TechnoBill
Newly Enlightened
As a newbie here on CPF I would like to offer a couple of general observations:
I was reading the Review Thread of the Solarforce L950M http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=232292 and fell into a state of profound Flashahol intoxication. Before I knew it, I was posting like a babbling brook (or babbling idiot actually), then passed out in a heap with a silly grin on my face. :shakehead
With the sobriety of the morn, and a dim recollection of my giddy hijacking of the thread, I've moved the post to the General Flashlight Discussion out of a surfeit of caution. My observations and questions have mostly to do with LEDs. Also, we live in the United States of America so one of my other hobby reference points won't translate well, but the general concept of various hobbies being a deep, dark, hole into which money disappears should be clear. A Flashaholic's money may also disappear into a deep hole, but it certainly isn't a dark hole :crackup:. For those in the U.K., Australia, and other parts that used to enjoy my main addiction, my apologies. I don't mean to rub salt in the wound, it's just the hobby/functional tool with which I'm familiar. Similarly, I'm not stumping for what is a culturally divisive issue in the U.S., I'm just using details of an expensive hobby of which I'm knowledgeable. For you U.S. guys who are Flashaholics, please feel free to use me as a moral bad example when trying to convince your wife that your not nearly as screwed up as other guys (like me) :duh2:. Now, onward with the photons!
1)You guys are PSYCHOTIC! I feel so at home here. :wave:
Refering to the Solarforce L950M, MikeS250R stated:
Take Mike for instance. This guy has a bedside flashlight that will cause any home intruders or meth heads who missed their bus and kicked his front door down to spontaneously combust. You've got to love a guy whose most pressing home defense concern is whether he has a big enough fire extinguisher to smother the perp before his house goes up in flames :twothumbs.
2)
3)Thermal issues are understandably a major consideration. Here's my perspective on those issues: Guys operating in the sand box or A'Stan have to hump a ton of stuff, not the least of which are hydration backpacks just to stay alive even if no one is shooting at them, assuming their route is free of IEDs. For 750 lumens, at emitter, in theory, in a parallel universe, or wherever, I'd gladly carry a thirty pound nitrogen cooling backpack. Figure out how to make the plumbing and flow work, add quick disconnects to the heatsink housings and Rock & Roll! Think about this for a minute. The problem isn't 'Can we build a light bright enough?' nor 'Can we provide power to it without a a pair of 24 volt batteries out of a Stryker?' but 'How do we exhaust the heat from these Godzilla Barbequing Beasts?' As problems go, that's not a bad one. Think in automotive terms. 'Drat it all Mortimer! I've got this two litre, normally aspirated engine putting out 950 horse at the crank, it runs as smooth as a Jag V-12, but nowhere in Hazard County can I find a radiator to cool the durn thing!"
My point is that all this technology is an obsessive compulsive's DREAM! I have a Surefire M6, a couple of C3s, X300, etc. and they are quite expensive, but they're targeted specifically to Mil/LEO use and have the long product cycles and high availability characteristic of business tools and systems. If you're an individual who isn't tasked with the outfitting, logistics, and supply of a bunch of SpecOps guys you can select from a panoply of LED illumination tools selectively choosing the strengths you need with minimal concern for a specific model's downsides. In that context these things range from inexpensive to down right dirt cheap compared to a lot of other worthy addictions. By contrast, if your thing is putting projectiles several hundred meters downrange you're easily looking at $2,500 for a good stick, $1,500 to $3,000 for glass, and a dollar per round for ammunition. Even if you reload your own ammo, there is high expense in time consumed and start up costs. Want to splurge and add a suppressor {"Silencer" is a misnomer}? That will be $200 just to submit the NFA Form 4 to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for the in depth FBI background check and approval for a specific serial numbered device. Want a suppressor for another weapon? That will be another $200, FBI background check, BATFE approval, and there is NOTHING 'instant' about the process, and if the commanding officer of your local law enforcement agency, for whatever reason, does not see fit to sign off on your application form you'll never even get to the point where you mail a $200 check off to the BATFE! The hardware itself will run about another grand ±, and some states such has Michigan which is hardly the most restrictive, don't even allow suppressors at all. By contrast nothing but you, your credit history, and your own impulse control stand between you and a Polarion PH40 Helios! I don't care who your are, that's just some pheonmenal chit right there Boys and Girls. :bow:
Simply as 'Toys 4 Adults' these LED Leviathans just flat out Kick Gluteus! From a practical standpoint they can also serve a vital function. For those whose governments prohibit them, or whose personal values preclude use of firearms, an illumination tool such as the L950M could be an effective force multiplier in a defensive situation at home. A Surefire E2D LED could serve the same function away from home. The strategic use of low light isn't really about light at all. It's about darkness. The defender uses darkness against the aggressor in a situationally aware manner to tip the balance of control in the defender's favor. At a point of the defender's choosing, the defender engages light to topple the balance of control from beneath the aggresor. Away from home, where one's environmental control is considerably less, the effective utility of light alone is limited. In one's home, where sight lines or lines of fire if you're so disposed, can be mapped out and practiced ahead of time, the volume of the light, selection of when the light is activated and deactivated, the relative point in space from which the light is discharged, and a host of other variables can all be combined to strengthen your defensive posture if you have the will to utilize it. A tactical operator, Mil/LEO, is unlikely to use an illumination tool beyond 120 to 140 lumens in a home/office building environment because the splash back will debilitate the operator's vision. These guys are 1)On The Move in 2)Unfamiliar Territory and 3)Dark Spots Contain Guns. Their use of light is akin to fencing. They have to observe strict tactical limitations to avoid their own weapon, light and darkness, from putting them at a disadvantage. Conversely, the unarmed John Q. Citizen can utilize light in a manner more akin to The Roadrunner tripping the trigger of the one ton Acme Weight splattering Wile E. Coyote to smithereens! It might be crude, SRT/SWAT guys might laugh, but John Q. Citizen, upon hearing an intruder, could position himself in a doorway, nook, or semi concealed position between the intruder's point of ingress and Mr. Citizen's family. When the intruder is proximal to Mr. Citizen, John points his L950M at the bad guy, SQUEEZES HIS EYES SHUT, and discharges the retinal anhiliator! John then opens his eyes and proceeds to pummel the intruder to a consistency even the HuLu Aliens would find appetizing :sick2:. Now, of course, if Dirtbag D. Intruder fires a weapon at John before John can blind him things might not go John's way. If he has some of his dirtbag friends with him, John may have only served to give his family time to crawl out the window. Better than nothing in my opinion, and the choice to not use firearms can have just as disastrous results as the choice to use them, but that's not the point. The point is that the average citizen has available to him a profoundly potent force multiplier that is unlikely to be the target of governmental restriction. For those who remember their World History you know why the Chinese martial arts originally developed. But at least for the time being you can order a Polarion H40 Helios if your retired, wealthy, and kicking back in your recliner in Florida being told you have too many gadgets, or you can have an L950M in your hot little hand in just a matter of days, for less than one hundred bucks if money isn't so abundant. That's Power To The People Y'All! :rock:
I'm using the example above strictly as an example, NOT making a point about firearms. There are other hobbies such as remote controlled aircraft whose aficionados can drop a serious chunk of change. You can probably come up with a long list ranging from model railroads to auto restoration to antique furniture. AND, being an adolescent ingeniously disguised as a responsible adult, I am utterly enthralled by the near immediate gratification with which this addiction can get its fix. For goodness sake one of the pushers, uh.... I mean 'vendors', even GIFT WRAPPED somebody's birthday order!!!!!! And do all the batteries and flash lights vanish in a buying frenzy due to political changes? That would be a "No."
As an outsider it seems to me that this is a fantastic time to be a flashaholic! For you other 'old fogies' who remember "Duck and Cover", at what pace did portable illumination progress throughout most of your life compared to the pace at which it is progressing now? I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and guess that the words 'Geometric Progression' is included somewhere in your answer.
