Torch Review: Fenix E30R

I'd like to review my best torch ever.  I've had this torch for several years now.  It is my almost constant companion for working around the house, repairing electrical devices, installing computing equipment, fighting fires at night.  I have no connection with the company other than being a happy customer.  

The Fenix E30R

Small, bright and tough:
This torch is small, not tiny but fits into a pocket easily.  Aluminium makes it light and tough.  It has a maximum brightness of 1600 lumens.  It has only one side button and does lots of things but is fairly easy to get used to.   

Travel lock:
It has a travel feature that works: double clicking the button when the torch is off, puts the torch into and takes it out of travel mode.  In travel mode clicking the button causes the torch to flash twice.  In travel mode you can't burn through your bag or pocket, even if the button is pressed.  

No memory:
One thing that I really like and find essential.  It doesn't have a memory function.  The torch always starts at minimum brightness.   Short presses increase the brightness in 4 steps to maximum and then back to minimum.  Why torch makers insist on having a memory function that turns the torch on to the last brightness level I really don't know!  Some random brightness level I used maybe a day ago or a week ago is unlikely to be right for what I want now.  I have other torches I use sometimes that have this memory function.  One goes to 6000 lumens.  I hardly ever would want it to start on this brightness level.  Yet because of the memory function, every time I use a higher than minimum brightness level I have to cycle through the brightness levels until I get to the minimum before I turn it off.  What a pain.  I can sort of understand why some people might like this function but it would be really good to be able to turn memory off or have a starting brightness level chosen by the user no matter what the previous level was.  I understand that torch makers think it's a great idea to have memory and have worked hard to put it in and don't want to allow users to turn it off.  Grrr.

Black:
Why do so many gadget makers make their gadgets black?  So easy to get stuff lost, in your pocket, under the sofa, in the dark, in your bag with all the other black gadgets, on a burnt fireground.  Make it a bright light colour, how hard is that?

Charger:
The torch has a peculiar and unique magnetic charger.  It doesn't compromise the water proofity (technical term here) of the torch and it works, are the only things that can be said of it.  

Pros: Small, 1600 lumens, no memory

Cons: Black, weird charger, they appear to have discontinued it.  Damn!

Trampolines from oztrampolines online are dangerous. Don't buy them.

Trampolines from oztrampolines online are dangerous. Don't buy them.

Here is my experience.

In March of 2014 bought a 7 x 10ft Rectangular Trampoline from Oztrampolines online.  It was delivered fairly promptly but when I got it here is a picture of what I got. 

Actually a 6ft x 9 ft trampoline with an extra rail 1 foot around the outside.  But this is just disappointing not dangerous.  The legs are complicated and not especially stable, but again not dangerous, just annoying.


From about 18 months after I got the trampoline, the springs started breaking.  They would snap and would fly off and hit the person on the trampoline causing at least bruising.  Thank goodness they haven't hit anyone in the head or eye yet.  This continued on and off since.

5 or 6 have broken this way.  I complained to oztrampolines online and they said that the trampoline had a five year warranty but the springs had only a two year warranty and they would sell me a new set of springs cheaply.  Presumably with a two year warranty.   The complaints went on for a while and they would say: did you install the springs the right way round?  Yes I had.  Did you have the guard pads installed?  Yes I did. 

Everyone seems to believe oztrampolines when they say that the spring guard pads should stop this happening but the physics is quite clear, the pads stop someone landing on the springs and hurting themselves, but they don't stop the springs flying off and hitting the person on the trampoline. 

I went to my government consumer group to dispute the fact that the trampoline I bought was not fit for purpose, but they wouldn't take it any further.  I tried the checkout but they weren't interested. 

A friend had an idea to put cable ties on the springs to stop them flying off.  We did that but they don't work as it has just happened again.

I am now throwing the trampoline out as I believe it is unsafe to use as a trampoline.

1. Who sells dodgy springs in trampolines that break?  I have owned trampolines that are decades old that no spring has ever broken.

2. These springs all break at a similar point, the frame side hook.

The physics:  When you are at the bottom of a trampoline jump, your feet or what ever part of you is contacting the mat are well below the level of the frame.  The mat applies something like 7G* of acceleration to you at the lowest point.  That is the time the springs have the most force on them, and are most likely to break.  It is also the time when the springs are below and not touching the guard pads.  If the springs break at the frame side or anywhere in the middle, the part that is on the mat side will be propelled in the direction of the force, ie towards the person on the mat.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0031-9120/50/1/64/meta

You can clearly see in this picture how the guard mat does not cover the springs at the bottom of a jump.

*http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0031-9120/50/1/64/meta

Here is a sketch of the forces at the bottom of a jump:

And the forces on a spring:

You can see that the guard pad does not cover the spring any more. If the spring breaks before the person reaches the bottom of a jump the force that caused the spring to break will launch the spring above the mat.  In the lower picture you can also see that the hook on the mat when it hits the mat side of the triangular clip will be launched upwards.