I have not posted in a while but I have been trying to keep up.
First, it does not matter who the OP is. "His/Her" point is valid one to the same ;)
Second, I think PD68 hit it spot on. To paraphrase.....it is boredom. How much can a person to to a C8 that has not been done over and over already? A couple of years ago breaking the 1000 Lm mark was a big deal. Today that happens with a lights running on 14500's !
I think that the budget lights are still there but not often spoken of by newer people and even then when they get bitten they all want that crazy stuff that makes people look at us funny.
Well - how about do something about it with your “vast experience” and help kick-off our budget-priced GT project, instead of kicking off on a forum no-one forced you to join/take notice of.
I totally understand OP’s rant. The reason is likely because of the demographics. Most of us are initially still in the “third world” where USD $20 is 1-3 days worth of work. But as more Americans and Western Europeans participate, where USD $20 is a mere hourly wage for even the minimum wage slaves, prices of what is deemed acceptable creep up.
There are still a lot of budget lights out there, a lot of them are still unchanged from the early days of this forum, but we’ve learned so much in a very short time.
The main problems are te parts we use to mod our budget lights with. We’ve come a long way with emitters, drivers, optics and MCPCBs which are starting to become quite costly. We can still mod those really cheap hosts, but when you start thinking about the money you’ve put out for the parts you start to wonder if it’s really worth it to instal them in that really cheap host, so you invest an extra $10 for a higher quality host. Things add up.
We used to be happy with AA lights, but now we crave the juice of liions. Non DTP stars…I don’t think so. 0.8A at the tail…mostly no. Hmmmm. I better pick up one of those custom copper pills. Ahhhh yes.
Even the Chinese are picking up on what we really want (and stealing our ideas and inventions), and that increases the cost. No one wants an underpowered next mode memory driver pushing an outdated green tinged emitter anymore, but that’s what we used to buy and do a simple emitter swap and stack two chips onto a nanjg driver.
We can still do all that, cheap too, but we’ve come too far and can never be happy de-evolving.
Basically…been there, done that. Now we’re setting out to seek and explore new planets, I mean new technology and techniques.
Maybe a folder is good… but there’s nothing very interesting about a $20 light. How much can you talk about that? And I assume modding it to over $20 would defeat the principal, so yea. Boring.
I’m in W. Europe and i’m rather poor too.
$20/hour netto is not minimum wage either.
I think it’s maybe different kind of people that get attracted to nowadays stock Lumen canons.
Spend money, wait for delivery and go: WHOA!
Indeed, we are the brightest light forum in the (known) universe
I like how TPB used to say the most stable tracker in the galaxy, technically they are correct, until others are proven we don’t know they could exist
1. I think that any attempt to separate threads by the cost of the lights is not a good idea.
2. Although I rarely buy a light over $30 I like the option to, eg the Q8.
3. I will never dedome an led or mod a light any more than the basics, I really enjoy all the custom light threads. I am also patient and know that as technology moves forward I will be given an opportunity to buy awesome lights that are a generation behind for “budget” prices that barely cover the original parts to say nothing of the labor.
I look over the array of flashlights that cover all available surface area of nightstands, desks, and counters in my home and can remember when I bought them, some a long time ago. I guess what I am saying is I like things the way it is and am constantly in awe of the really talented and motivated folks here every day.
I have been here for four+ years. When I joined, I new nothing of lithium powered lights and was totally amazed at the output and range of lights costing 10 USD and less. Believe it or not, there are still “budget” lights that cast a strong beam even at the original price (501b) etc. still available. What is different is technology is advancing rapidly. I recently took a year or so off and just happened to check back in. WOW! I couldn’t believe the advances. Now I can get a 14500 light less than four inches in length producing 500+ to 1400 lumens. Yes the price has increased, but it is worth it. Since I came back a few month ago I have purchased way too many lights. What can I say? Today, I purchased my third Klarus Mi7, this one for $19.00. To me, this light as well as many others are true budget lights.
Now recently, I see group buys for lights $100 or higher. I am not interested in those, but some are - OK by me. There are many exceptional lights at far lower prices in my opinion, and they are discussed and reviewed here. Actually, I have seen sub $10 lights discussed here recently. In any event, I think we are still in “budget” mode although possibly at a bit higher cost. It’s called time and progress.
Depends how bad you want it. You can sell a testicle for $50,000 then you’d have your 10k budget easy. You can sell one to science and they will put a metal one in there so it still looks like you have two. And then you can say you have balls of steel. If I was older and completely on test replacement therapy I’d consider it
The problem is - and the reason I shy away from most budget stuff these days - is because of the hit-or-miss build quality. You just can’t depend on getting a good $40 light very often, or recommending one to someone else while having confidence that what they get will be as good as my unit. You are limited to a select few brands.
For some reason, it took me years to find that out. The clone is never better than the real thing. Get the real deal and you come away with more.
IMHO budget doesn’t mean “cheap” as much as it means “good value” and there are plenty of those here in stock form and via modding. I read a huge amount of old posts before joining and yes, there’s a difference today. No longer do people get ecstatic over a $5 light because there are better lights and better deals to be had. And there’s many good stock lights now unlike in the past. Some of the deals we’ve seen here are as much as 50% less than the actual price you can buy or build that kind of light for; how can that not be “budget”? Look at the M24X2 GB and price it against any comparable light. Ditto for the CooYoo Qyantum when it arrived on the scene. And where can you best the Q8 The Miller is doing for us at a price of $40?
What BLF is today is great knowledge, great people, and a great attitude. That hasn’t changed and I hope it never does. Sorry that somebody has a problem with the rest of it- perhaps if they’d looked for the good things they would feel differently
I started out on CPF when I jumped into the light scene. I quickly figured out that most of the people there were less than friendly and some were flat out rude…especially when a new person would ask a question. I was really curious about modding lights because that’s all I would read about but it wasn’t about actually doing the modding…it was about buying the already modded lights from so and so. A few months later I stumbled into this nuthouse and I’ve been here every since. Everyone seems to be fairly friendly and seem to enjoy sharing their eye scorching skills. I knew nothing about flashlights before I joined BLF…I had a Streamlight Protac HL (CR123A Vampire) and my wife bought me a Fenix LD60 for my birthday shortly after joining CPF. I still peek in over there every month or two but I tend to stay here. To me…it’s not about finding the cheapest light. It’s about finding a light that you like and then upgrade it by about 300%! I :heart_eyes: you guys.
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