MBI Core Ti - (world's thinnest??) Titanium Flashlight Pendant - (work in progress)

[the_guy_with_no_name]

I'm definitely in for one or two!

Thanks helios.

A suggestion, Guy, if I may?

You might want to consider a round lanyard, or in this case necklace, hole. Your current rectangle version might probably hang the light in a lopsided manner if using spilt ring or thinner chains.

Thanks for the suggestion/feedback
(and of course you may)

The original design did actually have a completely round hole.
I was worried that it may limit the kind of necklace/chain you use so squared it out a little to increase the size.
Depending on how you attach your chain/cord, it can still hang straight (over and under similar to the 2nd photo in post 1), though a smaller circle is doable.
I tried a more oval shape but didn't look as nice.
possibly a very slight angle towards the center at the top side could work too.

tgwnn

[Got Lumens?]

A suggestion, Guy, if I may?

You might want to consider a round lanyard, or in this case necklace, hole. Your current rectangle version might probably hang the light in a lopsided manner if using spilt ring or thinner chains.

+1 to hanging straight.

There could there be a snap loop like they have on ID holders, then it not only would sit straight, but also square to ones chest, or flat .
Second benifit, you could remove/use the light off neck while leaving the nacklace/dogtags in place around neck. Although some may prefer the split ring and using a clasp on the nacklace/dogtags, making a slight upward V as said should work with both.

Got Lumens?

[Zeruel]

...possibly a very slight angle towards the center at the top side could work too.

[the_guy_with_no_name]

+1 to hanging straight.

There could there be a snap loop like they have on ID holders, then it not only would sit straight, but also square to ones chest, or flat .
Second benifit, you could remove/use the light off neck while leaving the nacklace/dogtags in place around neck. Although some may prefer the split ring and using a clasp on the nacklace/dogtags, making a slight upward V as said should work with both.

Got Lumens?

Thanks GL,
I will mess around with some angles when proto arrives.

Will let you know what I come up with,
thanks


tgwnn

[Morelite]

I actually like the rectangular hole best. It compliments the design of the whole light.

[the_guy_with_no_name]

I actually like the rectangular hole best. It compliments the design of the whole light.

Thanks for the feedback!

In terms of pure aesthetics, I agree.

I was thinking of another way to solve the issue, such as some kind of optional attachment (flat) ring you could use, depending on how you plan to wear/carry the Core Ti (similar to GotLumens? suggestion).

I will experiment with some very slight angles and post results here before committing to any change in the current design though.

tgwnn

[Sno4Life]

Thanks for the feedback!

In terms of pure aesthetics, I agree.

I was thinking of another way to solve the issue, such as some kind of optional attachment (flat) ring you could use, depending on how you plan to wear/carry the Core Ti (similar to GotLumens? suggestion).

I will experiment with some very slight angles and post results here before committing to any change in the current design though.

tgwnn

I like the angular hole, but maybe it can just be more square than rectangular to give less room for the lanyard to slide. It is also a great idea to have an attachment to connect a split ring. I would put it on a leather lanyard, myself. Another way to attach using a split ring would be to use two strings with split rings on the ends - then the rings would automatically go to opposite sides as it hangs.

[the_guy_with_no_name]

I like the angular hole, but maybe it can just be more square than rectangular to give less room for the lanyard to slide. It is also a great idea to have an attachment to connect a split ring. I would put it on a leather lanyard, myself. Another way to attach using a split ring would be to use two strings with split rings on the ends - then the rings would automatically go to opposite sides as it hangs.

That could work too!

and on another note about the switch,
the nice thing about using an old school, driverless, momentary switch in a light like this is that you could probably dive with it, drop it in your soup, run it through your laundry machine, open it to dry it off, and it would work just fine.

tgwnn

[jabe1]

please keep it simple and elegant!

[kiely23+]

with warm LED...
I´m in!

[the_guy_with_no_name]

Regarding the necklace/lanyard hole.

Something like this looks like it could do the trick,
and in actual size will indistinguishable from the current design, once properly centered.

