gunga
Flashaholic
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Looking forward to it!
Looking forward to it!
Designing an LED flashlight for Kickstarter
- Thread starter jashhash
- Start date
Help Support Candle Power Flashlight Forum
- Status
NoNotAgain
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Joshua sent messages this evening to verify your address as the lights are going to start shipping in the next day or two.
I've got a few Efest 14500's charged as well as some Eneloops.
Looks like I'm going to have two new lights to play with, soon!
Joshua sent messages this evening to verify your address as the lights are going to start shipping in the next day or two.
I've got a few Efest 14500's charged as well as some Eneloops.
Looks like I'm going to have two new lights to play with, soon!
NoNotAgain
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
There was a posting on the Kick Starter page on May 11th indicating that lights were to start shipping. Joshua indicated they were using China ePost, so I'm not sure what to expect. My eBay dealings with Chinese vendors have been delivered within a week of order.
Has anyone in the US or Canada received there Fire Fly light as of yet?
There was a posting on the Kick Starter page on May 11th indicating that lights were to start shipping. Joshua indicated they were using China ePost, so I'm not sure what to expect. My eBay dealings with Chinese vendors have been delivered within a week of order.
Has anyone in the US or Canada received there Fire Fly light as of yet?
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
I've seen a member of Flashlight Fanatics group at Facebook posted some photos of his new Firefly earlier this week.
His doesn't come with the trits on the head, but he installed his own
I've seen a member of Flashlight Fanatics group at Facebook posted some photos of his new Firefly earlier this week.
His doesn't come with the trits on the head, but he installed his own
KuanR
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
I received my 2 lights last week, but I'm from Macau so it's a much shorter trip for the lights to travel
I received my 2 lights last week, but I'm from Macau so it's a much shorter trip for the lights to travel
gunga
Flashaholic
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Can we get some pix of the end product?
Can we get some pix of the end product?
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Sounds like mine arrived yesterday, but I'm 300 miles away in Port Huron MI.
Sounds like mine arrived yesterday, but I'm 300 miles away in Port Huron MI.
NoNotAgain
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Another week goes by without the FireFly.
At this point, I'm not sure if they go caught up due to China Post, US Customs, or USPS.
I'd of thought that a package of this value might have shipped other than a non trackable carrier.
Another week goes by without the FireFly.
At this point, I'm not sure if they go caught up due to China Post, US Customs, or USPS.
I'd of thought that a package of this value might have shipped other than a non trackable carrier.
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Pleased to say that mine arrived in the UK on Wednesday.
Haven't done more than a quick cycle through the modes, but it looks and feels great- hope to check it out more thoroughly tonight.
Pleased to say that mine arrived in the UK on Wednesday.
Haven't done more than a quick cycle through the modes, but it looks and feels great- hope to check it out more thoroughly tonight.
KuanR
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
gunga
Flashaholic
Nice. So, what do you guys think?
NoNotAgain
Flashlight Enthusiast
I've been not so patiently waiting since receiving notice via Kick Starter that the Firefly lights were shipping. Well Saturday was my day to receive my lights, or so I thought so. My USPS man dropped off one rather mangled box. Between China Post and USPS, the box was majorly distressed. The good thing is/was that there was an inner box with ample foam to protect the valuable cargo inside. The inner box with the foam liner saved the light from damage.
Crushed outer box
Crushed inner box
The second box arrived on Monday and was in worse shape than the first delivery. This time the inside box was pristine. This delivery was the Cree LED version of the Firefly with Ice Blue Tritium.
Crushed outer box
This is the first of two Titanium Firefly lights that I ordered. This one features a high CRI index Nichia 219B emitter and green tritium vials.
.
Picture of firefly on box
Overall firefly view
Pics of both lights
Pics with tritium lit.
My first impressions of the Nichia 219B light are mixed. The machining of the titanium looks very good. There are few marks from the lathe collet, and a few scratches probably incurred during assembly. The LED is well centered. The tritium vials aren't all straight. They appear skewed on different angles. The screws used to retain the pocket clip are too long and encroach on access to the rear click switch removal area.
Crooked tritium
Long screws
I installed a freshly charged Eneloop for power and pushed the titanium tail button, and viola, there was a dim light being emitted, hence the Firefly name. Half pushes of the button yielded three brighter settings. Additional half pushes cycle you through power modes. A full push turns the light off.
The second power source supported is the 14500-lithium ion battery. I use Efest 14500's as they were the highest milliamp rated 14500's I could find. The 14500 battery is supposed to provide the highest lumens of the three battery types supported by this light. Without breaking out the light meter, a quick eyeball comparison, the Firefly light does appear brighter using the lithium batteries verses the NiMH Eneloop. I'll break the meter out once the second light has been received to compare the Nichia 219B to the Cree XM-L2 emitter.
