Would you buy....

I'm thinking of starting to make and sell torches/flashlights.
Just want to know if anybody would be interested in a light with these features:

• 1AAA battery, NiHM or alkaline.
• Twisty switch, tighten for OFF and loosen for ON.
• Aspherical lense. Who says a keychain light can't throw.
• Cree XRE R2. I know there are brighter LEDs but I'm thinking throw.
• Removable pocket clip.
• Keychain attachment point.
• Three modes. 1-5 lumens, 20 lumens, 80 lumens.

Might not be much flexibility for the modes, just depends what drivers I can find really.
Thinking that maybe I could have a second head you can buy with an orange peel reflector for those who want flood.

Welcome to your ideas, things you would like, your mode preferances, what materials you'd like.

Fire away with the questions

I don't expect a small light to have throw; pretty much all a keychain light will ever be used for is looking for dropped items and navigating unlit areas, where a narrow throw beam doesn't help at all. I'd go the other direction - an AAA light with a huge, broad beam, like an XM-L in a shallow reflector. ~2/20/80 lumen modes would work nicely, and if you really want to get people's attention, make it a clicky that can tail stand, those are very rare in AAA lights..

Trouble is that pretty much everything has been done already. I'm trying to think of something origional that people would buy.
I know I'd buy an aspherical aaa light but at the end of the day the majority wins.

Personally I prefer crazy flood to crazy throw, especially in pocket lights. I kinda like Halo's idea. I could maybe be persuaded to buy a keychain thrower though if someone could come up with a reason for me to use it.

I need flood on a keychain-type light. Everything else is fine.

I'd consider it dependent on the overall size & if you were able to squeeze more lumens out of it (more like 200).
Not sure it would score a place on my keychain as flood is what I need most of the time, but as a small, fun,
see how far this light goes kinda light to impress non-flashaholics, I'd probably pick one up for my collection.

Still, you never know until you actually get it into your hands.
It may just grow on me!

If it can put out 200 lumens, and is priced under $40, I wouldn't hesitate to grab one or more (especially if the size was similar to the Maratac/ITP EOS)

Best of luck
tgwnn

Ok. So how about a AAA torch with forward clicky that can tailstand with interchangeable heads so you can get an XML one when you buy it for general use and if you decided you wanted an aspherical head in the future there would be one available for purchase?

I don't know how much it will cost me to make and what I could sell it for yet, but when I've decided what it'll be I can make a prototype to see how much it'll cost. I might be able to make it a similar size to the maglite solitaire, perhaps a bit shorter. I'll aim to keep the price below 40 dollars without using low quality materials and knock off LEDs. Think it'll have to be aluminium to keep the price down, might even be able to offer a choice of colours for the anodizing.

Anyway, more suggestions are welcome

If you can offer two heads and keep it under 40 bucks, I'm in.

AAA with clicky is rare. so those might be easier to sell. twistys are everywhere.

i personally try only to buy high cri or neutral tint led lights anymore. (so maybe make an optional tint versions.)

thrower and floody.. i prefer tiny lights to be floody. i hardly ever need a pinky sized light to reach far far away.. i have the bigger lights for that use/need. optional head is good. because. we all want different things! hahah.

i like options, i like lego aspect. i like pocket clips. i like lanyard loops (because AAA is size i carry in keychain more often than in pocket.. so actually an good size lanyard hole or place to attach an ring is more important than pocket clip) but if you do make pocket clip. make it so that they wont fall off (itp a3 i love it but i cant trust the clip.. only the SS version clip is strong enough to hang on the light.. all others have flung away more than once) -maybe screw attachment? if you add blinker modes make them hidden away. basic low-med-high is useful.. one reason i like the itp a3 (the old version) that it had medium-low-high ui. as an small general use pocket light i found it very nice one didnt need to ramp up or down to get an decent output on first try. (memory mode is bad. dont like it. i like my lights to be predictable. all but the itp are ramp up kind or on-off set up)

other option that is missing currently in all flashlights i know of.. an built in tripod or duo-pod set up.. tailstanding is cool, but i often wish i could set the light into an angle (like 30-45degrees) from vertical position. aim it to the location i want to work at. dont know how to make it work.. make the pocket clip adjustable or some kind of rubber sleeve..

while im brainstorming about that sleeve.. this is what i was thinking at one point.. an translucent white or similar rubbery material. kinda an sleeve that fits over the top or bottom part of the body of the light.. soft rubber (like in zebralights sleeves were) shaped like an ring and a cup end.. cup end could go over the cliky and one could use the clicky thru it if its soft enough. and when worn on the lense end.. it would work as an diffusor for floody output. (heat issues maybe?) but when one pulls the cup out of the body of the light the Ring part would still keep the rubber hangin in the light (wont get lost easily) and then just pull the cup down below the lightand set the light on top of it. you get an small support for the flashlight to have it set into an angle on surface. cup might have an u-shape in the edge so the light has more of an solid place to sit.

