My fourth (and final) one arrived a couple of days ago, and it works fine. So far I’m “3 good & 1 not quite so good”.
The one that’s a bit quirky seems to be working pretty well, although this morning I swapped out a lithium primary and put in a freshly charged Eneloop. Nothing. Deader than John Cleese’ parrot… Tightened/loosened a few times, nothing.
Swapped out the Eneloop and put in an Imedion NimH - worked perfectly. All modes. Lotsa light. Both are the exact same length, and both were recently off the charger. Go figure.
Swapped in a fresh (Costco/Kirkland) alkaline, and got L/M/H/H. Doesn’t surprise me, though, as I doubt the alky could surrender enough juice to feed the highest setting.
I have no 14500s to test them with; it’s just not a battery format that ever appealed to me.
I’ve figured out enough about its quirks that I’m still using it with pleasure. Kind of like me, it sort of works, and it works reliably for the duration of whatever cell is in it. When you change cells is when it acts up. I guess the three ‘perfect’ ones will go as gifts and the balky one will stay in my pocket.
To the guys that have bad ones, try this - when you put in a cell, wait 5 or 10 seconds, then try a slow press. Once mine starts working, it’s away to the races, and that trick has worked for me almost every time. Don’t ask me why! YMMV, of course.
O.K., this is a couple of hours later, and I have an addenda. I’ve been running the light on an Imedion NimH, steady on ‘low’, just to see how long it would run. Suddenly it just stopped cold.
No response to inputs, no ‘sag’ or dimming or flutter - just out.
Tested the Imedion at 1.21 v.
Put in a partially used lithium primary (Energizer Ultimate) and again it works perfectly.
I’m a patient man who likes a challenge as much as anybody, but……I’m stumped.