We just need some apples to apples comparison for lumens and throw. I'm sure there's a big difference between a 5000K 80+ CRI and 4000K 90+ CRI LH351D. That D4S page is the only listing I know that really, in theory, is a great comparative list, though we know nothing of the specifics on those tests - cells, measurement equipment, methods, etc.
Has anyone built a C8F with XP-G3 4.000K yet? AFAIH, the 4000K is not subject to have such a horrible tint shift as the 5.700K/6.500K ones. Didn't Sofirn want to launch the C8F with XP-G3 in the very beginning but eventually decided otherwise?
I used to think charging ports on lights were useful but now I have more lights (and more chargers) not so much. I can still see uses for them but generally I would prefer not to have it. Simpler design, less things to break, lower cost.
With just a crappy rubber boot (that can open up when you look at it wrong, certainly when pulling the light out of a pocket, etc., or just tear off completely), to me built-in charging can be a drawback more than an advantage.
Oh, it’s absolutely convenient (easier to just carry a cable vs charger), but unless it’s done like the Zanflare F1 with screw-ring and O-rings sealing the port completely, it’s a liability.
So… that depends on the light and what I’d be using it for. Some lights it’d be convenient, others a liability. No clear way to delineate which group is which.
A muggle light like the SC31, hey, it’s great, let gramma just “plug it in” like her big-keypad cellphone and wait for the charging light to go green or whatever. A light that you want to be waterproof (not just “water-resistant”, which is nigh useless), forget it.
Think it was Marcus and the Armytek who showed that you can actually replace the battery in the light underwater(!!), but Hell if I’d ever want to do that unless I were trapped in a capsized sinking boat or something and my light just went out that particular moment.
Point? One man’s “feature” is another man’s “liability”.
I think there is another way to do USB charging safely and that is to hide uUSB port in tube threads, like Jetbeam E10R. I don’t say it is the best solution ever, but it is cheap, connector is protected and no flapping rubber
Yea, the Nightwatch NA40/NA40SE (https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/54880/51) works the same way - port in the the thread. Even better that the charging circuitry is separate, built in to the battery tube assembly - pretty unique, though think it's been done before, like those tiny keychain lights sold under a ton of names.
…there is a place for it, like for muggles who don’t know that an 18650 has to go in pointy side first, or those who’d have a hard time using a broom without reading the owner’s manual, where unscrewing a light and sticking the dynamite-stick of a battery into a charger (also pointy-side up or whatever), and then reversing the process, is something only an Einstein would be able to accomplish.
For those, sticking in a cable-end that can only go in one way, and waiting for the blinky light to turn green or go steady or whatever, that’s the easiest or at least most painless solution.
Then again, some people are just best-suited for triple-AAAs.
I think, that for a few flashlights (e.g. which we would give to non-flashaholics) USB charging could be very useful. If a flashlight has it, it should be sealed against water and dust.