need removed before being able to see, never mind remove said valve covers to replace the gaskets. Hours and hours of fun! Did I mention this lovely 23 year old van is a new York resident? We tend to over salt our roads here which translates to lots of corrosion...
To the point, finally. We have no real drop lighting in my shop, so I have long relied on my lights for work. XM-L Mule from Don McGizmo in this case was abused. Really. I went through most of my work stash of partially used primary 123's while waiting for my AW RCR to cool and recharge. Back to back to back to back runs on high with no cooling airflow, stuffed between hoses and wires, clipped to sheet metal, dropped four feet down to the floor, oil, gas, solvents, hit with wrenches, scuffed, stuffed and scraped along rusty metal, almost too warm to pick up at times. When it blipped to low, indicating low voltage, another 123 went in, back on high it went, and back to work. I've used my Haiku, and this Mule before at work, but usually with a bit more care than this. Never babied, but not like this. A quick wipe down at lunch to be carried until it was time to go back at it, a Windex bath and wipedown at the end of each day. I took the clip off, the switch boot out, and gave it a good cleaning today in preparation for the "beauty shots" I'll put up tomorrow. A bit dinged, a ton of fine Ti scratches, and it looks great. Made to be used and abused. Smooth, even, bright, floody light, runs like a Swiss watch cell after cell. Thanks, Don, for building these!
ANYONE who has thought about one of Don's Ti treasures owes it to themselves to save a dollar or two a day this year if needed, and place the email order. Make it your New Year's resolution- One awesome light this year instead of a bunch of "okay" ones... And it's a stone-axe reliable tool of the highest caliber to boot... trust me, you won't be disappointed. Pics tomorrow night!
As others say, some more mainstream exposure is good once in a while. I'm a mechanic by trade, and was recently tasked with doing valve cover gaskets in a 1991 Ford E350 van with a 351w V-8 engine. Anyone remotely familiar with the basic U.S. van architecture will cringe at the thought: a big V-8 with no room to work on it, all the requisite emissions hardware, EFI, heater hoses, looms of wire, etc. that need removed before being able to see, never mind remove said valve covers to replace the gaskets. Hours and hours of fun! Did I mention this lovely 23 year old van is a new York resident? We tend to over salt our roads here which translates to lots of corrosion...
To the point, finally. We have no real drop lighting in my shop, so I have long relied on my lights for work. XM-L Mule from Don McGizmo in this case was abused. Really. I went through most of my work stash of partially used primary 123's while waiting for my AW RCR to cool and recharge. Back to back to back to back runs on high with no cooling airflow, stuffed between hoses and wires, clipped to sheet metal, dropped four feet down to the floor, oil, gas, solvents, hit with wrenches, scuffed, stuffed and scraped along rusty metal, almost too warm to pick up at times. When it blipped to low, indicating low voltage, another 123 went in, back on high it went, and back to work. I've used my Haiku, and this Mule before at work, but usually with a bit more care than this. Never babied, but not like this.
A quick wipe down at lunch to be carried until it was time to go back at it, a Windex bath and wipedown at the end of each day. I took the clip off, the switch boot out, and gave it a good cleaning today in preparation for the "beauty shots" I'll put up tomorrow. A bit dinged, a ton of fine Ti scratches, and it looks great. Made to be used and abused. Smooth, even, bright, floody light, runs like a Swiss watch cell after cell. Thanks, Don, for building these! ANYONE who has thought about one of Don's Ti treasures owes it to themselves to save a dollar or two a day this year if needed, and place the email order. Make it your New Year's resolution- One awesome light this year instead of a bunch of "okay" ones... And it's a stone-axe reliable tool of the highest caliber to boot... trust me, you won't be disappointed. Pics tomorrow night!
