Tuesday - March 29, 2016

A job well done

It isn’t often when a product on the market gets a new and improved version that is actually new and improved. Usually “n & i” is code for “we took shortcuts, downsized the product, and now use cheap ingredients”, because the only thing really improved is the profit margin. And, of course, the ad men have to blat it about everywhere. New!! Newer than new!!! More improved than the previous improvements!!

Cynic. Jaded. Who, me?

Right. So I own one of these “tactical” flashlights. Not really sure what that means, but my Fenix TK40 powers one of theses CREE LEDs from a fat handful of 8 AA batteries, and gives me an amazing bright white light in a package the size of a bastard sword grip (hand and a half). And it worked great ... until the cheap soft plastic internal battery cage fell apart. It just wasn’t up to the bonks and dinks a tough life flashlight is exposed to.

Right. So about half a year ago I started trying to figure out how to get the thing fixed. It was a damned expensive flashlight; no way I’m just going to toss it away and buy another. So around Thanksgiving I was finally able to find a warranty service center (to be fair I really hadn’t been looking that hard) and the guy said he’d order me a part. And I never heard from him again. The other day I found my expensive flashlight gathering dust in a corner. Eff this, I’m calling. So I pick up the phone and make the call, and I got my guy on the second ring, and (wouldn’t you know??) hey, my part just came in, let me get your address and I’ll ship it right out. Well ... fine, great, let’s do that.

And today it came, and it works perfectly, and everything is wonderful ... and it’s a completely different part. The old “french plastic” battery cage has been replaced with something I’d have to call mil-spec. Steel rods, stainless steel nuts and bolts, hefty acrylic end caps, gold plated springs and contact points all over the place ... wow. This is what the battery carrier cage on a $150 flashlight is supposed to be like. Bulletproof. And beautiful. And it didn’t cost me a dime either.

And Fenix never even mentioned it. No “new and improved”. No fanfare. Heck, they don’t even make the TK40 model any more. It’s been superseded by their TK41 and TK41C, and those are the only models they have that use the 8 AA battery cage. Who cares? This is a first class part. And you almost never see that kind of silent upgrade.

   

Posted by Drew458     on 03/29/2016 at 10:20 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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