New handheld light

I have had no issues with the switch. I have a Gen I XT11. They "improved" the switch on the Gen II for easier use with gloves, but I never had a problem with the switch.

The light finally died though. I have dropped this thing on numerous occasions from above ceiling heights onto concrete and it has kept going when I thought it would surely not have made it. What did it in finally was a drop onto concrete from a 40' boom lift. When I dropped it, I thought it was definitely done. I looked down and it must have fell on the switch, because it was on and working fine. It worked like normal for a month or so, then started to go intermittent. It would go dim and then back to normal if I shook it. All those drops must have finally cracked a solder point. One day I will heat up the head to take it off and fix it but I haven't got around to it yet. I have my modded S200C2Vn to play with so that project is on the backburner. You probably will never put it through the same type of abuse, so I wouldn't worry about it failing on you. My buddy has a Gen I also and has had no problems. He doesn't put it through the unnecessary torture I did.

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Originally Posted by SteveL

Very interesting. Thanks for the suggestion. What kind of battery life do you get running on high?

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I haven't ran it constant until it dies to make an accurate answer for total runtime. I use the one at work a lot throughout the course of every day and have rechargeble batteries, always have a set charged and ready. Usually I'll get a day to a day and a half of use before I need to change batteries depending on how much it is used. I use it mainly for inspecting vehicles, and talk about lighting up an engine compartment 600 lumens does the trick. My work light has been dropped a lot on the concrete floor also and I've not had any issues with durability.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions and answers to my questions. At this point I think I'm going to pick up one of the Surefire lights I was considering initially and just stick it in a Taco on a battle belt and leave it there. They're not that expensive so why not?

I think I'll end up getting one or two of the others that have been suggested as well for vehicle/bedside lights. The versatility seems like it would come in handy in those roles.