The PK products thread

[bykfixer]

Vital Gear in da house....

Many may not be aware, but Vital Gear was a PK thing back in the day. Lego-able at affordable pricing.
Made for swapping parts n pieces from SureFire's E series, Scouts, C's G's and P's. Yet viable little lights on their own.

History shows that the Vital Gear was a serious player at one point but was suddenly gone. Well it seems that like the Icon brand VG had potential for big things, yet not being US made the idea was nixed by higher up's while PK was still at SureFire.

Ultra-quiet clickys, tailstand in mind as well. Bezel down clips fastened to the body like the custom guys were doing in some cases. Switchless bodies were available. Each was a lego in itself being they arrived with the ability to lego E to C without additional parts. Drop in's were user serviceable P60 based gold plated numbers. Glass lenses were dome shaped to make the bulb appear even brighter. Gaskets and o-rings allowed water tight applications and tight fitting lens swaps. The Vital Gear products were light years ahead and gave us all a peak inside of that PK fertile mind.

 

[ven]

Awesome mr fixer, anything PK fascinates me, the ideas and innovation behind his work.

 

[peter yetman]

Nice gear Mike, you can see PK's style written all over them.
I was going to ask you if PK was involved with VG, and now I know.
Thanks,
P

 

[bykfixer]

Me too Mr. V... me too.

Not long ago I showed a VG 2 cell body with an E2D head at a Facebook page that focuses on SureFire products.

One guy said "that aint SureFire, get that piece-a junk outta here" (paraphrasing). I said PK was Vital Gear, therefore PK+VG=SF. Later he posted he had called PK and don't ya know... dawg-gone if that wasn't the case.
(FYI The op's post was meant as humor, not typical FB temper tantrum. He's a cool guy with a sharp sense of humor, also a friend of PK's going back across the decades.)

A little speak went back n forth like typical Facebook threads.. ie short lived. Then a couple of weeks later a generic box from China showed up unannounced...

Lately PK is criss-crossing Asia in a bit of a marathon of meetings trying to line up some stuff for next year so I haven't spoken with him directly since around mid-October. Due partly my schedule, partly his. But he leaves clues at his Facebook posts if you know what to look for.

So, yeah Pete, Vital Gear was PK's brainchild.

 

[peter yetman]

So glad I don't do Facebook.
P

 

[peter yetman]

So glad I don't do Facebook.
P

 

[peter yetman]

So glad, I said it twice.
P

 

[ven]

:laughing:

I am glad you said it P, saved me saying it

 

[knucklegary]

Ever since reading this thread, at least for the last year, I've been wondering who is the lucky brother (or sister) that owns FL2 LE #1000?

Btw, Any chance of selling?

 

[bykfixer]

It may still be in a warehouse at the PK facility. Sales for the FL2 were brisk for the first few months then fell off after that so that one may not have sold yet. But Bulls Eye Worldwide had some in the 900's when I bought my first one SN/842. I gave away a couple back then, one of which was 919 iirc. It came from BEW. Perhaps Roger (the owner of BEW) kept it?

Here's some PR-1 lego
Top to bottom:

- Stock, clipless with a bottle cap difusser
- PRX head (1 setting 500+ lumens) with a Scout light tape switch adapter and E2D tailcap
- Stock with a bykfixer mod to the tailcap where the ears were removed for signaling.
The ears removed was an idea by a CPF member who wondered if it would work similar the FL2 so I said "whut-thuh-heck?" Works great with the 1 setting head.

The Scout adapter is a prototype. PK had begun to create some ideas for the PR-1 that led to a tape switch idea for the PRX long gun light. That led to a PK Design Lab tape switch instead. Later that is leading to other ideas still in the trial and error stages.

At the close of 2018, he has largely gone away from consumer based products and targets a market where things are purchased in bulk via contracts like his early days at SureFire. He went back to his roots while the consumer market is geared for all things brighter and brighter, and cheaper and cheaper. He decided not to try to compete with products touting outragious numbers for 32 seconds, selling for $22.95.

