When the ULTIMATE flashlight is released....

waddup · Jul 26, 2010

id have to assume it wont be long (2 years?) before a flashlight is released that can do all things for all flashoholics.

once its released, is our 'hobby' (obsession) over?

what would a person do with dozens of obsolete flashlights?

hold on to them and hope they're valuable at the 2120 antiques roadshow?

Burgess · Jul 26, 2010

2 Years ? ? ?

What a DREAMER ! ! !

:crackup:

:laughing: :crackup:

:laughing:

No ONE flashlight is EVER gonna' satisfy the needs of Flashaholics !

Our needs are too vast, and wide-ranging. :shakehead

" i want SMALL, so i can EDC carry in the Crack of my A$$ " :whoopin:

" i want BIG, so i can get somebody's ATTENTION ! :twak:

" i want it to run on AA Alkalines, cuz' i get 'em FREE at work ! "

(you get the idea)

_

Colorblinded · Jul 26, 2010

Two years huh?

Somehow I don't think so!

waddup · Jul 26, 2010

Burgess said:
2 Years ? ? ?

What a DREAMER ! ! !

:laughing::laughing:

No ONE flashlight is EVER gonna' satisfy the needs of Flashaholics !

Our needs are too vast, and wide-ranging. :shakehead

" i want SMALL, so i can EDC carry in the Crack of my A$$ " :whoopin:

" i want BIG, so i can get somebody's ATTENTION !

" i want it to run on AA Alkalines, cuz' i get 'em FREE at work ! "

(you get the idea)

_

i doubt it will be 2 years before 1 light can do all that ^

small bright primaries, they already exist, just gotta bump max from 160 to 2500 lumens.

Toohotruk · Jul 26, 2010

Stress_Test · Jul 26, 2010

Let's say you went back in time 10 years, and in a group of year-2000 flashaholics, you busted out a 600 lumen MC-E light and everyone fell to their knees in astonishment that an LED could be that bright in that small a package.

Yet these days some people on this very forum call the MC-E emitter outdated. So no matter how badass the light, people will become jaded to it sooner or later.

Tekno_Cowboy · Jul 26, 2010

waddup said:
id have to assume it wont be long (2 years?) before a flashlight is released that can do all things for all flashoholics.

*snip*

Funniest thing I've heard in a while. It's kinda like saying that in 2 years there will only be 1 model of car that fits everyone's needs...

Burgess said:
2 Years ? ? ?

What a DREAMER ! ! !

:laughing::laughing:

No ONE flashlight is EVER gonna' satisfy the needs of Flashaholics !

Our needs are too vast, and wide-ranging. :shakehead

" i want SMALL, so i can EDC carry in the Crack of my A$$ " :whoopin:

" i want BIG, so i can get somebody's ATTENTION !

" i want it to run on AA Alkalines, cuz' i get 'em FREE at work ! "

(you get the idea)

_

Also, what Burgess said...

tolkaze · Jul 26, 2010

I would need the perfect light for now! and it simply will never exist because I have changing needs (wants).

If it were to exist now, I would like something like small, single primary cell, capable of doing 300 otf, wide beam (but throwy too... uh oh) and programmable... kinda like a HDS EDC but with 300+ otf with an unachievable beam pattern.

In 2 years or so when this is possible, I won't want it, I will want the next greatest thing

Colorblinded · Jul 26, 2010

waddup said:
small bright primaries, they already exist, just gotta bump max from 160 to 2500 lumens.

Easy peasy.

jacktheclipper · Jul 26, 2010

The beam would be flawless , no hotspot , just a completely even beam ,
fully adjustable from a pencil of light to a wall of light and the otf lumens would be infinitely adjustable from .01 lm to 1000 lm. I would like all this to be done with dual twisty U.I. , the front twisty for beam shape and a rear twisty for output. For the batteries I would prefer AA or a similar size and availability. This light would have an unconditional lifetime warranty on all parts and labor and cost less than $40.

I know it's going to happen one day...

Nitroz · Jul 26, 2010

waddup said:
id have to assume it wont be long (2 years?) before a flashlight is released that can do all things for all flashoholics.

Only if all lighting manufactures quit making products.

Most people here are happy for a month before jonesing for something new.

fishx65 · Jul 26, 2010

jacktheclipper said:
The beam would be flawless , no hotspot , just a completely even beam ,
fully adjustable from a pencil of light to a wall of light and the otf lumens would be infinitely adjustable from .01 lm to 1000 lm. I would like all this to be done with dual twisty U.I. , the front twisty for beam shape and a rear twisty for output. For the batteries I would prefer AA or a similar size and availability. This light would have an unconditional lifetime warranty on all parts and labor and cost less than $40.

Seems like they should be able to make this one today if the max was around 300 lumens. Throw in a strap for headlight use and I would be all over this one! Love the idea of no hotspot with completely adjustable beam.

