An incandescent history lesson. Thank you...

So I went into General Settings a while back, and selected "show all" for threads. I just got done catching up on 169 pages of incan CPF history going back ten years to 2004. Very cool to see all the familiar names that are still around, and a bunch that don't seem to be active anymore. I'ii admit to skimming looking for SF specific threads and reading them, as well as a bunch of Mag Mod threads. Seeing the earlier attempts at rechargable solutions, and lots of the same questions answered that are still being asked today. Thank you to all of you here that led the way back in the day when Lux III's and V's were coming out, and are still around.

If you're as new here as I am, you really should give all these old pages a look. Seeing some of the Old Guard here on CPF when they were here only a year or two is worth the time all by itself, nevermind the treasure trove of info that is here. I'm going to walk my dog now, it's nice and dark in my neck of Pennsylvania. We have a bright moon tonight, but I'm bringing my M4 with 2x17670's and a LF HO-M3T with a stock G2 for backup. Long live the incan.



(PS- I still love my LED's too... )

I loved my G2 incan when I had it, especially with the LF HO-6 upgrade. I really thought it was (and still is) a great light. From there I started down the LED path with a Streamlight Microstream (still another great light - good for EDC). Along with a few side detours along the way I wound up with a Nitecore TM11 and an EA4W and EA41. My latest acquisitions were a couple of TeraLux Lightstar 80s, with the 80+ CRI emitters. I really, really like the higher CRI light, to the point that I am thinking about getting the Lumens Factory 90+ CRI tri-mode drop-in to upgrade my Seraph 6. So it seems that I have effectively come pretty much full circle back to the incan world, but staying with LEDs to do so.

I too have fond memories of when the Incandescent Forum was the place to be, with all the discussions about swapping various SF lamps and bi-pin adapters, and third-party lamp assemblies; all to get a few more lumens or a little longer run-time. It is kind of sad to see that days can go by with only one or two entries into the forum, when it once was so alive.

I don't know if I'd have it in me to read all 169 pages of incandescent CPF history, nor am I one of the Old Guard here on CPF. I seem to have joined right at the turn of the LED revolution. The XP-G, along with the neutral tints, came out within a year of me joining. But it still gave me enough time to test a pile of cold angry blue LED lights and turn to the incadescent world for a taste.

I've gone mostly LED but have always kept a few incands along the way. More recently I've bought some nice new ones and enjoy using them immensely. The offerings from FM still rock the incand world and have made me very happy. I have a few G2s that live in my autos as car lights - they have LED drop-ins but could just as easily live their lives with P60s.

Maybe when I have a long free day or three I'll browse through the archive.

It's worth the read to see McGizmo posting in an E2d thread about modding the tailcap, Milky looking to purchase a G2, and Al (Size 15's) patiently answering piles of Surefire questions. And the speculation from one poster back in '06 iirc that the subforum was fading away and would eventually be closed because of those new-fangled LED's...

It's gotten to the point where the only thing many folks see now is the latest, greatest led light or dropin, pushing higher and more amperage and its no point in trying to discuss otherwise.

I fondly remember a while back I had spent hours going through the different threads looking for rechargeable solutions for my M4 and M6. I got a 3x17670 carrier for the M6 with a HO-M6 bulb but my favorite combo is the same setup as yours with a M4 and the HO-M3T. when its foggy at night I still enjoy randomly going outside to to throw some M4 "laser beams" in the sky. the wife prefers using an LED flashlight when she steps outside at night because it will light up a wider area, I try explaining to her that its because they got no THROW! noobs.

I, like most here, have run the gamut from "low powered" incandescents to "high powered" incandescents to "low powered" led's to "high powered" led's in the 10 years that I have frequented this forum. Lately, "everything old is new again". It has become quite clear to me that there is no substitute for a well driven incandescent! I have been shelving all of my collection for the simple well driven "hotwire". Boy am I a happy human...

I think the lesson I need to learn here is that when the incan bug starts to go away I should just shelve my incan lights for a while rather than selling them. That way, 6 months down the road, when the bug hits again I won't have to go through the long hunt of finding obscure unobtanum pieces again.

