Because I don’t have that kind of discretionary income. I have to be very choosy.
Stop projecting.
If liking flashlights made by a certain brand is such a bad thing, then you are a hypocrite, since you own three of the same model of flashlight made by Emisar.
Have you tried a dangler clip? Might serve you better to hook one to the lanyard hole on your lights. I use one for my Swiss Army Knife without issue.
In case you don’t know what I mean here’s a link to the first thing I could find on fleabay: suspension clips.
I have a dangle, suspension clip on my larger SAK. Seams to work, but the size of the knife helps. I lost a small SAK that was used with a suspension clip, I can’t be %100 sure it was the clips fault tho.
I’m curious how the D4 stacks up against a Zebra for sustained output at a similar level. My D4 doesn’t even want to maintain 200 lumens without stepping down.
I had a 52 and it always FELT like it was ready to pop out of my pocket. Carried a 62 for 4 years without issue.
You’re probably right about size being a factor, I think it’s probably just best to carry smaller lights and knives Beaver Cleaver style, just down in your pocket. (darn, couldn’t find a video clip of him emptying the contents of his pockets. frogs and rocks and slingshots and pocket knives, etc…)
I know I could search and read to find answers to these questions… but, forgive me… if you feel like typing:
Potting is epoxy? What’s a super cheap source of it?
What are the benefits of potting?
How would I do it to my cheap lights, like this one:
^Agree, The 52 came out a lot when I set down. Length of light, how I wear my jeans, probably not the clips fault. I have had good luck with a large Armytek clip on my D4. Its not the best looking set up.
^^Hugh if your noticing the step down at 200 lumen, I would say you have an issue.
It should be so slow its hard to notice.
@Barry, potting compound usually costs a lot in small quantities, so you are better off buying thermal silicone:
It actually works very well for smaller 18650/AA lights since they have small cavities, and with the code CNY, you’ll get a 10% discount.
I already have some black and red (high-temp) silicone. So I just drown the pcb in it? I guess this makes it more shock and water resistant?
Yep, just cover any openings before doing it.
And yes, it makes it shock resistant, and waterproof. Not water resistant. Waterproof.
So do you really work for Zebralight for money or are just really personally so vested in the brand that you shill for free? - You are acting very rabid about your beloved CE light brand. Just like Glock, Kimber, Remington, Ford, Chevy - it’s just a brand and a name. Being that crazed about it seems petty and childish.
From that post you linked - I bought the Haikelite MT03 TA on the forum recommendation too - very bright….Did you look hard for ammo for insulting your beloved CE (Chinese Excrement) brand flashlight - your whining reminds me of a school hall monitor……
Yes - I have 3 Emisar D4S - I especially like the D4S XPL-HD - fantastic beam. I don’t care so much about what brand they are - rather what they are……You ought to try it!
I have somewhere between 25-35 flashlights at a quick count….I have 6 Sofirns, 4 Solarforces too - am I not distributing my flashlight spending equally enough for you? Are you mad because you think I should have bought a Zebralight instead of 4 Emisars? Weird.
TXGoodfella, hopefully you were able to gain some insight through some of the posts in this thread.
You may want to take any further questions to PM with members who had responses that you found enlightening.
Best of luck in your search!
This only works for magnetic control ring lights (like V11R or RRT-01). The HDS Rotary does not use a magnetic control, instead is uses mechanical sliders in its rotating tail (similar to sliders in a multimeter dial). Over at the other forum there are a bunch of pictures of the insides of a Rotary tail (Link).
In short: magnets have zero effect on a HDS light.
Misunderstanding on my part, apologies.
Not from me. I had a rotary, returned it, worst flashlight I ever bought irrespective of the price. If there is a brand Stockholm syndrome, it’s HDS.
The machining on mine had sharp burrs like a rasp that were actually shredding my palms, there was a weird ~100ms latency between turning the knob and light intensity change that made it unusable, and it was just ridiculously bulky and heavy for the paltry output. I like rotary lights and have two Surefire Titan T1A, but the HDS is a lousy implementation and you’d be much better off with a ramping UI like Narsil/Anduril.
This illustrates perfectly why the internet is an untrusted source, you’ll find posts like this that sound so authoritative, so right, but are dead wrong.
Noir, if you don’t know what you’re talking about you shouldn’t post. Should I post links to this effect on non-rotary HDS lights from CPF or should I post a video of my pre-rotary HDS doing exactly what I posted? You’re out of your depth.
edit: Here, I made it easy for you. The “Noir Effect”.
It amazes me how emotionally invested some people get into their flashlights, especially when they are so bad at managing their own emotions.
Thanks for the video bansuri, I gave it a 
Thx for the helpful input given. Didn’t mean for this thread to be a spat over one brand versus the other. I simply wanted to know what other lights existed similar to a zebralights form factor. The D4 seemed closest to it. In no way was i asking if any budget light was better to a Zebra, as i know Zebras are top of the heap in the edc world. I was merely asking if the emisar d4 was the next best thing. Either way thx for those nice enough to help. Consider the matter closed. Thx again.
Well my apologies, I must have misunderstood your post, I honestly thought you were talking about the effect of a stronger external magnet "overpowering" the internal magnet(s) of a magnetic control light and thereby changing the brightness (the HDS rotary would of course not suffer from that), I did not know HDS drivers are so sensitive to magnets and the brightness can be changed that significantly with one (you learn something new everyday 
).
I just tried a bunch of my lights and a strong magnet (I used a row of five very strong 10 x 4 mm neodym magnets) had absolutely no effect on most lights. Only on some small AAA lights (e.g. Lumintop Tool) was I able to cause a change in brightness, but only on the lower levels and only when holding the magnet at a very specific place at the head, plus the change in brightness was fairly small (i.e. not really of any practical use).
Do you happen to know why HDS circuits are so sensitive to magnets? Or could you kindly point me to a thread that explains this in more detail?