I received me lights, but have no batteries. From what I can gleen from the above thread, if I can’t disassemble the head easily, I have the old, bad design. Yes?
I’ve asked the seller how long they’ve had my copies on the shelf, etc, to determine how old they are, but communication isn’t real good.
I have not powered them up. Should I just return them now? My expectation at $50 each is they should work, without arguing with China. I’ve owned 3 EDC lights that get abused for 3-4 years at a time, at $50 or so each.
Please, any suggestions, opinions, or ideas on how to tell if I have the old design or not?
It is a beautiful light for sure
But you need to be able to test them, they could be fine even if the first version.
It seems the big difference to tell them apart is if the bezel unscrews or not.
I couldn’t unscrew the bezel by hand, and my grip is decent.
If I get batteries, should I repeatedly turbo them as a test? Maybe set them outside to get cold, then turbo after turbo to induce failure? I don’t know… If it passes unreasonable turbo usage, should I do some drop tests?
Or maybe send them back and get a couple of reliable EC11s.
Drop tests won’t tell you anything. Power them up and look for the blue ring in the beam. If its not there, run them til theyre hot - it won’t take long - and see if a ring develops. You’ll be able to tell pretty easily.
And by the way, if reliability is what you’re after, these sorts of lights are probably not the best choice. I mean they should work well from the factory so I’m not excusing bad construction, but these things are pushed to their limits which probably shortens their life normally. Its kinda like the difference between driving a Camry and driving a Porsche. Yeah you can drive a 911 GT3 to work every day, but it’ll probably cost you a lot more to maintain.
I don’t know if this helps but I ordered an S41S (colored version) from BangGood on 11/23 and just received it on 12/9. I can loosen the bezel by hand quite easily and it has no LED issues. It’s an awesome light. The Amazon page for the light doesn’t state that this is the updated version that addresses the LED issue and the glued head so between that and the bezel not unscrewing easily, I would say you have the first version. But as The Miller said, some of the first versions are fine. I would get a battery and thoroughly test to see what you have. If you can get an updated version it’s a better light than the EC11, IMO. It has a much better and more flexible UI and a lot of style.
No need to buy 18350 cells to test them. Take off the tailcap, slide a 18650 cell halfway into it & then bridge the negative end of the cell to the exposed tube (use a wire,paperclip or something.)
Check the lights for functionality now…
+ regardless of what any seller says whether the light is supposed to work fine or now -> I’d check any light meant for gifting for functionality
Thanks for all of the replies. I’m going to send these two back for now, since they are meant to be gifts. Maybe I’ll try to get a new one for myself in a while. Funny though; $50 each on Amazon, $67 Each on Banggood?
Any other must have EDC lights for the enthusiast?
I see the trickery. In the past, I read a few reviews and buy a light really fast; get it over with. Otherwise, the possibility for addiction sets in. This group buy thing could be like an addiction billboard.
