Things about Barbolight you would like to know.

[Barbarin]

I was reading a thread that has been closed, and I have thought that there are some things about your Barbolight's you would like to know.

1. Responsibility: We have an insurance over 1,000,000 US$ to cover any damage caused by our lights.

2. Testing: All of our lights are tested at 10 ATM during 30 minutes before they ship. All of our lights are dropped 1,20 mts. over a soft surface (to avoid scratches) three times.

 

[zk188]

Wow that is amazing i recently handled a U-15 and the build quality is incredible better then Surefire keep up the good work your lights are incredible. I want a T-15

 

[KeyGrip]

I'm new to Barbolight, so a brief rundown of models with specs would be very helpful. I'm also interested in what Barbolight's design philosophy is regarding priorities. Ex: some companies value technological advancement over strength and reliablility, others value durability and runtime over output.

 

[PhantomPhoton]

I would like to know where I can purchase a Barbolight. I'm in the United States, so I'd prefer not having to pay for international shipping but what has to be done will be done.
I have searched around a few of the distributors listed on your website, but am having trouble actually finding a light for sale.

 

[ACMarina]

amondotech is the US distributor, but Barbolight tends to hold off on the release of the brand new lights to the distributors..

 

[greenLED]

1. Responsibility: We have an insurance over 1,000,000 US$ to cover any damage caused by our lights.

I've never heard of a flashlight insurance. How exactly does that work?

 

[Gladius01]

Is Barbolight going to introduce 7 led flashlight like WiseLED Tatical, which give out move then 1500 lumens? If Barbolight to do that,I wish have to have the same functions like WiseLED, like fast strobe, S.O.S,dim fuction, etc. But one think I don't like about WiseLED tatical is that the battery is fixed to the flashlight because if flat batttery you need to charged it and the flashlight can not be use, which Barbolight just take the battery out and replaced it with another battery.

I like the external battery K-15 which give 7 hours of light.

 

[DM51]

Is there a page or website with the specs of all Barbolight products? It is very hard finding specs for individual items, comparing them, knowing if they are in production, finding out availablity etc. A lot of information just doesn't seem to be available.

You would do yourself and us a favour if you could have all this information in one place so people can access it rather than spending ages searching for bits and pieces in a lot of different threads.

 

[Gladius01]

Is there a page or website with the specs of all Barbolight products? It is very hard finding specs for individual items, comparing them, knowing if they are in production, finding out availablity etc. A lot of information just doesn't seem to be available.

You would do yourself and us a favour if you could have all this information in one place so people can access it rather than spending ages searching for bits and pieces in a lot of different threads.

Yes, what a good idea, also would be great if you have english version as well, right now is only spanish.

 

[ACMarina]

Well, Barbolight IS in Spain - there were english mirror pages at one point but I'm guessing they fell by the wayside..

How about this - what's the best email address to get ahold of Javier??

 

[Barbarin]

Well, Barbolight IS in Spain - there were english mirror pages at one point but I'm guessing they fell by the wayside..

How about this - what's the best email address to get ahold of Javier??

My personal account is id at barbolight dot com

Regarding our website.... I'm quite ashamed...

Well, some time a ago somebody was studiying the case of our bussiness. She was somewhat amazed, as we are just a few and we do a lot of things... So she asked: How do you manage to do everything is needed? My sad answer was: The trick is not to do everything... Well, at the beggining if you are small and your chances are limited, you have to choose what to do and what not to do. Of course a very nice and clear website is important, with all the languajes and so on... but if you have to take care of quality, research, customer care, manufacturing and many other things that many times are urgent (even less important) you have bot enought time.
Then you think: Why don't we hire more people? Hiring is expensive, but also needs extra room. So you decide to look for a new place, when you find it for sure it was not designed and distributed to manufacture flashlights, it takes time and effort... Well, it sound like I'm crying, and that is what I'm doing, but i wanted you to know that having a good website takes time, money.. and when time and money are not endless, and there is more urgent things, unfortunately important things are pushed to the background.
We don't expect this situation to keep forever, and in fact we are taking slowly the steps to fix it. We are asking you just to be more patient... in fact we are the most interested in having a decent website, as it is one of the most important tools of marketing. A forefront product that is being sold in different places arround the world does not deserve a low end website.

 

[Barbarin]

I'm new to Barbolight, so a brief rundown of models with specs would be very helpful. I'm also interested in what Barbolight's design philosophy is regarding priorities. Ex: some companies value technological advancement over strength and reliablility, others value durability and runtime over output.

Barbolight is aimed to make lights that will survive what others won't. Lights in which a person can trust under the worst conditions.

That is why we make them WR -200 (Water resistant). Making anything that way means that not only water but any kind of vapour, sand, dust, mud will penetrate into the light. Can you imagine how small is a molecule of water and how easily can it enter into anything if pushed hardly by pressure?

We also design them to survive the conditions described on the "DROP TEST" Mil-STD. 810-F. That drop test was designed to state that a product can stand the number of drops it will have during its life during a hard use.

We avoid the use of electronics as much as possible. If you can make anything work with half the parts (being same quality) you have half the chances to have a failure. Of course, when you need to make a light that can use a single cr123 to power a LED, you need a circuit and in our case we focus in it as being as reliable and simple as possible.

