Do we know how LED drivers are affected by long term use. How soon do drivers wear out. I am mostly interested in what happens with long term use in moonlight or low modes.
Anyone here use their flashlight as night light for extended periods of time.
I’ve seen several people mention multimode lights losing some modes, and had that happen on a stock F13 and several SK68s myself. Not heavily used, just at some point they lose some levels.
http://budgetlightforum.com/search?q_as=mode%20lost
I usually turn on my $10 26650 reflector light, to moonlight mode, when I unplug the amber night light under the table, to plug in my soldering iron. No noticeable changes, nor do I expect any. I think, since the vacuum tube days, electronics usually last a long time, unless greatly overloaded and overheated. My graphics card gave out on a computer once, a long time after the fan burned out.
The LED is supposed to last 25000 hours or more, so i don’t think its anything to worry about, the driver and switch are the weak points, there are several driver failures on BLF (fortunately they are cheap), and switches are easily replaceable, just buy a few switches and drivers and keep them in the tool box in case you need them someday.
How many lights do you own?
I ran the search and there was a lot to read. Thanks for the suggestion. Now I have reading material for my long commute.
I know electronics have improved a lot in recent decades. I just don’t know what the constant use is doing to the driver.
Most lights I buy are meant to be gifted or purchased for a co-worker at cost. I’d like to be able to tell them what to expect in the long run. I don’t mod at all so I can’t really rebuild anything.
Most of my own personal lights were recently stolen. I’m very slowly rebuilding my “collection” of lights. My prized possession is a P60 light with a Nichia drop in special made by Bushwacked.
Stolen, what happened 
I don’t know what constant use does but i have used some lights for nightlights and put thousands of hours on them and they are working fine, electronics should be very durable if well designed and made of quality components but random defects do happen.