Q8, PMS SEND TO THOSE WITH ISSUES BLF soda can light

Welcome to BLF!
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Would be so funny to reach 1750 pre orders, we have crossed 99% of that I just saw.

Cue Bangood website going into meltdown with last minute orders :slight_smile:

How many will it be in the morning ?

Thank you! I appreciate it.

> what could have been done ā€¦?

That site I linked to above has some suggestions. Look for the clickable link that looks like this:

Youā€™re right that the ā€œwant it now!ā€ contingent here was pushing too hard, as we knew theyā€™d be doing.
Rushing production has never worked out well.

But the main problem is whoever at TF managed the process didnā€™t understand
how to keep his companyā€™s best long-term interest in mind.

(but obviously he was clever enough to find someone to rush and then blame, sigh)

Oh boy.. Thanks for all the pm's!! Lots of offers. I'd like to see the responses if I posted I'm having trouble paying my taxes or something

No, please don't send money!!

Just paid for my 3rd and last, should have me and my family well set up for things that go bump in the night. :smiley:

2 of mine came in. Nice build on these lights but some things needed attention first thing. I expected some black gunk to be on the ring inside near the circuit board, and wasnā€™t disappointed. It appears that when these lights are tested the cells they use are dirty. A ā€œpink pearlā€ pencil eraser removed the black deposit without much trouble. I had to blow out the eraser dust.

One of the complaints folks have had are buggered up screws. Mine had possibly a little of that but not enough to mention. I did need to put some grease on the o-rings and threads, there was some on the threads, but the o-rings were dry. The cheat sheet fit right into the end cap slicker than snot. Another complaint heard is that the switch LEDs are of unequal brightness. Both of mine appear to be of the same brightness or close enough; I didnā€™t need a lit switch anyway, but itā€™s a nice touch. Thanks for including it Thorfire! So far in the Q8 Iā€™ve only used the UI functions available in the Emisar D4 and itā€™s Narsil Lite UI. Later tonight Iā€™ll play with it more. Physically itā€™s longer than the Meteor M43 with a diameter roughly the same but that too was expected since this light has reflectors and the M43 doesnā€™t.

Some folks complain that the flats on the battery section donā€™t line up with the milled sections on the head. Mine donā€™t either. Big deal.

I kept it on turbo and sure enough in 3 minutes it stepped down. I might change that to tempā€™ control just in case I need turbo for longer and itā€™s ā€“20Ā°. In those 3 minutes the head got decidedly uncomfortable to hold. Iā€™m thinking tempā€™ control or no control (ones own hand being the tempā€™ control) is the way to go.

I probably knew it, but had forgottenā€¦ It has no hole for a lanyard, but it does have a threaded hole in 1/4-20, so it will accept a d-ring or some such, or go onto a tripod. I havenā€™t decided yet, but I may drill and tap a hole in the endcap for a lanyard ring. Dang! I forgot! I bought a camera hanging dingus that goes on a belt to hold the light. I just tried it without the belt and itā€™ll work fine for using it for nighttime chores. It just needs a bit of blue loctite on the threads, and a belt.

The smoke grenade pouches work great and if anything are just a hair snug, but that means they will pull out and not fall out.

Iā€™ll keep cells in both of these for a few days to make sure the switch LEDs are ā€œburnt inā€ and working.

These are very nice lights! Quite a light for being a ā€œbudget lightā€! I have yet to be disappointed with any BLF light.

My hat is tipped to the team! Kudus! You folks did a great job and produced a fine light! But again, I have not been disappointed with any BLF light that Iā€™ve purchased. Itā€™s definitely worth more than what I paid for it. It was also interesting to watch the process an idea to completion and now I have them on my desk. It canā€™t get dark soon enough

It hasnā€™t been that long ago (back when Americans made stuff) that we just blamed assembly problems on ā€œFriday afternoonsā€ or ā€œMonday morning hangoversā€ of failing Union negotiations. I donā€™t think I ever heard anybody blaming it on American workers trying to get a product out the door too quickly.

With the risk of burning myself and suffer from premature charging once again, i am told i should have my Q8 in my hands tomorrow. :sunglasses:

If so i look forward to it, but i have a lot of stuff going on at the moment, but evenings or nights are reasonably free for illumination.

Like BrianK, mine came to Maine today via FedEx SnailPost. Wow, sure took a long time to cross the country! Unbelievably slow.

Worth the wait, of course. All seems in order. drilled out the driver screw holes, chamfered the shelf tapped holes, cleaned the brass contact surfaces at the head and, excellent! Tail spring bypasses are next.

