LED flashlight lifespan?

I've had several LED flashlights die on me after what seems to me to be relatively light use and relatively short time periods (2-4 years). These include a Fenix 1AA, an Innova CR123, and most recently a ThruNite 1AAA. Fenix customer service suggested cleaning the contacts with alcohol. I did, the light worked briefly, and then stopped again. Fenix CS also stopped replying to my emails. Innova had me send the light in for repair, after which it worked for about a year and then started acting up again (flickering, coming on intermittently -- I'm expecting the same ultimate result as before ie stopping altogether). The ThruNite demise was recent and I have not yet heard back from CS.

None of these lights had battery leakage or any other damage.

I'm kind of surprised because I've had cheap incandescent flashlights that worked for years and years and I expected the lifespan of LEDs to be at least as long if not longer.

Is my experience just bad luck? Is there something in the care and feeding that I'm missing?

I haven't had any of my quality lights fail on me. I attribute that to periodic maintenance. If it's a light I carry frequently, I clean and relube it at each battery change/ charge.
I have a few led light lights that I have had for a decade, some that I bought used and are quite a bit older than that.
I also own quite a few Peak lights, which are pretty much bomb proof.

Assuming good build quality and components your major enemies are going to be lead-free solder (tin whisker shorts), and drops.

Thetasigma said:

Assuming good build quality and components your major enemies are going to be lead-free solder (tin whisker shorts), and drops.

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Good points. I don't think that the lights have been dropped. And, I would assume (maybe wrongly?) that Fenix and Innova would be good quality. Not sure about the ThruNite.

jabe1 said:

I haven't had any of my quality lights fail on me. I attribute that to periodic maintenance. If it's a light I carry frequently, I clean and relube it at each battery change/ charge.

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Wow! Every battery charge? I have no patience for that, but I do clean and re-lube my most-used lights about once or twice a year. Never had a quality light fail. I've had plenty of crap lights fail, though, usually from poor switches. That said, I'm sure quality lights occasionally fail too; nothing is perfect.

I have a lot of lights that I use on a loose rotation...what the situation calls for, or just what I feel like carrying, so many times each charge will be every month or six weeks.

WalkIntoTheLight said:

Wow! Every battery charge? I have no patience for that, but I do clean and re-lube my most-used lights about once or twice a year. Never had a quality light fail. I've had plenty of crap lights fail, though, usually from poor switches. That said, I'm sure quality lights occasionally fail too; nothing is perfect.

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I think the problem is the electronic LED driver that goes dead not the LED.

I am fairly religious about cleaning contacts, relubing o rings and using a contact cleaner at least every 6 months. With the hard use some lights have seen, I have had very few failures. The hardest used lights(Surefire, Malkoff & a few customs) have all had a few drops but only 1 in field failure...

You have to remember there are very few things that can go wrong with an incandescent light. You have the body, the (mechanical) switch, the cell, and the bulb. Incandescent bulbs don't have a long life span, relatively, and can be broken by a sudden physical shock, especially when on.
I agree with Thetasigma that lead-free solder is probably the major cause of premature failure in LED lights. While I agree that lead can do nasty things to one, practically the only people being affected by lead in solder will be the people working at the plant, and any DIY people swapping LEDs and such. 99.9% while never have any exposure to lead in solder, while has become a well known fact that lead-free solder is much more prone to result in immediate soldering faults, and in use faults down the road, especially in lights that draw a large current. And, of course, the more complicated the driver electronics from complex UIs and/or wider voltage ranges, the more points of failure possible. So far, I have been very lucky, but then outside of a couple lights that I EDC, my other lights only get very light usage.

I have a lot different lights. The oldest light is in my case a Surefire U2 / Kroma MILSPEC / L1 / L2. I do not remember what was the oldest one. My U2, it is the old version that is 18650 cell capable with K2 LED (if I remember corretly with the LED type) works still perfectly, even the same with my MILSPEC. My U2 was also dropped several times...
I also have an A2 Aviator that is also in usage for many many years. The only thing happended was the bulb was burned out after years of usage. I got the TAD Bi pin socket with a few bulbs. Now the light will last until I die.

My experience is, a lot of the China brand lights are not long lasting (10 years and more). My personal experience with i.e. Nitecore, Jetbeam and Thrunite is not that good. I do not buy this brands anymore. The Fenix lights I had and gave to family members are from what I know still working. But this lights will be used more as emergency light, not for daily usage.

I'm not a particularly heavy user of flashlights. Most of my lights sit idle 99.44% of the time. I can't think of a single quality light failure in the six years I've been here.

I have a Thrunite TN11S that was a little finicky and Thrunite customer service sent me a new switch for it twice. It ended up being the battery I had in it, not the light at all! I was running Eagletac flat tops in it, when I happened to swap in a button top, the light became absolutely reliable!

I believe that Thrunite makes quality lights, I have a few, and wouldn't hesitate to buy from them again. My son has carried the Thrunite Ti AAA twisty, I gave him 6 years ago, on his key chain, everyday. It's been thrown, and dropped many times. It looks like it's been around the block a few times, lol... lots of character but it still runs high and low like it is supposed to.

which is why lights should have potted electronics/heads. Peak being mentioned. their heads are potted .

FenixE01 . HDS lights . Malkoff.

wont buy an unpotted light intended for EDC any more.

Just my opinion .

Thanks for all of the comments! Couple of questions:

1) What is the best cleaner to use on the contacts? I've used rubbing alcohol, but maybe there is something better.

2) As far as replacements, I'm thinking "quality" means Surefire, HDS, Malkoff -- any others? I'll get some candidates in mind and then decide if I want to invest in more expensive lights that should last, or el cheapos from Amazon that need to be replaced annually or so.