French king Ludvig XIV and his queen used to eat on aluminium plates and other had to make do with ordinary gold plates. It´s hard to know how to burn money when you have to much.
Lennart
MMMmmmmmmmmm Titanium DQG II AAA.... *drool*
I was just gonna post about a titanium bike frame as an example of a practical use! Although I can't justify the expense with my budget and actual time spent riding, I still think it serves a purpose without having to consider aesthetics.
Its like wearing jewellery in the first place, it serves no functional purpose, but some do enjoy wearing such items. Its like carbon fibre accessories, totally unnecessary, but cool if well executed. Or SS torches, even SS is less ideal than aluminium in the first place, but SS has its cool factor.
Naw, it serves to attract a mate or advertise ones pair-bonded status. Think of them as plug'n'play peacock feathers.
mmm. sure could go for some roast peahen right about now...
It looks nice, is strong and corrosion resistant while possessing only 60% of the weigh a identical stainless piece would have.
I like it, that is justification enough.
The benefit is corrosion resistance alongside a high strength to weight ratio although those are not on my list of priorities for a torch.
Stainless steel is my metal of choice but i would take titanium over aluminium (and willingly pay the premium) if stainless steel was not an option simply because i prefer the appearance.
Can i justify the cost? a close friend of mine recently asked me "how many torches do you need?" my reply "one" and that for me is the truth of the matter when i need light pretty much any torch will do (a Maglite served me well for years without me being the slightest bit concerned about metallurgy / modes / tint / UI etc and would still serve me just as well today) but the pleasure i get from my collection of torches is something that for me lies outside the bounds of cost versus benefit and therefore the justification for me is a simple equation IWI+CAI=PI or i want it + can afford it = purchased it! 
Some people are happy to wear a Timex others wear Tags or Rolex they all do the same job, sounds like it’s all about prestige, other than those that need the corrosion resistance for some reason.
Im a Timex kinda guy 
The first time I saw a titanium flashlight I asked the same... why?, what's the deal with it?
But I think that if they like it it's OK, it's like when somebody asks me "Why do you have so many flashlights if you don't even use them!?" because I like them!
That's me. I have a Timex I've had for 4 years now. It replaces 3 previous Timex watches (I love Indiglo! A true flashoholic!). A friend at work wore a Seiko and the Seikos would stop working after maybe 8-10 years and he'd buy another one. I've never spent as much on all the watches I've owned combined as he spent for one Seiko. Now he wears an Omega Speedmaster which costs more than all of the watches he owned previous to that combined. My watch tells time about as well as his does. If we need to know the exact time, we both use our cell phones.
Titanium is pretty neat. Lightweight, strong, doesn't rust. Too expensive. I've never understood why cyclists pay all this money for lightweight parts if they are riding a bike for exercise and not for racing. My neighbor across the street rides bikes and says his problem is he has to ride for so long to get a good workout. Seems like he just needs a heavier bike and higher friction parts.
In the case of bikes, Carbon Fiber is the lightest material, transmits pedal energy better than Ti, and is the most comfortable to ride. Lightweight bikes aren’t useful on flat terrains, but when you have to climb a slope, the difference is huge.
I know this thread is old, but I felt like dropping my 2 cents in the jar anyway.
Below are some pictures of two Muyshondt Ti Aeons, one new-in-box and the other carried in my pocket full of steel and titanium mini-tools for two years straight:
The only other metal that would show this little wear after two years of clanging around with a folding multi-tool and various other doohickeys would be stainless steel, and stainless steel would weigh twice as much. Aluminum wouldn’t even come close to withstanding that kind of environment without significant wear.
That is the main advantage of titanium to me: I don’t have to worry about it. I can use it like I would use any other tool, no babying necessary, and at the end of the day/week/month/year it still looks and works like new.
If the quality of the internal components were low enough that I wouldn’t care about keeping them as long as possible, then it probably wouldn’t be worth my money to buy a strong titanium shell to house them — but I only buy lights with the best internal components I can get (because I want the most useful tools I can get), and having a strong titanium shell means I don’t have to worry about the internals becoming useless due to mechanical damage.
Welcome to BLF, fyrstormer! :party: Nice pics!
My Preon P0 is made of stainless steel, and lovely as it is, I do worry about it getting scratched. If it was titanium it would be a little lighter, stronger, and more wear-resistant.
