Why are nearly all flashlights black?

[Tony Rama]

A question by my wife. What is the answer? For tactical reasons or heat dissipation?

 

[Kestrel]

To make them easy to find in the dark. :ironic:

 

[thermal guy]

Lol. It's Easier to mass-produce them the anodizing is even so it's cheap.

 

[archimedes]

I think we've have this topic before, but that's ok, might as well be time for a new one ....

• most flashlights are aluminum (lots of reasons why, but that's a different thread ... )

• most aluminum is anodized, to protect the surface

• the better quality anodizing is Type III

• although Type II can be colorful, Type III finish is mostly limited to "natural" (gray/brown/olive/green) or dyed darker (such as black)

• although Type III natural is a nice color, parts won't match, as the exact shade varies between batches and even within a single batch

• many manufacturers don't want to receive complaints of color mismatch

• if the Type III finish is dyed solid black, all of the parts match

• q.e.d.

 

[Tony Rama]

To make them easy to find in the dark. :ironic:

So you need more than one, right?

 

[archimedes]

Lol. It's Easier to mass-produce them the anodizing is even so it's cheap.

We may have started typing at the same time, but ... you won the race :touche:

 

[archimedes]

A question by my wife. What is the answer? For tactical reasons or heat dissipation?

Well, it's not heat dissipation, because this is my coolest flashlight ...

 

[thermal guy]

Lol arch. After your post I was literally going to say that. Although you of course were much more thorough in your explanation😁

 

[Chauncey Gardener]

Black lights matter and so do all the other colors.

 

[boo5ted]

So you need more than one, right?

Because two is one and one is none.

 

[Swedpat]

Good question! I like other colors and recently bought an Acebeam K30 in sand color. It was the color which first caught my attention. Then I read the specs and realised I liked it. But probably I had not bought the light if the color had not caught my attention.

 

[Tesla]

Because it's slimming...

 

[LRJ88]

Because there are few other colours that show as much character when they start getting scratches and dents and the silver shines through in stark contrast. And when that happens you need a new flashlight to keep mint for a while, at least until it gets a scratch...

 

[bykfixer]

Once upon a time the flashlight was a simple tool in a cardboard wrapper. They weren't very durable. At one point a vulcanized rubber tube was tried. It worked pretty good. Much better than the leather looking cardboard. Yet both were flat black. Soon things got all fancy with nickel plated brass or sheet metal extruded into a circle. Later chrome. But along the way some were flat black coated. By the 1930's there were a number of variations in coloring over the barrel, but black was pretty popular. Between the 30's and 1970's coatings sucked. So chrome or dull alluminum color was king. In the late 1960's some lights were made out of alluminum sprinkler pipe and coated black. Some were blue, some were red. Elvis Pressly had a gold colored one. During the 1970's and 80's alluminum tubes became the most sought after lights by professionals and do it yourselfers demanding better. Some of the companies making them at that time used blues, greens, reds even raw alluminum etc but black was still king.
By the 90's the gigantic flashlight was being replaced by smaller ones being fueled by SLR camera batteries. Black coatings were the chosen favorite. Once LED technology was beyond a novelty the alluminum tube was almost exclusively used and coated with black. It just seemed like black flashlights sell ever since the earliest flashlight in 1910.

 

[Etherealicer]

"most are aluminum, most are anodized for protection" -archimedes

That and the simple fact that black is the most neutral of all color-choices. There are very few people that would consider black as a deal-breaker while the wrong shade of orange might be a deal-breaker even for someone who likes orange.
Factor in the other points archimedes made, the higher cost of offering multiple color-choices then it is easy to see that black is the save choice.

 

[bykfixer]

Although not easy to spot in really low light, if you look around you will note not many things in nature are black like an anodized alluminum flashlight. So when dropped it aint real hard to see it with just a little bit of light. Another reason black became popular long ago.

 

[ScaryFatKidGT]

To make them easy to find in the dark. :ironic:

I like Ti and Copper ones