The GatLight is born (formerly known as Gatling Light)

[flashlight]

Kudos to mobile1 for excellent on-time production & shipping!

Oops, I thought I was getting #31 according to an earlier PM? Doesn't really matter, would've liked #33 but must defer that to the lady ChocolateLab33 & #29 is okay so long as I get it safe & sound soon.

[karlthev]

Patience, patience children!! There is absolutely no need and no rationale whatsoever to attempt to rush such a project and, in turn, create problems which did not need to occur. If ANYONE wishes "off the shelf" speed of delivery on custom, handmade work, they should rather choose the "off the shelf" product. I seriously doubt that life hangs on the limb due to delvery of this fine light. It'll come, hang in there. Mobile1, take all the time you need in building these fine pieces, all the time you need! I do believe you have made some spectacular progress and I will wait my turn.


Karlthev

[mobile1]

All domestic lights will be shipped Monday - I try to do the international as well until mailman comes and picks up the packages.

I have 2 more lights that need to wait an extra two weeks.

One light is one of the two Carpe Diem ordered (so your second light will come 2 weeks later). The other one is NikolaTesla's 168S - sorry about that - but I want them to work perfectly well.
For those two we need to make 2 new Silicone Seals - one somehow got lost somewhere, the other one wasn't quite right. - so I'll ship those together with the other 2 remaining ones.

[flashlight]

Just got notification that mine's on the way.

[mobile1]

All but 4 lights are on their way.... dropped them off at the post office this afternoon. Some might even make it before Thanksgiving... let me know when you get them and how you like them.

[mobile1]

I should have the remaining 4 lights here in about 1 week - so they will go out in a week (not 2 weeks) as originally announced.


Then my partner Kyle put one of our white K2 prototypes into a GatLight set to 1,000mA, then took a beam shot in comparison to a LuxIII @ 1000mA.

This is what the result looks like.
LuxIII at 1000mA got 235 lux at 10inch
K2 at 1000mA got 315 lux at 10 inch
The K2 looked quite a bit brighter - and the light gets quite a bit less warm (so all good news). Here are some beamshots - unfortunately the K2's we got are pretty yellow (compared to the nice LuxIII we got)

This first shot, how the K2 (left) and LuxIII (right) compare in real color



Then here converted to black/white to better see the difference


I should get the driver in about a week... Everyone with a GatLight will be able to upgrade to the K2 - once it becomes available (I think April 2006 is still the last estimate for K2).

[Dr_Joe]

very interesting.......

[Free]

Am I the first??

I recieved my Gatlight this morning, and it is without a doubt the most unique light I have in my collection.

I got the Titanium version, and it is beautiful. Not only is the light a work of art, it is a feat of engineering. With the huge number of parts, it feels absolutely solid in my hand. Not a single rattle or loose part to be found, this is absolutely a premium quality flashlight.

The beam appears to be a nice balance between brightness and run time. I am a brightness freak, so I may dial up the intensity a bit (as described in the nice instructions accompaning the light) but I am sure that the majority of you are going to be completely satisfied with the standard brightness setting. The beam is excellent as well, and the color is perfect.

The feel of the light is indescribably delicious and for us figdgeters, it is fun to play around with it in your hand.

I will be going out tonight, and you can be sure I will be showing it to everyone I run into.

Great Job Walter!!

[mobile1]

-Free- What a nice feedback, thanks for the flowers - most of them actually go to my partner Kyle - I'll forward your comment to him... Wonder what people in your neck of the woods say when you show the light to them... let me know. My and Kyle's experiences here in CA and CO are pretty cool so far...

Kyle showed the light to some of his Co-workers and they ended talking about it for almost 2 hours - they even wanted to dip the light into beer - to see whether it really is waterproof (guess no one has ordered water ). He figured that cleaning the light with all the rods is a bit too much of a pain (this was before we found out that it is dishwasher save (if Water temperature <80C))
The other day in Orchard Supplies, I had 3 people coming up to me - when they saw the light as I pulled it out - (to get some more washers for the PILA versions to accomodate different sizes of batteries).

[Trashman]

Got mine today. I turned it on and my first thought was something like, "darn it, I can't sell it!". It's really, really nice. I love the optic, it looks really cool, and gives a nice beam. Can't wait for the K2 upgrade! I'll probably want to wait until there are some higher binned ones available. Thanks, you guys are craftsmen of the highest caliber and it's great to have one of the first!

[cue003]

I will like to be part of the 2nd run please.

1 RCR123A light - TITANIUM with RCR123A battery
Glow Painting Battery

Curtis

[Stillphoto]

Got mine yesterday...Wow...the stainless 123 version is just an amazing piece of work! I can only imagine how nice the titanium pila version must feel in hand. Now comes the hard part, taking pictures of this light that will do it justice. This is going to call for some fun experiments in lighting and camera angles....stay tuned.

[Trashman]

I just wanted to say that my uncle came over today for Thanksgiving dinner and he was very impressed by the light. I've shown him a lot of, if not most of my lights, and this one definitely received the best reaction. He was looking for the word to describe it, and I said it was art, then he agreed and said that it was modern technological art.

[flashlight]

I just got mine 30mins ago & I really must say that this THE most exciting flashlight that I have ever received so far! The beautiful presentation box (for the lucky first 40 pre-orders) is certainly a nice surprise bonus too.