The reflector supplied in my light has extremely smooth texture without any ripples or orange peel. The lens was crystal clear and without fingerprints. Mode changes were noticeable from the firefly, to low, then medium and finally high.
Getting back to the tritium. To access the tritium vials, you remove the head, which contains the lens and reflector. Once the head is removed, you access the o-ring used to retain the tritium vials or stainless steel pins from falling out. This is what I found.
Light with head removed
After removal, I noticed what appeared to be dust or sand. Close examination, the debris turned out to be solder and solder flux that had splattered.
Head removed, debris
Close up of heatsink and mcpcb
The mcpcb was coated with this material as well as the copper heat sink. There's not a lot of room inside the light once the LED is installed, so careful removal of the debris is going to be required without touching the LED dome. Until I do some poking at the solder splatter I don't know how adherent it is. Either way, it needs to be removed.
The Cree XM-L2 LED has a plastic cup type devise over the LED. The mcpcb was clean on this light. Also, the hole in the reflector is smaller on the Cree version light.
Nichia on left, Cree on right.
I'm a big fan of titanium, which is why I purchased this light. The high CRI Nicaia 219B LED was an afterthought for me. I like the design of the Firefly light. It looks manly. The attention to detail during machining is apparent. This makes for a very attractive light. The knurling allows for a good grip and the light is light enough in weight for use as an EDC in a pocket or clipped to a belt or waistband.
Firefly machined clip
I've had a few email exchanges with Joshua about the Firefly light. He's most proud of the machined type 5 titanium belt/pocket clip. The entire light was well thought out, but this is a semi-custom titanium light that is using foreign labor to keep the price down.
I enquired about the aluminum version of the Firefly and lessons learned with producing the titanium version. Joshua's response was that there probably wouldn't be another Firefly light as his wife's green card was approved and he's moving back to the USA. The light is too complex to turn production over to a job shop, so the 300 titanium Firefly lights are all there will probably ever be.
Crushed outer box
Crushed inner box
The second box arrived on Monday and was in worse shape than the first delivery. This time the inside box was pristine. This delivery was the Cree LED version of the Firefly with Ice Blue Tritium.
Crushed outer box
This is the first of two Titanium Firefly lights that I ordered. This one features a high CRI index Nichia 219B emitter and green tritium vials.
.
Picture of firefly on box
Overall firefly view
Pics of both lights
Pics with tritium lit.
My first impressions of the Nichia 219B light are mixed. The machining of the titanium looks very good. There are few marks from the lathe collet, and a few scratches probably incurred during assembly. The LED is well centered. The tritium vials aren't all straight. They appear skewed on different angles. The screws used to retain the pocket clip are too long and encroach on access to the rear click switch removal area.
Crooked tritium
Long screws
I installed a freshly charged Eneloop for power and pushed the titanium tail button, and viola, there was a dim light being emitted, hence the Firefly name. Half pushes of the button yielded three brighter settings. Additional half pushes cycle you through power modes. A full push turns the light off.
The second power source supported is the 14500-lithium ion battery. I use Efest 14500's as they were the highest milliamp rated 14500's I could find. The 14500 battery is supposed to provide the highest lumens of the three battery types supported by this light. Without breaking out the light meter, a quick eyeball comparison, the Firefly light does appear brighter using the lithium batteries verses the NiMH Eneloop. I'll break the meter out once the second light has been received to compare the Nichia 219B to the Cree XM-L2 emitter.
The reflector supplied in my light has extremely smooth texture without any ripples or orange peel. The lens was crystal clear and without fingerprints. Mode changes were noticeable from the firefly, to low, then medium and finally high.
Getting back to the tritium. To access the tritium vials, you remove the head, which contains the lens and reflector. Once the head is removed, you access the o-ring used to retain the tritium vials or stainless steel pins from falling out. This is what I found.
Light with head removed
After removal, I noticed what appeared to be dust or sand. Close examination, the debris turned out to be solder and solder flux that had splattered.
Head removed, debris
Close up of heatsink and mcpcb
The mcpcb was coated with this material as well as the copper heat sink. There's not a lot of room inside the light once the LED is installed, so careful removal of the debris is going to be required without touching the LED dome. Until I do some poking at the solder splatter I don't know how adherent it is. Either way, it needs to be removed.
The Cree XM-L2 LED has a plastic cup type devise over the LED. The mcpcb was clean on this light. Also, the hole in the reflector is smaller on the Cree version light.
Nichia on left, Cree on right.
I'm a big fan of titanium, which is why I purchased this light. The high CRI Nicaia 219B LED was an afterthought for me. I like the design of the Firefly light. It looks manly. The attention to detail during machining is apparent. This makes for a very attractive light. The knurling allows for a good grip and the light is light enough in weight for use as an EDC in a pocket or clipped to a belt or waistband.
