If this lantern is offered with an adjustable/removable deflector I would be in for several lantern/kit packages. The common discussion within our group for many years worth of outings has been the lantern/light level and whether or not it is shining in anyone’s eyes or not. It would be a shame to have to rig a deflector as an afterthought for such a refined piece of kit.
I’m so glad you got a pre production copy you can play with and fine tune your firmware. This tint ramping sounds very exiting, but I’m sure will take some polishing to work well. I can’t think of anyone better to pull it off.
I really like the auto tint idea.
I like to have a flashlight on low moonlight as a nightlight and quickly locateable in the event of an emergency. Any idea how efficient this light will be when left on in lowest mode? With 4 x 18650 and low current, I’m guessing it should last 3+ months.
Having been using the tint ramping firmware for a few months now I do like the idea of the auto tint however I am not sure I like the idea of “pushing” past to edge to set auto tint. Often I’ll find myself in a lower mode that doesn’t use a particular channel in low but it turns on later as I increase brightness. So I’ll often ramp for a while to one side to know I hit the edge.
So given this I’ll offer an idea. How about setting auto tint the same way we set step ramp? A predefined number of clicks or hold combo would set us in auto tint and disable with the same combo.
I don’t know yet, but yes, that’s how it should look.
It looks like about 5.5 mA (3.5 months) on moon, but that’s with all 7x7135 enabled. It should be a bit lower with fewer 7135 chips. And if I understand correctly, it should ship with 4 or 5 chips enabled per channel.
Or there’s standby mode with the button on, which is about 0.1 mA (~16 years) at the brightest level.
That’s why I’m planning to add a blink when it hits the end. I’d want to add it anyway, because it’s hard to tell where the edge is… but it can also help make the auto-tint thing more intuitive. Hit the edge, keep pushing for a full second, and then it’ll go to auto. Something like that, anyway.
That prototype sure looks good. Thank you for the pictures TK.
Hopefully you receive your sample soon DBSAR, the wait must be tormenting
I do have to say the rather heavy frosting was a bit of a surprise after all the prototyping and R&D and talks and so on.
But this is a perfect example why samples are made.
By the way DBSAR, do you have any gear to test the light transmittance of the globe? May even help the communication as I’d expect a flashlight manufacturer to have such a tool to test lenses and whatnot.
These testers are a bit of a niche though as even from China they’re not that cheap, cheapest ones from Linshang Tech are around 70USD just as an example.