Will need to test to see if its enough of an angle,
though it should be fine in most cases, depending on what kind of necklace/cord you plan to use.
The weight distribution (of the internals) is very symmetrical so gravity should also help the Core Ti it find its center on a cord/ring.

Note, the Core Ti with the black background in the hole is the original version,
and the one with the white background is the the angled version.

I would move the position of the hole down (by 1mm~) to make up for space lost by the extra angle.




tgwnn

[the_guy_with_no_name]

please keep it simple and elegant!

+1 (x10)

with warm LED...
I´m in!

Thanks.
Will let you know more on the color,
though it should be possible to find a decent tint LED.

tgwnn

[Diablo_331]

[BVH]

Please also offer cool white LED's. Sorry but I don't like warm LED's.

[nbp]

If there is emitter availability, this would be the kind of thing you could eventually offer with a variety of colored LEDs. You could offer something like white, green, blue, red and UV and people could choose what they want.

[Gregozedobe]

I wonder whether it might be better to have two separate switches - a small, simple slightly stiff 3 position switch that is off/momenetary-on/fixed-on (located on the side ?), as well as the current separate (larger) momentary-on switch. With something this small I can see it being stashed in pockets, wallets, purses etc where there is a good chance of something pushing against the momentary-on switch for a long time, leading to unintended operation and subsequent flat battery.

Is there room for two CR2032 battereis for longer run time ? (might be difficult to squeeze into 4mm, I know)

With such small battery/ies some of us might be replacing batteries pretty frequently, so tool-less battery changing is highly desirable.

[the_guy_with_no_name]

If there is emitter availability, this would be the kind of thing you could eventually offer with a variety of colored LEDs. You could offer something like white, green, blue, red and UV and people could choose what they want.

Perhaps eventually, when there is enough popularity, similar to the inova lights, we could offer different color options.
That would be nice!

I wonder whether it might be better to have two separate switches - a small, simple slightly stiff 3 position switch that is off/momenetary-on/fixed-on (located on the side ?), as well as the current separate (larger) momentary-on switch. With something this small I can see it being stashed in pockets, wallets, purses etc where there is a good chance of something pushing against the momentary-on switch for a long time, leading to unintended operation and subsequent flat battery.

Is there room for two CR2032 battereis for longer run time ? (might be difficult to squeeze into 4mm, I know)

With such small battery/ies some of us might be replacing batteries pretty frequently, so tool-less battery changing is highly desirable.

Thanks for the feedback.

Nice point about the switches.
Not sure how well we can water proof it with a more standard slide switch though it would be a cool feature to add.

Originally, I had planned to use a CR2012 to keep it very thin.
Seems like those are less available than CR1616. That and to use a CR20** we may need to add 1-2mm in width, to prevent the battery hitting the sides.
One CR2032 = 3.2mm thick, so two would put it at 6.4mm just for the battery.
The current prototype is 3.7mm and we expect to be able to get it to 3.5mm for the production version thanks to a higher quality mold, and some fine tuning.

Regarding battery change, currently no tools needed, perhaps just a fingernail.
The two parts of the Core Ti fit together, one half snapping into the other.
No screws required.

The Core Ti is to a large degree, design oriented and so I had pretty much decided upfront to forgo complexity in the feature set, and maximize the thin/stylish aspects with aspirations of achieving a fairly broad appeal with the Core Ti (version 1).

I do have a plan for something like a Core Ti "X", a little thicker (perhaps 6mm), with a power led, and more features for sometime in the future but no fixed timeline just yet, its one of several things I have on the drawing board.


tgwnn

[the_guy_with_no_name]

This is an awesome idea. I've been thinking about this since I saw Sanctum. I'll also be following this thread.

I managed to watch the movie Sanctum.

What a great movie for flashaholics!
(I think they are using some kind of light >50% of the movie)

Totally get your point now.

Thanks,
tgwnn

[Bigmac_79]

What about custom engraving? It seems like a good idea to make available if you want this to be sort of like a piece of jewelry.

[Got Lumens?]

