DragonXenon-20W

[Barbarin]

I think some of you are now familiar with DragonHID flashlights.
I would like to know what kind of interest is there about an incandescent Dragon.

Here are the characteristics of the proposed flashlight.
- 4 Hours rechargeable by jack. 5x 1/2 D cells 3500mAh NiMH
- 80 Min light
- Osram XenoPHOT 20W.35mm 6º 3500ºK.
- Same body as DragonHID 10W-long.
- Arround 220$ with charger and transport nylon bag.

Of course you can't expect the output and beam colour of a DragonHID, but it is half price.

Comments welcome

 

[sygyzy]

1. How long will each bulb last?
2. What is a 1/2 D cell? Half D? What doe sthat mean?

 

[Barbarin]

[ QUOTE ]
sygyzy said:
1. How long will each bulb last?
2. What is a 1/2 D cell? Half D? What doe sthat mean?

[/ QUOTE ]

1.1000-1500 hours.
2. Exactly that, half D. Same diameter but half height as a regular D. The ones you will find if you open a Magcharger battpack. Look here: http://www.batterieswholesale.com/products_batteries/nimh/nimh-rechargeable-12-d-3500-hp.htm.

I forgot to mention that it is a diving flashlight, with a borosilicate (pyrex) 5 mm glass. 6082 T6 Anodized Alloy. Twist on tailcap

 

[sygyzy]

Why diving lights?

First off, thanks for the answers. I had no idea that there was any such thing as half D batteries. Also the bulb life is alot longer than I anticipated.

Second, I don't know if I am in the minority here, but why do you keep making diving lights? What I mean is that I doubt any of the buyers of your DragonHID are divers. At least none that go to 1000 feet. It seems silly to me to add all these "dive-specific" features which only add to the ooh and ahh factor at the expense of cost. That is like BMW adding, off the top of my head, a donut making machine in their cars. Sure, some of us would find it useful, but I'd rather have it *not* make donuts and save me a few $100 dollars.

Now, if the features are good for other reasons (ie durability, quality of beam etc) and it just is a coincdence that this is helpful for divers, then that's fine.

 

[sidespill]

Re: Why diving lights?

I think that the custom light makers should keep on overengineering lights. I like overengineered stuff. Sure I could have 20 keychain LED's for $20 dollars but I'd rather have an ARC AAA. Yeah I bet most people don't dive with their lights. Just like a lot of people don't shoot guns with their surefires. The common dive light manufactures don't offer lights with this much quality. If you actually dive ( I do ) then you could appreciate the fact that you have a tool specifically tailored to your intended use.
Now if BMW came with a donut making machine I think that would be silly. But if BMW got together with Krispy Kreme I'd have to get a BMW cause damb those things are so delicious. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

 

[NewFlash]

Re: Why diving lights?

At the risk of piling on...I'm one of the DragonHID group buyers, and I am planning to use it diving.
While I'll never see 1000 ft, I've watched people have equipment fail at much shallower depths than it's advertised limits. I love my ARC's, but I'm not taking them to 49 feet to see if they still work. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I figure the 1000ft rating and MrTedBear's unplanned repeated drop testing give me an idea of the durability of the DragonHID.

 

[Barbarin]

Re: DragonXenon...Why diving lights?

BMW...you can decide to reach 250 km/h driving your car...maybe 300 km/h your Ferrari. But a car capable of roading at such speed with that smoothness and stability is in my honest opinion a piece of art. Furthermore, when you take a look to a 3 series, those made in the eighties, you will discover that the dashboard, paint and fabrics looks like new, then you realize why BMW was almost double price than similar performance Renault, Citroen or 50% more expensive than even Audi and Volkswagen ones.

Same way you can decide to dive or not with your flashlight, but you can be sure that the person who make it just was thinking about using the best materials, thinking about how to make a flashlight capable of surviving a nuclear blast.

A lot of cars nowadays can reach 250 km/h, but let's see how do they look like ten years later when compared to a similar age BMW. Of course during the same time with the same money you could buy a couple of less expensive cars, but finally they were not that so desired bavarian brand.
For me "diving tested" is a level of quality. Not just water will not enter your flashlight, but dust, salt or gases and humidity.
IMHO once again the nice thing is that you can always decide what do you want, there are a lot of options in the market. We, small manufacturers, just have this way to go, the highest quality and best customer service available, but that never has been cheap.

Silly things: Donut machines on cars is really silly, the purpose of a car ir trasnporting, not cooking. Diving flashlights? Well, the aim of a flashlight is to put light or dark places. Dragon flashlights can put light in a lot of places that a lot of brands can't. Did I told you that more than 70% of this planet is covered by salted water?

Thanks a lot to you all for giving me the chance to share my opinions.


PD: I'm not related to BMW!!!!

 

[NIGHTGUY]

Re: DragonXenon...Why diving lights?

Barbarin,

How much output?

 

[JimH]

Re: DragonXenon...Why diving lights?

It sounds to me like Javier has a good source for high quality flashlight bodies. Maybe overkill for what most of would require, but, just like coming out with a new car design, redesigning and retooling could easily cost as much or more, and at the cost of great quality.

I, personnally enjoy, for its own sake, owning a great piece of engineering. Of course I'm biased. The shop where I get body armor built for my Jeep for 4-wheeling is named "Overkill Fabrication".

I've alway said "anything worth doing is worth overdoing". If I didn't believe that I wouldn't be a flashaholic.

Sorry for the /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif. Just my 2 cents.

Jim

 

[PFR]

Re: DragonXenon...Why diving lights?

Somebody's been watching Monster Garage (donut machine in a beemer) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif

 

[Barbarin]

Re: DragonXenon...Why diving lights?

Yes, my source for quality bodies is this:
Pay a lot for them. So no secret, guys. I have found that I can fit several lampbs and batts on same body, for different purposes.
I was thinking about another possibility.
Body: DragonHID-S (7,87 inch/200 mm)
Batt pack: 6AA on "2D" holder. 7,2V 2100mAh.
Rechargeable by jack, intelligent charger. 4 Hours.
Lamp: Overdriven 6V Osram Xenophot 20W. I would not expect more than 30 hours lifetime, but it beats easily a Pila 9 series brightness, or a Magcharger stock. Lamp cost 7 €/9 US$.
Twin tailcaps. Diving or Tactical.

 

[soloco]

Re: DragonXenon...Why diving lights?

Woah woah woah! 1/2Ds are NOT half sized D cells! Please do some research and check your facts; as you've been selling many 1/2D cell lights already on CPF.

Full D cell = 60 mm in length

1/2 D cell = 40mm in length

 

[sygyzy]

Re: DragonXenon...Why diving lights?

My big concern with HID is how easily are a source for the bulbs found, how readily are they available, cost and runtime. We are getting away with replacing bulbs by using LED's. It seems silly to go backwards. Are we talking like 30 hours or 3 hours with these?

I did see you put 30 on top. Are there other bulbs that can be used that would give more? What's the min/max for all lamps available?

 

[cheesehead]

Re: DragonXenon...Why diving lights?

Woah, woah, woah, how can BMW come out with a donut making option on their cars when they don't even have a hot coffee dispenser?

 

[sygyzy]

Easy

They add donut machines in their cars because there are people who are so impressed with it, they'll buy it, regardless of whether or not they even eat donuts.

Cofee dispenser is also available as an optional add on.

 

[cheesehead]

Re: Easy

Kinda like the 4x4 suburban mom, eh, anyway, not that I can speak for barbarin, but I suspect that the difference in a waterproof light and one that's not is not that great of a difference (certainly not $100, prob not even $50) and if you are making custom lights you may as well do it right. With water-resistant lights, you're never certain if the rain or washing it will affect it, etc. With waterproof, it's one less thing to worry about.

But then, I would also buy the hot coffee dispenser.

 

[Barbarin]

Re: DragonXenon...Why diving lights?

[ QUOTE ]
soloco said:
Woah woah woah! 1/2Ds are NOT half sized D cells! Please do some research and check your facts; as you've been selling many 1/2D cell lights already on CPF.

Full D cell = 60 mm in length

1/2 D cell = 40mm in length

[/ QUOTE ]
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/huh.gif I have not been selling 1/2 cells. All the flashlights I have sold are AA or C.

 

[Barbarin]

Re: DragonXenon...Why diving lights?

[ QUOTE ]
sygyzy said:
My big concern with HID is how easily are a source for the bulbs found, how readily are they available, cost and runtime. We are getting away with replacing bulbs by using LED's. It seems silly to go backwards. Are we talking like 30 hours or 3 hours with these?

I did see you put 30 on top. Are there other bulbs that can be used that would give more? What's the min/max for all lamps available?

[/ QUOTE ].

Ok. I guesstimate that an overdriven Xenophot should not last more than 30 hours. Of course I do believe that the way to go is LED, and meanwhile the BEST light source is HID. No other can put out more lm/watt. Because of this we can develope flashlights capable of more output and longer runtime on small packages. As an example a DragonHID-L is shorter than a 3D Mag, puts out equivalent light to 50W and the runtime is 150 min. Typical diving lights halogen lamp 50W are al least three times volume and weight, and their runtime is one hour best of the cases.

When I thought about DragonXenon my objectives were as following:

1. High output.
2. Reliable (Body, glass, switch, batt system)
3. Cheaper than a HID, but same quality.
4. Easy and cheap to replace lamp.
5. Small size

I can say proudly that a DragonXENON concept does have nothing to envy to some other well known brand rechargeable-incand lights.

Incand flashlights market is touching the end of his days, but they still have a place. dragonXENON is one of class, with its pluses and minuses. If you want it, here it is.

 

[sygyzy]

Good information

What is the different between HID (high intensity discharge?) and Xenon? I thought they were the same?

 

[soloco]

Re: Good information

Sorry. I guess just your DragonHID is 1/2 D cell based.