Would anyone pay thousands of dollar for a flashlight?

Enderman · Dec 21, 2016

Hey everyone, so I recently had an idea to build a crazy 50k-70k lumen flashlight for myself, but it would cost quite a bit of money.
I thought maybe I could justify building it if I could sell it in a few years.

I see people paying $1k, $2k, and even more for lights like the maxabeam and hellfires but are there people who would pay that much for a home-made flashlight?
Discuss below!

archimedes · Dec 21, 2016

I think the XM18vn sold for > $2K ... but it is always tough to predict the market for these niche products

Enderman · Dec 21, 2016

archimedes said:
I think the XM18vn sold for > $2K ... but it is always tough to predict the market for these niche products

Yeah, it is really niche, that's why I wondered if there were buyers for this kind of stuff. If there are none in this community, I doubt there are any outside of it

CPF has probably the most extravagant flashlights I've seen!

emarkd · Dec 21, 2016

I've definitely seen custom lights go for $1000+, but those are usually from known and accomplished builders, and almost always made from rare and expensive materials instead of just being high performance. In other words, they're kinda like art pieces. For instance, you can buy a perfectly functional and beautiful Hanko for $650, or you can buy the same light made of Mokume for $1800.

And by the way, ideas are easy. Actually making a functional and useful 50K lumen flashlight would be a huge challenge given today's parts capabilities. The current required and heat generated from such a device would be hard to pull off reliably in a flashlight form. Good luck...

Enderman · Dec 21, 2016

emarkd said:
I've definitely seen custom lights go for $1000+, but those are usually from known and accomplished builders, and almost always made from rare and expensive materials instead of just being high performance. In other words, they're kinda like art pieces. For instance, you can buy a perfectly functional and beautiful Hanko for $650, or you can buy the same light made of Mokume for $1800.

And by the way, ideas are easy. Actually making a functional and useful 50K lumen flashlight would be a huge challenge given today's parts capabilities. The current required and heat generated from such a device would be hard to pull off reliably in a flashlight form. Good luck...

Good to know, thanks.
It definitely wouldn't be a regular "flashlight" form factor, that's simply not possible with current efficiency from light sources like LEDs.
More of a hellfire style can light, with tethered battery.
I'll definitely post a build log here if I ever get around to building it

chipwillis · Dec 21, 2016

I have a $5000 Mac Titanium HID

ven · Dec 21, 2016

wow chip!

Of course, people will pay more than you think, providing its not 1 of a 1000, so some exclusivity and build/quality is spot on............

Might not be a huge market, but there will always be one!

Skeeterg · Dec 21, 2016

I do like the idea of a tethered light,but I have not seen a good quality one yet. Not looking at your price range,but I think that would be the way to go though.

Enderman · Dec 22, 2016

ven said:
wow chip!

Of course, people will pay more than you think, providing its not 1 of a 1000, so some exclusivity and build/quality is spot on............

Might not be a huge market, but there will always be one!

Gives me hope!
I considered building flashlights in carbon fibre tubes to make it more exotic, but I think it might be necessary to use aluminum for better cooling for something like this.
Black anodizing shouldn't look too bad though

And yeah, this would be a 1 of 1 build, just like my thrower:

Skeeterg said:
I do like the idea of a tethered light,but I have not seen a good quality one yet. Not looking at your price range,but I think that would be the way to go though.

Thanks

I think tethered lights are pretty cool, lighter in the hand and more/larger battery options!
For a light that uses 500+ watts it would kinda be a requirement xD I hate those flashlights that only have like 90 seconds runtime on turbo.

ven · Dec 22, 2016

Although pencil beams serve no use for me due to lack of space to use, i do appreciate the impressive beam.......................awesome shot!!!

Deft X based on an acebeam(supbeam at the time) with 1,000,000cd iirc was priced or sell for around $800................sold out fast. Much work, dedication and being fastidious in everything played a part in its success/demand.

Enderman · Dec 22, 2016

ven said:
Although pencil beams serve no use for me due to lack of space to use, i do appreciate the impressive beam.......................awesome shot!!!

Deft X based on an acebeam(supbeam at the time) with 1,000,000cd iirc was priced or sell for around $800................sold out fast. Much work, dedication and being fastidious in everything played a part in its success/demand.

Thank you

Yeah the deft X and victor are amazing for their size, I wouldn't be able to cram 70k lumens in that though haha
I really like pencil beams

but lumens are important too so I thought about doing something different for my next light.

Lexel · Dec 22, 2016

Build a 20k lumens 4x XHP70 light
Watercooled head with small handle

Battery Supply for 1-2hours on turbo

using a 2cm cord going in a small backpack
containing several fat 14.8V LiPos 8000mAh
a water pump and a radiator.

ven · Dec 22, 2016

Enderman said:
Thank you
Yeah the deft X and victor are amazing for their size, I wouldn't be able to cram 70k lumens in that though haha
I really like pencil beams but lumens are important too so I thought about doing something different for my next light.

