I won't go over my son playing with it in the truck when we left the store and the button falling out because, as we all know children will find ways to destroy things in way no one else can imagine or even come up with. But after 30 min of looking for a black circle on a black carpet in low light it was fixed. These are things that just happen.... the button fell out... there should have been alarms going off in the back of my head that equated to a drill instructor saying "DON'T TAKE THIS WITH YOU!"
INOVA 2A (AKA my battery eater). I purchased this one having been pretty happy with INOVA products in the past. Man was this a waist of money. Right out of the box I went to replace the batteries as you should always do, god knowns how long the thing has been on the shelf being played with by every one and their kids. The first thing I hear as I get the tactical switch/base cap of a "Tink, tink, tink, tink........" as the button it's elf falls out of the base cap and rolls under my couch. This should have been my point of realization, things are going wrong with this light. So I drop "two" new batteries into it close it up and throw it in my kit as a backup light. four days and 24hrs on multiple flights I drop my gear in a dark room my primary kit is stowed so I reach for my pack and pullout "dun, dun, dun!" my backup light which doesn't work? So I switch out the batteries and grab my jungle bag and pillow I'll worry about the other stuff later. Next day I'm fine with the light but that night I had to trade out the batteries as it slowly died in my hand after 30 min. For the next 4 months this is the routine every 2 to 3 days. It's a good thing batteries are free for me at this time.
I actually have to knock it against something now to get it to work. You spend about $50.00 CAN on something and you expect it to be dependable and work properly. Especially something made of quality materials by a company that is in the top 5 to 10 of it's competitors.
CONSTRUCTION 1/10: I'll give it this the machined aircraft aluminum body and the rubber grip make a nice package, but the internal parts lack what is expected from INOVA. I guess in a bad situation I could throw it at a scary sound in the dark and knock what ever it is out. But I'll never known where it landed. Why would you put time and development into one part and hump the bunk on the rest. Wow it's bright but you can watch the light dim as you use it.
DESIGN 2/10: again feels nice in the hand and I can hit people with it but it's a pocket light not a freaking baton.
DURABILITY 0/10: Burns out faster then candle held upside down, internal contacts don't hold up to storage of any time longer then two days and I have spent more time treating it like the linchpin in a horror movie then actually using it.
OVERALL IMPRESSION 0/10: I don't normally write about things I don't like, I also think there has to be one redeemable feature to any product that cost more then $10.00. I gave the INOVA 2A a 0 because the scale we have set up doesn't allow me to give out negatives like - 10 for over all impression. There is nothing about the 2A that draws me back to INOVA as a customer in fact if anything it makes me want to never purchase any of their products again and I can't even recommend them out of fear someone will die hold one of there products in hand while thinking WTF.
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