What about custom engraving? It seems like a good idea to make available if you want this to be sort of like a piece of jewelry.

+1 Laser engraving.

As Far as the batteries, (future power LED ver.) two 2032's would be better side by side instead of stacked to maximize it's thiness.
Also would be great if the future "version two" to have a battery draw/holder, that slides or pivots out, instead of having to split open the flashlight.
GL

[the_guy_with_no_name]

What about custom engraving? It seems like a good idea to make available if you want this to be sort of like a piece of jewelry.

Yes, that would be a nice service to be able to offer.
I have to check if our current facility can do a "custom" service (I'm fairly certain they can do laser engraving) as it depends on their equipment and if its something they can do (for a reasonable price) or I may need to find some other that specializes in doing just laser engraving as an aftermarket service to be able to offer it.

side note: I had looked at some of the commercially available equipment which looks sooo cooool but I'm not quite ready to be able to buy/operate/keep such equipment personally. Maybe when I can do this full time!

+1 Laser engraving.

As Far as the batteries, (future power LED ver.) two 2032's would be better side by side instead of stacked to maximize it's thiness.
Also would be great if the future "version two" to have a battery draw/holder, that slides or pivots out, instead of having to split open the flashlight.
GL

I was thinking more of a custom lithium polymer "flat" battery, perhaps with a mini-usb port, though that's still a fair distance into the future and yet another thread
Sliding/pivoting drawer/holder is a cool idea. Depends on final dimensions though.
I did have a sliding back panel on the original concept version of Core Ti but for strength and to allow both sides to look like the "front",
replaced it with a snap together solid front/back.

Some of the concept drawings for a possible "X" version are yet again, a little radical and different to the expected norm.


thanks,

tgwnn

[kaichu dento]

I was thinking more of a custom lithium polymer "flat" battery, perhaps with a mini-usb port...

This is perfect for this light.

[the_guy_with_no_name]

This is perfect for this light.

thanks kaichu,

maybe that will be the Core Ti "X"...
or something else and
perhaps sometime in the future ok?

...I had (still have) these bluetooth headphones that needed to be charged by micro-usb.
It was annoying because if I hadn't used them for a while,
and the battery got to empty whilst I was watching a movie,
I had to either stop the movie and wait till they recharged, or use wired headphones to keep watching...

tgwnn

[Hamaremon]

This is perfect for this light.

I agree that lithium polymer would be an interesting option for a future version of this light, but don't forget to leave some tolerance inside the case to allow for cell swelling. Most lithium polymer cells will swell at least 1mm over the course of usage, and if you use the same top/bottom snap together construction as this version, it could potentially pop open and not go back together.

I-pods use a li-po cell and seem to be doing okay, but I've yet to crack one open to check the actual dimensions.

Anyway, just an observation. I'm sure it can be made to work, and I'm sure if anyone can, you'll be able to push the boundries of engineering limitations

[jd_oc]

Hi tgwnn,

You are building some amazing flashlights and I just wanted to give some input on this light. I wanted to bring up something that I think hasn't been discussed yet on this thread, and that is most people are using smart phones these days (iPhone, Droid, etc) and they have a pretty capable LED. My iPhone 4 can put out around 20-30 lumens from the LED using a free flashlight app. So, for me to find a MBI Core Ti really useful, it would need to be at least as bright as that. I guess that means to wait for version 2. But I really like the idea of a LiPo battery, I have some in a mini R/C helicopter and they can put out huge power (10-15C) in a tiny package. They are also very reasonably priced on eBay (less than $10). One of those combined with an XR-E or equivalent with the body acting as a heat sink could easily put out 100 lumens. Just not sure how thin it would end up at, but that's where I leave that to you, to do the impossible.

[applevision]

Here!! Not sure how I missed this one for a few days... um... can I say that I'm in heaven? I will buy 2 for sure, and, frankly probably 4 if they really are $45 per. Amazing gifts! Can I say that this is dangerously close to my dream light!? (I know that kaichu and Inci have been with me for a looooooong time on this quest! Thanks, guys!)
My thoughts:
1) please make this and don't break our hearts!
2) please keep up your awesome accommodating but ever-vigilantly-focused-on-your-goal attitude
3) please keep it simple and elegant
4) I love the idea of the updated lanyard hole--very elegant solution.

