What do you think flashlights will look like in the future?

XTAR Light

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Think back to the flashlights of your childhood, and compare them with today's flashlights. You can see the flashlight's technology has made several advances over the years.

Currently, some flashlights can reach tens of thousands of lumens in brightness output, beam distance range of several kilometers, and even were added with remote control. The spot beam angle also becomes much narrower.

In your opinion, what breaking changes will happen on flashlights in the future?
 

Poppy

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Flashlights of the future will not be hand held devices, but will be more like headlamps. They'll be like eyeglasses, with auto light intensity. Intensity will vary depending upon the lux of the object and the size of the iris of the eye, ie if the iris is large due to adapted night vision, the lux will be low, however if the iris is small, then the object may need a higher lux.

Also the light will track eye movement, and have zoom ability. Depending upon eye movement, it will determine if the wearer is scanning the area, or focusing on something in the distance, and automatically adjust the zoom.

So, in short it will be a hands free, variable intensity, zoomie.
 

Olumin

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Lights like poppy describes will exist. Lighting of the future will utilize multi-spectral-emitters, able to emit a wide range of coherent and incoherent EM radiation from long wave radio waves to short wave gamma rays. Such emitters will find use in anything from household lighting to handheld flashlights and even military laser weapon systems. Such lights are able to focus their "beam" without the need of a focusing lens and are able to steplessly adjust their wavelength within a defined spectrum. This is useful especially for weapon systems, as wide-field microwave lasers for example are particularly effective as a means of crowd control, while narrowly focused infrared to UV lasers are far more effective against a wide variety of inorganic targets and structures at long ranges. All that in a single weapon system.

Household lighting and flashlights will function on the same basic principles, but are mostly limited to the visible spectrum together with UV and Infrared for specialized applications. UV and IF capabilities will be very common in most handheld lighting devices. Most devices in the future will be wirelessly powered by a city- or even nation-wide power net, so batteries and cords will be a thing of the past for most applications. You will seldom find a spot on earth not covered by some power network. Other than that, solid-state graphene batteries will power portable devices that require it, including some flashlights. Such batteries can deliver ludicrously high currents for our standards and sport capacities in the hundreds to thousands of Ah. Portable lighting equipment will mostly be in direct connection with your brain, which, much like poppy already described, allows it to automatically adjust to every situation you might encounter. However, jobs like law enforcement and military will almost exclusively be done by drones and other machines, which do not necessarily require visible light to "see".

Dedicated household lighting will be somewhat obsolete, since most homes will include many hard- and soft-light holographic emitters, which among many other things, can also light rooms. Portable lighting equipment like flashlights exist, but are of limited use to the average citizen as most people in developed nations seldom leave their homes anymore. Holographic networks and internet will connect most places in the world, allowing you to effectively work from home, travel and visit your friends or family in holographic form or online, and spend your vacations and free-time in a custom tailed simulation indistinguishable from relativity.

Just guessing.
 
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bykfixer

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I dunno man, on Star Trek TNG they hand hold little squares that have perfect flood and prefect throw. I figure multi emitter arrays with differing functions.
But then again it takes 5 people to drive a ship run by a computer so there is that……
 

thermal guy

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I dunno man, on Star Trek TNG they hand hold little squares that have perfect flood and prefect throw. I figure multi emitter arrays with differing functions.
But then again it takes 5 people to drive a ship run by a computer so there is that……

I remember them. Hand held squares. Though they looked pretty cool.
 

LRJ88

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The main thing i can see affecting affecting flashlights in the future would be battery capacity, the heat build-up from the light emitter, and throw characteristics. Most flashlights today are of a tube type because it's the easiest to manufacture and it fits the vast majority of battery options best. We have small flashlights that are very bright, but they can't hold that up for long due to not being able to shed the heat, meaning that if we can find a light source that generates less heat that'll allow for less material in the head and worries in regards to heat dissipation. We need lenses today in order to get the beam profile we want, if the light source itself had that built in we could save space in regards to that.

So, in short, if we're able to overcome those hurdles we could potentially be looking at flashlights being a lot smaller than today while still having the same, if not higher output. If a flashlight the size of a Fenix E01 can output around 1,000 lumens for an extended period of time without battery sag or overheating then those would be a lot more popular if the cost is also low enough for the general public to find it worthwhile getting it.
 

Olumin

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I dunno man, on Star Trek TNG they hand hold little squares that have perfect flood and prefect throw. I figure multi emitter arrays with differing functions.
But then again it takes 5 people to drive a ship run by a computer so there is that……

18991434_5.jpg
 

thermal guy

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I have a feeling will see single LED's that are capable of putting out cool,natural and warm light with a flip of a switch. We will still complain about tint with them though 😁
 

Monocrom

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Looks won't matter. Output, runtime, durability will.
I doubt we'll see anything truly radical in design.
 

Hooked on Fenix

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Several small lights powered remotely by radio frequency or infrared by one large nearby battery.
A compact thermoelectric generator built into the light to turn waste heat into electricity to improve efficiency and give the light a low power function for when the battery dies working from the body heat from your hand.
A hydrogen fuel cell powered light paired with a portable solar powered hydrogen generator and compressor.
A light with gps tracking and taser function (shock the person holding the light remotely) to prevent theft. (Doesn't have to seriously hurt them. Something like a novelty shock lighter would be just fine. Just so they're no longer able to hold the light.) Uber retrieval enabled to have someone retrieve the light and bring it back to you.
 
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scout24

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I can see battery tech for edc single cell type lights getting away from round cylindrical types and moving toward more organic pocket and hand-friendly shapes like used in the Surefire Stiletto or the upcompng Wedge. Thermalguy- Check out the Lumecube panel mini for tint mixing- it goes from 3200k to 5600k in mostly 100k steps, very cool... (no pun...) I purchased one mainly to see how that function works, and it's really nice. Not ready for prime time enthusiast lights, but the idea works. Has relatively seamless ramping, too. :) No link, and I'm not affiliated. Footprint of a credit card, and runtimes have tested real close to claims.
 
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Sambob

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Depends how long this "Tactical" drivel keeps going on I mean for decades It's been head,switch,battery tube and a bulb the only real change In 50 years has been Incandescent to LED..Seriously I'm just hoping battery life finally catches up, Its been lagging for decades, It's pathetic..and I'm still waiting for the personal jet pack we were promised.
 

Hooked on Fenix

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How about a drone that automatically follows you around and lights up the path in front of you? (Not just when you're in trouble)
 

defloyd77

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The ongoing lumen wars are going to result in somebody frying their eyes, resulting in a huge lawsuit. Flashlight companies ban together to fight to no avail. The result will be the dark age of illumination, with heavy regulations on how much light can be put out. They'll be pathetically dim, but will have pretty vintage aesthetics to try and appease the masses.
 

LED Monkey

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Not in the far off future but in the next 5~10 years, the biggest thing is going to be how your flashlight is powered. Yes battery technology is going to make the biggest difference in the near future. No moore's law with batteries but it's chuggin along. LED tech will improve also and be more efficient too.
 

holygeez03

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Do not invite defloyd77 to your party!

I think eventually we will all have implants or chemical treatments to see almost perfectly in the dark. I will still use my favorite lights.
 
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