Did it happen to you that you loved the way a light looked that you avoided using it because you were afraid to damage the finish?
Please share.
Hey Agro,
I experienced that before, with Haikelite SC26.
I didn’t really like the form, bulky tube with some random protrusions or roundings. But anodization was gorgous. Switch highlight was great. And blue trit that I added…that made it a truly superbly looking package.
I like stuff in ‘new’ condition so far as possible - that goes for most things, as I tend to look after stuff.
I do hate damaging the finish 
- if it was too bad I’d try to replace the part.
Hey Agro
Much as I like the feel of this etching I also don’t want to ruin it
I carry my EDC18 everyday with me. I wipe it down and keep it clean almost everyday. I dropped my EDC18 from 3’ at a sharp angle the other day. Now it’s got a nice old nick at tailcap corner. It doesn’t bother me though as I was expecting to drop it anyways. 
I should have treated my copper Convoy S2+ this way. Used it and dropped it, huge dent, which looks terrible because the rest of the light is coated. I should removed the coating, sand down the dent, and patina it…
That’s easy to believe……
I do the same with a CU S2+ , with a Dragon driver w/red aux led’s, along with these Aonics. The alum. version gets carried, but the Ti and Bz only go when in dress clothes.
Kind of. It’s like that with every light of mine, be it my Nichia S2+, my warm white M1, the little EDC01, and more recently, the still-mint M2.
As they say, the first scratch is always the hardest. From then on all cosmetic damages are statistics.
my stainless fw3a
but now it seems to easly get scratched up and scuffed
its my edc
i wish it would be super clean and shiney
eyeing up a fw3a copper as theyve just dropped on lumintop
To me, a light is a tool.
If a tool is too pretty to use it's too delicate to be useful.
A tool too delicate to be useful is useless.
To me, useless tools serve no purpose.
A pretty item too delicate to serve a functional purpose is otherwise known as art, which is useful in its own way.
So, a light too pretty to use becomes art.
slmjim
"Did it happen to you that you loved the way a light looked that you avoided using it because you were afraid to damage the finish?
Please share."
I have only one light that is not routine anodized aluminum. MMU-X3 modded to triple XHP50.2, cerakoted gold hypershift. The cerakote was incidental, it just came that way, without me looking for such treatment. But, it is too pretty to use. So, it is an unanticipated collector item for me. I got the Nightwatch NSX53 to use, instead. Both lights have stunningly awesome beam profile and performance for size.
I can't get any more of the NSX53, so I eagerly await future releases of single cell triple HP50.2.
I’d have thought the cerakote would be pretty durable. Isn’t that the point of it?