So thanks to all you Hard Core Geeks {That's a term of respect, I'm a network engineer} for helping dilletantes such as myself pick from the cream of the crop without all the heavy thinking.
Basically, before I joined CPF, I knew there was Surefire which was solid but expensive with gradual, reliable, product cycles, a few other manufacturers closing on their heels in specific applications, and Fenix. The rip snorting, testosterone laden, intruder combusting, battery powered molecular disruptors such as the L950M are an utter revelation to me. Even the illustrious Ferrari had lousy quality control for everything except their drivetrains, and the cars were finicky, temperamental shrews, not seductive mistresses until well into my adulthood. They cost one heck of a lot more to buy, maintain, and required patience of their owners that would turn Job into a raving lunatic.
This whole flashaholic thing is just good news and more good news. There was this comedian from the USSR several years ago, Yakov Smirnoff or something similar. He said that 'Yup' meant 'sexual relations' where he came from. He tells of shortly after coming to America meeting a very attractive woman. "She says to me 'I'm a Yuppie.'" Smirnoff beams at the audience and says "WHAT A COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!"
FLASHAHOLISM. WHAT A HOBBY!!!!!!!!!!
I would be interested in what the technically inclined folks think the future will hold as regards thermal management. No doubt a challenging issue, my curiosity isn't focused on inexpensive flashlights such as those at or below $150, but in the price range of $150 to $400.
Thanks again from a relative newbie. This is all really, really COOL!
I was reading the Review Thread of the Solarforce L950M http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=232292 and fell into a state of profound Flashahol intoxication. Before I knew it, I was posting like a babbling brook (or babbling idiot actually), then passed out in a heap with a silly grin on my face. :shakehead
With the sobriety of the morn, and a dim recollection of my giddy hijacking of the thread, I've moved the post to the General Flashlight Discussion out of a surfeit of caution. My observations and questions have mostly to do with LEDs. Also, we live in the United States of America so one of my other hobby reference points won't translate well, but the general concept of various hobbies being a deep, dark, hole into which money disappears should be clear. A Flashaholic's money may also disappear into a deep hole, but it certainly isn't a dark hole :crackup:. For those in the U.K., Australia, and other parts that used to enjoy my main addiction, my apologies. I don't mean to rub salt in the wound, it's just the hobby/functional tool with which I'm familiar. Similarly, I'm not stumping for what is a culturally divisive issue in the U.S., I'm just using details of an expensive hobby of which I'm knowledgeable. For you U.S. guys who are Flashaholics, please feel free to use me as a moral bad example when trying to convince your wife that your not nearly as screwed up as other guys (like me) :duh2:. Now, onward with the photons!
1)You guys are PSYCHOTIC! I feel so at home here. :wave:
Refering to the Solarforce L950M, MikeS250R stated:
Take Mike for instance. This guy has a bedside flashlight that will cause any home intruders or meth heads who missed their bus and kicked his front door down to spontaneously combust. You've got to love a guy whose most pressing home defense concern is whether he has a big enough fire extinguisher to smother the perp before his house goes up in flames :twothumbs.
2)
While I understand the interest in small dimensions with the planet vaporizing power of James T. Kirk's (Shatner that is) Photon Torpedos, the kind of 'horsepower' you guys are talking about, if compared to traditional firearms, falls within the range of shoulder fired weapons. When I got my Smurf Ire M6 a few years ago, LEDs were the things that told you when your hard drive was active. Now they're progressing so fast one has to come to CPF to keep from buying a 'brand new antique.' Under one hundred bucks for the monstrous L950M and people are getting wrapped around the axle over whether it was the optimal purchase? Guys, save the hair splitting for when you buy a house or change jobs. From my perspective, the potential downsides of such purchases are Orgasmic, Phenomenal, Really Darn Cool, or Better Than A Poke In The Eye With A Sharp Stick, in increasing order of severity.Originally Posted by bullettproof
The L950M is King and people dont even pay it as much attention as other bigger name Lights. It has Flood Throw and Big Lumen output.
