I am adding the base tripod threaded mod tomorrow to the prototype, and will do some beam-pattern ( beam shot) comparisons between the new V2 versus the V1 and some other modified lanterns i have. So far the V2 is very impressive with the new head design, with a smoother, wider field of illumination than any other lantern i tested or have, with the least lantern glare effect of them all. I can;t wait to field-test this (with photos) on our first 3-day camping trip in 2 weeks. I hope to get the USB TP4056 based charging circuit added to if i can in time, to test its off-grid sustainability using a 10-Watt Eceen folding solar charger.
The ‘head’ of this light (as well the Q8) is MOST of the cost. The only thing left is the battery tube. Others have suggested earlier in the thread that it would be nice to have a diffuser that connects over the stock LEDs in the Q8, but that is not anything like what is being created here. Now, it has been confirmed that there is also planned a threaded hole in the base for tripod mount. The Q8 doesn’t have that either. At this point, there is no part of this light that isn’t ‘changed’ from the Q8 design somehow, even though the parts will be made from the Q8 CAD drawings, so they will likely be able to ‘Lego’ together. As such, the likelihood of this being made as just an add-on to the Q8 is probably less than zero.
You are on the interest list Phlipp, number 757. I am assisting DBSAR in keeping this list updated, and have created a google doc for it. You can see the list at this link anytime. I will be sending DBSAR an update periodically so he can update the list in the first post as well.