Trouble is to make 70k and a thrower is ............well not possible as far as i am aware and it to be a flashlight. Of course a thrower ideally needs a huge reflector, wide,deep and smooth. To get 70k lumens will require many LED's, the xhp70 is good for maybe around 5000lm, so even with 14x xhp70's its a HUGE surface area which is not ideal................unless you have a 6ft reflector! But this is not a flashlight. Think maxabeam is king..........

Are we talking LED for this project, because for ultimate throw, LED is not he best option.....................from a guy with limited knowledge on these types of lights!!!! So i could be way off!!!!

Enderman · Dec 22, 2016

ven said:
Trouble is to make 70k and a thrower is ............well not possible as far as i am aware and it to be a flashlight. Of course a thrower ideally needs a huge reflector, wide,deep and smooth. To get 70k lumens will require many LED's, the xhp70 is good for maybe around 5000lm, so even with 14x xhp70's its a HUGE surface area which is not ideal................unless you have a 6ft reflector! But this is not a flashlight. Think maxabeam is king..........

Are we talking LED for this project, because for ultimate throw, LED is not he best option.....................from a guy with limited knowledge on these types of lights!!!! So i could be way off!!!!

It won't be a thrower for sure, just lightly focused flood.
It is also going to be a single-LED light.
Most of the parts for the light have already been researched, soon I will start working on documentation and a 3d model, then if I feel like it I will start buying and building.

I won't give away all the details about the light until I start building, but if you want to know how to get 50k+ lumens out of a single LED I suggest you do some research on COBs

Lexel said:
Build a 20k lumens 4x XHP70 light
Watercooled head with small handle

Battery Supply for 1-2hours on turbo

using a 2cm cord going in a small backpack
containing several fat 14.8V LiPos 8000mAh
a water pump and a radiator.

That's a cool idea, but a bit different.

I've already made myself a battery pack for flashlights, it uses 4x 6000mah 3s lipos, and I'm planning to take a hellfire 4 and convert it to LED with my 5-6000 lumen XHP70

But this is a completely different project from this 50k+ lumen idea I had. AND much cheaper too, lol

ven · Dec 22, 2016

Enderman said:
It won't be a thrower for sure, just lightly focused flood.
It is also going to be a single-LED light.
Most of the parts for the light have already been researched, soon I will start working on documentation and a 3d model, then if I feel like it I will start buying and building.

I won't give away all the details about the light until I start building, but if you want to know how to get 50k+ lumens out of a single LED I suggest you do some research on COBs

Well it is not exactly one LED, its a load of them together on a single board, but know what you mean.

ven · Dec 22, 2016

Although you will get more lumens from the xhp70, the throw will be killed in the hellfire...........Nice host though.

So its a BIG light, extra pack with 4x lipos!!! that will no doubt be a beast , do you get a free back pack with the cost

Enderman · Dec 22, 2016

ven said:
Although you will get more lumens from the xhp70, the throw will be killed in the hellfire...........Nice host though.

So its a BIG light, extra pack with 4x lipos!!! that will no doubt be a beast , do you get a free back pack with the cost

Yeah, kinda trade off throw for more lumens and less weight, but it will be a reversible change if I do decide to mod it

I tried finding HID bulbs and ballasts that can do 8k+ lumens, but it's HARD!
There's like no places selling the xevision 75W bulbs and ballasts, and I don't believe any of the specs advertised on those cheap 75 or 100W chinese car "kits"
Unless I can somehow find a good hid bulb and ballast that will fit in the hellfire, LED it is, I always trust LED

And haha yes the lipos were pretty expensive, but they can do like 1500 amps max discharge! xD

4 of them fit perfectly inside my pelican 1120 case, looks beautiful too, unfortunately I made no pics of that yet.

Str8stroke · Dec 22, 2016

Why would anyone pay thousands of dollars a year to smoke, drink, and so on? :sssh:

Seriously, if a person can afford it, why not? High end lights (customs) typically hold their values pretty well. In some cases they actually increase in value due to supply & demand.

In general, Expensive items: Typically, it is all relative to income or more accurately, one's disposable income.

Another way to think about it, a married person making $100k a year with 3 kids, 2 car notes and a house note has less disposable cash vs the person, who is single, no kids making the same income with less bills and no revolving debt.

Also, for me I have no other real hobbies other than lights. I may save a year or more to get just one light. Folks not in the hobby may think that is totally crazy. All while they play golf with 2K in gear plus pay $100 a weekend for Green Fees.

Or how about those who smoke for a hobby? That is several thousand dollars a year.

Enderman · Dec 22, 2016

True.
So I guess there´s a pretty good chance of selling a custom 50 or 70k lumen flashlight, it just might take some time to find the buyer.
I´ll be adding it to my list of projects then

Right after the modded hellfire though.

tatasal · Dec 22, 2016

Why would anyone NOT pay thousands of dollar for a flashlight if he can comfortably afford it?

One man's simple joys can be another man's extravagance.

Would anyone pay thousands of dollar for a flashlight?

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