Tactical Micheal,
It will be interesting to see who you find for such a task. Surely the writer will be given lots of flashlights to work with so they will have a good inventory of knowledge moving forward in a rapidly changing product niche.
We are seeing changes in flashlight technology as the LED manufacturers further improve the efficiency of emitters. These new developments are quickly met with demand as lumen hungry flashlight connoisseurs are the early adopters. Where we see a general lag in the flashlight niche is marketing to the broader public. However inroads to big box retailers have been made by companies like LuxPro. Hopefully the larger market will begin to adopt lithium ion batters, such that economies of scale will start to bring prices down on high performance batteries.
Prices on HID flashlights are dropping for a number of reasons and this is evidenced by recent examples like the monster BTU Shocker that was available just 2 years ago for a price of $150 and has been slashed to $90. The BTU Shocker puts a lot of power in the hand and consumers are confronted with choices like the size of the flashlight vs. how far it will throw light. Hence consumers end up owning more than one light. Surely the manufacturer that produces flashlights with the widest range of lumen output and the ability to change the projection from flood to throw, without being an aspheric i.e.:“zoomie”, in the smallest form factor will be the company to dominate the future market of flashlights.
Regards,
Dead Goat