Firefly machined clip
I've had a few email exchanges with Joshua about the Firefly light. He's most proud of the machined type 5 titanium belt/pocket clip. The entire light was well thought out, but this is a semi-custom titanium light that is using foreign labor to keep the price down.
I enquired about the aluminum version of the Firefly and lessons learned with producing the titanium version. Joshua's response was that there probably wouldn't be another Firefly light as his wife's green card was approved and he's moving back to the USA. The light is too complex to turn production over to a job shop, so the 300 titanium Firefly lights are all there will probably ever be.
Last edited:
gunga
Flashaholic
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Wow. Great impressions and pictures! I'm eagerly awaiting my final version.
Wow. Great impressions and pictures! I'm eagerly awaiting my final version.
NoNotAgain
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Gunga, I don't know if you purchased with or without tritium. Getting the 1.75mm o-rings over the vials and then stuffing them into the light is a royal pain in the keister.
I think you'll be happy with the light. It's a looker.
Gunga, I don't know if you purchased with or without tritium. Getting the 1.75mm o-rings over the vials and then stuffing them into the light is a royal pain in the keister.
I think you'll be happy with the light. It's a looker.
gunga
Flashaholic
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Technically mine has no trits pre installed so I'm in for some fun. Looking forward to the finished products. The prototypes were quite good.
Technically mine has no trits pre installed so I'm in for some fun. Looking forward to the finished products. The prototypes were quite good.
jashhash
Enlightened
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Hi everyone, thanks for posting your impressions and reviews. This has been quite a challenging project. I do have tracking numbers for those who haven't received their packages yet I would be more than happy to check up on your shipping status.
As far as installing the tritium tubes with the shock dampening o-rings, yes it's difficult to get it just right, I mean those little o-rings are just so tiny. I posted a tutorial video here which should make the installation process much easier: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ight-you-can-always-find-in-the/posts/1601781
Jason at mixglo took the 10mm X 2.5mm tritium tubes off his website but last time I checked he still has them in stock. I would just send him an email to ask for them.
Ryan's mixed tritium installation looks amazing. I think I will try that out with my light.
Archangel:
First of all I need to mention that performance will vary greatly (big emphasis on greatly) depending on the internal resistance of your battery which limits how bright the firefly can get on turbo mode. That being said I measured the current draw of the head assembly with my power supply set at 1.4V: 0.01A > 0.07A > 0.32A > 3.3A. In terms of wattage that is 0.014W > 0.10W > 0.45W > 4.62W. From this you can estimate the run time on each mode as well assuming you are using a 2450mAh Eneloop cell your results should be 245h > 35h > 7.6h > 44 mins. I have tested the firefly mode with an eneloop cell and can confirm that it does last at least 9 days being constantly on. If your an ultra light sort of camper you could bring it along and should just need a single AA cell for a weekend trip if you lay off the turbo mode.
Hi everyone, thanks for posting your impressions and reviews. This has been quite a challenging project. I do have tracking numbers for those who haven't received their packages yet I would be more than happy to check up on your shipping status.
As far as installing the tritium tubes with the shock dampening o-rings, yes it's difficult to get it just right, I mean those little o-rings are just so tiny. I posted a tutorial video here which should make the installation process much easier: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ight-you-can-always-find-in-the/posts/1601781
Jason at mixglo took the 10mm X 2.5mm tritium tubes off his website but last time I checked he still has them in stock. I would just send him an email to ask for them.
Ryan's mixed tritium installation looks amazing. I think I will try that out with my light.
Archangel:
First of all I need to mention that performance will vary greatly (big emphasis on greatly) depending on the internal resistance of your battery which limits how bright the firefly can get on turbo mode. That being said I measured the current draw of the head assembly with my power supply set at 1.4V: 0.01A > 0.07A > 0.32A > 3.3A. In terms of wattage that is 0.014W > 0.10W > 0.45W > 4.62W. From this you can estimate the run time on each mode as well assuming you are using a 2450mAh Eneloop cell your results should be 245h > 35h > 7.6h > 44 mins. I have tested the firefly mode with an eneloop cell and can confirm that it does last at least 9 days being constantly on. If your an ultra light sort of camper you could bring it along and should just need a single AA cell for a weekend trip if you lay off the turbo mode.
Last edited:
jashhash
Enlightened
Re: Re-Launched Firefly Flashlight Today on Kickstarter
Double post...
Double post...
- Status
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
-
-
Waterproof (and salt-resistant) red and green LED flashlights?- Latest: CarpentryHero
-
Anyone Help with Identifying Custom Ti Flashlight- Latest: TranquillityBase
