Keep it, I killed a Photon. The Solitaire has superior structural integrity- they don't die when they get stepped on. The only problem I've had in that regaurd is that the aluminum is softer than the steel of my split rings- to be expected, and for the cost, acceptable. Add a dab of silicon grease to the threads and it is suitably water proof. It has gone through the wash a few times on me, and it worked fine. Since my life keeps me on high ground, and mostly off of large bodies of water, I figure that is good enough.

And I understand that the stock Solitaire has inferior battery life to LEDs, but as I posted several times under my old handle, I have constructed very suitable, non-IC based LED conversions of the Solitaire that can be reconverted to incandescant operation with one of the two spare bulbs that fit into the butt cap and a scrounged/pre-packed AAA. I've used cheap 3mm LEDs, and I recently aquired some bright white ones. So far, they work well, and are almost as bright but more focused than the after market high intensity incandescent bulbs.

How did you kill your photon? I'm surprised. I don't know about cheap knock-offs, but my Freedom 2x doesn't die when I step on it. I just tried it - no problem. Doug describes them as virtually indestructible: "I've run over Photons with my 3/4-ton pickup with no obvious damage."

I've got both the X-1 and the X-5. I think the X-5 is a great gernal purpose light. The beam spread of the X-1 is very narrow, but it certainly does put a lot of light in one place. I like the solidity of both. I also have the X-0, which I thnk is as good as a Sure Fire any day.

Wasn't mine, and I kinda dropped a filing cabinet on it. Between the metal and the concrete there was a soft, kinda squishy crunch, and I owed a co worker a new photon. My thing is that is was an empty cabinet which weighed less than I do, and I have stepped on my Solitaire.