THE TOUGHEST TORCH ON MARKET

cy

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Dec 20, 2003
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USA
ARC AAA would be a condidate. awhile back someone posted about an ARC AAA surviving a fall off side of mountain.
 

CyByte

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Joined
May 18, 2005
Messages
135
Inova X5 is one hell of a tough light. Mine has survived fall after fall, rain, dropped in mud, in a lake, and it survived me getting the crap scared out of me and dropping it in cow dung /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

5 led's 2 123A batteries 20 hours of light
 

Mark2

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 10, 2003
Messages
577
Location
Europe
1 - Hellfire X-11 (these are *extreme*)
2 - Surefire M2
3 - Tektite Excursion LS4
 

cheapo

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
3,326
I tell you, the Pelican m6 is a tank. That is because it is so thick. Now comes the m6 HaIII. I think the M6 HAIII could be the strongest light out there, except for the plastic lens.

-David
 

JimH

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Joined
Apr 8, 2004
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2,714
Location
San Jose, CA
The Surefire Beast. I saw one thrown up in the air 30 - 40 feet and land in the middle of the street - not once, but twice. Second landing made the light go out, but it turned right back on.
 

nerdgineer

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May 7, 2004
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Southern California
Hard to say for sure what's the toughest as I haven't abused my lights enough to actually break any. I would assume SF lights - particularly SF LED lights - ought to be tough based on their reputation and cost. Otherwise, I would GUESS design features that would make a light tough include: potted electronics/circuitry, LED rather than hotwire, polycarbonate - not glass - lenses, mechanical support so the batteries don't rest on a delicate part (like the PCB), high quality switches (or no switches), and good engineering design (again, by reputation).

In general, I think smaller lights will suffer lower stresses for the same shocks than would larger lights, all else being equal. It may well be that the $1 "toughtest LED light" from Countycomm could survive a drop test that would kill any other flashlight made, so it would help to know what size of light you're interested in.

Excluding the very small keychain lights, the most overdesigned small lights appear to be the old Arc AA/AAAs, the old CMG Infinities/Ultras, and the similar Peak lights.

Tektite LS Splashlight ($20 at BatteryStation) looked pretty small and robust for a 1xCR123 light (and SF's, yada yada..).

I think the 3xAA/AAA battery carriers are a liability for EXTREME shocks (but otherwise work OK). Past that, I really can't guess as most of the 2xAA and 2xCR123 lights look pretty robust. I'd have to start dropping them (spin stabilized so they always land lens first... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif) onto concrete from measured heights to really figure out which one really holds up better.

Apologies for being long winded...just killing time on a quiet afternoon... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif.
 

Owen

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Feb 14, 2002
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2,048
Location
AL
Check out the construction on a stock Longbow light. Very heavy-duty, waterproof, and the electronics are permanently encased and completely protected. I suppose you could crush one in a big enough vise, or a hydraulic press--not much else you could do to hurt one.
 

Lebkuecher

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Mar 5, 2003
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1,654
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Nashville TN
I would have to say the Arc LSH-P with a twisty would be a strong candidate. Not too many weak spots exposed with this configuration. Of course you would have to consider the B/S/T forum as a market.
 

Stainless

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Joined
Dec 7, 2001
Messages
1,584
Location
A very dark world.
I vote for the original FlikLite.

The site shows one being heated in an open flame,
and a video of one BEING RUN OVER BY A TANK! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Tha's tough enough for me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

ESanborn

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 8, 2005
Messages
3
Location
TX
Torch Abuse

I can't say I deliberately abuse (fail testing) any of my lights, but I have put a few through some pain.

1) I dropped my SF 9N (like 9AN) from the railing of my second-story balcony onto concrete below, about 18'. Light was on. 9N landed at an angle on the bezel. Impact put a small dent into the bezel, exposing the window edge. Main lamp remained on the whole time, but the secondary lamp did fail (!?) Sent it with a note to SF requesting they bill me for stupidity, but they replaced the bezel at no charge. Torch was completely functional following incident.

2) Lost a Pelican mightylight in a river for some time, recovered it months later. No Leaks.

3) Kept a 6P in a barrel-mount on a Mini-14 for many years in a tool box in the back of a pickup. Tool box leaked, and was what you might call a hazardous enviroment. Many gravel roads, much dust and vibration. 6P never failed to function flawlessly. When the 6P was retired from that duty, there was minimal wear, and only then did the original bulb fail.
 

greenLED

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
13,263
Location
La Tiquicia
From the lights I have, the CMG Infinity series stand out, as does the Inova X5T HA. I recently reviewed several PremierLights as part of one of JSBurly's passarounds, and I was very surprised at how thick the walls of the battery tube was. I'm sure they can take a beating! I posted a review and some pics here.
 
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