Dances with Flashlight · Jul 27, 2010

The Ultimate flashlight will certainly do all those things noted in the posts above, and more. Having just seen my first Transformer movie, it's clear now that the "ultimate" flashlight will also be able transform into shoe skates and shoot its beam(s) (or rockets) out the wheels. When battery drain reaches a certain point it will automatically connect up to Tesla coils or some other form of wireless electricity. And through the new Flashalchemy process, it will be able to transform from HA-III to HA-CDXLVIII to SS and then to Brass or Gold. And it will have little invisible doors from which an automatic polishing device will deploy. Old, obsolete flashlights won't be discarded, but will simply be cycled through something like McBean's Star-on Machine and emerge as TransformoLights! Might not be within the next two years, but perhaps by the time we balance the budget. I almost forgot to add that the ultimate light may cost no more than 23 Trillion Credits ($59 USD in today's money). And you can purchase them anywhere, except E-bay.

Linger · Jul 27, 2010

fishx65 said:
The ultimate beam would ...

not eminate directly from the front of the flashlight but be remotely positioned. It would be your own moon, that you could position as you wished. You could set a glowing orb centered 50 feet in front of you, or have the illumination appear to shine as a narrow beam along a path 20feet to your left. E.g. If I was climbing a technical rock face I wouldn't want a headlamp but a light originating about 10ft further out from the rockface so I could catch the shadows.

Review that light in two years Waddup, and I will :paypal:

.

Best,
Linger

rumack · Jul 27, 2010

It would have to be able to change its size, shape, and mass from something the size of an Arc AAA to at least a 4D Maglite and accept every battery option known. Or maybe powered by fusion. I'm confident that will be way more than two years from now. Five years, at least.

Burgess said:
[snip]
" i want SMALL, so i can EDC carry in the Crack of my A$$ " :whoopin:
[snip]

Note to self - DO NOT borrow Burgess' EDC! :crackup:

@OP - I hope you don't mind us having some fun with this.

Taipan · Jul 27, 2010

waddup said:
I'd have to assume it won't be long (2 years?) before a flashlight is released that can do all things for all flashoholics. Once its released, is our 'hobby' (obsession) over? What would a person do with dozens of obsolete flashlights? Hold on to them and hope they're valuable at the 2120 antiques roadshow?

Ultimate might well be LED-LASERs?

Incans may go way of Dodo like CRTs.

Museums are nice but we'd prob be modding extinct flashlights into lightsabres.

Here's a timeline on LEDs :

1907 the forerunner of LEDs aka 'Electroluminescence' was discovered by British experimenter H. J. Round of Marconi Labs using a crystal of silicon carbide & a cat's-whisker detector.

Since the 60's the development of LED technology has caused LED efficiency & output to increase exponentially, with a doubling occurring about every 36 mths in a way similar to Moore's law. The advances are due to parallel development of other semiconductor tech & advances in optics & material science. This trend is called Haitz's Law.

Feb 2008, Bilkent university in Turkey reported 300 lumens of visible light per watt luminous efficacy (not per electrical watt) & warm light by using nanocrystals.

Jan 2009, researchers from CambridgeUniversity reported a process for growing gallium nitride (GaN) LEDs on silicon. Production costs could be reduced by 90% using six-inch silicon wafers instead of 2-inch sapphire wafers.

3 Feb 2010, Cree issued a press release about a laboratory prototype LED achieving 208 lumens per watt at room temperature. The correlated color temperature was reported to be 4579 K.

LEDs are solid state devices subject to very little wear/tear if operated at low currents & at low temperatures. Many of our LEDs made in the 70's & 80's are still in service today. Typical runtimes are 25,000-100,000 hrs but heat and current settings can extend or shorten this time significantly. Moore's to come soon....

waddup · Jul 27, 2010

rumack said:
@OP - I hope you don't mind us having some fun with this.

couldnt be happier, fun is always welcome in my life.:thanks:

Flying Turtle · Jul 27, 2010

The critics here will immediately rip it apart. 4Sevens will release a competing model at half the price. Surefire will hint about something new. And CountyComm will bring it out in copper.

Can't wait for the ULTIMATE II.

Geoff

waddup · Jul 27, 2010

once we have a variable 0.002-1500 lumens for 5 hours in a small form factor with a good spot to flood lens.

Colorblinded · Jul 27, 2010

Are we dreaming about our perfect light now?

Small form factor (but not tooo small, maybe something like Mag XL100, Quark RGB sized),
even flood to throw capability with the option to produce a mixed beam (smooth hotspot with generous spill).
4.5-5kish color temp with perfect color rendition
0.5-5000 lumens
ability to change tint/color easily without having to carry lots of little filters and such
non-glossy finish
ability to charge based on thermal differences, movement (kinetic), solar, induction. Power storage based on some sort of lifetime super dense (in terms of energy capacity) and super reliable sort of supercapacitor (it's super!)
Motion sensitive interface (think mag XL100 concept but improved for optimum usability)
wireless computer interface to allow advanced programming options to create new features and whatnot down the road (probably won't use this much but might as well be there, allowing someone to add strobe mode if needed, etc)

Can I have all that in two years for... $200?

When the ULTIMATE flashlight is released....

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