Greatest Failure Concern

When you grab a light or three that you'll be using for an important task, what type of flashlight failure worries you the most? Most of us probably take at least two lights when we know for certain they'll be used. That practice will mitigate much worrying when we are able to be prepared with at least two lights.

But...sometimes only one primarily useful light is on your person and your backup is only better than nothing, like a keychain microlight. My worry quotient is roughly 40% incandescent lamp failure, 40% battery death, 10% mechanical, sandwich, or LED problem, and 10% losing the light. Is there anything else one could stress themselves out over? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

I run about 75% bulb flash and 25% "other". I don't really fear loss, nor mechanical failure. And I check and change batteries fairly often.

Around the house, nine times out of ten, when I need to use a light... it will be LED!

my greatest concern is that it might fail when I want to show it off /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
apart from that ... I am alway making sure I have full battereis, and I am using state-of-the-art lights (McGizmo and DSpeck), so I am not worried at all. I am just happy I can use them /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
bernhard

Only battery concerns and very little with that. I top off my rechargeables frequently and have a "good idea" of battery condition of other lights. I DON'T rely on incans at all. I usually have multiple lights, because I want different kinds of lights, not because I think one will fail.

My last "failure" was with an ARC LS on a walk. The battery dimmed and I had less light than I wanted, but still enough to meet my needs. The failure was my fault for not having a backup light or spare cell.

i use my Infinity yellow every night, so I notice when it starts to dim (doesn't happen often, I recharge my batts every other week /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ) and my "look for the bump in the night light" is the FT3C, wich is also checked every night before shuteyes /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif This one also runs of rechargeables and gets a recharge when needed. No worries here. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Incan bulb failure drove me to LEDs. Now, it is battery drainage for the hungry lights (L4). Easily solved with rechargables (to do list).

My greatest concern is that my light will not light up what I want to see. If I am on land I can usually just get a little closer, if I am on the water it can be a little more difficult to do that (tides, currents, obstructions, etc.).

I take very good care of my equipment and usually have a back up with me. I am not afraid of the dark and can make my way very well without any light at all. Lights make things better, but a lack of light does not make things impossible.

Tom

As long as that big yellow light up in the sky is there I will not sweat the small details.

I went to LED so it is generally batteries that cause problems. The Arc AAA on the keychain is always available and it does have a "moon" mode to tip you off for a battery change.

My BB500 R2H will flicker if the batteries get low and the microilluminator will go dim. The great thing about (regulated) LED lights is they generally will let you know when to change batteries. Other LED lights will slowly go dim and can be usable for several days.

No worries!

It depends on the light. The most common worry I have is the status of the batteries. If the light is regulated, it doesn't give a lot of warning when it's about gone. Honestly, I haven't had a bulb blow in any of my incadescents when I really needed them. They always go when I'm tinkering or playing with them. My favorite incandescents all have spare bulbs anyway, so I'm not too worried about that. With LED's I tend to worry (not much) about something going wrong with the electronics. I recently had a CMG Sonic-G go bad. Overall, I don't worry too much because I usually have a backup handy.

Biggest concern is bulb failure in my better lights, but it's switch problems in the older or cheaper ones. Not when I pick it up, but over time.

Dropping the light and having something break is one way for a failure to occur. Dropping it and not being able to retrieve it is another problem.

To mitigate such circumstances, I have a countycomm $1 light attached inside to practically every coat, bag, case, etc. that I own. Also have one attached to my MC-WA via it's clip 'n' grip. They're good to facilitate battery or bulb changes, etc. and are expendable. Many lights have the "spare" bulb facility, but let's see you change a bi-pin bulb in total darkness outside in less than perfect weather. Not pretty!

Ya, that is my biggest concern too! Trying to load up a M6 rack full of cells in total darkness... always cary the ARC AAA or backup whatever.

I usually know about how used up the batteries are, so I know whether or not to worry about them. Because of that, generally-speaking it's the bulb I worry about.

Joe

Now that Mr. ****ey's prediction that the world will eventually come to see the wisdom behind LEDs is coming true and I too have been absorbed (/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif), my biggest fear is batteries. A distant 2d is the fear of the circuits in all these new fangled doo-dads.

So far the track record is largely good but then I see the ARC problems. That isn't their doing (supplier) but it adds to my apprehension of the electronics.

Bringing up the rear is Murphey's Law.

I have come to see the wisdom of Darell but I will not, under any circumstance, give up my gas guzzling SUV! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Over the years I've had one alkaline cell in a group of 2,3, or 4 new ones just suddenly fail. It's happened enough that I try to carry spares. My guess is that the bad cell may have received a sharp blow; I certainly have dropped many onto a hard surface. Otherwise it's manufacturing defects that show up after a short time of use.

Lately, though, lithium 123's have given me anything but predictable service. Some seem to last long while others only give 20 minutes of service - unless I'm way off in my perception of time. I like lithium cells overall but it's disconcerting that they die "on the vine" during nonuse.

I can concur with a single cell of a 2-4 cell light going bad; Last year on the way up to the cottage around 9PM we came across a vehicle that had hit a moose. I grabbed my vehicle-installed 4C gaglite, trauma bag, and went to work. Well, after about ten to fifteen minutes my gaglite dimmed, to a miserable level. (using a halogen HPR50)
The next morning at the cottage I check it and one of the cells was completely dead. The others were at least 90% capacity, reading around 1.4V.
Could I have prevented the cell from going bad??
Predicted a failure based on output voltage?
I don't think so.
This is the first time it has EVER happened to me. Cells with a reading below 1.3V (alkalines) get relegated to toy duty with new cells installed into the light.
I do check all of my lights at least twice a year.
(I use a Word spreadsheet with check dates and battery installed dates)