Overall, first impression is . The finishing & assembly is outstanding, the beam while not 'perfect' is more than good enough given the design constraints & I'm sure most people will buy this light based more on how it looks than on just the beam quality anyway. Upgrade options & user-tweakability add value to the light. My only regret is that I did not order a titanium one as well.

Now, to find the time to take some nice photos that will do justice to this amazing looking light.

[karlthev]

Well, just got my Gatlight SS 123 and boy is it a beauty! Great work and well worth the wait! Now, for my next piece, the Pila!!!! Never satisfied so it seems!!




Karlthev

[christrose]

I got mine today. It is a brilliant figure in my lights.
This is the first time that I thought that the light which leaks horizontally is beautiful.
Many thanks.

[JonSidneyB]

I do have to say that these lights look nicer in person than in photos. And the photos look really nice.

[karlthev]

Well, the more I admire and "play" with the Gatlight, the more I recognize that it is a marvel! Beautiful job!



Karlthev

[vandrecken]

This is the most awesome light and presented with some outstanding photographs.

It's great seeing the response of the first customers. Thanks guys, I can't wait to get on the list for a stainless / pila version when the next list opens on 1st Dec

Vandrecken

[fleegs]

Can anyone who got their lights comment on how much light comes out the sides of the flashlight?

Thanks,
rob

[mobile1]

Ok had some time to check the posts and answer some questions.

First, I put a photo album online, where you can look at GatLight photos - even download them in high resolution. To forward to the next photos simply click into the image.
Here is the link

GATLIGHT - ONLINE - PHOTO - ALBUM

The photos answer fleegs question. In the photo gallery there are a couple of photos where the GatLight is upside down while turned on. You can see the light escaping to the side (producing a nice pattern) - in reality its probably less since in this shot light is reflecting from the carbon fiber surface. One thing to also keep in mind though is that the light escaping on the side you would lose that light in any other flashlight as well (using optics). The GatLight design is the first light where you can actually see how much light leaks out. The GatLight just uses that light to create a nice illumination around the optics. With other lights this spill is hidden. The light actually has a nice focused beam.... (I'll try to take some comparitive beamshots tonight)

Thanks to everyone for the nice feedbacks. We (Jon and I) should do the Announcement for round two soon.

[Free]

I have one sitting right here in front of me, and I still enjoyed looking at that incredible photo album. You could definately sell this light in a high end gadget magazine or something, especially with those professional quality photos.

My Gat light and I are going out again tonight, and I will be showing it to more amazed people.

[fleegs]

I was wondering if the sidespill would be annoying (glare) or useful (dim light to read with).

Please add me to the list for one. I am going to read the posts to see if there is something else I need to do to get on a list.

Thanks,
rob

[mobile1]

In the photos the sidespill looks to be a lot more then it really is. It really is more an illumination of the optics. So you can easily look into the side and you are not blinded at all (compared to what's coming out in the front). My guess is that the sidespill won't provide enough illumination for reading - if the main beam bounces off a cealing that will. But if you try to use the sidespill outside at night - I don't think that would work.

[mobile1]

Here is a beamshot of a GatLight next to a stock Mag 2D. You can see that there is no noticable sidespill with the GatLight. It is more an illumination of the optics - Also in reality the MagLite looks even dimmer in comparison to the GatLight. Also my GatLight isn't set to max power - what you see here is only about 600mA. (Higher settings don't really produce noticable brightness gains with the LuxIII). The K2 will be a different story - I should get a prototype board in soon and I'll try to take some pictures with that and in comparison to the LuxIII version.



Regarding sign up for round two - as soon as I get the 4 remaining GatLights out (tomorrow or day after tomorrow) we'll announce sign up for round two. Those who sent me an email to mobile1 aat gmx.ch will get an email with the details shortly before that.

[Carpe Diem]

Hi Mobile1...

My first Gatlight arrived safely last week. Very nice! Thank you!

Is my second Gatlight also on the mail? (Just wondering.)

Thanks!

[Amorphous]

Mobile1,

Got my Gatlight last week.. All I can say is Wow!!
This is just the first iteration, and the next evolution should be even better.
The metal rods are strong and light, and its additive to hold, and see this creative and innovative product first hand is simply beyond words.

,

[flashlight]

Amorphous, you are really making me wish again that I had bought a Ti one! Are the front rods full Ti too? They seem to have a slighly different finish, less rough loooking than the rear section or is it specifically done so to improve grippability?

[mobile1]

Amorphous: Thanks for the nice photos of the TI version (if you upload them to my ftp (in the instructions that came with the light) I'll add them to the official GatLight photo album). We'll give out a free 3rd Run GatLight for the best GatLight photo (I'll do a preselection then have cpf members vote on all the entries - once the 2nd run shipps)

Flashlight - Regarding your Front Rods Question whether they are TI as well. There are no front or back rods, it is one rod that goes from the back through the two holes in the center housing all the way to the front. It takes about 500lb of pressure to press each bars through (Kyle told me that at this pressure - the Titanium Rod actually welds together with the center housing).

Then STILLPHOTO just uploaded some mind blowing shots of the SS123 GatLight. I just have to share those with you guys (hope that's ok Stillphoto - I have already added them to the photo album)




and here my personal favorite....

[Free]

Anyone found a good Gatlight holster yet?