Not sure who said it, but “perfect” threads in Ti are NOT gritty. Ask Fred at Photon Fanatic. His are buttery smooth, a true thing of beauty. A Titanium Innovations IlluminaTi isn’t bad, with some polish and a bit of work it too is nice and smooth in the thread dept.
Cracks me up that someone’s asking to justify the cost of the material, when most of us here have more lights than we can remember buying. Justified? Because I can! Justify the bar tab on Saturday night. Justify the cost of your wireless phone. We do what we want to do, and a whole lot of that comes with no more justification than because it’s what we want.
I Love Ti. I love it for what it is. Not necessarily bling, but it’s toughness, sweat resistance, durability and the color of the metal. I’ve worked with it without the fancy tools, hand tools and sandpaper and I love it’s color, even it’s smell. Entirely a matter of personal preference. My glasses, watch, 2 lights, battery carrier, necklace, even the liners in my knives and yes, an entire knife as well….yep, all Ti.
Let’s face it, everybody makes choices in the preference dept. Every single one of us. Do you drive the absolute cheapest car? Do all your lights have the cheapest 5mm leds in them? Do you all use TrustFire cells? We make choices based on what matters to us. I personally make those choices in Titanium whenever possible. Cause that’s how I roll!
Everything in this picture that’s silver in color is Titanium. With the exception of the actual gate in 3 of the 5 gate clips. It’s all carried daily. Used and trusted. The small Ti light, does it look beat up and abused? Been on my keychain for over 3 months. The little pill fob up top? 14 years old, hand made. Some call the surface scratched, the real trick is to let it go…it’s a patina that’s self healing and looks better the older it gets.
congrats to your 1st post. you're a well-known cpf boardie!
anyway.
i am betting that my Tank E09 is brighter than your Titanium light. mine outputs at least 92 Fenix lumens on Eneloop, and yours?
Ti is incredibly light for how strong it is, I only have a few ti lights. My fav is the Fenix PD10 Titan, same UI as the LD01 but brighter and stubby.
I like titanium carpentry hammers. Light and one of the sturdiest hammers on the market. Price tag is steep but worth it in my opinion.
http://www.stiletto.com/p-27-tibone-tbii-15-milled-facecurved-18-ti-hdl.aspx
Thanks. Not sure why it took me so long to actually use my account here; probably I stayed away because my collection can’t possibly be categorized as “budget lights”, except maybe by Donald Trump. I actually came across this thread while trying to find out if any new titanium lights had been released in the past year or so, because I’ve been trying (with partial success) to wean myself away from flashaholism, and I have no idea what might be out there to tempt me. 
The Aeon is rated at ~120 lumens for 90 minutes on high mode. I don’t recall what it’s brightness is on the lower setting.
AAs are certainly easier to purchase at a reasonable price than CR2s (or any other lithium batteries) are, but the significantly lower voltage hampers any light’s ability to run efficiently. The voltage from 1xAA has to be boosted by 240% for a primary cell, or 300% for a rechargeable cell, to drive the emitter at the correct voltage (3.6V, or slightly lower for some newer emitters), and some of the cell’s energy gets used to power the voltage-converter circuit instead of the emitter. 2xAA is much better, but unfortunately it’s also uncomfortably large for in-pocket carry.
I formulated my own lube to solve the gritty-titanium-threads problem. I sell it on CPFM and use it on all my own titanium lights. So far, the feedback has been entirely positive.
Well, there’s is a pragmatic aspect to it, just like there’s a pragmatic aspect to being able to call a tow truck if your car breaks down, without having to hitchhike to the nearest gas station. (I never had to do that, but from what I’ve heard, it was a pain in the ass.) The pragmatic aspect is, if the light is made of top-quality components, it will last longer, and you won’t have to replace it as often. When I bought my Aeons, I wasn’t looking for the brightest light I could get, I was looking for a light that I could keep in my pocket until one of us dies of old age. In all likelihood I’ll win that competition, but if this light lasts me another 8 years before it wears out, then the total cost to me will have been about $30 per year, which is pretty much the bare minimum it’s possible to spend on a light that isn’t a piece of junk. As an added bonus, I’ll only have to throw away 1 light instead of 10, which makes my inner environmentalist feel a little better.
It shouldn’t be an issue. The first few scuffs always look bad, but stainless steel starts to develop a polished patina after a while, whereas titanium develops a stonewashed patina. Just let it clatter around in your pocket and don’t worry about the finish. (I say this as someone who used to be petrified of scratching my precious titanium lights, until I found out that it makes no difference whatsoever.)