i've seen how much HDS lights go far and everyone's always all over them...
what makes them so special???
output doesn't seem to be that high for the price...
i can see quality but quality can only go so far....
anyone want to educate me??
Hmmm... where to begin?
First of all, output isn't everything. Or perhaps I should say that retina-burning output that lasts for minutes and makes the flashlight literally too hot to handle isn't everything. I have a high CRI Rotary that tops out at 120 lumens, and I recently used it while loading road cases on a semi-trailer at night. There was no dock light, so I used gaffer tape to stick my Rotary to the side of the trailer, angled it up towards the ceiling, and turned it on full-bright. Plenty of light to see from front-to-back in the 27-foot trailer, and plenty of run-time to get us through the load-out.
And that's one of the rare instances I've actually used my Rotary full-blast. The majority of the time, I'm running well below maximum, and the nice thing about the Rotary is that you have granular control over the output and can dial in only what you need to get the job done which can save your eyes and helps extend battery life -- it's the old amateur radio adage of using no more power than is needed to get the job done. Probably my most-valued feature is the moonlight low of 0.07 lumens (I have older firmware; the newer firmware takes that level down to 0.02). It may not sound like much, but it's plenty bright enough for nighttime prowling around the house -- or tent if camping -- without disturbing my family and making my eyes water because it's too bright.
So why else would you want to spend top-dollar on an HDS? It has, if I'm not mistaken, one of the most customizable firmwares on the market without having to program your flashlight with a computer. It has four presets that can be set to any one of the 23 available output levels or flashy mods like strobe, beacon, or SOS, or the dial if you have the Rotary; the ability to change the operation of the light in a number of ways including momentary, automatic power-off, turn-on preset, etc; the best low-battery warning I've ever seen that gives plenty of notice and won't suddenly leave you in the dark; smart firmware that can detect what kind of battery you've installed and configure itself appropriately to prevent cell damage; lots of other things that you can learn by
reading the manual.
Finally, there's the amazing quality of HDS products. It's hard to explain, but it's one of those things where you understand the moment you have one in your hands. It's like, "Oh, so
this is what a quality flashlight feels like!" HDS lights are built like tanks with an absurd degree of quality-control (each light is
individually calibrated for guaranteed output and runtime!), can take extreme amounts of abuse without failing, and are backed by an industry-leading "no questions asked" lifetime guarantee even if you're not the original purchaser.
Best thing I ever did was buy an HDS light early in my flashlight "hobby" because it pretty much eliminated any desire I had to look for something better. It's saved me a lot of money, I'm sure.
Edit: Oops, just noticed this thread was over a decade old. :laughing:
