Man, I'm bored with Flashlights these days!

[Barbarian]

Unfortunately when I am bored, money starts to burn a hole in my pocket (Paypal account). I have to be careful around the B/S/T forums.

Stay away for awhile and see if your interest in flashlights revs up after some down time.

 

[HarryN]

The challenge with modding is really one of economics. If it is really a creative, short run piece, the number of hours involved is just amazing. It isn't just the time to build - it is also the time to plan it all, draw it up, figure your way through some space / optic / electronic / fit problem, etc.

If you are doing it yourself, then the hours are called a "hobby". (meaning time and money are not the main issue)

If you are doing it for someone else, then it is either slightly profitable, or more often - a big loss.

IMHO, it is time to learn to make your own, do your own machining, etc. Many others take great pride in their craftsmanship - which I interpret as being able to not only "know what to do", but "patient enough to not screw it up in the middle". I can figure out "what to do", but lack the patience portion for repetative tasks - which is why man invented cnc mills.

It takes about 10 - 20K for a viable cnc setup. Another option is to join a local club, take a community class that has the equipment, or look through craigslist for a local machinist. Be prepared to spend $ 500 - 2,000 to do anything interesting. The better prepared you are with even decent hand drawings, the less the experience will cost you.

There actually is a lot to be said for making your protos as home with hand tools on some delrin or similar. Easy to work with, reasonable tolerances, and you find out fast what fits.

 

[Patriot]

I tend to get into light niches were I'm heave in HID for a while, then heavy into incan mods for a while, then 123 LED's, the AAA LED's and so on. Lately I've been enjoying the small lights. I love the CPF modder's but life is too short to be waiting for "16 months" so I've pretty much removed myself from that scene for a while. I would rather own a new knife or gun than wait and wait. There's too many other fun hobbies that don't require a wait.

 

[nbp]

People keep referencing this 16 month wait for a light from a modder. Who is it and what did you order so I don't get the same thing?! The only modder I have worked with had my light back in a couple weeks. I'm not patient enough for a months long wait. By the time it's done, I may not want it anymore!

 

[MSaxatilus]

People keep referencing this 16 month wait for a light from a modder. Who is it and what did you order so I don't get the same thing?! The only modder I have worked with had my light back in a couple weeks. I'm not patient enough for a months long wait. By the time it's done, I may not want it anymore!

I'd rather not trash any particular modder in this thread. That was definitely not my intention.

No names please.

MSax

 

[will]

Three years ago the modders were the only game in town with with high power lights, multiple LEDs, Titanium, and a host of other innovations in the industry. The manufacturers have caught up with a lot of this with a much lower cost. You can get 200 lumens, 5 modes for around $30. True - these are not the 'one of' lights from some of the guys here, but, then how many are willing to spend over $200 for a light.

To some extent I think the economy has something to do with it. There are fewer free dollars than 3 years ago.

Keep in mind, these are general statements and there will be exceptions to the above.

 

[blasterman]

A couple weeks ago I compared the beam pattern from a $1.50 chinese narrow angle optic (albeit a very good optic) I use with indoor effect lighting to a friend's $90 tactical flashlight (a thrower - can't remember what brand) - both running R2 Crees. Very, very little difference in beam pattern. Intensity was identical, with his having a bit better spill. So, yet another reason I tend to yawn at flashlight worship because the critical part, which is what's happening at the end of the flashlight, just isn't that amazing anymore.

However, one related application to portable torches is my kite flying hobby. I fly big kites, both single and dual line, and love to put one of my big Deltas up on a summer night with an emergency strobe attached and watch the attention it gets. This has put me down a tangent to build my own LED strobe harness, which obviously involves the challenge producing the highest possible light intensity with lowest weight. All of this is directly related to what's happening on the flashlight side of things.

 

[LEDninja]

I don't need my lights anymore. dated 07-20-2008.

I bought an EZAAw to replace my Civictor V1 in 2009. The dealer made me an offer I can't refuse for an EZAA Q5 (he just got in his shipment of R2s). Thats it for this year.

I just gave up on tracking the mass of products from Fenix, 47s, Nitecore, Olight, Lumapower, Eagletac, ITP etc. etc. etc. They are fairly similar to each other and usually require funny batteries. Sorta like giving up on tracking DX/KD lights a while ago.

I got a Millermodded Arc AAA on my keychain.
My goto EDC is one of the EZAAs.
When I need more light I reach for my Mag P7.
I have a 3D with a 1/2 watt drop in bulb for power outages.
These fulfill my flashlight needs and the newfangled lights won't add to that.

At one time I use my flashlights when I do not want to turn the main room lights on. Now I've got 2W & 3W Cree fixed lighting bulbs for that. I'm still working on LED fixed lighting but only a quick glance at General/LED flashlights.

 

[bmstrong]

It's not just you. I've been floating in the same boat for the better part of the last year. So much so, that I haven't carried a light in 6 months. I stop back in every couple few but nothing has held my interest as of late.

I know exactly what I want and no-one on the planet can make it for me. Rather than carry something I'm trying to like, I'd rather not carry at all.

Hopefully 2010 will be brighter.

 

[Light Sabre]

For me buying new flashlights has dropped way down. They have to be unique looking, very low price, one that has been on the back burner for a while and is now on sale or on clearence, etc. Since I have replaced almost all of my alkaline batteries with Duraloops I have been playing with the flashlights I have a lot more now. I'm on CPF every day, but find fewer and fewer threads that interest me. Maybe it's time for a little vacation from flashlights, etc for a while. I have other projects to do.

 

[Lite_me]

I think I've said this in another thread somewhere. My flashlight purchases have slowed way down since I've gotten my Liteflux LF2-LF3XTs. There's not much more you could ask for, in an EDC light. You can program it to whatever you want it to do, or not do. And right now I can't think of anything I'd like it to do, that it can't. It adjusts to you, not you to it.

Now what I call specialty lights is a little different. Like, utility w/ long runtime, a larger thrower, something bright & floody, lights like that. Even though I've pretty much filled those spots too, I'm still interested in what's coming available. I don't think it'll ever end.

 

[Oddjob]

My overall interest has been dropping a tiny bit. I've been looking at knives again since it has been a while since a bought one.

 

[Kestrel]

I have found I enjoy taking cheap stuff and making it better as cheap as possible. It is easy to buy a nice light but once you get used to using it the fun fades fast. If you can buy a cheap light or lantern and use parts laying around to improve it. I am less impressed with people modding the latest stuff with the best uber crees and super drivers than taking an incan light or lantern got cheap from a clearance sale or garage sale and yanking stuff out and putting in parts you have left around to make something useful. I had a blast taking some taplights and yanking out the bulbs and putting LEDs in place of them.

+1, this is sort of the angle that I've taken recently. My personal lights are pretty much dialed for the forseeable future - just (very patiently) waiting for a Malkoff XP-G to be released. So lately, I've taken to hotwiring lights for friends while holding costs down. They are (almost always) at a different price point than I, so it has been fun trying to get them higher outputs for minimal expenditures - bulb upgrades on alkaline Mags, bulb frosting, rechargeable upgrades, that sort of thing. I've been having a ball playing out of my normal comfort zone & main interest (LED's) and getting the satisfaction of improving friends' lights, for no cost to me. They're having fun by getting greatly increased performance for their existing lights. So that's where I've been able to apply my flashlight interests recently.

 

[TranquillityBase]

<RANT ON>

Fellow CPFers,

This will probably come across as whining a bit, but.....

While there are many things to be excited about LED and battery technology these days (i.e. SST50/90's, MC-Es, LiPOFe), however, it seems like the modders I ussually work with have simply slowed to a vitual standstill poke or are simply working on other projects of their own. Which is totally fine, but combine that with the seemingly endless and overwhelming flow of decent, yet ho-hum (no flames intended, sorry guys:duck Chinese made lights that virtually all do the same thing but are simply packaged a bit differently...... I'm bored.

Aside from the couple of Surefire lights that came out the past few months, It feels like the whole hobby has ground to a halt for me.

Its definitely not for lack of interest. I have lots of great ideas and concepts, but I lack the skills and tools to make them a reality. Without a modder or more production of new lights from Surefire an the like, I'm stuck.

Anybody else have those feelings? Is it just me?

<RANT OFF>

Please feel free to slap some sense into me.

