I thought you were not interested in zoomable flashlights….It looks like I was wrong.
I think when they’re done well they can be a nice addition to a collection, it’s just that so many aren’t done well.
Sirstinky, a good zoom flashlight shouldn't lose too much output in flood (zoomed out), and what you describe is a lot worse when zoomed in. The flux output innefficiency is due to the overall optic design.
I agree with oweban. I also think there's room for improvement, and room for innovation, in zoom flashlight designs.
Simon Mao, there is interest in good flashlights. Problem is that most if not all zoom flashlights are either design faulty, substandard, expensive, or any combination of the aforementioned.
For example, I remember the ThorFire TA13 / Sofirn SF30A flashlights, now discontinued. Wrote a thread about them long ago. I still have my modified TA13, now with :-) 21700s. I added a couple R330s to the sense resistor stack on its driver, for ≈1.95A peak current output to its XHP35 if I recall correctly. All springs bypassed. Works fine and gets hot fast. Besides the too short inner cylinder flaw described in Sofirn SF30A Modding, Review, Zoomtaschenlampe @ TLF, the TA13's flaws, in my opinion, are:
- The emitter sits in a cavity and is retained with a conical, screw in part. This unnecessarily increases the distance to the lens in flood, reducing output. Way room for improvement.
- The lens is small.
- Only a single hole for lanyard, makes tailstanding wobbly.
Now that I'm here I'll also say that, it would be cool to see a zoom flashlight with its head made entirely out of polycarbonate (head body + bezel). This would allow maximum :-D light output efficiency, making the flashlight an excellent mule. Besides this I also think that something else could be done with the side emitted light of an emitter which normally hits the reflector in reflector lights, which otherwise gets lost inside the head of a zoomie. And I'm not speaking of light recycling collars. O:)
Wed, 06/24/2020 - 06:16
They also tend to be 2-trick ponies. Me, the only zoomies I’ve got, spend 99.9% of their time on full flood, only because of the nice wide even blanket of light. But even a reflector light with very diffusey diffusion film comes close.
The other 0.1% of the time when I zoom in The Bat Signal, it’s only really as a curiosity. When 2/3 or more of the light from the LED is wasted that way, it’s easy to have a tight thrower make up the difference. I’d rather grab my L2 or GTmini for that.
So… zoomies. Flexible, yeah, but extremely wasteful. Hard to “get right”.
Oh, and very important… The lens needs to be pretty much perfect, else there’ll be lots of crappy artifacts when zoomed. One bad batch of lenses, and the rest of the light is garbage.
I really want a zoomie with a Nichia 319A - that hexagonal pattern would look super nice.
Me too! Great idea. I have one, but on a 20mm mcpcb so I can’t use it in my zoomie I have now. If Simon starts selling his on AE I’ll get it and swap in the 319.
Thank you. I know that the CountryMan B1 is a different flashlight. I wanted to say that the black interior, the steel switch and the 21700 tube are similar. I have a CountryMan B1 so maybe I’m trying to convince myself that I don’t need the Convoy Z1. 
Looks nice Simon! Good work 
And both are twisties. 
Well, mostly because right now I don't have an S2+ or similar short thrower class flashlight, I am using my SK98 and TA13 to enlighten the road in the fields for night time jogging. Once I reach a point where street lighting is missing, I turn on the flashlight and zoom in for the light cone to close enough and illuminate the road and just a little by the sides in my field of vision, which results in around half-way zoom in or so. Works good but, compared to a reflector torch, the light extraction inneficiency forces you to use a higher mode or settle for less light output. In my SK98 this is quite noticeable because in medium mode it pumps 1.3174̅2̅A :-D to its (6V) XHP50A, and this means it pulls around twice that from the battery if not a little more because I do not usually have my VTC5As filled. Around a couple times in runs I got low battery blinks in the road turning back to town, although no big deal as the super-low mode saves the day night. O:)
Unno, I’d consider a regular reflector light with diffusion film. Scatters just a touch off to the sides but has a nice easy-on-the-eyes fade from bright center to dimmer periphery. Just gotta figure out how diffusey you want the film.
The Tacklife light with a G2 or G3 behind a fairly big reflector is too throwy for most of what i’d use it for, so i threw in some pretty diffusey film, and now it’s a nice bright wall of light, perfect for going down a dark cellar and the like.
Use less-diffusey film, and you’ll retain more of a hotspot but with just enough “smear” to hide an ugly corona.
While I like aspherics when on full flood, it still has a rather sharp cutoff to zero. It’s a bit too much like a stage light. Only those lights that really let it go full-flood and wiiiiiiiiide is it not that objectionable. Lights that don’t practically let the lens sit right on top of the LED won’t open up that well. Lights with a bezel or other restrictions similarly make a too-sharp cutoff.
Or a nice TIR lens with the spread you want could be a good substitute.
Hey Simon do you have any of the C8 reflectors with the 9mm center hole? The last stack i bought had the smaller 7mm size and its hard to make it work with a XHP50.2.
Mmm, today I received this:
∅50mm scatter plates which are going on top of the emitters of my latest DIY creation, a nighttime dimmable 3K lamp with Samsung LH351B emitters at up a lil above 550mA (check it here). I decided to get those diffusers and attach them over the emitters in my lamp with ∅5 × 4mm neodymium magnets in each heatsink corner. I'm already accustomed to avoid looking at lamp emitters directly, but with the lamp in place they are set at eyesight height… :facepalm:
Bought them here, various diameter sizes available. On top of my Convoy M1 with Osram KW CSLNM1.TG I can notice how good of a job they do diffusing the output, but of course I can notice loss of lemons. 
Thu, 06/25/2020 - 01:03
Simon, why does the M21B have a 22mm driver hole and M21A only 20mm? This is a bit strange considering the diameter of the head, which in M21A is about 10mm larger.
Is it possible to increase the diameter of the hole to 22mm in the next batches?
The size is limited by the structure.
What driver and LED are you going to install on M21A?
I was thinking about boost driver with 12 groups and xhp70.2
Well, this is understandable. I also thought in getting a few flashlight diffusers for the same reason, but decided otherwise because the lamp would have looked quite weird with them:
No need to link them here, but I will anyway say that sellers ask quite some money for these things. These are the cheapest, but still I need to spend above €4 or close to $5 for 4 pieces (left ones). And if I am to choose one for the Astrolux MF01 (right side picture), which is hemi-spherical and pretty, they are asking around $4 plus shipping :facepalm: each piece.
I wonder what amount of light flux is lost with the frosted glass diffusers I bought. 30% maybe?
With diffusion-film like DCFix, there’s not supposed to be more than a few % loss.
Maybe someone can remember the posts/links, but it’s definitely not much. Nowhere near 30%.