Why is it so hard to find lights in any other color than black?

AtlasObscura · Nov 19, 2019

Hi everyone

I live in a house with three other brothers plus my dad. We all EDC various things but one thing that has becoming increasingly common is the discussion on who owns that flashlight. I EDC a 4Sevens Quark Mini and so does my dad and one of my brothers. It just gets to a point where I won't be able to find the light that I had put down somewhere because one of the other guys that uses the same light has picked it up mistakenly.

We all use different knives, wallets, phones, etc.. so it is easy to tell who owns what from across the room- just flashlights are where we have to examine and be like "oh yes, I remember mine had this mark".

This has lead me to look online for a CR123 light in a different finish and everywhere I look- it seems almost non-existent. I remember HDS used to offer Cerakoted lights, now it's all gone from their website. 4Sevens used to do titanium runs fairly regularly but it looks like they have gone under and the guy that now runs it never has anything in stock. It seems like almost everyone is following the same principle of 'black aluminum, tactical looking'- unless of course you spend $500+ on a Muyshondt.

At this point I'll settle for anything in gray or green and even a mid-priced titanium EDC light!

Any suggestions or input is much appreciated.

nbp · Nov 19, 2019

Any requirements beyond CR123? Output, UI, budget?

A lot of production lights are black but in the Custom and "mid-tech" market there are many more fun colors and bare metal lights.

troutpool · Nov 20, 2019

1. You can start a Want-to-Buy thread here on CPF for a colorful HDS.

2. Do look at Frelux Synergy lights. They are 2xAAA side-by-side in various colors with beautiful anodizing.

3. Put some sort of lanyard on any light to make it different from other lights in the house.

AVService · Nov 20, 2019

Olight seems to offer finish choices
Fenix does too
ZL are not black
Reylight
Convoy
Emisar
BLF FW3A
Peak

Just get any different light than they have?

Colored Heat Shrink
Tape
Nail Polish
Ranger Band Cover
Lanyard

There are a whole lot of other ways to make yours different I think.

Sos24 · Nov 20, 2019

Try the EagleTac D25c Titanium or the D3c titanium. I don't have the titanium version but the D25c is a really good quality flashlight.

JETBeam II Pro and Olight S1 titanium come in some different colors but they are not the easiest to find.

SkyLumen has a FourSevens Atom 123 classic in nickel under one-off if you wanted to stick with FourSevens.

fivemega · Nov 20, 2019

Reflective tapes are available in different colors and stick well on smooth surfaces.

kamagong · Nov 20, 2019

You can have any color you want as long as it's black.

Keitho · Nov 20, 2019

"mid-priced titanium", maybe an Emisar D4V2 Ti with an 18350 tube--about the same size or smaller than many CR123 lights, but can use an Aspire INR18350 1300mAh or other high-performance rechargeable. Or, even cheaper non-black, a D4V2 in dark grey or sand color. You'll make your brothers and dad jealous with your non-black pocket rocket pumping out thousands of lumens for a few seconds!

bykfixer · Nov 20, 2019

I have two Pelican lights that are different generations but look identical so I put a stripe around it with enamel paint.

Black is easy to apply and popular so the market is largely made up of it. It's that simple.

thermal guy · Nov 20, 2019

You could order any color model A when they first came out. As long as it was black 😂. Think that's a true story no time to Google it now.

bykfixer · Nov 20, 2019

My boss told me that the Model A did not have a black option, that it was the Model T.
He owns a green Model A.
Model T came out long before the Model A so a lot of folks got it backward when the rumor began. Oh, and Henry Ford apparently never said that either. It was somebody else but Mr Ford was always credited.

thermal guy · Nov 20, 2019

Oh so it was the model T? Well funny stuff anyways.

bykfixer · Nov 20, 2019

The big rumor was the Model A, but it did not even have the option of black.

Now finding a non-black flashlight in todays tacti-cool market aint always so easy either. Like others said some are available but all too often top sellers are black unless a special version comes out. I suppose you could always do the coating stripper thing and make it alluminum color.

LetThereBeLight! · Nov 20, 2019

AtlasObscura said:
Hi everyone

I live in a house with three other brothers plus my dad. We all EDC various things but one thing that has becoming increasingly common is the discussion on who owns that flashlight. I EDC a 4Sevens Quark Mini and so does my dad and one of my brothers. It just gets to a point where I won't be able to find the light that I had put down somewhere because one of the other guys that uses the same light has picked it up mistakenly.

We all use different knives, wallets, phones, etc.. so it is easy to tell who owns what from across the room- just flashlights are where we have to examine and be like "oh yes, I remember mine had this mark".

This has lead me to look online for a CR123 light in a different finish and everywhere I look- it seems almost non-existent. I remember HDS used to offer Cerakoted lights, now it's all gone from their website. 4Sevens used to do titanium runs fairly regularly but it looks like they have gone under and the guy that now runs it never has anything in stock. It seems like almost everyone is following the same principle of 'black aluminum, tactical looking'- unless of course you spend $500+ on a Muyshondt.

At this point I'll settle for anything in gray or green and even a mid-priced titanium EDC light!

Any suggestions or input is much appreciated.

In my judgment, the answer is that "some" flashlight companies do not understand the importance of color/color psychology. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has declined to buy a light, no matter how attractive its features, because the only color option was black.

desertrunner · Nov 21, 2019

Looks like Fenix is doing all sorts of custom colors.

Grijon · Nov 21, 2019

troutpool said:
...

2. Do look at Frelux Synergy lights. They are 2xAAA side-by-side in various colors with beautiful anodizing.

I had never heard of these before this post - awesome!

3. Put some sort of lanyard on any light to make it different from other lights in the house.

This is so simple, and so good.

LetThereBeLight! · Nov 21, 2019

desertrunner said:
Looks like Fenix is doing all sorts of custom colors.

First, Olight came out with Desert Tan colored light, which I eagerly purchased. Then a Green light, which I passed on, and now they have an Orange light, and a new Red light that launches on 12/2 the latter two of which are sorely tempting me!

But it is not the colors alone attracting me. It is the colors combined with design and features. I think someone at Olight studied Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs which detailed Jobs obsession with design and how it's inextricably connected with function and form and much more.

Although I do not have a "favorite" flashlight company, my hat is off to Olight. They get "it".

Cyclops942 · Nov 21, 2019

LetThereBeLight! said:
First, Olight came out with Desert Tan colored light, which I eagerly purchased. Then a Green light, which I passed on, and now they have an Orange light, and a new Red light that launches on 12/2 the latter two of which are sorely tempting me!

But it is not the colors alone attracting me. It is the colors combined with design and features. I think someone at Olight studied Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs which detailed Jobs obsession with design and how it's inextricably connected with function and form and much more.

Although I do not have a "favorite" flashlight company, my hat is off to Olight. They get "it".

Yup. I have some desert tan Olights, lots of black ones, a blue one, some green ones, several olive drab ones, and the orange and the red ones are tempting me greatly, too. I think I'll be able to pass on the orange one, because I already have a light very similar to that one (in blue!), but the red one could make a very nice gift.

ampdude · Nov 22, 2019

People complain when parts are mismatched in color, so everything is dyed nowadays. Not as strong a finish, even in type III, but it makes people happy.

RollerBoySE · Nov 22, 2019

Some of the current leaders in innovation, like Emisar and Astrolux, have a wide range of colors and materials. Check them out.

Why is it so hard to find lights in any other color than black?

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