Unpopular Flashlight Opinion Thread

I’m not a tint junkie and I don’t really care about beam pattern too much.

I have lots of tints and some are nice when looking at my orchids, or other flowering plants, but tint isn’t the ‘end all be all’ for me.

As for beam pattern, I don’t much worry about that, as I use my lights to find stuff in the dark, or light the way. I have SWM V11Rs and M11Rs and they’re ‘ringy’ as all get out, but using them outside, I never notice that.

I understand that plenty of us are ‘white wall hunters,’ sitting on the couch with a bag of Cheetos, but that’s basically where it ends, for me at least.

Chris

The budget in budget light forum has no connection with what you think it should mean

I agree with a lot of this. Arduino and Raspberry Pi are so small now they could easily be implemented in medium to larger flashlights, with GUI programmability and control on a phone instead of blindly clicking and praying. Remote light operation is a huge plus especially if it’s mounted or on a tripod. A GoPro is infinitely smaller than a BLF GT yet that can take 4K60 video with image stabilization, and send a live feed to YouTube through your phone. The only big issue would be the aluminum housing of most flashlights - there needs to be some outer plastic for the antennae to work. I think a combination rocker/pushbutton would make a nice interface. Even a slider. And I agree with the strike bezel - if the strobe didn’t scare the perpetrator away, you won’t even get a chance to use that strike bezel… unless you happen to be a Navy Seal or MI5 or something…

I’m not against a light that has high CRI, just saying that if it does not also have a neutral CCT (to my eye somewhere around 5000) then it cannot make white look white. I don’t understand people who are so happy they have a 90+ CRI when the light is 3000K and makes a white wall look like someone threw orange juice all over it last week. 70CRI in 5000K will always look more natural to me, no matter how much a 3000K gives some people the warm fuzzies. I can ONLY appreciate high CRI if it is on top of neutral CCT, and don’t quite get how anyone can think otherwise.

Maglights are the best flashlights ever made, and you better call them M@glights or else you'll get sued!

As WLE.

apart from liking a 5000 tint. and loving little copper toys.

Yellowish( egg colored ) tints, too blue tints

Turbo for less than 1 minute

Fading/oxidation

lights only uses CR123A

poor anodizing

finicky control buttons

Include me as one finding it difficult to understand the position of some posts.
Has this turned into a complaint thread ?
Are we still supposed to treat it as an unpopular opinion thread ?
Should there be a popular complaint thread ?

Bravo!

Agreed. Some fantastic unpopular opinion have been posted, though there may be a fine line between a unpopular opinion and a complaint that we should observe.

To add to the theme of the thread; I believe the Manker have the best UIs in the business.

Tint > CRI and Armytek > Zebralight

The ‘always starts on lowest’ ramping UI from the first Emisar D4 prototypes (vers. 1) sent to RMM is a valuable model to avoid burned pockets, holsters, and damage to the retinas of unsuspecting innocents.
A short single press is not the only way to access turbo flamethrower or memory modes.

1-click to turn on, click again to change mode and hold to turn off isn't that bad as long as you only have to hold less than 1 second.

Flashlights in pure white look absolutely beautiful, something like Led Lenser F1 White Edition's white not Haikelite or Emisar's white.

Flashlights with optic look more expensive than flashlights with reflector.

Best UI I have ever seen is on the Nitecore MT10A/MT10C. A tail switch to turn on, 2 side switch to change mode higher or lower with shortcut to lowest mode and highest mode right from off without having parasitic drain from the e-switch working.

And finally, too floody flashlight is kind of useless. If you want a flood light, all you need is a diffuser or some tapes on the lens.

Andy Xie is an unsung hero.
Photons are not a Panacea.
(Understated lumens versus innovation and art.)

The market pressures eliminating Sunwayman from the available stock of the most popular flashaholic suppliers in the USA represent a step backwards in many regards.
Design and innovation, art and ‘understated’ conservative output claims have not had long legs.
Andy Xie is a production engineer and businessman with rare goals and talents.
Fortunately, from the beginning, the security of military purchases has provided income for artistic expression, keeping Andy’s Sunwayman in business.

I don’t get the hype about copper. Especially when I see green patina rot that looks like the light has been in a sunken greek tradeship for 2000 years. If I want my nice EDC light be a bit heavy, I will take Stainless Steel every time.

That being said, I proclaim the Thrunite T10S the best EDC light of all time.

copper [and brass] makes your fingers smell funny
not funny ha- ha, either

wle

I have yet to use fire fly or moon light mode.

I love Olight hosts and UIs, but their emitters make me want to ‘emit’.

I hate smooth hosts. My Thrunite T10ti would be a great EDC, but it’s like trying to hang into a fish. (P.S. Major scientific discovery - hockey tape won’t stick to titanium!)

Looking at that UI reminds me of another unpopular opinion of mine:

  • Mode memory is the tool of the devil that makes a light come on in the most useless mode for your current situation and should not exist. Because I usually don’t remember in which mode I turned it off. Want to read a note? HERE, HAVE HIGH MODE TO BURN YOUR EYES. Outside or in a bigger room? LUL HERE HAVE MOON MODE. And I am not a maniac who, every time he uses the light, sets it to a particular mode before turning it off. That’s just too time consuming. I simply don’t buy lights where there is no way around the mode memory. Okay, I am lying. I have an Olight M2R. And moon light in mode memory drives me crazy. Have to work around it every time. Same with D4. I ramp it up every time because i don’t want to get accidentially blinded. Please let me just turn it off and select a mode in which the light CONSISTENTLY turns on. Every time.

Depends what you need. Any light that has shortcuts to highest/lowest is useful, and memory can be used repeatedly for on/off use without having to ramp/step each’n’every time.

Eg, the way I use my MH20 is to be able to shortcut to lowest with a halfpress’n’hold, brightest with fullpress’n’hold, simple click to anywhere in-between.

One of the SP10s has press’n’hold to lowest, and N-click to brightest. Same dealy.

Other lights, I reset them to lowest if there’s no shortcut to lowest, then cycle through. Force of habit, not much effort to do it once it gets ingrained into you.