Hello everyone -- I'm a flashophyle/flashaholic, and I didn't know there was such a thing. I stumbled upon CPF while googling our favorite topic, and I'm both elated to find you all, as well as dismayed at what I do NOT know. The bright spot? (Oh, that was a bad pun! :shakehead ) I've lost a LOT of sleep the last couple weeks poring over threads here trying to learn as much as I can. I'm still "in the dark," (sorry, again...) however, due to information overload.
I knew the basics before I found CPF, lumens, candlepower, CR123, LED/Incandescent, and so on. What I've come to realize is that most of you understand, work at, and converse at a whole different level. Combing through threads here, I found the battery university website, and in a "valuable info" sticky, I found the link to Carrot's newb guide. These have been incredibly helpful, but they are either theoretical (BU) or incomplete (Carrot).
In searching through the FAQs here at CPF, they all relate to the mechanics of the forum. I need an "advanced Newb's guide to lights," much like Carrot's guide, but complete, and updated with "what's new" in each area of lights (batteries, LED modules, switches, etc.). Perhaps a list of examples of the different producers and their models in each categories. (I saw something along these lines in the electronics section where someone did an excellent, exhaustive comparison of 18650s.)
Can somone point me to a resource where I can "bridge" my knowledge level from newb to actually understanding some of the esoteric stuff you guys talk about? (Such as: I had no idea why "bins" were important or even what they were until putting 2+2 by reading through a couple pages of discussion about one particular LED model and how color and brightness shifts among the different production batches, so manufacturers sort them into "bins".)
Thanks in advance, and my apologies for being "that guy."
I knew the basics before I found CPF, lumens, candlepower, CR123, LED/Incandescent, and so on. What I've come to realize is that most of you understand, work at, and converse at a whole different level. Combing through threads here, I found the battery university website, and in a "valuable info" sticky, I found the link to Carrot's newb guide. These have been incredibly helpful, but they are either theoretical (BU) or incomplete (Carrot).
In searching through the FAQs here at CPF, they all relate to the mechanics of the forum. I need an "advanced Newb's guide to lights," much like Carrot's guide, but complete, and updated with "what's new" in each area of lights (batteries, LED modules, switches, etc.). Perhaps a list of examples of the different producers and their models in each categories. (I saw something along these lines in the electronics section where someone did an excellent, exhaustive comparison of 18650s.)
Can somone point me to a resource where I can "bridge" my knowledge level from newb to actually understanding some of the esoteric stuff you guys talk about? (Such as: I had no idea why "bins" were important or even what they were until putting 2+2 by reading through a couple pages of discussion about one particular LED model and how color and brightness shifts among the different production batches, so manufacturers sort them into "bins".)
Thanks in advance, and my apologies for being "that guy."