One simple reason: ITS SIZE . People love to see something that is brightest but also smallest . I'm thinking about buying it too but the thought of carrying it around hinders my index finger from pressing the paypal button.
3)Thermal issues are understandably a major consideration. Here's my perspective on those issues: Guys operating in the sand box or A'Stan have to hump a ton of stuff, not the least of which are hydration backpacks just to stay alive even if no one is shooting at them, assuming their route is free of IEDs. For 750 lumens, at emitter, in theory, in a parallel universe, or wherever, I'd gladly carry a thirty pound nitrogen cooling backpack. Figure out how to make the plumbing and flow work, add quick disconnects to the heatsink housings and Rock & Roll! Think about this for a minute. The problem isn't 'Can we build a light bright enough?' nor 'Can we provide power to it without a a pair of 24 volt batteries out of a Stryker?' but 'How do we exhaust the heat from these Godzilla Barbequing Beasts?' As problems go, that's not a bad one. Think in automotive terms. 'Drat it all Mortimer! I've got this two litre, normally aspirated engine putting out 950 horse at the crank, it runs as smooth as a Jag V-12, but nowhere in Hazard County can I find a radiator to cool the durn thing!"
My point is that all this technology is an obsessive compulsive's DREAM! I have a Surefire M6, a couple of C3s, X300, etc. and they are quite expensive, but they're targeted specifically to Mil/LEO use and have the long product cycles and high availability characteristic of business tools and systems. If you're an individual who isn't tasked with the outfitting, logistics, and supply of a bunch of SpecOps guys you can select from a panoply of LED illumination tools selectively choosing the strengths you need with minimal concern for a specific model's downsides. In that context these things range from inexpensive to down right dirt cheap compared to a lot of other worthy addictions. By contrast, if your thing is putting projectiles several hundred meters downrange you're easily looking at $2,500 for a good stick, $1,500 to $3,000 for glass, and a dollar per round for ammunition. Even if you reload your own ammo, there is high expense in time consumed and start up costs. Want to splurge and add a suppressor {"Silencer" is a misnomer}? That will be $200 just to submit the NFA Form 4 to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for the in depth FBI background check and approval for a specific serial numbered device. Want a suppressor for another weapon? That will be another $200, FBI background check, BATFE approval, and there is NOTHING 'instant' about the process, and if the commanding officer of your local law enforcement agency, for whatever reason, does not see fit to sign off on your application form you'll never even get to the point where you mail a $200 check off to the BATFE! The hardware itself will run about another grand ±, and some states such has Michigan which is hardly the most restrictive, don't even allow suppressors at all. By contrast nothing but you, your credit history, and your own impulse control stand between you and a Polarion PH40 Helios! I don't care who your are, that's just some pheonmenal chit right there Boys and Girls. :bow:
Simply as 'Toys 4 Adults' these LED Leviathans just flat out Kick Gluteus! From a practical standpoint they can also serve a vital function. For those whose governments prohibit them, or whose personal values preclude use of firearms, an illumination tool such as the L950M could be an effective force multiplier in a defensive situation at home. A Surefire E2D LED could serve the same function away from home. The strategic use of low light isn't really about light at all. It's about darkness. The defender uses darkness against the aggressor in a situationally aware manner to tip the balance of control in the defender's favor. At a point of the defender's choosing, the defender engages light to topple the balance of control from beneath the aggresor. Away from home, where one's environmental control is considerably less, the effective utility of light alone is limited. In one's home, where sight lines or lines of fire if you're so disposed, can be mapped out and practiced ahead of time, the volume of the light, selection of when the light is activated and deactivated, the relative point in space from which the light is discharged, and a host of other variables can all be combined to strengthen your defensive posture if you have the will to utilize it. A tactical operator, Mil/LEO, is unlikely to use an illumination tool beyond 120 to 140 lumens in a home/office building environment because the splash back will debilitate the operator's vision. These guys are 1)On The Move in 