So many possibilities. Wonder if itp have changed their pocket clips, I couldn't get mine off of my A3 with anything less than pliers.

Should it have a reversable pocket clip or would head down only be ok?

Ps: There will be no blinky modes. I hate them and most people here dislike them aswell. On a bigger light they are ok but on a little keychain light they complicate things and aren't really neccesary.

**edit** MIsread title, thought it said AA, not AAA. Ignore the size comments

Make it a clicky or piston, AA sized that'll take any chemistry/voltage from a 14500 form factor. Stainless construction so it'll be okay in a pocket with keys and change, brass would be something to look at as well. Trit slot(s), I like trits and so do many others. AA is just a smidge too big for keyring carry, for me at least. Tail should have a button shroud with decent sized holes for paracord lanyard.

Remind you of any particular light? Nitecore's D10/EX10 series seemed to do pretty well. Fire up google, research the issues with the Nitecore series and fix those. You'll be swamped with requests. I have one idea for a piston drive light already. To address the "sticky" piston issue, why not have a bearing race somewhere on the piston? Butter smooth yet still very snug fit.

I'm open to suggestions for either AAA or AA. I would like to do a AAA one for my first venture into manufacturing torches though, if it's succesfull I could start doing other models. Maybe one day I'll even be able to afford a CNC milling machine so I can do more complicated designs at lower cost and in a lot less time. Just have to see how things turn out.

Designing a small pocket light to have throw is kind of like trying to make a super bright red led in my mind (red being used for preserving night vision) but if someone wants to try more power to them.

There won't be any knurling though, unless anyone has found a way to do knurling without a milling machine.

Forget I said that. Just discovered a tool for a lathe for making knurling

Having a bit of difficulty finding the right driver. Would anyone mind if the diameter of the torches head was about 15mm? I know it's big for a AAA light but I'm finding it hard to source smaller drivers with the right modes. On the plus side this bigger driver produces more current than the smaller ones, 900mA on high, think this will be the brightest AAA torch in existence without using lithium-ion batteries.

It's only 2mm more than the ITP A3 EOS

JacobJones said:

Would anyone mind if the diameter of the torches head was about 15mm?

Click to expand...

Yes. You are now approaching CR123 diameter, and beyond AA diameter. The appeal of AAA (to me anyway) is the its thinness. You may as well make an AA light if this is the only option for you.

Are you implying that only the head will be this dimension, and the body will still be AAA? If so, another negative (for me). I don't like my keychain lights to have additional angles or edges - a seemless cylinder suits me best.

My preferences and thoughts:

There will be a lot of interest in a small twisty AAA light that is tighten for off and loosen for on (eg original Mk I DQG tiny). Most manufacturers struggle to do this reliably.

Twisty for shorter overall length (and AAA light should be small).

Tailstand is useful, head down clip (also provides anti-roll), secure split-ring attachment for key chain use.

Flood rather than throw in really small lights(TIR optics for a smoother beam while helping reduce length is good).

Natural finish ALU with grippy knurling on both the head and the body to help switch on/off. Head not too short (again- for grip).

L/M/H sequence, with L being less than 2 lumens. medium being 20 and high being 80+ lumens.

Optimised for Eneloops, but OK on lithium primaries (1.7V)

Not a "ugly green" tint LED (doesn't have to be Neutral for me, but high CRI would be a good selling point).

If you go the "semi-custom" route by offering choices on things like LEDs, click/twisty body, trits etc you will increase demand, but will add greatly to your logistics work-load.


From a marketing viewpoint the more desirable features the better chance you have of selling it in reasonable quantities, but don't make promises you can't deliver (and in a reasonable time, there have been a few problems with pre-pays in recent times here on CPF).

StarHalo said:

I don't expect a small light to have throw; pretty much all a keychain light will ever be used for is looking for dropped items and navigating unlit areas, where a narrow throw beam doesn't help at all. I'd go the other direction - an AAA light with a huge, broad beam,

Click to expand...

Exactly my sentiments...

The driver looks like it could be filed down a bit, might be able to make the torch 14mm. And it'll be a lot shorter with a AAA. It be a real wow light on high, In theory it would produce 300+ lumens for around half an hour (or untill the driver and led melt). I'm going to order the driver and a Cree XML to experiment with. I'm amazed that nobody has done this yet

Gregozedobe said:

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From a marketing viewpoint the more desirable features the better chance you have of selling it in reasonable quantities, but don't make promises you can't deliver (and in a reasonable time, there have been a few problems with pre-pays in recent times here on CPF).

Click to expand...

I read about the problems lummi had, I'm not going to do preorders because of that. I'll sell them a batch at a time