I'm definitely in a incan phase. My A2 has never gotten more use (well I guess that means it's more of a hybrid phase ).

The cool part of staying incan is that the batteries now, versus 5 years ago, are amazingly more powerful. They may not last that long, but I can drive a MN21 off the newer IMR 18500s and they don't even break a sweat!

Runtime on those 18500's? I may need to lego...

They are eFest 1100mAh 18500. Will do a runtime test tonight and report back. I would estimate 10-12 minutes.

And an awesome 10-12 minutes I'm sure... Looking forward to more info.

An updated history lesson on why incandescent lights are so cool!

Now this is cool incandescent history brought up to 2014 standards.

So here is the light. SureFire KT2-BK head, Leef 2x18500 body, Mooddolar Triad tailcap, AW SoftStart, MN21 and 2 x eFest purple IMR 1100mAh cells.

Runtime test with nearly full cells (I had played with the light a little bit before starting the test, maybe a minute or two). I ran the test for 10 minutes on 100% power. The bulb was still putting out significant lumen levels when I stopped the test. Temperature measurements of outside of body showed max 125*F. Temperature reading on batteries showed max 115*F.

At the end of the test the batteries showed 3.59 volts each. When I put them back in and took a tailcap current measurement they were still pushing 4.78Amps through the light.

Coming up later: SureFire C2, Leef M2C adapter, KT4 Turbohead, Ronac HA Tailcap w/ AW SoftStart running 2 x 18350 eFest purple IMR cells.

Re: An updated history lesson on why incandescent lights are so cool!

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:

Now this is cool incandescent history brought up to 2014 standards.

So here is the light. SureFire KT2-BK head, Leef 2x18500 body, Mooddolar Triad tailcap, AW SoftStart, MN21 and 2 x eFest purple IMR 1100mAh cells....

Click to expand...

Outstanding build ... any beamshots ? :devil:

Re: An updated history lesson on why incandescent lights are so cool!

Now I'm really sorry I didn't have the money back then. I would love to have had one of those turboheads on by G2! Oh well. If I ever really get turbo fever there is always Lumen Factory's new one to try out.

I also want to mention that I haven't seen this much activity on this forum in a long time. It is nice to seem some of us leaning back towards the good old days.

Re: An updated history lesson on why incandescent lights are so cool!

Looks like I need to shop for some eFest cells. Nice.

Re: An updated history lesson on why incandescent lights are so cool!

I remember getting into Hotwires back in '06. My first was the classic Mag 2C with 3/123s and KPR112:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?73615-KPR113-vs-KPR112-in-3x123-2C-Mag

But somewhere along the way real life interfered with the lights and I found myself visiting CPF less and less. Then one day I log on and the Hotwire section was gone.

Re: An updated history lesson on why incandescent lights are so cool!

Not really gone, check this.

Bill

Re: An updated history lesson on why incandescent lights are so cool!

Bullzeyebill said:

Not really gone, check this.

Bill

Click to expand...

I do consider myself lucky that I found CPF in the days of hotwires.

Thanks, Bill!

Re: An updated history lesson on why incandescent lights are so cool!

I say this about all my top of the line professional Nikon camera gear: "Back in the Stone Age, five years ago."

Re: An updated history lesson on why incandescent lights are so cool!

Man, this thread brings back memories. Back when I joined CPF in 2004, I had been looking around for info on my only two lights, my Magcharger and my Surefire 6R setup. Both awesome rechargeable incans. I still remember loving how much beautiful, quality light came out of that 6R and could fit nicely in my pocket, unlike the Magcharger, which had awesome output, but way bigger than my 6R and not pocketable. I even splurged with my money sometimes and dared to convert the 6R to the 6P and use the REALLY expensive Duracell D123 cells that gave me an ultra-compact 65 beautiful incan lumens at about $15.00 per hour or 120 lumens from the P61at $15.00 per 20 minutes. I cherished every minute of those expensive lumens, knowing I had the most badass light of anyone I knew.

Then I found CPF and found so many great people who shared my interest for flashlights. It's amazing that its only been 10 years now and how far we've come...