What is your current most reliable light?

Any of the many EDC lights that I created by modding cheap hosts. I learned over the years how to make them right, with good components and well assembled, while fixing the flaws that some of these hosts have. They work and keep working.

My current EDC is an exception, I have not modded it because it is almost right: an Emisar D4V2 (post-mugglemodeproblem edition). I have not touched everything inside so I can not trust it completely (I would not trust a Zebralight either if I have not completely disassembled it and build up again) but the build quality looks very good, and the important flaws of V1 are repaired.

I recently picked up a used HDS Rotary. I haven’t abused it, but my assumption is that it will survive more abuse than any other light I have.

I hope so, they are not cheap…

Acebeam L16

two lights that seem to take a beating and not fail for me, which includes handing them to other people to mess with are the, Convoy s2+ and the Jetbeam jet-1 MK.

I have an old thrunite tn-12 that I don’t love. So that is the light I abuse and lend out to others. Has survived a lot of hits, grinds, drops, water, oil.

After all that, still no love for the little guy?

‘Most reliable’ is pretty hard to define, when actual failures seem to be quite rare. I’ve carried an old 4Sevens Preon 2 in my shirt pocket for years, and used it plenty without as much as a hiccup. The more eye-pleasing IYP365 that I currently carry has also been trouble free.

I’ve bashed several ‘S’ and ‘M’ series Convoys around for a long time, and they’ve all hung in there - the M2 in particular is built like a tank.

I can honestly say the only light that’s actually given trouble in the past decade was an early Olight S30 that they promptly replaced, and it didn’t actually ‘fail’ as much as the UI became somewhat unpredictable. The replacement has been great (after I upgraded the emitter to something neutral).

Everything considered, most modern lights are very reliable - but I still always carry at least two!

Malkoff MD2.

Mine is a triple Nichia 219b Convoy S2+ in grey. There are some issues with flicker, but with clean threads it works well.

Haha, I know I should. It’s just to long for EDC and the ui is perfect for muggles, but not for me.

I use my Acebeam X80-GT every day to walk my dog for the last 7 months and never failed so far.
Love the light.

I dont have any unreliable lights… maybe Im doing something wrong.
I dont use them underwater, I dont use them in sand, and I dont do drywalling with them.
I guess Im not hard on my lights at all. I almost never drop one, and Ive never had one stop working when I did drop it.

I did get rid of my 10180 lights, I found they were problematic, flicker, failure to access the low mode on some… so I avoid those, and lights with similar 2 mode pressure switches.

Ive had unreliable Novatacs, but I fixed those with new signal springs.

Ive had a maratac twisty become unreliable when I over oiled the threads, but thats fixed too…

Ive done more damage modding lights, than using them :slight_smile:
but so far all my modding failures have been repaired.

I rely on my magnetic rotaries, and on my eSwitch Tool. I have a dozen AAA twisties, they all work, and I have half a dozen magnetic rotaries, that all do what I expect them to.

You guys have unreliable lights? Why?:slight_smile:

I’ve been buying quality lights based on BFL and CPF and the old (flashlightreviews?) for so many years (15 or 20?), that all of my lights are dependable.

My CMG Infinity and Lightwave flashlights are still dependable.

The Sun and the Moon have currently been my most reliable lights, except for the intermittent clouds. All of my battery powered ones are flawless. :stuck_out_tongue:

I have the old model jetbeam mini-1 in stainless steel on my keys for years. Strangely never let me down.

Ever try a Nitefox UT20? Same side+tail setup, and it’s a moose! Still, I EDCed it almost immediately after getting it, I liked it so much.

But the TN12 has the same issue as all too many side+tail lights, that the ridges/cutouts around the tailswitch don’t align at all with the sideswitch, so it’s a pain in the ass to actively use both without having to flip the light around one-handed to use both.

At least have no ridge at all and let the tailswitch protrude, or have 360° coverage of the ridge and have to press the switch fully inward. None of that silly flipping around, or worse, have the corner of one of those ridges constantly dig into your thumb when you’re holding it to use the sideswitch.

Zebralight sc600w MK3 Hi

Wellp, all lights that work after being confirmed non-DOA will be 100% reliable sitting untouched in their respective boxes. :laughing:

I don’t abuse my lights, either, and I’ve had some issues like retaining rings (tailswitch and driver) coming loose after recharging the battery, that went mental ’til I poked around, found the issue, and tightened ’em up.

I did have a TK04 go boom, just tip over and stop working. That was fun. Not fall, just literally tip over onto my laptop’s keyboard, so it wasn’t even a hard hit. Eerie.

Also a TK05, ironically, just flicker and go dim. Very dim. LED got loose. Press down on it and it works 100%.

So yeah, weird crap happens for no apparent reason.

But the idea is that lights shouldn’t be fragile and stop working if dropped when pulling it out of a pocket or bag, etc.

But I wouldn’t trust most lights unless I completely pulled ’em apart and rebuilt ’em, being sure to regrease all the O-rings and threads, maybe even lightly RTV the edge of a switch-boot if I wanted it truly waterproof, and make sure everything everything everything is 100%.

Still, dropping a light on its bezel at an angle can very easy crack even the thickest glass. Hell, I busted a clear (“UV”) filter on my camera’s lens, in a padded bag, from just 2’ high. Bent/Deformed the ring just enough that I can’t even get it off the lens anymore (I did remove all the errant glass-shards, though). Freak accidents happen, too.

So with the exception of my bobofett lights, whose “coating” peels off when you just look at it wrong, even my heavily EDCed lights still look pristine. Hell, I was balancing my MH20 precariously on my bike-seat when it rolled off and hit concrete. Not so much as a ding on the ano, and I looked hard.

Do I want to tempt fate? Nah. So it’s nice to know that some lights stand a better chance as far as being reliable, even if freaky stuff happens.

I had the Sunwayman G20C failed on me while I was vacationing in Vietnam. It started to flicker and died… Later found out it was the tailcap; a wire was loose. Never dropped or did anything to it beside changing battery. Altho I got the tailcap replaced, I cannot trust it fully. Never took it on trips with me ever since.