What is Don's Most Loved/Coveted/Lusted After/Craved Light Ever?

[LumensMaximus]

I have a strong preference for the beam pattern of the XRU. I think this is his most overlooked design achievement. Essentially, it's a theater spot light in your pocket. Regardless of what LED you choose, this beam pattern (pure smooth concentrated flood), if it appeals to you, is superior to any other.

I have lights that will out-throw this light (like the Makai, Nailbender 2.8A XML P60), but honestly...you get this beam from ANY flashlight more or less. Is the Makai a more refined beam than the Nailbender light? Sure. But functionally, they are pretty similar to hundreds of other lights out there.

The XRU is a very unique light in the grand scheme of all flashlights, and so too amongst the many great tools in the McGizmo line.

obi

A huge +1

 

[precisionworks]

Sapphire (left) since everyone needs a McG on their titanium keyring

Ti PD-S. No collection is complete with one.

Sundrop, whenever correct color is important & the work is up close.

Haiku, either short or long version, certainly the best all around light of the bunch. If I could have only one of the four the Haiku would be the choice. Does it all from close to far, has three well spaced levels, as useful a light as can be found anywhere at any price.

 

[The Coach]

In my case, it's the XR19-PD. :devil:

 

[shado]

Don has may to choose from,

This would be my choice,

 

[AO JAR]

I would say the LS 27

But, take your pick

I had to laugh, love the layout of the picture.

 

[nbp]

I think my most important contribution to the custom flashlight community...

Awesome post Don! Very cool to get into the mind of the creator a bit.

I think that an important contribution from you is that both in your older offerings, as well as your newer turnkey lights, you have always offered options for different intended uses. You recognize that no one tool can do all jobs equally well. Granted, some lights are sort of all-arounders, like the Haiku and are very flexible, but you have always had options. You were not keen on confining yourself to a single size, beam profile, UI, battery configuration etc.

Even now, you have very niche (to use your terminology) lights to choose from that are not for everyone, but are perfect for their intended uses. Thus the fact that there can be as many dream McGs as there are posts in this thread. That is truly a feat! For each person, you have a light that will serve them well. And while many view your lights as art, not to be used, you impart genius design to them because to you they are tools and are meant to be used, and appreciated.

You seem to break with the norm, and come up with your own designs, and the fact that others copy you means you have introduced something new and awesome to the flashlight world. You invented the PD system! You created the Mule! You mastered the SD style disc of light! No one else was doing these things. I don't really even know how to easily quantify your contributions. So, I will just show my appreciation by selling other lights and buying more McGs I guess.


I got a lot of nice things written down about your designs but they're not posted yet 'cuz I haven't finished that Haiku review still. It's longer than I expected and taking awhile. :shakehead

Don has may to choose from,

Greatest pic ever on CPF? Anyone? Yes?

 

[beach honda]

1. S27-PD
2. PD-S (Ti or Al)
3. LS20

p.s. Todd, always nice to glimpse your collection brother!

 

[leon2245]

Confirmed nbp. It's like looking at those pics of stacks of gold bars or something.

 

[Moka]

I love Don's delving into the high colour rendition lights...
My Sundrop XR-U is still one of my favourites! But the one must have one IMHO is the Haiku Hi-CRI.
The best all round light I own.

 

[bmcgators98]

It might be considered sacrilege among the "PD faithful", but I'm going with the Haiku - in whatever form you prefer - XML, XPG, XRE, XPG High CRI, or XPG Warm. My personal favorite is the XPG Warm.

Even as I type this I realize that many might jump on me (openly or silently) that the Haiku isn't the "Most Loved/Coveted/Lusted After/Crazed Light EVER", but I have to apply this position to my OWN use, not the use of all my CPF friends/brothers/sisters.

I will have to go with the Haiku as well. I have owned two PD lights and have to say that I prefer the three mode McClicky. For me the sole purpose of my lights is as an EDC, nothing else. I really don't need all throw or all flood or 500 lumens or shelf queens for that matter. The Haiku is the evolution of the perfect EDC light with no compromises but at the same time nothing extra. I find that is what I like the most, it is perfectly simple.

 

[fourdogs]

not applicable....

 

[mgk65]

My most loved/coveted/lusted after light ever is ......... the next one!!

Today, it is the Mule XML, which Don just put in the mail...

