Just asking, as I don`t really understand the issue with SS bezels vs non ss bezels.
Could someone please explain.
thanks
SS is hardier than Al - it is harder to bend or ding and it more resistant to wear (it has greater toughness or ductility).
SS keeps the bling of your flashlight longer. The first wear marks of my aluminiun flashlights are on the bezel and tail edge.
And in theory the light should be a bit more impact resistant, the lens is better protected with the stiff SS bezel.
Not too sure either but there seems to be a group who prefer SS to Aluminum. SS is much stronger, heavier and more resistant to damage if hit or dropped but to me the heavier is a negative as is the much poorer thermal conductivity, though the last may not be too great a consideration for a bezel. I personally would like to see many bezels a bit deeper as the current very shallow ones provide minimal lens protection. Fine if the only purpose of the bezel is to retain the lens but I also have several lights with deeply crenelated SS bezels which are almost weapons in themselves. They do provide lens protection too.
Thanks guys..
I didnt know it was much stronger than aluminum. I`m still learning.
I can see the "bling" factor though.
how about other types of metal? or are they most of the time only SS vs Aluminum?
SS 304 is what is commonly used.
As for another extra ambiguous term "aluminum", 6063-T6 and 6061-T6 are commonly used, or at least claimed to be used. There is of course the more stronger 7075-T6 which is really used but certain features of it reach the ones of SS 304.
Titanium lights will likely have titanium bezels too but generally speaking the majority of lights will have aluminum or stainless steel bezels. The very few copper and brass lights made generally have matching material bezels and I have seen plastic bezels on some ultra cheap lights.
Only SS vs Aluminum in the flashlight hobby. Aluminum is very soft, I’m sure plenty of stuff is harder. FYI, copper is not.
Note that there’s no group who prefers the reverse! There are only the folks who don’t care and the folks who prefer SS (for bare bezels, I’m not talking about color preferences). IMO the bezel ring should be small enough where weight and thermal properties are not considerations, it’s just a bezel after all. In terms of lens protection, I feel like all my bezels give plenty of lens protection. Some are definitely deeper than I’d prefer. What ratio of diameter to depth are you looking for?
I agree with djozz about where the first wear marks appear: bezel and tail. I don’t always want a shiny bezel, but when I do I want it to be stainless.
I have noticed assembly wear marks from tools used to tighten an aluminium bezel (on new lights). With stainless steel this is less of an issue and its finish is more durable to wear (irrespective of the kind of finish). I’ve dropped a few aluminium bezel lights and there was always damage to the bezel.
I haven’t yet seen a rusty SS bezel. :Sp
SS bezel is the way to go: protection, beauty. Don't want the lens too far inset because bezels can rob lumens. P60 tests proved that - thread somewhere here on it. Also SS reflects, black absorbs, so if light is hitting the bezel, better to be more reflective.
Thanks for explaining.
Maybe I`m already turning into a SS bezel guy.. not bad I suppose....
just a quick question then, how can I distinguish the 2?
for example the XinTd X3, does it have an SS bezel?
Yes! I got 3 X3's - 1 from IOS and 2 from the GB -- all the same nice SS. Notice the notch's are slightly different in size, but can't detect any diff's in quality. Yezl Y3, XinTD X3 both quality SS bezels. SupFire M6 is nice also. Don't like the T08's - not enough threads, thin, tend to pop off.
Difference is almost night and day, SS is shinier, heavier and when it drops on a hard surface it says 'ping' 
Thanks, good to know..
I might include that in my reviews from now on..
It seems that they should start producing more lights with SS tail caps...?
Also unless the SS used is 316 alloy, rarely used in lights, it will be at least slightly magnetic so will be attracted by a magnet. The magnetic attraction may be quite slight to fairly strong depending on the SS alloy used.
With the lower end alloys use by Chineese mfg’s being magnetic is pretty much a foolproof method to tell. As mentioned not all SS is ferrous, there’s thousands of alloys called “stainless steel” with a huge variation of chemical makeup’s but you can pretty much expect all of the stuff used on flashlights from China to be.
Both 304SS and 316SS, being austenitic type stainless, are considered “nonmagnetic steel”. Really this means they are practically not ferromagnetic (long explanation, but they are paramagnetic). But, 304SS is more ferromagnetic than 316SS…especially if significantly cold-worked, as it would be if formed into bolts. 316SS, due to higher Ni alloy content level, will usually not significantly increase ferromagnetism due to cold working - the higher the nickel content the less ferromagnetic develops during cold working. These 300 series steels still maintain some typical ‘magnetic’ properties regardless - for instance they will typically move a sensitive compass, but usually are not strong enough to stick to a typical magnet, for instance.
Martinsetic stainless steel, such as 400 series (commonly used in knife blades). are strongly ferromagnetic and will stick to a magnet easily.
Richwouldnt already indicated that 316SS would not be used, do you disagree? A paragraph about the properties of something we won’t actually see doesn’t seem to add much here.
I like a lecture every now and then ;-)
Upon re-reading his post again I think I’m starting to see his point (that 316SS actually is magnetic, just not enough for us to stick a magnet onto). I missed that the first couple of times.