I think this is a known bug that shows up on a few lights. One of my custom drivers has this. Itās best to do one click to turn on, then ramp up. Or cover the end of the light with your hand temporarily if you have to start at moonlight.
The difficulty for the company is that they have to invest in the leds up front. They have to buy them in a reel. If sales of the WW version are not good, they are stuck with all these leds and they loose money.
Doing it yourself is definitely the quickest way. Another option might be taking the blf version and slicing the domes off. That would probably make the color a bit warmer, plus give more throw distance.
If i remember correctly, when i tested my UCL glass lenses on the lux meter (which is broken now after a few good years of non-usage, i think the electronics inside corroded, my place environment sucks! ), they are around 98.x% transmittance. So it depends on how much the original lens is letting through, if itās a 91-93% thick glass then the gains are going to be relative more vs good original glass.
Itās all in percentages, if you have a 30k lumens light then of course the gain in absolute lumens would be quite a bit more than a 3k lumens light. Also if the original glass sucks (thick + non-AR etc), then the gain would also be more.
Technicalities aside, just get the Sofirn Q8 (even if you already have the BLF Q8). Itās very difficult to get another light for this performance/runtime/etc etc at just 40usd, or maybe around 50 now. Itās also a relatively low cost light, but itās also very practical in real life + decent built (it survived a 1.5m drop from around my face level). Other that that itās all down to personal preferences like preferring a 2S long thrower vs soda can format.
For the record, I didnāt see a gain when changing the MOSFET to a Vishay version so I went with an Infineon FET from another light. Wasnāt much difference but hey, you stack the gains ya know? The single biggest difference was swapping to the XP-L2 emitters,
Stock, out of the box, 5775.3 lumens Using Samsung 30Q cells
Added brass screws 5909.85, +134.55
Swapped Blue springs 6020.25, + 110.4 (soldered a copper disc between the 4 springs as an aid, gotta play with copper somewhere!)
Spring bypass 20ga 6330.75, +310.5
Total gain at this point 555.45 lumens
Swapped to an Infineon MOSFET removed from the BLF GT mini for 6379.05, a 48.3 lumen gain (I THINK the Infineon came from the GT miniā¦)
XP-L2 emitters, 8659.5 lumens, a 2280.45 lumen gain (2884 over the stock out of box performance)
Samsung 25S cells, 9453 lumens, another 793.5 lumens gain
UCLp lens, 9936 lumens, yet another 483 lumens gain
Total mod gains went from 5775.3 lumens to 9936 lumensā¦.4160.7 lumens gained over the stock light.
Iām obviously pulling quite a bit more power as well, so the extension tube with a second carrier would help in this instance for prolonged run times or usage overall (not necessarily ārun timeā as heat is a factor, but how long it can be used in a session)
I may just have to get another light for my next mod plan, leave this work alone and have a light to compare to the upcoming event.
Itās quite impressive the potential of this light.
Does can be dangerous for Eyes Retina if is turned on at full power for who is in front,
or itās worse a focused XHP 70?
You can screw up your retina/eyes if you forced yourself to stare at it. The sun is just a little over 100k lux.
Else your blink reflex and aversion reflex would protect you from permanent damage with the vast majority of the LED flashlights out there, even modded ones.
I am not sure if there are few tens of million candela LED flashlights out there though, with superbly big and high quality reflectors/lenses.
Jason, I donāt know if Sofirn updated the BLF Q8 docs.
Thatās the reason Iād like to see pics.
If itās the same as in the BLF Q8 OP it is an old version.
(it so old that i donāt have the original document for the cheat sheet for NarsilM v1.0)
And does someone know why on earth they used NarsilM v1.0?
Imho v1.2 should be in booth versions, I am just wondering.
Why would the BLF Q8 docs need updating? It is the same from one year ago. They had no reason to update. Plus they had no update. The original software works well and reliably so why risk getting problems with an update? That is their usual mentality. Sofirn just got a copy of v1.2 (that works on the Q8) shortly after they started to sell the Sofirn Q8 version, so it was too late to update it then. There are just a couple little things that are different.
I donāt understand why you want a picture. :question:
PS, the BLF Q8 is a Thorfire product. You would need to convince them they need to update the firmware. Sofirn does not dictate to their customers. They give the customer what they ask for.
I canāt remember details.
But I think they use July 2017 version and they cuted the page to the stripe. The later two versions for v1 have helpfull text around.
v1.2 has momentary and backwards through modes and blinkies. And fixes
Photo:
Stripe = bloddy old
A4 = canāt get better