That is ever so true. My wife and I have minds are diametrically opposed when it comes to some everyday things, but completely in sync in other areas.
Can we get a Q8 in gold? like this:
Isn’t that a gold chrome plating?
I'm told here by the mech engineers it's gold anodizing - believe vendor told me it's anodizing (hint: they are in Houston). Some of the parts are 6061, some are 7075, so the tint varies from part to part.
Ohh - another view/hint:
Dang, may have to delete these pics real soon...
Sofirn has this gold on the SF34.
.
Wonder though if they can do with a better quality. I got a similar gold SRK clone, but I always thought it was cheaper anodizing from the Q8 - like $25 for 12 LED's (fakes of course). It looks like Sofirn is not making these, but reselling from a cheaper source. This is mine (my pic):
And an old group shot:
I like my gold SRK. It’s a nice-looking light, even though a lot of its design is superfluous. At some point, I should upgrade it again; the last mod didn’t work out quite how I hoped.
It has a nice Q8 prototype driver inside, but I tried to do some tint mixing and it didn’t mix well. So it needs new emitters. I also have a black SRK of the same old vintage, in need of new springs and a new driver. Too many projects…
It seems near London they can do it
http://www.metroplating.co.uk/sulphuric-acid-anodising.php
(under select page you see the difference ano techniques)
Astrolux A01 had a nice orange on the light. Someone in China can do it.
So I just got a Q8 and am considering putting Anduril in it. I have heard it requires no soldering, just two screws to remove the driver. There are a few versions in the toybox, should I just use the latest? Also figuring I don’t need to reset any fuses?
Yes. If you don’t have any specific things you want to change about the firmware, just grab the latest and flash it without modifying the fuse values.
Wow, that was super easy, so much more so than my D4.
Is there still a way to disable (turn off) the switch light? If not, no big deal, but just curious.
Yes. Try 7 clicks from off to rotate through button LED modes.
Or, in lockout, use 3 clicks.
great, thanks! 1 question, does the mode where the button LED “flickers” take more power because the Attiny 85 is on, or is this some sort of sleep mode still?
The beacon or heartbeat mode still uses less power, because it’s in a sleep mode. It just wakes periodically to change the LED state, then goes back to sleep. Internally, it has an event system which has events like “button press” or “clock tick” or “low voltage”. The blinking button mode is handled with a “sleep tick” event… the watchdog timer wakes up the controller, it generates an event, the event falls through the system, and then it goes back to sleep. It takes slightly more power than being completely asleep, but not much. It should still be significantly less than just leaving the button LED in high mode all the time.
I will read through more threads here but figured maybe if I just posted someone could point me in the right direction. I originally purchased 3 of these BLF Q8s from here. They were great for the first couple of months then the button switch light has now died on two of them. Is there any information as to what would need to be replaced or changed to get them working again? Thanks so much in advance. (I will get back to reading through these threads)
Neil
Is it possible the switch LED's just got accidentally disabled? Might want to do a factory reset on them...
Here's how to do it: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/39069/16504
You can get a replacement switch from the sofirn store on aliexpress - here is the link - click on the picture of the switch - they are $3.01
You guys rock! I’ll check on lunch break!
//factory reset did not fix my issue… looks like she is dead jim… 
on to ordering a new one. oh well gives me a reason to break it open and flash newer firmware as well.
Neil
Are you sure the factory reset worked, meaning it did actually do the reset? Think the earlier v1.0 firmware didn't support it, can't recall though. It's odd because I got a ton of lights with LED switches and haven't seen one failure, including some of my regular used modded EDC's I've used for 2-3+ years. Think I had couple Q8 users who said it failed and the reset fixed it.
Of course it's possible you had Q8's from a batch with suspect parts or quality issues. If you are comfortable with it, I'd check the switch PCB first before ordering a replacement.
The first 500 Q8’s (or was it the first 150?) had quality issues with the switch leds. The later batches had better quality switch led boards. Many people with a failed switch received a new switch-board at the time. But I’m not surprised if switch leds from the first 500 that did work, fail at some later point. So it is good that Sofirn sells the improved board.
But it is also possible that in some cases people claiming failing switch leds in fact had switched them off without knowing.