lights Ive broke

In the past year Ive put alot of my flashlights through alot of abuse. We have taken them on several caving, camping and 4wheeling trips here in the desert.

Somehow Ive managed to break the majority of my lights even though they are less then 1 year old. So far Ive gone through

4 pelican m6 lithiums. I still have 1 left that is working, I bought 5 of them at a time.

2 Streamlight 4aa. Both of these broke within 1 month of use

1 Princeton Tec surge, broke within 4 months

1 Pelican Kinglight, turns off and on without any reason.


The only light that I still have that works is my Streamlight litebox. I actually love this light and it has been through a ton of abuse. It has been dropped alot and slid down rock walls inside caves without any problems.


I want to buy replacement lights but Im a little afraid of having to replace them again in less then a year

What does everyone reccomend for something that is relatively small but bulletproof?

Thanks!

Get a Surefire, and if you don't want to deal with broken bulbs get a SF LED light.

I was shoping for soumthing the outher day and saw a case of "cheep 2D lights" for about $100... Cant seem to find the link but that may be the way to go as you have destroyed soum varey sturty ligths.

Ensted of tough go cheep and just tossem.

offroadaz said:

In the past year Ive put alot of my flashlights through alot of abuse. We have taken them on several caving, camping and 4wheeling trips here in the desert.

Somehow Ive managed to break the majority of my lights even though they are less then 1 year old. So far Ive gone through

4 pelican m6 lithiums. I still have 1 left that is working, I bought 5 of them at a time.

2 Streamlight 4aa. Both of these broke within 1 month of use

1 Princeton Tec surge, broke within 4 months

1 Pelican Kinglight, turns off and on without any reason.

[...]

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Ah! Only 8?
Amateur!
My little sister did better than you in half a month.

Seriously tho, Surefires are pretty much what you're looking for. My favorite is to drop a 3W led module in a SF G2; that thing is really indestructible unless you have a squad equipped with jackhammers.

Pelican has the limited addition HA 3W M6 right now from batterystation.
It's got incredible light output, throw, and sidespill. Not only that, Pelican has a "you break it, we replace it" policy. So... that should be good for you! Just buy one and yuo'll be set!

What exactly broke, the switch, bulb, body . .?

-LT

the pelican m6's have broken at the switch and no longer turn on. They stopped working after a caving trip that was pretty muddy and wet

the streamlights quit after getting rained on while hiking

the princeton tec broke and doesnt turn on after being dropped about 4feet onto some rocks


It seems like most of the lights quit after either being dropped or exposed to lots of dirt/mud and rain

Yep, Surefire it is...You'll get what you pay for.

hi kongfuchicken,
Is because of your little sister achievement, that why Pelican Lifetime Guarantee does not cover "sharkbite, bear attack or children under 5"?

hi offroadaz, Are you under 5, too ? Just kidding.

A lanyard may reduce the number of drops.

I've had a Surefire break from normal use so they aren't indestructible either. Last month I was using my A2 and went to turn the tail-cap to the incandescent constant on position and the bulb wouldn't light. Turns out the switch in the tail-cap broke. The light wasn't abused, just used normally. Surefire did replace the tail-cap without a hassle but the light was down for three weeks waiting for the new tail-cap to arrive. John

There is also a 5w head for the P6 as well as the 3w dropin.

Box up your Pelicans and send them back for warranty repairs.

Ditto the Surefire G2 with a G&P 3Watt LED drop-in. Lighthound.com has both, plus pick up a Z33 breakaway lanyard and some nyogel o-ring grease while your at it. You can also double o-ring the G2 switch as there is enough space between the threads and factory installed o-ring for a second one, works on mine.

http://www.bugoutgearusa.com/ also sells the G&P 3Watt LED drop-in.

I love the "under 5 part", that's why my toddler can't touch my lights.
I gave him my LS the other day, and he chewed on the kroll!! :laughing: It made me proud to see him playing with a light.

Lights I've broke or seen broken,

Pelican L1 (switch)
Streamlight Batonlite (board)
Streamlight Luxeon Jr. (switch and reglulator failure)
Lights with Kroll switches
Aurora 2AA Jupiter LED (switch)

My BB500 R2H minimag would eat a kroll about once a year under normal use and every three months when playing in the desert. I have spare ones for that reason. My Peak Mediterranean with 2AA body has a Kroll for normal use and I convert it to twisty for desert use. Nothing beats a twisty for reliability, the Peaks are good in this reguard since they gold plate the connector in the head.

Killed an XM3's clicky somehow forcing it to be on all the time

I lost the regulator on a 2AA Dorcy from leaving it on for maybe 15 minutes straight. It looks like a transistor went into thermal runaway as it really got cooked. I didn't do anything to abuse it so I think it was either a poor circuit design or lack of adequate heatsinking.

Pelican Sucks, I won't buy Pelican again. I bought one of their cases with the pick and pluck foam for 80 dollars. I brought it home to find out that the foam was only cut halfway through and didn't tear the whole way--it ripped out in uneven chunks. I contacted customer service, feeling confident they would helpe me since their warranty looked good on paper. They made me pay to send the case in and then told me that it was my fault for ripping the foam incorrectly. (which it wasn't, I've done pick and pluck several times) I sold the case on ebay. I'll never give them another dollar. Surefire honestly has the best customer service of any company I've ever dealt with, and thats why I've given them .... god... probably close to a thousand dollars.

Geez glock, that's a bit of a strange rant there. Surefire doesn't make protection cases, and even if they did, I'm not so sure they would be better than Pelican. IMHO Pelican cases are the absolute best there is. A Pelican case can be dropped from great height, tumbling down a rocky hillside, rolling through a river, ending up on a road, driven over by a Land Rover, and that expensive camera equipment inside will still be in good shape.

Now when it comes to flashlights I grant you that Surefire is the king and I'm a Surefire "believer" my self, but Pelican isn't bad at all in that department, and they make truly submersible dive rated lights which Surefire unfortunately doesn't.

I've broken a SF Z57 clickie and I agree that SF customer service is very good. They sent me a new one within a couple of weeks.

Jan