 

[nbp]

After reading over the replies to this thread, and devouring info on older Gizmos, and quite a bit of pondering, I am considering doing something I said I'd never do. I am thinking about selling my Ti Ra Clicky to fund a WTB for one of these older and rarer beauties. I love the Ti Clicky, it was my Grail light. But after getting a couple McGs, it just isn't getting carried much, and I don't do shelf queens. This is really hard though. I can't decide if I for sure want to do it, and if I do, what do I search for? Selling that one is about the only way I could afford something really awesome like a LunaSol or older Ti PD light.

I would LOOOOOVE a McLux III Twisty. Don's first Ti light, if I understand correctly. To me, that is the ultimate in rarity, loveliness, craving, drooling and the like. I may have to wait awhile for someone to bite and sell one, but it seems a worthy cause.

What do you guys think of all that?

 

[precisionworks]

A Ti Ra Clicky should fund a Ti PD-S & would be a great trade up IMO. The PD-S is the last light I would ever sell.

 

[beach honda]

+1 on Barry's comment about selling the Ra Ti Clicky to fund a PD-S. The clicky is awesome, but you can always get an aluminum version and have a Ti PD to go with it!

 

[nbp]

I've got two Alu Clickies and two Twisties besides the Ti Clicky. :embarrassed:

I have to fess up: I bit hard on the HDS lights because I though I had found a perfect EDC that I could obsess over for a lot less money than McGizmos. I honestly did. I think I have known for years that I would one day get sucked into Don's vortex and I wasn't ready for it. I knew it was going to get expensive. I purposely avoided this subforum for years. So I got a bunch of Henry's stuff, which is awesome stuff. And the Ti Clicky was to keep me away from Gizmos. But I ended up here anyways, just like I somehow knew I would, and now everything else out there just pales in comparison. And now I'm stuck.

So you guys like the PDSs better than say, the LS20? I kinda like the idea of the floody low beam? How is it in practice? And with the Twisty, I'd just lose the momentary action of the piston drive system, right? How much do you use the piston anyways?

 

[easilyled]

So you guys like the PDSs better than say, the LS20? I kinda like the idea of the floody low beam? How is it in practice? And with the Twisty, I'd just lose the momentary action of the piston drive system, right? How much do you use the piston anyways?

The LS20 is a PD as well (with a piston).
Its full name is LS20-PD.
Press the piston lightly and the 3mm leds light up. Press it fully and both the 3mm leds and the golden dragon light up.

Many think that the LS20-PD is the best EDC of all because of the 2 different beam patterns. Low-level flood and higher level combination of throw and spill.

Personally I still prefer the plain old Ti-PD-S with its central Seoul emitter. For my purposes, the low level is floody enough as it is and the high level provides a little more oomph than that for the LS20-PD. The Ti-PD-S is also easier to upgrade than the LS20 which has 2 separate boards for each level.

 

[beach honda]

The Ti-PD-S is also easier to upgrade than the LS20 which has 2 separate boards for each level.

+1

 

[fyrstormer]

So you guys like the PDSs better than say, the LS20? I kinda like the idea of the floody low beam? How is it in practice? And with the Twisty, I'd just lose the momentary action of the piston drive system, right? How much do you use the piston anyways?

As previously stated, the Lunasols are also PD-compatible lights, though the Lunasol PD system selects beam shape more than brightness. The flood emitters are dimmer than the spot emitter, but the most significant difference is the beam shape. Other PD lights only have single emitters, so the PD system selects only brightness for those lights.

When I use a PD light, I primarily use the piston instead of twisting the head. Don found some softer PD springs a few years ago, and they make the piston easy enough to push that it's reasonable to hold the piston for up to a minute or so instead of twisting the head. That makes them more usable as single-hand lights than they originally were.

 

[fyrstormer]

I have to fess up: I bit hard on the HDS lights because I though I had found a perfect EDC that I could obsess over for a lot less money than McGizmos. I honestly did. I think I have known for years that I would one day get sucked into Don's vortex and I wasn't ready for it. I knew it was going to get expensive. I purposely avoided this subforum for years. So I got a bunch of Henry's stuff, which is awesome stuff. And the Ti Clicky was to keep me away from Gizmos. But I ended up here anyways, just like I somehow knew I would, and now everything else out there just pales in comparison. And now I'm stuck.

There are worse places to get stuck than at the top. My first Gizmo is an LS20 that I got in early 2009 (I think), and at the time the price took my breath away, but after I tried an Arc6 I couldn't resist the last opportunity to buy an authentic McGizmo PD light brand-new. It definitely wasn't the last one I ever bought. I have a few different lights -- a couple Jetbeams, a couple Fenixes, a couple Peaks -- but I have about 20 lights that use at least some McGizmo parts, most of which are full Gizmos. That isn't an accident. The build quality and the design flexibility are second to none.