I've noticed a pattern of tiny holes in many driver boards, particularly in the traces. What's the purpose of the holes?
slmjim
Sanyo and Panasonic merged, as you noted.
Sony was sold to Murata.
Molicel is a top player as well.
Yeah, the list is quite outdated when stated this way.
Maybe we should still be talking about the “Big 5” while meaning “LG, Samsung, Sony/Murata, Sanyo/Panasonic, Molicel”?
They’re vias, plated-through holes to make a connection between the 2 sides.
Got it. Thanks!
slmjim
Yep, my info is old.
It seems Molicel has 2 plants, Taiwan and Canada.
Murata/Sony seem to have plants in Japan, China and Singapore.
Oh well, they are still cranking out the top notch products.
I’ve tried some searching and haven’t been able to come up with a definitive answer.
Will the tubes and tail caps from the emisar D4v2 thread onto the original D4 or are the threads now different?
You need to find someone who has both like ToyKeeper or just ask the maker Hank. For the quickest answer, I would ask in a big review thread as I’m sure there are many folks that have both those lights.
I use a D4 tail on my D4V2 because it makes the light a few mm shorter (it has no space for a magnet), it is a perfect fit.
From a lot of reading and asking I think more than once, the threads on various runs of D4 may or may not be compatible with the D4v2. It depends on the run. Good luck, though!
Regarding flashlights that can run on different size batteries: I watched a few of reviews on different flashlights, and the same reviewer shows he gets more lumens from a 21700 battery compared to a 26650 from the same torch. How is that so?
First you need a light that is sensitive to the battery power such as one with a FET based driver. Then you pick a strong 21700 battery and a weak 26650 battery and there you go.
Ok, thank you. I thought a 26650 should pull more lumens, and longer run times. I didn’t even think about the mAh aspect. I love this forum, I am learning a lot.
Battery manufacturers can use different chemical mixes to optimize the battery. For instance you can look at the Samsung 30T, 40T and 50E. The 30T has the lowest capacity but the highest amperage and the 50E has the highest capacity but the lowest amperage. Then the 40T is right in the middle.
The 26650 container holds about 50% more volume than the 21700, but they are only made by smaller battery companies and they don’t usually have the best mixes. There is only one 26650 that has 5750mah and the rest are lower.
So each size battery has a range of capacity and amperage. The person who did that test you mentioned probably chose a more powerful 21700 and a less powerful 26650.
Thank you for explaining it.
Probably worth noting a 30T will pull more amps than any 26650. Until it runs dead quicker, anyway.
He wasn’t using 26650s that were as high-drain as the 21700s he compared them to.
Thought I would update this. I ordered the 18350 tube for the d4v2 from mtn hoping the threads would work out, and they did. Fits my d4v1 perfectly, and makes it scary tiny.
My favorite genre of movies are horror, and thriller/suspense types. As soon as a movie character pulls out a flashlight, I lose focus on the movie plot, and immediately start analyzing the torch. Does anybody else here do the same?
One thing that I have picked up on in movies, is when a modern day movie that is based on the past (1950s - 1990s for example), the flashlights are always really bright, and have a good amount of throw. Nothing like what flashlights were really like back in the day. I never picked up on this until I got into flashlights this year. LOL.
Wellp, watching old-timey teevee shows like “The Saint” 
, you can see what they had to do to get any light to show at all.
Eg, he’d pull out a penlight (wonderful how even Simon Templar EDCed a small light!) and shine around the room to try to find the hidden safe, etc. Someone off-screen would be shining a small spotlight around the room, trying to follow where Simon was shining his light. You could even see the eerie off-angle shadows being cast, but hey, that was high-tek back then.