My understanding is that while it does conduct electricity, it isn't a great conductor and typically the metal is part of the circuit. Not a showstopper, just an efficency thing. You could alway work around it.

It also conducts heat poorly, and for new (hi powered) LED lights, heat dissipation is importaint to conduct the heat away from the LED. This would suggest you would need to use something else for the heatsink or not use high output components.

While it is light and strong, it is heavier than aluminum, so in order to break even in weight, it has to be thinner than normal and most lights are pretty thin already.

It is also very difficult to machine which drives up the price.

Don't get me wrong, I love Ti. It's actually one of my favorite materials. But you got to do a lot of work to have it make sense in a flashlight.

-john (who has a Ti crowbar, handles for his knife, clips, etc.)

You do not have to convince me, I have been a member of www.candlepowerforums.com for a long time, and I have a QIII already... But I AM glad you posted that link, because they ahave the hard shell battery cases that www.countycomm.com are out of!!!

I also have been buying Surfire flashlight since before most people had heard of them... My first was the old 3 cell BLACK one with the round head...I even have the turbo head for it...
Also a E2D...
Also a 6 cell
and the weird looking one that can only be used for a min. before the thermal shutdown occurs, but MAN is it bright!!!
All told, somewere around $1000.00 of just Surfires!!!

Ok, thanks John. I was just curious what your take on this was. I'm perfectly happy with my aluminum flashlights, and for me, the body material is the least interesting part of a light -- I'm far more interested in the business end and power consumption.

My maglite had been corroded...The tail cap can't be open!

Plastics will not be corroded, so is it the best materials for flashlights now?

I've had it happen to me as well, and don't use Maglites for that purpose anymore.

But I think this is more about the batteries than the light material. I think alkalines self discharge fairly fast in this type of environment, and as I understand it, discharged batteries are prone to leakage. Then the leakage toasts the light.

I've had several different lithium based lights in the car and none of them have corroded, including aluminum ones.

Some other things to consider:

1) Even in a plastic light, if a battery dies and spews it's guts in there, it's going to be a major pain to clean out and in general, my guess is you'll probably throw it away anyway.

2) The plastic lights still have metal in them for the switches and to conduct the power, so you can't get away from it.

In general, I'd look for a lithium light like the Surefire G2, toss it in there and be happy.

Also note that you can get lithium batteries in the AA (and now, even in the AAA) size.

-john

Yes, that experience made me stay away from maglite...

Hey, JohnN, what about nimh batteries or lithium batteries? which are more safty for lights?

You can find some "D" sized Lithium batteries also... their 3.6v but you can use two in a 2-cell maglight and change out the bulb for a 5-cell bulb... get a brighter light, longer battery life, longer storage life, and I've never had a Lithium battery leak on me... THis setup gives you an 80-90 lumen light with Mag's Xenon bulb in a resonable size package. It is expensive ($40 and change for the upgrade), not really a viable option unless you have an old 2D-cell Maglite laying around.

I suppose it depends on what you mean by safety.

NiMh batteries are not suitable for lights you intend to store for a long time because they self-discharge very quickly.

If you have lights that you use frequently AND you use them correctly, NiMh batteries not only can be safe, but they can give great performance and lower costs.

Typically NiMh batteries retain the voltage they supply much better than alkaline batteries. Compare the graphs between alkaline and NiMH in these two great threads on CPF:

Alkaline Battery Shootout
NiMh Battery Shoot Out

So in general, NiMh batteries work well for high output lights. However, you must be careful not to over discharge them and careful when charging them. The best way to charge them is individually.

Because of their high capacity, this type of battery can be very useful, but they also need to be used a bit more carefully than alkaline batteries.

-john

I do this as well for some of my emergency lights. Note you can also get 3V lithium cells (instead of the 3.6V). Note even though these cells are both "lithium", they have different chemical makeup and have different physical construction. Different lithium chemistries and constructions can have very different capacity profiles. For example, the batteries I point to at HDS can supply high capacity loads, some of the D cell sized "lithium" batteries cannot.

However, I would not suggest doing this until you read up on the specific types of cells you intend to use. Some, like the ones I rfer to have VERY high amounts of power in them and can off-gas hydrogen.

Instead of just suggesting you read up on how to safely handle these batteries, I will instead suggest you read this cautionary tale on CPF:

A Little Accident. W/123's and a Peli. M6

Keep in mind that the explosion in question is from a single 123A battery. The 123A battery is MUCH smaller than the D cell type lights to which we are refering.

Be careful out there!

-john

BTW, we should take the flashlight discussion (other than titanium flashlight discussion) off of Matt's thread.

-john