Drop testing? I smell production hiding just around the corner
Finances have been weird here but I might be able to get a second one in a week or two if things keep going as they currently are. And I’m not the strobe fan-boy. I can tolerate them as long as they are so well hidden that I can’t find them unintentionally Liking the aftermarket pouches shown. Liking the “smoke grenade” nomenclature even more because this light is going to ‘smoke’ almost every other stock light :smiling_imp:
So are we still at the original price point ($40+ 10%)? I read some discussion earlier that it might go higher (and I’ve read every post in this thread which is why the “reads” are up). Most of the relevant discussion here has been well worth reading and many of the points brought up have been enlightening- the depth of thought found here on BLF is amazing. The irrelevant discussion has been entertaining as well.
I believe that everything has it’s place, and I believe the Q8 is going to find it’s place alongside the BLF A6, X5, M24, and B158 as a milestone of flashlight design and performance. Just gotta love it!
Yea, haven't looked at C lib rand() code support in a long time, but thought it was fairly big. Goin from 4GB embedded panel displays @work to 8KB MCU's is a little rough, and 8KB is a huge MCU
Very excited to see the drop test, doing it with cells in makes me think they were pretty confident. After the first few drops I was chanting ‘open it, open it!’
The Miller, can you bump me from 2 light to 4 lights please?
About the alarm clock thing, we don't have a RTC (Real Time Clock) or much equivalent, and for the timers we currently use, I think I'm seeing a hefty delta off of what I thought. I think I'll have to run some independent timer tests. We use two methods of timing: a roughly 16 msec interrupt, and a delay loop based on processor time to run a specific sequence of code. I'm suspecting the delay loop method doesn't take into account interrupt servicing, so the delays are longer than I think. Also, the 16 msec interrupt may be off as well (takes longer).
In the latest Narsil version, I introduced yet another interrupt handler for AtoD conversion (when the AtoD completes) for both temperature and battery voltage readings, code contributed by DEL, so this might be the cause, or part of the cause. With some of the slower blinks (like battery voltage or temp reading), the blink sequence is definitely slower compared to the old version, though the delays are coded the same.
Drop Test - I would love to see some close up pics of the light, and yes, taken apart, check those cells, etc. Need to examine:
glass lens - any damage?
batteries survive without nicks, dents, etc.
bezel - should be ok because of SS, but any other damage around it
tail - I'd expect some dents or something there. The tailcaps are pretty thin metal, certainly a weak point of the design.
Look at the feet of the chair in the background, it does not have casters or large feet, and there is no obvious crater around them. Which leads me to believe that, while there may be carpet on the floor, there is probably no padding under it. Never underestimate the ability of a shipping company to damage a box, but it looks like Thorfire is trying.
I’m confused. What was the point of doing a drop test? Was it to test the packaging or the light? I assumed the packaging.
My assumption of the test was that it would be dropped from 1 meter onto a concrete floor. This would test the box and padding quite well.
If it’s going to be shipped in an unpadded, small card board box, then why do a drop test?
Is the cardboard box also going to be in a padded envelope? If so, then that’s how the drop test should be done. In the box with the padded envelope on a concrete floor.
The test is to show that the light itself will survive shipping, which they have proven quite nicely. And with the worst possible circumstances too boot.
There is a concrete floor under that thin layer of carpet.
Who cares if the box is damaged, I use the light not the box. Although I do assume that a bubble mailer will be used during shipping but that only improves things. No reason to test it like that, I prefer this test, the worst case scenario and it still passed.
Oh my gosh I cringed every time it hit the floor! I wanted someone to stop him! LOL
I apologize to all for not posting more feedback on the Q8 protoype. Life has gone a bit wonky and I haven’t had much time for testing but I will post more soon and try to get a few decent beamshots.
I don’t see any possible way this light will fall short of being a huge success. It’s just very well executed all around from build quality to Narsil topped off with insane lumen numbers. I was out on my front porch playing with the Q8 prototype with my 11 year old son the other night. You can’t make this stuff up…
My wife thinks it’s hilarious that my 9 and 11 year old kids know flashlight terminology that is just gibberish to her.
Makes a father proud to hear his son say
The one thing I will say is some of you are going to be tuning back the step-down timer. At 3 minutes being handheld on a night that was somewhere between 45 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit it was getting uncomfortable to hold when it hit the 3 minute step-down. Touching it at the head I didn’t want to keep my finger on it for more than a second. It wasn’t at the point that it would cause burns but I’ll probably tune that back a bit before the next round of testing.
Tom PLEASE give us lightning! That sounds WAAAY too fun. :+1:
Yikes! Maybe I'm used to hot lights , I certainly have enough of them... Also the cells make a big difference - fully charged, low resistance will definitely generate more heat.
I was debating making that 3 minutes down to 2 minutes. Should still be able to change that I hope...
Actually, dunno if the one step down is sufficient to keep it running cool enough for a full drain test. I think the proper test is worse case cells (maybe VTC6 or VTC5A's), fully charged doing a full drain test starting on max. Then we can see if the single timed step down is enough - checking outer temp of the body periodically. Temperature regulation is safer in how it's implemented for this light.
Hhmm - could "back up" the timed stepdown with thermal stepdowns, just using a higher temp point, like 65C or so.
Good video.
It clearly shows that light, in that packaging; can survive 12 drops to that floor from a distance of around 4.5 to 5 feet…… and still work. :+1:
Did anyone else notice the “feather crack” in the lens at about 2 o’clock besides me?
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Just kidding……….
Great video…. but the sandals stole the show imo.
Liking the aftermarket pouches shown. Liking the “smoke grenade” nomenclature even more because this light is going to ‘smoke’ almost every other stock light :smiling_imp:
