Ive kept the unit I beat up on my desk for most of a month now. Even took it out on some small jobs.
Ran into one small issue: The glass in front isn't held in its mount by anything but a light spring. I was working in/near some standing water and after I was done there were a few drops of water inside the case. No big deal. The water shook out and everything dried. Looking closely at it I noted that it doesn't leak if you don't inadvertently press directly on the glass in front. Still good enough as-is.
But I got thinking about how I might make it better. I came up with plan to use some caulk as seal and glue. Took two tries but once I had it down the procedure was simple and easy.
I used a clear siliconized-acrylic-latex caulk I had left over from a project a few years ago. After disassembling the flashlight I laid in a bead where the glass sits after cleaning the area with alcohol and a nylon scrubber. (Most plastics are coated with a parting agent that keeps most everything from sticking to them.) Then I lowered the glass in and reassembled the unit. Reassembled I was able to rinse the excess caulk off the outside of the lens without allowing water to get to the inside of the glass.
Then I disassembled the unit, so the caulk on the inside can dry overnight. Once dry the glass was firmly held in place by the caulk and what little squeezed out on the inside dried crystal clear. I had to look hard to find any. I have confidence this seal will hold a good long time. I've used this caulk many times in the last five years.
http://www.viewpoints.com/Elmers-SqueezN-Caulk-review-7c356Good stuff, washes/wipes off easily with warm water until it dries. After that it seems impervious. The clear dries pretty close to crystal-clear. Handy. Good caulk, fair adhesive. Stores well. I've had the same small bottle for years. In this case it did the trick.
Not a vital modification. If you don't push on the glass when it is submerged you should never have a problem. With the glass glued/caulked in place it is a non-issue.
The flashlight on my desk has seen a considerable amount of daily use and purposeful abuse and it is still in fine shape. For the price, about $2, if one of the LEDs had dimmed or the switch had become something less than absolutely reliable after a months daily use I would have figured it was a fair enough deal. As it is, color me impressed.
). Not sure what the price is on these now. It's the one with the black rubber grippy thing in the middle, about 3 inches long, 1/2 inch diameter flaring to a 3/4 inch diameter at the light end. I've been carrying it around since about October of 2009. Even though there are O-ring seals at both ends, I haven't tested to see how watertight it is but otherwise it has held up amazingly well. Initially, I hooked it on my keychain but the ring that attached the flashlight to a fairly sturdy keychain clip pulled apart, so instead of being carried on my keyring it has been carried in my pocket. Other than that the only other thing is the normal wear and tear of the paint being abraded off on certain points by riding in my pocket with my office keys and my swiss army knife with attached mini plier tool. It used to be hardly noticeable at a glance, but now it is becoming quite worn and more shiny looking in lots of spots. There are also a few tiny nicks and scratches in the metal here or there which hasn't affected the function of the light at all. An easy fix for the ring is to replace it right away with a swiss army knife split ring, although the light has done VERY well riding in my pocket for about a year now. It continues to provide excellent utility at a bargain of a price point. YMMV
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