The BLF A6 has ruined me!

This set the scene so nicely that I read the rest of the post at a slow pace, with an imagined creaky voice and long pauses

:smiley: :beer:

Great post! :+1: :smiley:

It took me a long time to move past basic AA/AAA lights, but I’m totally one of the weirdos now. Cheers and thanks for the laugh this morning!! :beer:

I love the A6. My most used light by far, I use it every day at work.
I have the 5A tint and I love that too, I would get this tint on all lights if I could.

It’s incredible what you can get for what you pay. Convoy C8 clear is also amazing for $20 in the thrower category

I have around 50 different lights, from AAA to multiple 18650 and the BLF A6 is what I keep grabbing to daily carry everyday. I have the cheap chinese no names, and some main stream known names that cost too much in my opinion. BUt for some reason I just keep coming back to it. I am a cool white kind of tint guy, I can’t stand the yellowish tints on any lights. I literally changed every bulb in my home to daylight led’s, even in the fridge, yes EVERY single bulb. Even the ones on my vehicle are a cool white LED. Just my preference. I think I might get a custom Convoy S2+ from Hanson customs next since it is about the same size and form factor and he can make it however I want. Just loving the moonlight and all the modes in between. I have been using it daily for about the last week or two and I just did a battery check lastnight and I am still between 75–100 battery on the suggested samsung IMR 3000mah 30Q.

Same with me too. Had a mech mod, and bought extra batteries. Wondered where they were besides laptop cells and those external batteries. Found out the first mods were converted flashlights so I decided to try out the flashlights, I knew the SK68 was already a good light. Got the SK98, lost it with my 25R :(

Got the S2+ and it was ok besides the awful UI. I used the A6 as well at home because it was finicky when I first got it, and it honestly sucked. BG gave me a "replacement" that was actually a dummy head and I learned to mod flashlights because of their mistake.

Haha you guys did a good job convincing me, I just ordered my first A6 now the long wait for it to arrive.

I love my 5A BLF A6. It’s a great general purpose light! That hasn’t stopped me from trying other lights, with special metals or more dedicated purposes. There are a ton out there to try; for example:

-Small throwers like the Emisar D1S or Convoy C8

-Big throwers like the BLF GT

-Higher lumen flood like the BLF Q8, Astrolux MF01

-High CRI lights using Nichia 219B/219C emitters, or high CRI Cree emitters (although some have issues), or even mod a light with a Samsung LH351D or something)

-Different CCT, like a Convoy S2+ with a 7A XPL HI for a warm tint

-P60 dropins for some Lego fun

-Keychain lights. All of them. And then again when you inevitably lose them.

-Titanium, copper, brass, or other special materials (like the Prince with its carbon fiber or specialty lights made of expensive artistic metals like mokume gane)

-Headlamps, from the smaller Manker offerings to high CRI Zebralights or the Armytek Wizard Pro/Elf C2

-Firestarters like the Emisar D4

There are a ton of options out there to try!

BLF A6 is really good, considering its price. Build quality is so-so, but impressive performance and great UI makes up for it.

You should try Q8, great soda can light.

BLF A6 is still my favorite light. Why not have two, one 1A tint and one 3D tint, both with 18650 and 18350 tubes, and competent batteries. This is the single most useful light I own, starts in low moonlight and quickly moves to any desired brightness. Other than that, you may want a smaller single AA light for the pocket (or a AAA that you don’t even know is there in your pocket, but IS always there). Eventually you may give in to the temptation for a thrower, you will buy one, and you will rarely use it. But it will have “filled out your collection”. Welcome to the “hobby”……

I don’t care for the UI on my A6 that I received a couple weeks ago.

I like the concept of a longer press to reverse the direction of the mode sequence, but the press length to go in reverse is too long for me.

It’s especially a problem if I’m in low when I turn off the light for a short time and turn it back on. Often it comes back on in Turbo, rather than low. I don’t like this.

I would return the light, but it seems like it would be a real pain to return a light to China.

I can’t gift the light to anyone I know, since no one I know has a charger for 18650 batteries.

I do prefer the UI of the A6 over the Folimov 18650S, which can’t go in reverse at all and requires cycling through Turbo to get back to Low.

I much prefer the UI on the Sofirn SP32A V2.0 when in ramping mode. Much easier to reverse direction and never mistakenly enter Turbo when Low is desired.

I’m not sure what to do with this A6, since I will most likely never carry it.

I was a big fan of the A6 earl on, but some of the later production was flaky — screw holes misplaced in the head, for one.

I’m now a Sofirn SP32Av2 convert. Waiting eagerly for the rumored v3 No such animal, they told me in email.

As to giving li-ion lights away, I always have to think “is this person someone who would burn down the house or poison his family with fumes?” —- if I think they can be trusted, I give the light with one of the single-celll chargers and one of my older li-ion cells.

Out with the old, in with the improved!

I had a light I didnt use, I did a giveaway…. it was fun actually !

The bigger problem with A6 for me is that the duration of the press needed to go back changes as the driver warms up.

The other thing is that the light consumes huge amount of current on turbo and generates a ton of heat which it cannot dissipate, but delivers only marginally higher output than something like Convoy S2+.

A6 may have been something special when it first came out. Today - not so much, IMO.

I have suddenly come into possession of a BLF A6 via a co-worker that’s into EDC gear - early spring cleaning I suppose. I look forward to trying it out.

I see single-cell lights in the kilo lumen category as nominally <500 lumen lights that can briefly burst to 1k lumens - it’s the price you pay for them being so small and handy. This fits my use cases reasonably well since most of the time I need a light for task work and only occasionally do I need throw or canned daylight.

A6 is a great light, don;t hear the haters :slight_smile:

it does get very hot, i never noticed the ‘long press gets longer’ issue

and it is VERY CHEAP!

wle

Sounds like you just need to turn the memory off or on

link to user interface instructions >> http://i.imgur.com/x0wmQWM.png

Thanks, that is quite helpful and gives me some options to mess around with.

I like the light much better now.

Now, if I can get the horrible clip reshaped so that the top of my jeans back pocket doesn’t get stuck on that stupid bump on the tube clip. Then all will be well with the light - for now.

I really don’t understand the design (or maybe it’s poor execution by the manufacturers) of these clips. I had to do a lot of modification of the clip on my Utorch UT01, which has a similar clip, before it could be used deep carry. This design comes stock with many models from many manufacturers and it just makes no sense to me.

Why is that big bump left there to catch on the top of the pocket and prevent deep carry?