With the EMISAR D4, D1S, and FW3A with awesome UI and priced at $40. I cannot justify buying lights like Nitecore, Fenix, and Olight that are selling for $50+. Would you?
In a word,
Nope.
I noticed the same, with collaboration and “globalized input” from a community, the lights are more sophisticated than ever. 40 $US seems like a great budget mark for excellent lights.
Wonder how much more innovation we’ll push into this price point going forward…
…why ‘settle’ for significantly less customer service than what we were receiving not too long ago for similar price points?
You are listing a light (FW3A) which hasn’t even been produced yet…which will be two years long in the tooth when it does (?) come this May.
Why not pay up for lights with actual customer service involved (Ie. whether a cell will actually even ‘fit’ or not as ZebraLight manages to accomplish in their specs.) versus chasing people down halfway around the world to (not) answer questions or to deal with ‘holidays’ ???
I’ll buy only what makes sense for the dollar spent yet I think that folks have very simply forgotten just how much actual control that they (used to) have over the ‘sidebar’ market.
Less expensive will only equal comparable quality if we stop the CS madness collectively.
Narsil and Anduril puts the “flash” in flashlight.
Well I’ll tell ya what. After having the DQG Tiny 4th 18650 light for a while I thought I found a light that would keep me from buying other lights unless they were spectacular in my option. Then I got a D4 and thought the same thing again. After buying 3 Zebralights I thought the same thing. Now since these light have found a regular place in the rotation of what I carry on a daily basis, I find myself getting pickier and pickier on what I buy. I have also given away or sold any light that wasn’t used or didn’t make the cut into the EDC role. I kept a handful of other lights. A few C8’s in variable versions and brightness, a Q8 of course, a few very bright bump in the night type lights, and a handful of AA/14500 lights that can fit into a pocket if needed. There are also a handful of weapon lights as well. I am more picky about those lights than all of the others combined but, that is for a different forum. Looking forward to the FW3A, if it still looks good and operates well for what I need it for then I will pick up one or two. If they can’t get it produced or it comes with problems attached to it then I will pass on that.
Short answer, NO, I wouldn’t buy any of those higher priced lights from the companies mentioned. They serve myself no useful purpose really. Already have smaller and better constructed lights. I won’t buy that overpriced stuff. I’m sure they are fine companies making fine lights. I just don’t need em. I have a few copper Olights just because they are pretty. I am a sucker for copper, brass, and Ti. It never really leaves the house. Anything small with a 18650 or 21700 is what I am after now days. Not much in the small form factor for 21700 yet. I only have one light in a C8 format and it works veryt well. I wanted a PL47 or whatever it is from FireFlies but I just can’t bring myself to do it with their poor QC.
So I just wait for the FW3A but continue to keep my eyes and ears open to new stuff that may be better. I don’t mind paying a few bucks more for a remarkable light. But I won’t pay more than a few bucks more for a mediocre or crappy light.
After getting an E07, something special will have to come along for me to spend more cash. Fireflies made a light that not only out performs everything in its size, they also went to great lengths to make it look the part. Many other flashlights are starting to look dull by comparison now.
I read a lot of people complain about the quality control of the Fireflies (E07),I admit it looks pretty cool and is small monster
I haven’t handled many expensive lights so I don’t know how they compare. I love my Convoy S2+ but not sure how much better a similar sized Fenix or Zebralight would be. Most of the “budget” lights people buy here are more mid range I feel. We aren’t talking about the $5 junk that you can get from China with horrible blue tint.
I think the wide variety of options in budget lights has made a big difference. The expensive lights are mostly pretty simple devices.
I bought a lot of lights over the years trying to find the combination of user interface and light output I wanted, and I feel like those days are behind me as I have, well, a lot of choices hanging on the flashlight rack. Now I’m more often trying to match giveaways to people who will use them.
And my current choices: Sofirn SP32A v2 for walking outside (3 clicks from off to bike strobe, ideal for deterring careless drivers when I’m crossing the street, and long press for off); and Astrolux A01 with a pencil mod that always starts in low, for around the house at night.
Your preferences will differ. But isn’t it nice to have so many choices in budget lights?
Wellp, I don’t have any Olights or Fenices, but do have a few Nitecores (MH20, MH20GT, P30), and I quite like ’em.
Right now, the ’20 fits the bill as a nigh perfect EDCing light for me, barely bigger’n the cell that feeds it, hella bright, and a kick-ass switch and UI. Shortcut to moonlight and shortcut to turbo (both from off), regular click on/off from last-used value, switch beacon and voltage readout, lots of niceties, and a really nice deep-carry clip so that I don’t have a traffic-cone sticking outta my pocket.
That said, absolutely, there are lots of Sofirns, Convoys, Thorfires, Nitefoxes, etc., that are great lights for half the price.
Just depends on what you want. For a daily carry, you can get a light that has a coupla quirks that might or might not get on your nerves, or get a light that ticks all the boxes. Whether that’s 20~~, 50~~, 70bux, or more, is up to you.
