Dammit! Mediocre timing.

2 is 1, 1 is none. I violated the rule that bites you when it’s violated.

In October 2015, a Generous Reader sent me this…

Only 3 1/2 years ago? Seems longer. Lots has happened since then, and this little thing has been with me every step of the way because it’s still my EDC belt light. If I’m wearing pants, I’m wearing it*. I stand by the early snarky things I said about flashy modes, I have no use for them, but since I have learned to behave as if they don’t exist they don’t bother me and in every other way this is easily the best, most useful flashlight I’ve ever owned.

I’ve been waiting for the battery to fail. It’s a 18650 rechargeable, and sooner or later it was going to start letting me down. In fact it’s been on my mind and I even have one (2, actually, because Amazon seems offended at the thought of selling only one) in my Amazon cart but for various personal reasons haven’t pulled the trigger on the purchase.

This morning it finally happened. Oh, the flashlight still works! It’s not like that Surefire with the forever-cursed CR123 batteries that broke my heart that one time many years ago. It worked well enough to let me do my task in a dark room without electricity, but it wouldn’t go to full bright and it hadn’t been that long since I recharged it. And this afternoon I plugged in the battery for recharging and it showed done in less than an hour. So the battery is failing. Should have gotten a replacement earlier – nobody in the little town nearest where I live sells them.

Hopefully it’ll keep me till I get the replacement. I still love this flashlight, but I have a decent spare if I need one in the interim.

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*Except for that stupid belt clip, which is useless and was soon lost. I put some gorilla tape around the light body till it fit an old holster.