PK is like a Ferrari designer and has decided that competing with Kia is not what PK Design Lab is going to do in the future.

 

[id30209]

Thank you for the update and nice pictures.
I believe there were more than few of us wondering what's with PK products in the future and this post clarifies everything.

Now when i see those little ones there's only one thing crossed my mind...PL and PRX are the next things on my shopping list

 

[ven]

Love the PR1, thanks to the main man himself(mr fixer), a body to convert the PRX into another PR1. Love my PR's a lot......
So cute.............but a beast!

 

[bykfixer]

When PK left SureFire he started a consultant company to design lighting products for other companies. He also designed lights as a hobby with ideas only Paul Kim could devise. A couple of companies asked for his input. Nothing short of radical soon arrived. Too radical for most. Just like his Icon products before.

He once said "folks critiqued me with hammers". When he designed the new 6P with anti-roll head they said "that'll never catch on". They called the Icon Rogue "the potato peeler" not knowing it was meant to double as a nun-chuk.

I had the distinct pleasure of long conversations with PK who was leading a life in a foriegn land while he evolved from the SureFire designer to PK Design Lab ideas that are light years ahead of the curve. That was fairly early in the budding days of PKDL. A life changing experience for me personally while he spole openly about his goals early on. Early on at SureFire and early on in life post SureFire.

He has begun to hit his stride now and regretfully is largely so busy with the business he rarely has time to chat with the outside world. Yet that's the PK of yesteryear. He plays as hard as he works.

I used to ask him "when do you sleep?" as he'd tell me stories of his old adventures after working 72 non stop hours at his consultant business.

I am supposing that has not changed. Once upon a time at SureFire he had a significant sized staff performing work as rapidly as his brain could muster ideas. He now does most of the work himself. So before he could have for example an engineer setting up a super computer to runs math problems to predict stresses on the lighting tool while another engineer oversaw tooling of new machinery. He does both now, while also attending conferences at various places only an airplane ride can travel to in a practical time frame.

Things unfold a lot slower then at large companies with a staff of engineers with big R&D budgets. Yet a few years after leaving SureFire PK has slowly progressed in some ways we don't know as part of his consultant business designs lights such as those on the steps of a mobile home or a houseboat, perhaps a lantern devised for an African market where electricity is as rare as an honest politician. PK Design Lab website has some stuff not seen before the site was redesigned recently. Yet little by little the items on the map he put out late in 2017 is becoming reality.

He told me a while ago he wants to make a flashlight using cherry wood where no two are the same. He had designed a AA flashlight similar to the PL2, but turned directions toward the PR-1 based platform and the PRX was born. From there that set the tone for the future.

 

[ven]

Fantastic mr fixer, i have had the pleasure chatting via email on several occasions over the years. He is a stand up gent for sure, genius is an under statement . I would love to see some of his latest work/ideas when the time is right(no doubt companies would jump at copying his awesome vision).

Love the stories mr fixer, PK is one of my flashlight heroes for sure.

 

[id30209]

I agree with ven, this was a pleasure to read. I'm glad he's not stoping to reach his goal knowing what quality and products are behind PK logo.
It would be nice to see some of his latest stuff but, as ven said, everybody would jump on it.
Let's enjoy the stuff we have...

 

[bykfixer]

Going to war with the Taliban?

Accept no subsitutes.

PK has a new Canadian distributor that'll be carrying stuff like this. Go to his website FMI.

 

[id30209]

Just saw his post on FB... AMAZING!
Looks like we'll see some other stuff soon

 

[Tachead]

Nice, do you have a link Byk?

 

[bykfixer]

https://www.opr8.com/illumination/
Pre-order it for now.

They ship Canada, US and Europe.

 

[ZMZ67]

".... a flashlight using cherry wood where no two are the same." :twothumbs