Ultimate reliability...stay away from circuits?

Seems like LED lights bring two really great values to lighting; efficiency and reliability.

As for reliability, the LED basically will "never" burn out and it is very resistant to shock and vibration.

However, I've read posts where the circuit board in the Infinity task light breaks and the microprocessor in the Photon 3 stops working. So...for real reliability, should you stick with a simple design like the Photon II or PT Attitude where is simply very little that could go wrong?

Although, since the Photon or ARC AAA is so small you can carry two...maybe that makes it a moot issue.

anything can have design faults, weather it be completely mechanical or completely electronic...generally speaking the more complicated the design the more chance to err...following this logic, then yes, circuits are bad because they can introduce many magnitude more problems...

but that's a very simple and naive way to look at it...if everyone followed this logic we'ld still be using flint knives and lunar landings, television and the computer would never have been...

i think that you can make circuited technology that is as good as non-circuited technology from strictly a reliability standpoint...it takes more effort, planning, and know-how, but it can be done...and what you gain from this (dimming function = more efficiencey/longevity, strobe functions = very nice in an emergancy or signaling situation, regulation so that you don't have a light that lowers output through-out the discharge cycle, etc.) is highly desirable...

it is, after all, progress...

Obviously, you'd have to have at least ONE circuit for the LED to light!