Fancy flashlight casings

Despite their modest power ratings, the last few flashlights and laser pointers I have bought look like they came straight from some military SWAT team arms store!

The casings are beautifully made in aluminum with lathe-turned knobs and machined knurls and must have cost something to provide.

In fact, despite the light weight metal I would actually rather have something light to carry in my pocket, perhaps made of nylon or some other carbon-reinforced plastic.

However after paying for all this unwanted eye candy, I wonder how much cost remains for the actual LED or the electronics. Are we getting sub-standard internals to pay for fancy casings or are the Chinese selling themselves short?

So.... what lights in particular you talking about?

matt4350 said:

So.... what lights in particular you talking about?

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He's got to be talking about cheap junk.

It probably costs a million billion $ to build a factory, install the equipment and get it going.

But over in China some of those factories are the size of small cities here in the US. With enough employees to fill those said small cities.
It's been said an iphone factory has 9000 workers in it.
Well they also build assemblies for other companies too. At the end of it some stuff goes left to apple items, other stuff goes right to say..Samsung, ASUS or HTC. Same for flashlights, just on a smaller scale.

Literally millions of products go out the door weekly.

I read recently that in 1919 Germany was making 300 million flashlight type bulbs a year. China, US, Holland and other countries were making about 10% of that.

Fast forward 100 years and equate that to flashlights. Those fancy casings you speak of only cost pennies to produce. The emitters too. Thanks to modern technology and robotics things are built pretty fast these days.

Some one here (I forget who) said the Chinese factory has 2 outgoing doors.
One for products with strict quality control measures and the other for products the customer is the quality control person.

matt4350 said:

So.... what lights in particular you talking about?

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The problem of over-elaborate casings seems widespread.

For example, my most recent torch was an Ultrafire (Cree XM-L T6 led) which looked like it belonged in a science fiction movie.

As another example, a modest 1mW green laser pointer looked like a parody of some space weapon.

These are all beautifully built but completely unnecessary and most probably to the cost-detriment of the actual working parts.

^^ People want bold, dangerous, cutting edge looking stuff.

Due to the "fashion of the week" game they try to appeal to folks animal instincts to gain an edge.
It seems to be working. lol.

Folks like the lights that look like it belongs on a Vikings belt.

"Buyers crave flashlights that double as swords" says the marketing guys.

That is why I love the Acrylic hosts Oveready is selling. Each different in appearance and wonderful colors. This makes for fun flashlights.

bykfixer said:

^^ People want bold, dangerous, cutting edge looking stuff.

Due to the "fashion of the week" game they try to appeal to folks animal instincts to gain an edge.
It seems to be working. lol.

Folks like the lights that look like it belongs on a Vikings belt.

"Buyers crave flashlights that double as swords" says the marketing guys.

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None of that would be bad id they were just plastic that been molded into a different shape. However the torches I mean are made of over-elaborate materials and finished using over-elaborate machining techniques. I wonder how much illumination performance is lost to provide for this sort of thing.

Baggas said:

The problem of over-elaborate casings seems widespread.

For example, my most recent torch was an Ultrafire (Cree XM-L T6 led) which looked like it belonged in a science fiction movie.

As another example, a modest 1mW green laser pointer looked like a parody of some space weapon.

These are all beautifully built but completely unnecessary and most probably to the cost-detriment of the actual working parts.

Click to expand...

Baggas said:

None of that would be bad id they were just plastic that been molded into a different shape. However the torches I mean are made of over-elaborate materials and finished using over-elaborate machining techniques. I wonder how much illumination performance is lost to provide for this sort of thing.

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Ultrafire clones, of which there are many, are not known for the use of elaborate materials, and not for elaborate machining techniques. Yes, they are known for the use of older LEDS, such as the XML you noted above.

Much of what appears to be machining on a lathe, is actually pressed into the tube. You may want to watch an episode of "How its made" for hand tools, like Craftsman wrenches.

Some low budget lights use cheap grade metals, that don't render smooth threads when spun on a lathe, or in a threading die. Some may not use Cree emitters, (even though, they may say that they do).

So yeah, it can be a crap shoot, on what you get.

What you pay for it, may not reflect any difference in quality either. A light made in the same factory, may be sold by different vendors for $10-$20. In fact we have seen some $15 lights marketed for $70 or more.

So to answer your question... how much illumination performance is lost to provide for the machining of the light? I would say... next to none. BUT... the dependability, quality control, and dependability of the components, may suffer, so that the light can be mass marketed, at exceptionally low prices. Also they may use obsolete emitters, or off brand emitters.

^^ well put sir

Baggas said:

None of that would be bad id they were just plastic that been molded into a different shape. However the torches I mean are made of over-elaborate materials and finished using over-elaborate machining techniques. I wonder how much illumination performance is lost to provide for this sort of thing.

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Mine has the R33 V5 NXS triple. And no heat issues, I have left it on several minutes and it does not even feel hot. There is a metal sleeve inside.

Plus, I love the colors! I have enough of black and bare Ti, that makes these fun. I really think they are cool, but everyone has different tastes.

They deserve credit for creativity in the makers art.