Manufacturers Failing Me

[DKlaser]

What is your criteria for a light? I just built my own out of a 2d mag host. Puts out 1000 lumen on high setting and will run for over 3 Hrs.

 

[recDNA]

I have a jetbeam xml (I forget the model but its the cheap one that takes 4 cr123). Its fine but not exciting.

I like side by side 2 or 3 x 18650 with the option to use primaries. I like bright. I'm not fussy about tint but I hate greenage. I don't mind cool white.

I like throw with good flood at close range. I dont like Surefire tunnel vision throw nor 3 x xml flood at expense of throw. I doubt that I would buy another light with below 1000 ansi lumens.

I don't care about a light lasting 10 years. 2 years would be nice. I'm not at all interested in super expensive built like a tank lights with unimpressive output. I cannot afford exotic hand builts.

At this point I don't know what I want but I'd know it if I saw it. I'm the guy you look down on. I do want new and exciting and to me right now nothing is.

 

[flatline]

Small shops (and individuals) don't have to follow many of the rules that manufacturers do, but they still must follow the most important: value proposition. Locally made, smaller batches means it will cost more. So without something to set it apart, to give value to the extra cost, few will buy. This is where extra value comes in. It can be more of anything, but bigger numbers are the easiest to understand, easiest to sell. Being unique or collectible only gets you so far.

BTW, the bigger a formerly small shop gets, the more of the rules they tend to follow. Back when 47 made a few hundred lights at a time, with half of them going to CPFers, it was easy to make extra emitter options. As they get more mass market, fewer customers will care what "warm white" provides, only that it means smaller (lumen) numbers on the package. 1000+ at a batch, there's less room to make 50 with a special LED.

I think this is exactly right. Making lights for the mass market is entirely different than making lights for hobbyists.

You're no longer looking to sell lights to individuals, but to resellers who don't really care about your product as long as it meets some perceived gap in their product lineup. And by gap, I mean selling price. Since price point is set for you, features that are meaningful to an educated few but unimportant to the masses get cut if they threaten your ability to meet the price point.

Cutting these features alienates the hobbyists. And they flee to other brands. And carry a grudge. Forever.

And that's just the beginning...

--flatline

 

[recDNA]

OK, I though of something that would interest me for the car....

A tk70 head on hid type body with a handle at the top and the batteries in a "bucket" holder underneath. The head could then be on an adjustible hinge and the flat bottom of the bucket would allow you to put the flashlight down on the ground then aim the head where desired.

Used wih current safe chemistry battery type you'd have a much more practical light imo.

 

[^Gurthang]

Rec,

What you describe is the venerable n'EverReady 6V lantern with the pivoting head and a swing-up red warning lamp.

 

[uknewbie]

You know i love to buy flashlights. Nothing more fun than that package in the mail....and they always seem to come on Fridays for some reason.

The sad fact is nothing out there now really interests me. TK70 too big, TK41 too green, 4sevens never pushes amps hard enough (for my taste), Surefire charges too much etc.

I don't know what I want but I'll know it when I see it.... and nothing even temps me. :-[

This may pass though as new lights come out. Zebralight has some I am looking forward to, namely the H502, H602 and the S6330B.

Same here. I want to buy a nice 18650 XM-L light, but after looking at 26 lights from 19 different manufacturers (pretty much all of them), there is not a single one that tempts me. And the worst thing is that I really had situations where my old AA light was too weak and I could have used a brighter flashlight, but I can't order one that I don't like.

I think you dismiss the Zebralight SC600 too easily. I would not call this extreme flood at all. Sure it is floody, but can work well to about 100 metres or more, and light up a large area in the process.

 

[recDNA]

This may pass though as new lights come out. Zebralight has some I am looking forward to, namely the H502, H602 and the S6330B.



I think you dismiss the Zebralight SC600 too easily. I would not call this extreme flood at all. Sure it is floody, but can work well to about 100 metres or more, and light up a large area in the process.

I dismiss zebralights due to quality control issues. There have been entire threads about it. I mean imagine building an 18650 only flashlight that is too narrow to hold popular brands of 18650's?

I've come to the conclusion over time that xm-l emitters are ill suited to small flashlights with reflectors too small and heat dissipation an impossible problem.

 

[uknewbie]

I dismiss zebralights due to quality control issues. There have been entire threads about it. I mean imagine building an 18650 only flashlight that is too narrow to hold popular brands of 18650's?

I've come to the conclusion over time that xm-l emitters are ill suited to small flashlights with reflectors too small and heat dissipation an impossible problem.

Each to their own.

IMO, to dismiss Zebralight is to miss out on some of the best lights in existence.

In fairness, all 18650 batteries fit in the SC600. The ones that don't are not 18mm by 65mm, meaning despite being sold as "18650" cells, the batteries are out of spec, not the Zebralights. Some manufacturers make the tubes large enough to compensate for this, and get a hard time because of battery rattle in the tube.

Depends how small you mean for heat problem. I have an RRT-21 with no heat issues, and an Elektrolumens EDC-XML at 1000 lumens with no heat problems.

I also don't consider the SC600 to have any heat issues. Bear in mind even very large lights can get so hot they are hard to hold.

 

[Vortus]

Things tempting me

Saablusters DEFT EDC conversion of a P60 host, or just his already built light. Big throw, little package.
Varapowers offerings, esp his customs that BigC is always teasing us with.

 

[dosei-45]

3. Thought-out UI that makes the low mode easily accessible and usable -> Eliminates Jetbeam RRT21*, Eagletac T20C2, Sunwayman V20C and many other lights

Interesting...I bought the Sunwayman V20C because I loved the UI, felt it was very well thought-out and certainly makes the low mode very easy to access (I can flick the ring down to low before even turning it on, I love that). Different strokes for different folks.

 

[mvyrmnd]

Interesting...I bought the Sunwayman V20C because I loved the UI, felt it was very well thought-out and certainly makes the low mode very easy to access (I can flick the ring down to low before even turning it on, I love that). Different strokes for different folks.

I would buy a V20C tomorrow if they had more emitter choices... I refuse to buy cool white.

 

[TyJo]

I won't be getting a big light unless its over 1000 lumens, but unfortunately I don't see this happening in warm/neutral tints anytime soon. I have never been interested in Zebralight, but the new S6330 looks interesting and I think the QC issues are a thing of the past. Sounds floody so probably not appropriate for the OP.

Since the OP is looking for brightness and there isn't a whole lot standing out in the 1000+ lumen category, maybe a crazy bright small light would be of some interest. A unique light I have been keeping track of is the Torpedo, which is attempting 500 calculated lumens out of an AAA size light with li-ion battery (~200-300 on NiMH/alkaline). It is brand new and not in production yet but it is combining several interesting features into one light.

 

[orbital]

+

recDNA, Would this cool your thirst ::

 

[amraspalantir]

darn...that things stoking my fires!

 

[uknewbie]

That does look rather good

 

[shao.fu.tzer]

You know i love to buy flashlights. Nothing more fun than that package in the mail....and they always seem to come on Fridays for some reason.

The sad fact is nothing out there now really interests me. TK70 too big, TK41 too green, 4sevens never pushes amps hard enough (for my taste), Surefire charges too much etc.

I don't know what I want but I'll know it when I see it.... and nothing even temps me. :-[

Purelite's right... I went through the same phase there for awhile and just gave up on buying new lights... XR-Es ruled the roost and little else seemed interesting... I completely skipped over the P7/MCE era because I was so underwhelmed by a buddy's P7 custom torch that I didn't want to waste the money...

So during my short hiatus away from buying new lights, I started modding old lights and focusing on my shooting and knife throwing more...

My passion quickly returned when the XP-Es and XP-Gs arrived... and after Ike hit Houston, I've never looked back.

My advice to you - don't force it... You are a true flashholic and the passion within you will return... Since you can't find any lights that you want to buy, you're probably stocked up! Take a little break and get into something new for awhile (watches, lasers, guns, knives, etc...) and when you return to the hobby you'll feel like a kid in a candy store...

Or you can follow the dark side and start buying some nice expensive custom lights... If you find the right one, that could do the trick....

 

[kyhunter1]

Shao's spot on. But if you must buy something, forget stock stuff and go custom if your wallet can handle it.........

 

[recDNA]

Why would it? Long, skinny, and under 1000 lumens. I prefer side by side batteries for shorter size and I want more output from a light that big.

 

[recDNA]

Shao's spot on. But if you must buy something, forget stock stuff and go custom if your wallet can handle it.........

I cannot but the most popular hand builts here aren't to my liking. I don't want junk but I prefer output to hand built precision and quality. Those hand built models seem like collectors' items. I like to play with my toys.

Maybe I need to wait for the next big technical innovation to see something that stands out from the herd. The TK70 may have done the trick if it had a short, fat battery config.

 

[roadkill1109]

Same here. I want to buy a nice 18650 XM-L light, but after looking at 26 lights from 19 different manufacturers (pretty much all of them), there is not a single one that tempts me. And the worst thing is that I really had situations where my old AA light was too weak and I could have used a brighter flashlight, but I can't order one that I don't like.

Not even the TK21U2? or the Jetbeam 3M XML nor the Sunwayman V20C? Klarus XT10 maybe? There are lots of good 18650 lights.