Life span

I am shopping for a portable tactical light for general use and defense readiness. I was looking at the nitecore pt12 or mh10, which is interesting because of the built in charging capability, though the bezel in the front of the precision series looks like it would be more effective in an actual defense situation. Plus the gt has some interesting throw capability, though I only see that coming in handy for occasional night bike rides.

my question is about life span. I saw the nitecore site mention something about 130 hours of service life. So do these lights have fairly finite life spans? I could understand based on the intensity of the operation, but just wondering about useful service life before I make a $100 investment...possibly 200 to get one for my wife as well.

Thanks,

Marc

Welcome. I don't think that was referring to actual lifespan of the light, but perhaps hours of available light on a given mode. Modern LED's, unless driven WAY over spec, are more commonly going to outlive the end user. I think the number 50,000 hours is bandied about quite a bit.

Welcome to the forum!

scout24 said:

I think the number 50,000 hours is bandied about quite a bit.

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For the pt12 the Nitecore site, it say 50,000 of burn time, thats the claimed life (of the LED anyway). Both lights state 520 hours of runtime. Those large claims are usually based on the lowest mode operation.

Hope this helps

scout24 said:

Welcome. I don't think that was referring to actual lifespan of the light, but perhaps hours of available light on a given mode. Modern LED's, unless driven WAY over spec, are more commonly going to outlive the end user. I think the number 50,000 hours is bandied about quite a bit.

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I've seen as little as 30,000 and as much as 100,000 hours. 50,000 being the most common lately. So I suppose certain LED manufacturers use numbers they feel comfortable with.

I'd say that 130 hours means the lifespan of a battery run time based on a lower output mode of the light.

If it were an incan light I'd think "wow, that's a pretty good bulb" lol...

So you've found this forum, might mean that you'll use that flashlight a bit more than the average consumer. But then again, being here it probably won't be your only flashlight for long, making life span less of an issue again.

If you try to defend yourself using a flashlight, your life span will be very short..

StarHalo said:

If you try to defend yourself using a flashlight, your life span will be very short..

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lol, +1

An LED light from a reputable manufacturer will generally last a long time. I have LED lights that are over 10 Years old and still going strong.