I am a lover of small lights and long for "the perfect" neck light. This is amazingly close and is a "must have" for me. My current beauty is my Ti-Fli that is excellent and a workhorse, but is not as light and elegant as this. As it happens, I am currently sporting a Photon Rex on my neck... which is awesome but bulky... since I really wanted a rechargeable neck light. I do like it a lot, but boy, this would be better...

Finally: I am already excited about the Core Ti "X" light... more power and a slightly larger size could be perfect... I wonder if you would ever consider using a layout like my fantasy neck light:


A pendant style with light in the front and button in the back...

Thanks and ever thanks!

[the_guy_with_no_name]

I agree that lithium polymer would be an interesting option for a future version of this light, but don't forget to leave some tolerance inside the case to allow for cell swelling. Most lithium polymer cells will swell at least 1mm over the course of usage, and if you use the same top/bottom snap together construction as this version, it could potentially pop open and not go back together.

I-pods use a li-po cell and seem to be doing okay, but I've yet to crack one open to check the actual dimensions.

Anyway, just an observation. I'm sure it can be made to work, and I'm sure if anyone can, you'll be able to push the boundries of engineering limitations

Thanks for the tip Hamaremon

I will be sure to research the tolerances of li-po's before finalizing the next design to make sure they dont get stuck inside the next version.

tgwnn

Hi tgwnn,

You are building some amazing flashlights and I just wanted to give some input on this light. I wanted to bring up something that I think hasn't been discussed yet on this thread, and that is most people are using smart phones these days (iPhone, Droid, etc) and they have a pretty capable LED. My iPhone 4 can put out around 20-30 lumens from the LED using a free flashlight app. So, for me to find a MBI Core Ti really useful, it would need to be at least as bright as that. I guess that means to wait for version 2. But I really like the idea of a LiPo battery, I have some in a mini R/C helicopter and they can put out huge power (10-15C) in a tiny package. They are also very reasonably priced on eBay (less than $10). One of those combined with an XR-E or equivalent with the body acting as a heat sink could easily put out 100 lumens. Just not sure how thin it would end up at, but that's where I leave that to you, to do the impossible.

Thanks for the kind words jd_oc,

You may need to wait for version 2, unless the slender beauty that becomes version 1 is just tooo seductive to hold you back

I completely understand your comments and yes, a more powerful version "MUST" follow.

Whilst I have a lot of crazy ideas, I am still calibrating myself to the whole new world of manufacturing and that means testing the precision and capabilities of the various suppliers I am dealing with, as well as stretching a modest bank roll as far as possible to allow me the luxury of only allowing orders when I have a product in hand and ready to ship.

I do have a number of product ideas in the pipe that I imagine will take 1-2 years (even with plenty of resource) to get to even half of them.

I have already done most of the basic research on the version 2 in terms of components, but rechargeable & small, means some custom manufacture of components, drivers, etc (and that is expensive) so once I can get to break even on the current products, there will be more, more, more....

and 100 lumens.....
if I have it my way, that might be the "low" mode

tgwnn

[the_guy_with_no_name]

Here!! Not sure how I missed this one for a few days... um... can I say that I'm in heaven? I will buy 2 for sure, and, frankly probably 4 if they really are $45 per. Amazing gifts! Can I say that this is dangerously close to my dream light!? (I know that kaichu and Inci have been with me for a looooooong time on this quest! Thanks, guys!)
My thoughts:
1) please make this and don't break our hearts!
2) please keep up your awesome accommodating but ever-vigilantly-focused-on-your-goal attitude
3) please keep it simple and elegant
4) I love the idea of the updated lanyard hole--very elegant solution.