We use always polycarbonate lenses, as we thing that at home you will have time to change or to polish a scratched or dented lens, while you won't in the middle of nowhere when having a serious problem.

What will you find on our lights?.

Precision machined parts, high quality finishes. They are the way to low tolerances that allow WR-200. Custom and unique solutions... (for example or tailcaps, they are the only ones with pushbutton that will stand that pressures. It is designed completely different as 80% of the manufactured lights -which just copy a few original designers. It has 100% SS parts- no electronic board- and it is a pain to assemble them, but they will stand for ages). And KISS principle...

Regards,

javier

 

[Barbarin]

Is Barbolight going to introduce 7 led flashlight like WiseLED Tatical, which give out move then 1500 lumens? If Barbolight to do that,I wish have to have the same functions like WiseLED, like fast strobe, S.O.S,dim fuction, etc. But one think I don't like about WiseLED tatical is that the battery is fixed to the flashlight because if flat batttery you need to charged it and the flashlight can not be use, which Barbolight just take the battery out and replaced it with another battery.

I like the external battery K-15 which give 7 hours of light.

By now we are not going to introduce a 7 LED light, but we are doing some tests with some other configurations.

Some electronics are useful, but some others don't for the philosophy of our products. If you need to be located do you think there is too much difference between fast strobe, slow strobe or SOS mode? I think the guy on the rescue helicopter will not discard a light because it doesn't seem a S.O.S but a strobe. IMO the purpose of a strobe is to save battery and to keep distress signaling during nights and nights. Does the complexity of switching through modes add stress or technical complexity to a device whose primary function is to light dark areas? Will you ever go into anything that may put you in the situation in which you need a strobe trusting everything in just one flashlight? I won't. In fact when cave diving I always carry three lights.

Sometimes the key is not "What to do" but "What not to do". KISS principle

Regards,

Javier

 

[KeyGrip]

If you can make anything work with half the parts (being same quality) you have half the chances to have a failure.

I like that. Thanks for the detailed answer.

 

[Free]

I agree with you Javier. How often do you need fast strobe too, and how much more effective will it be at stunning an attacker than just shining the bright light in their face. In fact it might be a little disorienting to the person holding the flashlight, when a steady light would both blind the attacker, and allow you to see him much better than a strobing light.

If you are lost in the wilderness, and a plane fly's over, how hard is it to flash the light, make your own SOS, or any other morse code you want to send. Weigh the difficulty of doing that against the number of times you are really likely to use such a feature, and I say the whole SOS thing is pretty ridiculous.

 

[Free]

I have a Wiseled, and it just sits in its case. The light I reach for when I go out is one of my Barbolights. The Wiseled is too big and fat, won't slip in your pocket, and is way too complex to use. The battery discharges when you are not using it, because it has to remember all its fancy settings. It is just not a practical light at all.

 

[Barbarin]

I think that today is too tempting to add too much features to flashlights (not just flashlights). Possibilities of electronics are endless, and is difficult to decide when to stop, even more when competitors are offering more features. The scope of a project or a device must be clear, and that is what makes possible to design and manufacture a product aimed and targeted to a purpose.

There are two interesting definitions coming from project management, and software development: Scope creep and featuritis. Take a look at them, they are really interesting,

I wouldn't want to have the possibility of a really low light, or a 5mm LED blue one, coming out from my flashlight when I was expecting a blinding beam, and that because I don't remind what was the last setting I used when I was relaxed at home and not in the middle of a dark street hearing a noise I don't like at all.

IMO tactical lights should work always on maximun when tailcap is pressed, no matter how many times you have twisted, pressed, squeezed or programmed and reprogrammed your light, who has been touching it, or how many magnetic, static or EM fields you have been exposed to. (please note that I talk just about tactical, for other uses I love multi-modes, and I have always Photon Freedom with me)

 

[jarris50]

I couldn't agree with you more. As a Police officer or other tactical operator when you turn on your light its when you need it. When it is on it needs to be bright and you should not have to think about what mode its going to come on in. I've seen co-workers turn there lights on in critical situations only to have it come on in a low power mode. By the time they got there light to high I had already blinded the bad guy with my single setting crazy bright light. After the situation is under control I always hear the ususal gripes about the light and most of my friends have since changed to single mode lights.

As a secondary light I do carry a multi mode light, but it is strictly a secondary light.

Oh and Barbarin I still love my classic U-09 and it's almost time to get a new one.

Cheers,
Jarris

 

[Bullzeyebill]

What I gather is your lights are direct drive, not using any circuit, except maybe a resistor? You have probably done this, but could you point me to a runtime plot of your lights. Coming on at the brightest level is good, but how long does that bright level last?

Bill

 

[Barbarin]

Hello Bill,

Yes, we use a resistor. But we are right now testing a buck-regulator that is very efficient. We just want to make sure that it is reliable enough.

We consider runtime as the time from 100% to 70% initial output.

Here is the graph.

As you can see Li-ION makes regulation not needed. We are testing buck regulators to make our 18650 lights compatible with 2x CR123. ( Cr123 are really good back-up batteries) If they are not reliable as simple direct drive we will discard them.

Javier

Javier