My first and main EDC light for years was a 1-mode 5000K ~1.4A generic ’502. No “UI” to speak of other’n the tailswitch clicking it on or off, and it served probably 90% of my needs. Still got it. Cost maybe 30bux total for the host and drop-in. Now, you can get, say, a SC31 muggle-light that does more and costs little more than half that.
But in general, I don’t count on any company’s warranty, which is why I in general don’t spend more’n, say, 30bux or so on lights. Q8s and such being the exception. Those Nitecores to me were worth the extra bux to get the extra features.
You make a great point in this post, when people ask me for recommendations i find myself saying BLF A6 for an 18650 carry and skilhunt h03 for headlamp.
Yes there are slightly better ones out there for more money and you get 5 year warranties etc, but the prices of some of them are impossible to justify for myself and to recommend to others.
Although from a companies standpoint they are simply doing their job, they charge what they can GET not what a flashlight is always WORTH. They can do this because most people don’t have the knowledge we have.
I guess that’s why companies like olight don’t ever seem bothered about offering anything other than cool white tints.
Many have minor things such as one screw in the wrong place that still does the job and does not effect anything. It's just that members here at BLF including myself from time to time will scrutinize everything right down to the last freckle on any light and make an issue about it. Yes, a few E07's do have a defect where they may not function properly but you can bet Fireflies will do right by the ones who have this.
I would like you to do a side to side comparison of zebralight to the FW3A……Ohh wait.
The full story is always a little more complicated than just “I will never buy another X again.” You mentioned the Emisar D4 as if its existence negates the strengths of every other EDC flashlight, but it has plenty of weaknesses too. For example, some people don’t consider the D4 to even be viable for EDC because of the risk of fires. Sure you can unscrew the head or tail cap, but then you have a light that must be screwed in and then button pressed to use. And it will still tend to become uncomfortable to hold if used for extended periods of time on hot mode—-I mean “high” mode. So where you might see an EDC light killer, other people don’t even see a viable EDC light in the first place. Does the better thermal regulation of some other lights justify a higher price? I don’t know. We’ll just have to let the market decide.
What I meant to say was we can do so much UI wise for $40, I don’t want to pay 50+ for a 4 mode light with hidden modes. If I wanted that, I can get a s2+ with biscotti for $20.
If the EMISAR D4 has the Muggle mode like the soon to be released FW3A (I hope 
, that should not start fire in our pants.
I hope I expressed myself more clearly. I am not bashing other brands.
I bought an Olight M2R a few weeks ago because there is simpley nothing with two indpendent switches in that size out there. The FW3A is a step in the right direction techwise, but it misses a side switch for my taste. I will still buy one, because I like the tech. And maybe I will be able to mod it to attach a second switch. But then again, there is no software yet that could use it so I would have to write it from scratch. The M2R also features magnetic charging, which I came to love. I initially didn’t expect it to be such a big deal, but just attaching your light to the charger on your nightstand every evening to charge it up is just SO comfortable. Unscrewing charging and putting a battery back in every day just is a real drag. If I wake up and need the light i just grab it and it works. No fumbly USB-port either. And it can tailstand on that magnetic charging dual-action backswitch.
Granted, I could live without magnetic charging. But the dual button UI I really love and there is nothing right there on the market with BLF involvment or open firmware. The M2R isn’t perfect in any way. Inability to turn off mode memory (okay Narsil can’t do that either and I don’t know about Anduril), holding actions take FOREVER. Narsil on my D4 is just so much better with timing. So was the Acebeam T36 I tested. The tint is horrible in my eyes with big hue shifts. But yeah, there is no BLF-involved flashlight with two or more indepent inputs right now.
So yes, I agree for the software part. I think, the implementations that arose from the community are much better than most of the UIs regular flashlight producers ship. But hardware-wise it’s a different story, sadly.
I would love to try the ramping UI of the D1 and D4, but I'm not really interested in purchasing either.
If I could program the max output to be something reasonable like 300L, then maybe I'd be more interested. But a side clicky means accidental activation and a 1000+ lumen light means heat. It's just a bad combination for a pocket sized light.
Is there a tail clicky that uses the same ramping UI?
--flatline
I love my D4 but it can’t maintain constant brightness anything close to my TN12, let alone a Zebralight.
I think some of these lower cost lights have incredible value, but the reality is that they use inneficient drivers and compromise in other areas as well. I do not exclusively buy any particular brands, but would personally prefer to pay more for a light like a Zebralight that has a super efficient buck or boost driver, amazing build quality, compact, and designed to be used as a tool and not just push out crazy lumens for a unsustainable amount of time.
I think it depends on your personal requirements and end use. I personally despise lights that dim over time because in situations where I am riding, or skiing in pitch dark, I need the selected output at a constant level. This is my personal preference and for that I will always consider more expensive lights.