Unpopular Flashlight Opinion Thread

Now here’s someone who really understood the thread title well :smiley:

NarsilM is just better than Anduril.

The 219B R9080 SW45 is overrated, too rosy, extremely inefficient, and makes everybody wanting the perfect rosy emitter, while something like the E21 is about perfect.

The XHP70.2/XHP 50.2 are not worth it. Cree should just introduce factory dedomed emitters. since these look crap with a dome.

The SST-40 is a POS LED that should be introduced in 5000k CCT.

Convoy/Jaxman lithium-ion lights are the only lights which have been reliable in every way. They have no glaring flaw.

I prefer using credit cards over Paypal. Less fees for the guy/gal working behind.

The 219b sw45, especially in its 9080 form, is more of a High Color Contrast emitter than Hi Cri neutral daylight emitter.
It’s my preferred LED for this reason.

Like copper tinted eyeglasses, it makes things unnatural, but easier for to me to see.
Aging eyeballs need help sometimes, and the magenta-pink (rose) enhancement increases apparent contrast.

I had not thought about it that way though…

At least the SST-20 is a suitable emitter since it reproduces reds extremely well.

The only suitable replacements is the Mouser SST-20 3500k GA3(below BBL) and SST-20 HD2 3000k(below BBL).

I have yet to find a good tinted SST-20 4000k.

After hearing about the great tint of the XPL HI 5D I was surprised to see it look much more yellow/green than the SST-20 4000K in this comparison:

To my eyes, on my monitor the SST looks much more neutral/natural.

That’s an effect of much better color rendition.

On a pure white wall, yes the XP-L HI 5D looks rosier, but outside?

High CRI emitters easily win. The lack of dynamic range of low CRI emitters makes for a worse beam in real world conditions.

I still won’t be touching even a high CRI XHP 50.2/XHP70.2 though.

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Absolutely, unless you have a light with a huge reflector like the GT70 or an Imalent I’d take a light with multiple small emitters any day and have way better beam profile.

“High end” custom flashlights like Okluma, Hanko, Deadwood,and Oveready look amateurish and cheap compared to those from more mainstream manufacturers.

The FW3A isn’t going to live up to the hype and the 2 year GB

GBers (including myself) will wake up soon to the above and begin (eventually) taking back control of BLF GBs.

Totally agree the point about the amateurish customs. If I were machining Ti lights I would make my selling point their ability to withstand a nuclear blast, or drop them to the bottom of the Marianas Trench in the ocean depths. Or send some to Elon Musk to send them into reentry in the atmosphere. Instead….MORE SKULLS.

Another thought.

If I ask “what is a professional flashlight” the response is not so predictable; the world is on unstable footing.

Some first responders might swear by decades old Maglite tech. Still others might swear by Streamlight. The absolute cutting egde might recommend a Fenix.

The tenderfoots enthusiasts are quick to exclaim how great the Armytek or Thrunite is; others scratch their head thinking “the closest Armytek has been to the Army is they stuck it in the name.”

Some might proclaim nothing short of their $500 HDS will do, as they claim it is a hands down bomber light.

I scratch my head, as I can’t tell if a professional ever had any actual design influence on an Olight, or a Fenix, etc. Any product testing with a police officer? Or paramedic?

Maybe a Police officer needs a 4 hour runtime and a quick charge, a thrower that converts to a multi-angle. An amber strobe.

An enthusiast can afford the collection, can afford to pluck the right tool from the toolbox.

Out in the wild, though, when wind and rain is howling and you have one light, just one, where is the professional swiss army light?

Yes. Most of the brands based in the US/Canada that make even remotely “tactical”-style lights have.

Momentary turbo mode makes a lot of sense for camping and hiking and many other practical uses. I just don’t like it when a flashlight gets so hot on turbo and dims so much to cool down that it becomes dimmer after ramping down from turbo than it would have been had I set it to its brightest sustainable mode and left it there.

Tend to agree with you here. Don’t get me wrong, I totally do understand the point of throwers, for people who need them. I just don’t have a huge need for them in my own life either. What’s the point of being able to shine a spotlight on something 1 km away when the human eye can’t even make out what it’s looking at that far away. 99% of my daily life takes place in the suburbs and even when I head out into the woods to go camping, I am usually in Eastern woodlands under trees these days, so there are no 1 km wide open areas to throw light across to begin with. A powerful searchlight just doesn’t seem that useful to me.

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Those look “amateurish and cheap” to you?

Go figure?

Chris

My sensible side knows the effort that went into them, but at the same time they really do look like toys from the 90s to me too.

I can appreciate the effort and skill but yeah, not my style either.


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......reminds me of an acid flashback from the Fillmore West in the '60s....

Maybe IRL they are immediately impressive, but certainly in the photo my first impression is they look like plastic toys, garish and glitzy.

Everyone has different tastes, of course, and certainly I am sure the workmanship and effort involved is impressive, but imagine that look in a car, for e.g. It would be laughed at as tasteless by everyone outside very specific niche interest groups.

I have never claimed to have normal eyes or vision.
Now for an unpopular opinion !

Daylight as terminology is near impossible to pin down, changing temperature, composition, and hue during the day, depending on time, geographic location and weather.

As panacea regarding goals for emitter preferences it proves to be as elusive and illusionary as the word beauty.

Pentagon lives on a budget too! :partying_face: