Anyone having trouble with Z57 clickies? (E series Surefires)

I have several of the new Z57 clickie tailcaps that after about 50 on/offs are failing. The clickie will no longer work but I can still turn the bezel and operate the light. I returned two to Surefire and they replaced them, but another one has torn up now. There answer was that "with additional moving parts comes the risk of things malfunctioning'> Anybody else have a problem or know of a solution or if they are revamping to fix a problem? Thanks Alan

FiftyCalAl said:

I have several of the new Z57 clickie tailcaps that after about 50 on/offs are failing. The clickie will no longer work but I can still turn the bezel and operate the light. I returned two to Surefire and they replaced them, but another one has torn up now. There answer was that "with additional moving parts comes the risk of things malfunctioning'> Anybody else have a problem or know of a solution or if they are revamping to fix a problem? Thanks Alan

Click to expand...

What is the actual problem? Does the button not click inward or does it not spring back?

RJM

I've read of quite a few problems with these. It seems there must be an issue with them of some sort.

I have had several fail on me.
They usually get stuck in the on position, I had fixed a few by taking the ring out and pushing the spring legs inside with a twezzer, it seems that they sprung out for lack of good tension.

For realiability I prefer the old LOCT. Z-52

If it gets stuck in the "on" position it can be freed by unscrewing the tailcap, at least I could always do it. If you sometimes have problems pushing it down ... push a little left and right and it should work.
You shoudl knwo that this switch will break in over time and it will get friendlier.

The first generation of the Z57 was plagued by such problems ... whereas the current ones should be ok in my experience and judging from feedback on CPF.

If it won't work out you have two options:
1) contact SF CS
2) contact a member who can fix it and make it smoother at the same time --> LitFuse comes to mind

bernie

Yeah, It stays in the on position. Sometimes ,it will miraculously work itself back out. Sometimes the constant giggling side-to-side will "reset" it, but the lack of dependability is unacceptable, especially with the tactical applications I use and need them for. Surefire won't give me an answer as to whether the things have now been improved and how to tell the old from the new (if there is a difference). I wish I could get a straight answer as to whether they have fixed the problem , if they have actually identified a problem. This is very frustrating; I have tons of SF products and this is the only complaint I have really had. Anyone know if they have truly fixed this or not

It *seems* that those early issues have been fixed as the number of complaints about the Z57 has pretty much dropped to zero recently, but I do not recall anything official from SF.
My own experience (roughly 6-9 Z57) shows that the latest versions are reliable but sometimes a bit stiff, but I know that this small sample isn't representative.

If you are depending on this I'd try to have it exchanged.

I let Litfuse repair my early ones and the result was outstadning .. smooth and soft action without a flicker.

You mght also wanna PM size15s, he is one of the most knowledgeable Surefire guys on CPF.

bernie

I had a problem with my first Z57. It came on a brand new L4. You'd click it once and the light would go on, click it again and the light would go off. Click it again and the light would not go on. You had to click it on and off many times until you got a cycle that worked. However, if you screwed in down it would work. I sent it back to Surefire and they sent me a new one that worked.

I bought a Z57 for my E2e about 6 months ago. For a while, it would occasionally not click off... this would happen about once every 10-15 activations or so. However, the problem seemed to work itself out over time. I hasn't happened in about four months or so.

still haven' t heard any official word on whether the first runs had an official problem. The replacement SF sent messed up as well.

The original Z-57s were horrible, and were released prematurely IMHO. The latest ones are vastly improved, though it is still possible to get a finicky one. It's unfortunate that they are not tested at SF before being shipped, as simply having someone cycle the switch a couple times would prevent all this warranty replacement runaround and disappointed customers.

If anyone has a Z-57 that is giving them trouble, I am happy to repair it for you for no charge. As long as it doesn't need any new parts (parts are not available, though most don't need parts anyway ) I should be able to cure what ails it. Send me a PM or email if interested.

Peter