MSax

I'm not listening to you. You're crazy.

 

[Nubo]

The golden age of flashlight mods may have faded as the whole world eventually discovered what the flashaholics already knew about LEDs. It reminds me of the first time I saw Cat5 cable at the Home Depot. The esoteric became the mainstream.

There's still plenty of satisfaction to be had from making your own stuff, but it will likely be less about raw performance characteristics and more to do with quality, unique materials, beauty, and personalization. And of course, you probably won't be finding extreme mods like 50W 2D torches, in the Costco anytime soon either.

 

[Burgess]

to Rage_Cage --


Thank you for that very interesting Link in Post #4.

:goodjob:


And to MSax, and anyone else who considers learning to Solder,
may i humbly suggest a bright lamp with a built-in Magnifier Lens.

:thumbsup:

_

 

[fiveform]

Desirable Objects - we should get bored, eventually. Hobbies and collections are a distraction from the real stuff we're here to learn. They can become rat hole of trivia, a deterrent from the deeper experience. I know this first hand. On the positive side, when the tail doesn't wag the dog, this whole hobby/collecting thing can be stimulating and allow you to meet friends with a common interest. I suppose it all lies in the balance. It gets exhausting waiting for the next flashlight fix. Eventually, the stimulation is gone. What I do is lay it all out, think about what I REALLY need (all fantasies aside), sell the rest, then go on a road trip - it's usually the perfect reality adjustment... :devil:

 

[StefanFS]

The golden age of flashlight mods may have faded as the whole world eventually discovered what the flashaholics already knew about LEDs. It reminds me of the first time I saw Cat5 cable at the Home Depot. The esoteric became the mainstream.

There's still plenty of satisfaction to be had from making your own stuff, but it will likely be less about raw performance characteristics and more to do with quality, unique materials, beauty, and personalization. And of course, you probably won't be finding extreme mods like 50W 2D torches, in the Costco anytime soon either.

I'm still doing my thing. Mag hosts from the dealer of the day, heatsinks from H22A or Download, emitters from Photon Fred or my HK contacts. It's just so commonplce now with "extreme mods". Nobody seem to care. Extreme output is easy to achieve (for a while). Build quality and stability over time is another thing, that's what I want in a build. And that's what I rely on, as I use my lights.......

 

[monkeyboy]

The golden age of flashlight mods may have faded as the whole world eventually discovered what the flashaholics already knew about LEDs. It reminds me of the first time I saw Cat5 cable at the Home Depot. The esoteric became the mainstream.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that statement.

The evolution of LED efficiency seems to have run into a brick wall around 2 years ago with advent of the Cree XR-E Q5/R2 bins. Comparing the newest LED's per mm^2 of die area, the XP-G R5 is only slightly more efficient, and SST-50 and 90 are about the same as the XR-E. While these are unarguably great products, they represent only an incremental improvement in that they offer a more convenient packaging than using multiple XR-E's.

2-3 years back when I purchased my first Cree light, the Aleph A19 XR-E, people would always gasp whenever I fired it up. They just couldn't believe that that output was coming from a flashlight of that size and from an LED. My latest XP-G lights do not elicit the same "wow" response from people, as they can now go down to the local hardware store and buy something only slightly inferior.

Of course, I'm still going to load up on XP-G, SST-50 and SST-90 lights. I am a CPFer after all and only the best will do, but I look forward to more efficient LED's that can be driven harder with smaller die sizes.

 

[Mdinana]

While I can't say I'm quite to the level that the OP is, I have to agree. Seems like since about August, flashlights for me have hit a mental bump. Very few bought - a CC AAA Maratac and the MiniEDC AA from 4sevens. Which isn't that many for that long!

I kind of agree- suddenly there's lots of similar lights, with similar stats (180ish lumens on a AA, 200ish on a 123). Runtimes are set in stone. Kind of like "hey, that's virtually the same as before." I've really stopped reading most of the CPF posts (too many "what should I gets" recently) and persue the marketplace almost exclusively lately.

I really think that Maratac and MiniEDC fill 90% of my uses. My other dozen or so lights come out to get played with, but not much else. I'm still debating the LX2 and Titan, but otherwise.... no big purchases expected until the next decent leap in LED tech.

My wallet is recouping well, however.