I am a lover of small lights and long for "the perfect" neck light. This is amazingly close and is a "must have" for me. My current beauty is my Ti-Fli that is excellent and a workhorse, but is not as light and elegant as this. As it happens, I am currently sporting a Photon Rex on my neck... which is awesome but bulky... since I really wanted a rechargeable neck light. I do like it a lot, but boy, this would be better...

Finally: I am already excited about the Core Ti "X" light... more power and a slightly larger size could be perfect... I wonder if you would ever consider using a layout like my fantasy neck light:


A pendant style with light in the front and button in the back...

Thanks and ever thanks!

applevision (_) !!!

I feel like the guy in the haunted house who opens the squeaky doors and says
".... we've been expecting you"

I had read your thread on the quest for the perfect neck-lace-light (more than once).

Thrilled to hear the Core Ti is a possible contender to replace that now famous Ti-Fli of yours.

As for your design above,
I do like it!

I have a friend/partner who has wanted to create something similar in concept (flat/round) to yours for a long, long time and I know he is keen to make it happen, but I know he will need to choose from a long list of innovative ideas that he has as well.

I personally had pondered something similar many times.
Sometimes hanging a Zebralight H30 on my neck (in a storage room), the swinging drives me a little crazy when I'm reaching down to search for things so I end up using the clip when I can, but a flatter profile should be more stable.


tgwnn

[kaichu dento]

My iPhone 4 can put out around 20-30 lumens from the LED using a free flashlight app.

The comparison doesn't hold water. None of us is interested in carrying a phone around our necks, and although that wasn't your point, comparing the two is ridiculous.

Having worn a Draco around my neck for the last couple of years I can say that the brightest I would want a single level light to be is somewhere in the 5-20 lumen range. I can't speak for all, but I want something completely practical and not just a blow-the-other-guy-away overdone light that has short run times or is unusable when checking on the baby or other normal day to day usages.

More, more, more is a line from a song that does not translate well to daily life, but rather to egos.

[applevision]

applevision (_) !!!

I feel like the guy in the haunted house who opens the squeaky doors and says
".... we've been expecting you"
tgwnn

I'm literally dancing a little jig at 3:00AM as I read this! Whoo hoo!

The comparison doesn't hold water. None of us is interested in carrying a phone around our necks, and although that wasn't your point, comparing the two is ridiculous.

Having worn a Draco around my neck for the last couple of years I can say that the brightest I would want a single level light to be is somewhere in the 5-20 lumen range. I can't speak for all, but I want something completely practical and not just a blow-the-other-guy-away overdone light that has short run times or is unusable when checking on the baby or other normal day to day usages.

More, more, more is a line from a song that does not translate well to daily life, but rather to egos.

+1. I will say though, jd_oc, that I agree with you in that a more potent light is generally/often welcomed; indeed, if we could have a light with Zebralight functionality in this form factor, I think most of us would be drooling even more than we already are--though I'm not sure that is possible for me [to drool anymore than I am already drooling]! That said, the magic of this type of light is that it is truly something you can have on you at all times: when sleeping, in the shower, when the power goes out and you happen to be in the bathroom without your phone, etc. Since it is such an "intimate" light (sorry! I know that kinda makes it sound like a marital aid--not intended!), it will also be used for things like checking on babies, late night bathroom runs, and to see where you glasses are so you don't knock over the glass of water next to your bed... Thus, as a simple, single level light, something really potent might not be so great in this role. Rather, I like the idea of a 3-10 lumen soft light, similar to the Ti-Fli which I carry and use with great regularity (I had it on for over 1 year without removing it and used it almost every day; only recently have I been trying out the Photon Rex since I was burning though a fair amount of hearing aid batts...) All that said, YMMV and I also hope to see what else comes down the line... perhaps with some element of control in a future light, we could have both low-lumen for the aforementioned purposes, and high-lumen for when we need some power that can be more like a full-sized EDC. Something like the Draco (one of Kaichu's favorites and mine, too!) does this insanely well: very small, rechargeable, multi-levels from nice and dim to blindingly bright! But this light, our little buddy MBI Core Ti, would be significantly smaller and more wearable, and thus would have further specifications...

Apple