Perhaps, like me, you have grown weary of sifting through all the dozens of new lights coming out every year from big faceless manufacturing companies stamping out identical lights for half a dozen different private labels, with lots of whiz bang modes and thousands of lumens.
These lights have no SOUL! No HEART! No PASSION! Who cares about all those lumens - dark is no darker than it ever was and I don't need to see any farther than I ever saw. I want to pick up this lighting tool and smile because someone created this with their sweat and blood, and it's just right. I want to be able to learn about the maker from the light I have in my hands. Why did he make it this way? Why did he incorporate in these features? How does he use these very same lights in his personal life? What can I perceive about him as a designer and innovator and person by the product he manufactured?
Sometimes to do this, you have to step back and look at the lights that don't get as much discussion. Sure they might be old, or dim by today's standards, or you might have pay silly prices for them as they are out of production or were modded to get them just right. But they are the lights that allow you to connect with the person who made it and when you pick it up, it just feels right.
I recently picked up a Zebralight SC52 L2. Very nice little light, no doubt. But I lost interest pretty quickly. It has no soul, no heart.
So let's forget about new, cheap bright lights for a minute and talk about lights you love because they have SOUL, they have PASSION, they have HEART... lights that are awesome even though they might be old and dim and expensive.
For example: One light that does this for me is the old Ra Twisties. I have two of them, a 100Tw and an 85Tr. Yes, the 85Tr only has 85 lumens!!! The Twisty came out in 2008, that's pretty old in flashlight years! And you'll probably pay upwards of $150 for one on the secondary market now.
At the time it offered pretty decent output - and many people loved it for it's long runtime on low modes. Besides, what really mattered was it's ridiculous toughness when abused and its innovative UI. The three mode progressive twisty was a hit. Personally, I love it! Not too many makers use the progressive twisty and I can only think of Enrique having done it with three modes. If you wanted, you could do like 200 twists and program the output on the three levels yourself. Who else was offering programmable interfaces in 2008???
Plus on the Tr models, Henry utilized the red secondary LED/reverse polarity indicator (some debate on that) as a low red mode with two higher white modes. How cool is that?!! That has never been duplicated without the used of multiple emitters - it was genius and these lights are pretty highly sought after even now.
The Ra Twisty set the standard for the HDS lights we know so well today, giving us the classic look and feel of the Clickies and Rotaries still available. I think they are awesome, and when you use one, you can't help but think about Henry and how he made one sweet light with the Ra Twisty.
Stupid imageshack, I am not going to start paying to post my previously uploaded pictures in a normal size. :scowl:
These lights have no SOUL! No HEART! No PASSION! Who cares about all those lumens - dark is no darker than it ever was and I don't need to see any farther than I ever saw. I want to pick up this lighting tool and smile because someone created this with their sweat and blood, and it's just right. I want to be able to learn about the maker from the light I have in my hands. Why did he make it this way? Why did he incorporate in these features? How does he use these very same lights in his personal life? What can I perceive about him as a designer and innovator and person by the product he manufactured?
Sometimes to do this, you have to step back and look at the lights that don't get as much discussion. Sure they might be old, or dim by today's standards, or you might have pay silly prices for them as they are out of production or were modded to get them just right. But they are the lights that allow you to connect with the person who made it and when you pick it up, it just feels right.
I recently picked up a Zebralight SC52 L2. Very nice little light, no doubt. But I lost interest pretty quickly. It has no soul, no heart.
So let's forget about new, cheap bright lights for a minute and talk about lights you love because they have SOUL, they have PASSION, they have HEART... lights that are awesome even though they might be old and dim and expensive.
For example: One light that does this for me is the old Ra Twisties. I have two of them, a 100Tw and an 85Tr. Yes, the 85Tr only has 85 lumens!!! The Twisty came out in 2008, that's pretty old in flashlight years! And you'll probably pay upwards of $150 for one on the secondary market now.
At the time it offered pretty decent output - and many people loved it for it's long runtime on low modes. Besides, what really mattered was it's ridiculous toughness when abused and its innovative UI. The three mode progressive twisty was a hit. Personally, I love it! Not too many makers use the progressive twisty and I can only think of Enrique having done it with three modes. If you wanted, you could do like 200 twists and program the output on the three levels yourself. Who else was offering programmable interfaces in 2008???
Plus on the Tr models, Henry utilized the red secondary LED/reverse polarity indicator (some debate on that) as a low red mode with two higher white modes. How cool is that?!! That has never been duplicated without the used of multiple emitters - it was genius and these lights are pretty highly sought after even now.
The Ra Twisty set the standard for the HDS lights we know so well today, giving us the classic look and feel of the Clickies and Rotaries still available. I think they are awesome, and when you use one, you can't help but think about Henry and how he made one sweet light with the Ra Twisty.
Stupid imageshack, I am not going to start paying to post my previously uploaded pictures in a normal size. :scowl:
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