Great job Q8 team and, especially, The Miller, for putting up with us all for so long over this. Thank you! Waiting for nightfallā€¦.

Clearly you have forgotten the Project Vanguard :smiley: so bad in the end the Dwight D. Eisenhower had to swallow his pride and let the Ex German run with the ball.

Though with projects like that blame are rarely assigned when things go wrong.

FWIW, meanwhile in Finland: My Q8 by BG ā€œFree Shippingā€/singpost is ready for pickup and tracking shows it arrived at my local post office this Tuesday morning. Unfortunately Iā€™m out of town for several days, so I canā€™t say anything about the product yet. :weary:

I tried and failed. Some had fractures that were not visible and kinda broke when looked at. :wink: They will still work for many purposes, just need a little more time during construction and donā€™t look as pretty.

Probably alot easier sitting back in your armchair, analyzing. The folks here have a regular life beyond this forum. They designed a light, found a Chinese manufacturer to work with them. Built a light worth three times what was paid. I think the team, and Thorfire did a great job on this. Other than a few led issues, every light works as designed. There have been 500 shipped, and unfortunately, the ones you hear about are the few with issues.
From a USA, manufacturing standpoint. If you think they had a dedicated team to produce only this light, your wrong. Who knows how many orders, or how many different orders, they produce in a day. I can guarantee, an assembly team is going to make errors. From what I understand, and by visual of my light. Every light was checked. An led that was brighter than the other on a QC check, probably wouldnā€™t be noticed, except by a Flashaholic. The flickering, and led dying is an issue, but probably wasnā€™t detected in the initial check. The other issues with dust, and adhesive are trivial. A screw that might have been damaged, but was secure, probably would have passed.
I actually feel bad for TheMiller, and every one else involved with this, including Thorfire. This is such an awesome light, and basically, the last ten pages, are folks that want to nitpick it to death.
Unfortunately, they have to deal with this. I think everyone involved has stepped up, and I expect Thorfire will make it right (they always have for me).

EDIT: Ok, it took me so long to write that, their have been a few more positive posts. :+1:

:+1: Hereā€™s to BLF Development
team :crown:

:confounded: Hereā€™s to China TF QC :expressionless:

Tell us more about your dingus! :smiley:

Iā€™ve seen camera/belt attachment thingies but Iā€™m curious what youā€™ve got.

Got a photo or a link?

Iā€™m really impressed by the BLF Q8 teamā€™s work this far. Just a hobby project and stuff, and the result is at least the best SRK-like host ever. For a budget.

However, I - sitting in my armchair - know even reputable western manufacturers cheat. Tyre factories send hand picked and optimized products to be tested and less than surprisingly they perform better than the bulk product will. Worldā€™s largest car manufacturers compete in ways they can optimize and cheat in emissions test, screwing their customers into buying cars that are worse than they would have been without the testing process, related modifications and especially the so called ā€œrepairsā€ and ā€œupgradesā€ after they are caught.

How could a Chinese industrial plant produce the same quality in bulk that their salesmen order or personally make or supervise being made in singles or dozens? More correctly, why bother? Not gonna happen. Itā€™s a wild, wild East. For a 1st world entrepreneur it might be hard to understand they basically have no law or rule - regarding this stuff. They do as they please in a very ultra-anarcho-capitalist way that many dream because they never saw how it really works.

One thing for sure

for 40$ there is no SRK light outside you can buy and mod below 40$ to get the build quality and performance like the Q8

if you do not want to buy an unreviewed production run light, please dont do it
if you buy the Q8 and know Thorfire you should now many lights had issues

I received two Q8s. Installed solder boobed 30Qsā€¦ and WOW!

However, both of my units have one serious issue. How do I get these Q8s to tail stand? They wonā€™t leave my hands. :innocent:

Cheers!

EDIT: Are you sure these were only $40 eachā€¦ and not just the first $40 monthly payment?

Iā€™m sure lessons will have been learned, and that Thorfire want to and will step up to the mark. ISTM they have been as responsive as they could, really impressed at decision to stop the line, acknowledge small failings and regroup. (Not a Manker). And I hope this will be the beginning of a very good relationship with BLF going forward.

We need the likes of Thorfire on our side. It seems The Miller et al have cultivated a good relationship with them which is all important, going forward, and not something that can be developed in a hurry.

Wow this is so awesome
1738 pre orders Banggood
14 orders at Elfeland
1752
That is now
And that is 100,00% of the total number we had on the lists, like exactly!
BLF delivered spot on, just cool!