2)Unfamiliar Territory and 3)Dark Spots Contain Guns. Their use of light is akin to fencing. They have to observe strict tactical limitations to avoid their own weapon, light and darkness, from putting them at a disadvantage. Conversely, the unarmed John Q. Citizen can utilize light in a manner more akin to The Roadrunner tripping the trigger of the one ton Acme Weight splattering Wile E. Coyote to smithereens! It might be crude, SRT/SWAT guys might laugh, but John Q. Citizen, upon hearing an intruder, could position himself in a doorway, nook, or semi concealed position between the intruder's point of ingress and Mr. Citizen's family. When the intruder is proximal to Mr. Citizen, John points his L950M at the bad guy, SQUEEZES HIS EYES SHUT, and discharges the retinal anhiliator! John then opens his eyes and proceeds to pummel the intruder to a consistency even the HuLu Aliens would find appetizing :sick2:. Now, of course, if Dirtbag D. Intruder fires a weapon at John before John can blind him things might not go John's way. If he has some of his dirtbag friends with him, John may have only served to give his family time to crawl out the window. Better than nothing in my opinion, and the choice to not use firearms can have just as disastrous results as the choice to use them, but that's not the point. The point is that the average citizen has available to him a profoundly potent force multiplier that is unlikely to be the target of governmental restriction. For those who remember their World History you know why the Chinese martial arts originally developed. But at least for the time being you can order a Polarion H40 Helios if your retired, wealthy, and kicking back in your recliner in Florida being told you have too many gadgets, or you can have an L950M in your hot little hand in just a matter of days, for less than one hundred bucks if money isn't so abundant. That's Power To The People Y'All! :rock:
I'm using the example above strictly as an example, NOT making a point about firearms. There are other hobbies such as remote controlled aircraft whose aficionados can drop a serious chunk of change. You can probably come up with a long list ranging from model railroads to auto restoration to antique furniture. AND, being an adolescent ingeniously disguised as a responsible adult, I am utterly enthralled by the near immediate gratification with which this addiction can get its fix. For goodness sake one of the pushers, uh.... I mean 'vendors', even GIFT WRAPPED somebody's birthday order!!!!!! And do all the batteries and flash lights vanish in a buying frenzy due to political changes? That would be a "No."
As an outsider it seems to me that this is a fantastic time to be a flashaholic! For you other 'old fogies' who remember "Duck and Cover", at what pace did portable illumination progress throughout most of your life compared to the pace at which it is progressing now? I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and guess that the words 'Geometric Progression' is included somewhere in your answer.
So thanks to all you Hard Core Geeks {That's a term of respect, I'm a network engineer} for helping dilletantes such as myself pick from the cream of the crop without all the heavy thinking.
Basically, before I joined CPF, I knew there was Surefire which was solid but expensive with gradual, reliable, product cycles, a few other manufacturers closing on their heels in specific applications, and Fenix. The rip snorting, testosterone laden, intruder combusting, battery powered molecular disruptors such as the L950M are an utter revelation to me. Even the illustrious Ferrari had lousy quality control for everything except their drivetrains, and the cars were finicky, temperamental shrews, not seductive mistresses until well into my adulthood. They cost one heck of a lot more to buy, maintain, and required patience of their owners that would turn Job into a raving lunatic.
This whole flashaholic thing is just good news and more good news. There was this comedian from the USSR several years ago, Yakov Smirnoff or something similar. He said that 'Yup' meant 'sexual relations' where he came from. He tells of shortly after coming to America meeting a very attractive woman. "She says to me 'I'm a Yuppie.'" Smirnoff beams at the audience and says "WHAT A COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!"
FLASHAHOLISM. WHAT A HOBBY!!!!!!!!!!
I would be interested in what the technically inclined folks think the future will hold as regards thermal management. No doubt a challenging issue, my curiosity isn't focused on inexpensive flashlights such as those at or below $150, but in the price range of $150 to $400.
Thanks again from a relative newbie. This is all really, really COOL!
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