Back to CPF...

[Ray_of_Light]

After a long period of disease, which made me loss interest in my hobbies, I finally recovered - and started frequenting CPF again.
I found a different community since a couple of years ago; the first I noted, is the increased flow of posts: I remember it was possible, with one hour of time in the evening, to follow entirely the most important threads, while now -I counted an average of 100 posts/hour- I restrict myself to read the threads which are of interest for me. Great CPF, it expanded behind any imagination...
I also found an entire ecosystem of flashlight manufacturers who is building new flashlights with information and specification as stated on CPF; this last thing makes myself proud of being an early flashaholic.

My last flashaholic activities, before illness, was the "seouling" and reflectoring of all my SF collection; I "seouled" also all the PR-based Tektite adapters of my vintage flashlights.

Few months ago I started being an active flashaholic again. I hunted off eBay many flashlights of my youth; what overwhelmed me has been the cost of the PR-based LED bulbs; hopefully, I got a stock of Terralux TLE1F LEDs which satisfied me, even if I didn't understand what type of multi-die chip they use.

Regarding the "true lights" in the last three months I acquired a Fenix TK30, a LD20-R4, two TA21, and an Olight SR90, just to see in person what a 30 W LED looks like. I remain impressed from the quality of the reflector of the SR-90, not from the LED. I believe that the efficiency of the Luminus LEDs is overstated. My previous "bright" lights were the M4 and a UK Light Cannon.
I also bought a M20 Titanium (with SST-50 LED) but I promptly returned it. 200 OTF lumens, becoming 150 after 10 minutes, while taking 1.2 Amp off two CR123 is not my ideal of efficiency.
Instead, I found MC-E based lights to be of my liking, both for the luminous flux, tint, and beam shape.

I'm currently EDCing an SF L4 (top-bin P4 LED with GD500 and AW17670), a Fenix P1D for multi-level, an AAA Minimag modded with P4, and a Arc AAA. I'm firmly decided to make the L4 a 400 OTF lumen light, with an MC-E LED, and I'm looking for a proper converter.
At moment I have a Triton and an M20-R5 (the traditional one, not PWM) in the mail, with the hope the M20 can replace the L4 as EDC.

Good to be back

Anthony

 

[nathan225]

welcome back :thumbsup:

 

[RAGE CAGE]

glad to hear your interest has recovered along with whatever else ailed you.
Looks like you were gone almost 2 years to the day- in your opinion:
What has changed with torches/flashlights for the better and for the worst?
You should have some interesting insight.

 

[Ray_of_Light]

Portable lighting is gaining importance! This is the single most important change I noted.
For the good, there is to note that the tecnological advancement has brought us brighter lights for less money. The increase in efficiency and power of LEDs had made possible to get 200 lumens from 2 AA batteries for two hours, it was unthinkable only two years ago. The technological advancement has positively impacted the development of miniaturised power electronics, which is necessary to produce some good power drivers for the LEDs. Two years ago people were struggling to drive a Lux I at spec from a single AAA, now you get 100 lumens from a single AA.
Also, there is a wealth of 18650 powered lights available: this is a definite plus, respect to some years ago. If this use spreads to commercial lights, and provided that no bogus (read dangerous) 18650 get to the market, it can only be beneficial.

Negative sides? I don't know yet. I guess, when the production of some type of lights is driven only from the profitability, or its time-to-market, the reliability of the product may suffer. On some flashlight commerce websites and ebay (not on CPF-related sites) I have found some products to be blatantly overspecified.

What hasn't changed? Incandescent lights, and this is within expectation. Batteries... well, in two years there have been no significant price decrease of capacity increase.... but this seems related to a more global research issue. I consider the onset of LSD batteries the most epocal but underappreciated change in the battery history.

Regards

Anthony

 

[Kiessling]

Hey Anthony, old fart ! :nana:
Good to have you back :wave:
bernie

 

[Flying Turtle]

Good that you're back, Anthony. Sounds like you've done a good job making up for lost time.

Geoff

 

[Ray_of_Light]

Thank you for the warm welcome back...
The bunch of my new lights (and batteries, and chargers...) had priority on a new decent PC, but I feel better this way!
Anthony

 

[MarNav1]

Well Anthony, welcome back. Now you must reward yourself with some new lights to make up for lost time................